Somebody's Watching Me
I always feel like
Somebody's watching me
And I have no privacy
No wonder. But the question is rather: Who is watching you? You are being tracked on the Internet, unless you take decisive steps not to make it so. Privacy isn't something that can be taken for granted. You have to guard it, maintain it, fight for it.
Why should you? Well for one, because it is your right, and rights should not be relinquished for no good reason and without giving it a thought. When you go on the Internet, no one has told you that everything you send, receive or do will be monitored. If someone did, you'd think twice not only about hooking up, but about the whole proposition altogether. Similarly, if your phone company told you that someone might listen in on any of your calls, you'd probably choose another service - assuming one was available.
I always feel like
Somebody's watching me
Tell me is it just a dream?
Hardly. As fact will have it, if you are in the US, chances are the government already has been monitoring your emails and calls since shortly after 9/11. I know, it sounds insane, which is why people have a hard time grasping the extent of this scandal even after it has been reported by credible media such as the New York Times and Washington Post, reluctantly confirmed by the government (by refusing to deny, of course), and even as the leading telecom companies are facing billion dollar lawsuits from civil liberty groups for their role in aiding the authorities in their illegal activities.
Unfortunately, Americans are not alone in being monitored. Those interacting with them suffer the same, and indeed this was initially assumed to be the purpose of the NSA program now being uncovered (or unravelled, if you will). The EU is also on the verge of introducing laws that will compel phone companies and ISPs to a) store much more data on their customer's activities (including who contacted who when and for how long), and b) to keep these records much longer. And incredibly, the UK is preparing to introduce a law that will make it a crime not to reveal passwords to the authorities when asked to do so, in effect saying that you are no longer allowed to keep anything private, online or off.
Again, why should we care? Because this reverses the burden of proof. Instead of the authorities having to prove someone guilty, that someone - which may very well be you - has to prove himself innocent. That's a bad principle to start with, never mind a violation of basic human rights, but truly horrendous when coupled with the huge imbalance in resources between the government and any individual.
I'm just an average man
With an average life
I work from nine to five
Hey, hell, I pay the price
All I want is to be left alone
In my average home
But why do I always feel
Like I'm in the twilight zone
(Lyrics by Rockwell, inspiration by Bush)
Somebody's watching me
And I have no privacy
No wonder. But the question is rather: Who is watching you? You are being tracked on the Internet, unless you take decisive steps not to make it so. Privacy isn't something that can be taken for granted. You have to guard it, maintain it, fight for it.
Why should you? Well for one, because it is your right, and rights should not be relinquished for no good reason and without giving it a thought. When you go on the Internet, no one has told you that everything you send, receive or do will be monitored. If someone did, you'd think twice not only about hooking up, but about the whole proposition altogether. Similarly, if your phone company told you that someone might listen in on any of your calls, you'd probably choose another service - assuming one was available.
I always feel like
Somebody's watching me
Tell me is it just a dream?
Hardly. As fact will have it, if you are in the US, chances are the government already has been monitoring your emails and calls since shortly after 9/11. I know, it sounds insane, which is why people have a hard time grasping the extent of this scandal even after it has been reported by credible media such as the New York Times and Washington Post, reluctantly confirmed by the government (by refusing to deny, of course), and even as the leading telecom companies are facing billion dollar lawsuits from civil liberty groups for their role in aiding the authorities in their illegal activities.
Unfortunately, Americans are not alone in being monitored. Those interacting with them suffer the same, and indeed this was initially assumed to be the purpose of the NSA program now being uncovered (or unravelled, if you will). The EU is also on the verge of introducing laws that will compel phone companies and ISPs to a) store much more data on their customer's activities (including who contacted who when and for how long), and b) to keep these records much longer. And incredibly, the UK is preparing to introduce a law that will make it a crime not to reveal passwords to the authorities when asked to do so, in effect saying that you are no longer allowed to keep anything private, online or off.
Again, why should we care? Because this reverses the burden of proof. Instead of the authorities having to prove someone guilty, that someone - which may very well be you - has to prove himself innocent. That's a bad principle to start with, never mind a violation of basic human rights, but truly horrendous when coupled with the huge imbalance in resources between the government and any individual.
I'm just an average man
With an average life
I work from nine to five
Hey, hell, I pay the price
All I want is to be left alone
In my average home
But why do I always feel
Like I'm in the twilight zone
(Lyrics by Rockwell, inspiration by Bush)
posted by Frode Fanebust at 11:53 PM
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