www/philosophy surveillance-vs-democracy.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       13/12/06 00:34:22

Modified files:
        philosophy     : surveillance-vs-democracy.html 

Log message:
        Reorganize introductory section to make the order of ideas better.

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.12&r2=1.13

Patches:
Index: surveillance-vs-democracy.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html,v
retrieving revision 1.12
retrieving revision 1.13
diff -u -b -r1.12 -r1.13
--- surveillance-vs-democracy.html      19 Nov 2013 16:25:44 -0000      1.12
+++ surveillance-vs-democracy.html      6 Dec 2013 00:34:21 -0000       1.13
@@ -12,18 +12,30 @@
 
href="http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/10/a-necessary-evil-what-it-takes-for-democracy-to-survive-surveillance/";>
 Wired</a> in October 2013.</p></blockquote>
 
-<p>The current level of general surveillance in society is
-incompatible with human rights.  To recover our freedom and restore
-democracy, we must reduce surveillance to the point where it is
-possible for whistleblowers of all kinds to talk with journalists
-without being spotted.  To do this reliably, we must reduce the
-surveillance capacity of the systems we use.</p>
+<p>Thanks to Edward Snowden's disclosures, we know that the current
+level of general surveillance in society is incompatible with human
+rights.  The repeated harassment and prosecution of dissidents,
+sources, and journalists in the US and elsewhere provides
+confirmation.  We need to reduce the level of general surveillance,
+but how far?  Where exactly is the
+<em>maximum tolerable level of surveillance</em>, which we must ensure
+is not exceeded?  It is level beyond which surveillance starts to
+interfere with the functioning of democracy, in that whistleblowers
+(such as Snowden) are likely to be caught.</p>
+
+<p>Faced with government secrecy, we the people depend on
+whistleblowers
+to <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/reddit-tpp-ama";>
+tell us what the state is doing</a>.  However, today's surveillance
+intimidates potential whistleblowers, which means it is too much.  To
+recover our democratic control over the state, we must reduce
+surveillance to the point where whistleblowers know they are safe.</p>
 
-<p>Using free/libre software, <a
-href="http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/09/why-free-software-is-more-important-now-than-ever-before/";>
+<p>Using free/libre
+software, <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">
 as I've advocated for 30 years</a>, is the first step in taking
-control of our digital lives.  We can't trust nonfree software; the
-NSA
+control of our digital lives, and that includes preventing
+surveillance.  We can't trust nonfree software; the NSA
 <a
 
href="http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2013/06/how-can-any-company-ever-trust-microsoft-again/index.htm";>
 uses</a> and
@@ -43,16 +55,6 @@
 whistleblower&rdquo; is grounds for access sufficient to identify him
 or her.  We need to go further.</p>
 
-<p>Thanks to Edward Snowden's disclosures, we know that the current
-level of general surveillance in society is incompatible with human
-rights.  The repeated harassment and prosecution of dissidents,
-sources, and journalists provides confirmation.  We need to reduce the
-level of general surveillance, but how far?  Where exactly is the
-<em>maximum tolerable level of surveillance</em>, beyond which it
-becomes oppressive?  That happens when surveillance interferes with
-the functioning of democracy: when whistleblowers (such as Snowden)
-are likely to be caught.</p>
-
 <h3>The Upper Limit on Surveillance in a Democracy</h3>
 
 <p>If whistleblowers don't dare reveal crimes and lies, we lose the
@@ -454,7 +456,7 @@
 
 <p>Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2013/11/19 16:25:44 $
+$Date: 2013/12/06 00:34:21 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>