A nice perspective on whistleblowers and government surveillance

A great comment linked on Schneier's great piece concerning the recent NSA truths that have come to light:

Excellent anonymous comment over at The Register:

Law abiding governments have nothing to worry about from whistleblowers. Only war criminals, the corrupt and the dishonest should fear the activities of the media. If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about ​

I'm curious...what sort of reactions to all this are any of you getting from those you converse with AFK?

 

My circle is ticked off. But a few are stupid enough to think we need this stuff...I don't really like them too much

I hope every US Citizen contacts their representatives, whether you think it will matter or not.

PD

 

Nice one

 

In general, I agree with the quote you provide. What's good for the goose is good for the gander, and all of that. If government's have transparency into citizens lives, citizens should have transparency into government. I don't think it's unreasonable for people to know more about these government surveillance programs.

However, I do think there is one pertinent difference, especially in regards to the Bradley Manning affair. Citizens, and by extension other nations, shouldn't have unfettered access and transparency into the affairs of our Department of State (or Defense). Not because individual government agents are committing war crimes, but because it involves sensitive information regarding ongoing discussions and negotiations between themselves. For example, the government might determine that I am saying one thing to Mary, and a different thing to Susie in my personal life which might prove uncomfortably embarrassing in my dealings with each... Yet the government has little incentive or motativation to wade into such menial matters. Now, however, replace Mary and Susan with France and Germany... And you should be able to see that things could become uncomfortable in the United States relations with each. The situations aren't really directly comparable after all.

 

Nice one there