You’ve heard people say they want to be spied on, as long as it means that other people will be spied on too.  I know you’ve heard people say this, and which people it was, and how your face looked when you heard it, and what your next telephone call was.  Or, rather, I could know all of that if I were one of the thousands and thousands of low-level snoops it will take for our government to accomplish its surveillance goals.

The logic is completely flawed, however.  As read more

I sat in the courtroom all day on Wednesday as Bradley Manning’s trial wound its way to a tragic and demoralizing conclusion.  I wanted to hear Eugene Debs, and instead I was trapped there, watching Socrates reach for the hemlock and gulp it down.  Just a few minutes in and I wanted to scream or shout.

I don’t blame Bradley Manning for apologizing for his actions and effectively begging for the court’s mercy.  He’s on trial in a system rigged against him.  read more

On July 1, 2007, I posted the following report on a then-new NSA whistleblower, a story later repeatedly “broken” by ABC News, Democracy Now!, James Bamford, and others.  Thomas Drake, Edward Snowden, and NSA whistleblowers whose names we’ve learned are part of a rich and, I hope, growing tradition:

New NSA Whistleblower Speaks

By davidswanson – Posted on 01 July 2007

By David Swanson
http://warisacrime.org/node/24183

A former member of U.S. military intelligence has decided to reveal what she knows read more

Already over 30,000 people have signed a thank-you note to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden at SupportEdwardSnowden.org — a website set up by RootsAction.org.

The note reads: “We thank Edward Snowden for his principled and courageous actions as a whistleblower, informing the public about vast surveillance by the National Security Agency that undermines our civil liberties.”

A few of the thousands of comments added read as follows:

“Your courage and integrity give hope to a read more

Should the U.S. government be building a list of people whom a stranger has concluded based on as little as a moment’s interaction are “anti-government”?  Look at this photo of a U.S. Census laptop.  There’s a box to check if a respondent is reluctant to participate in the census.

The next screen wants the census interviewer to explain the potential interviewee’s reluctance:

Notice that there is a box for hostile or threatening.  That seems important.  read more