Citizenfour

[wakelaw13]

Anyone else see it last night? I was a big fan of Snowden and what he did before watching, but this really hammered home the importance of his actions. The history books will label him a hero, and it's upsetting that more of our political leaders are not being held accountable.

 

[deacvision7]

Anyone else see it last night? I was a big fan of Snowden and what he did before watching, but this really hammered home the importance of his actions. The history books will label him a hero, and it's upsetting that more of our political leaders are not being held accountable.

I haven't seen it and don't need to see it (although I will) to know that what Snowden did was ethically right in the whole. (some of his leaks did nothing to help uncover anything but us spying on other countries, which, in my mind, borders on treason. all countries spy on each other. don't air that dirty laundry in public.)

 

[sailordeac]

I have seen it. Attack on the right to privacy = attack on freedom. This is the most important topic that hardly anyone is talking about, and even worse no one seems to have any idea on how to change the current situation. The US and British governments have access to and have retained all digitally stored and exchanged information around the world. Yet, they continue to deny that they are doing this, harass people trying to draw attention to what they are doing, and continue to intercept and store for their own unknown purposes all digital information world-wide.

 

[2&2 Slider To Leyritz]

I think this is Obama's biggest (among many) failure as President. We knew from the get-go that he was going to royally fuck up everything that would lend itself to someone with experience, but the privacy/freedom component is something much more theoretical and idealistic in nature, which would have seemed to have been his strong suit. If you think about all of the advances in technology and communications applicable to the everyday citizen since 2008, and then recognize that he has simply doubled-down on the government's abuse of that citizen technology, it is really hard to imagine an American President being a more worthless, spineless, pussy. Now, he probably did not know the extent of the infiltration when he took the job, but he clearly has either chosen not to inform himself of it or to simply go along with it. Which is pretty fucking sad in light of the overall purpose of his position.

 

[Strickland33]

I think this is Obama's biggest (among many) failure as President. We knew from the get-go that he was going to royally fuck up everything that would lend itself to someone with experience, but the privacy/freedom component is something much more theoretical and idealistic in nature, which would have seemed to have been his strong suit. If you think about all of the advances in technology and communications applicable to the everyday citizen since 2008, and then recognize that he has simply doubled-down on the government's abuse of that citizen technology, it is really hard to imagine an American President being a more worthless, spineless, pussy. Now, he probably did not know the extent of the infiltration when he took the job, but he clearly has either chosen not to inform himself of it or to simply go along with it. Which is pretty fucking sad in light of the overall purpose of his position.

Obummer.

 

[ONW]

I think this is Obama's biggest (among many) failure as President. We knew from the get-go that he was going to royally fuck up everything that would lend itself to someone with experience, but the privacy/freedom component is something much more theoretical and idealistic in nature, which would have seemed to have been his strong suit. If you think about all of the advances in technology and communications applicable to the everyday citizen since 2008, and then recognize that he has simply doubled-down on the government's abuse of that citizen technology, it is really hard to imagine an American President being a more worthless, spineless, pussy. Now, he probably did not know the extent of the infiltration when he took the job, but he clearly has either chosen not to inform himself of it or to simply go along with it. Which is pretty fucking sad in light of the overall purpose of his position.

Incorrect. Millard Fillmore was a massive pussy, destroyed the Whig party, and had spinal stenosis.

 

[BillBrasky]

Just finished watching it. The final revelation about 1.2 million people being on a watch list that went straight through the office of the POTUS. Was that related to drone strikes or not?

Either way you have imagine that Pres. Obama is being manipulated/coerced into allowing this to occur or he is a complete fraud of a human being who has been corrupted by his power. Or maybe he's always been a liar who played on liberal heart stings to get elected and will do anythung to consolidate his power.

 

[wakelaw13]

Just finished watching it. The final revelation about 1.2 million people being on a watch list that went straight through the office of the POTUS. Was that related to drone strikes or not?

Either way you have imagine that Pres. Obama is being manipulated/coerced into allowing this to occur or he is a complete fraud of a human being who has been corrupted by his power. Or maybe he's always been a liar who played on liberal heart stings to get elected and will do anythung to consolidate his power.

It's not just him, and it's not just one party. They confirmed that leadership in both parties knew. Our government has utterly failed us. This, combined with the rise of drone surveillance, has me very worried for the future of this country, and the "freedom" everyone seems to love to talk about but we apparently do not really have.

The bottom line for me is I believe our government, by trampling all over the constitution and the personal rights it is supposed to protect, has done the terrorists' work for them.

 

[ONW]

The bottom line for me is I believe our government, by trampling all over the Constitution and the personal rights it is supposed to protect, is more concerned with not having their hands on the wheel when the next 9/11 happens. Be sure, when it happens, none of them want to be the person who didn't give authorization to the information that would have prevented it.

 

[PhDeac]

I agree with the sentiments expressed here, but the last I saw the American people by and large don't. They don't mind the surveillance as long as they believe it keeps them safe.

 

[DCDeac]

I agree with the sentiments expressed here, but the last I saw the American people by and large don't. They don't mind the surveillance as long as they believe it keeps them safe.

Probably an unpopular opinion, but I was pretty disappointed in citizenfour. Seemed like there was almost equal screen time given to Snowden messing with his hair as there was about the nuts and bolts of his leaks. I guess I understand that he's a huge figure and I get that the documentary is more about him and his adventure than the actual issues, but I just hate the direction the entire effort has gone and it's the reason I'm still not really on board with how he leaked the information. The music, production, the silence, the empty scenes - it all just seems to scream THIS IS IMPORTANT without really digging for answers.

There's also this hugely important split between what these programs can do versus what they actually do. People are totally comfortable with that idea for so many private companies - you email a doctor using Google and suddenly you're targeted by age-appropriate medication ads and everyone's cool with that because they trust Google's sending ads blindly. But people find out the government has a backdoor into Google and everyone loses their minds?

I'm completely over the "oh my god they're saving THAT data?!" reactions. It was leaked, it was shocking, fine. By now we should be hitting the ground floor on this stuff. How is it used? What are the true capabilities? What are the abuses so far? What are the wins? Actual examples and not just individuals combinging the leaks with high paranoia backed by a media engine more interested in shock value than anything else.

I'm not saying these programs didn't go too far (they may have) or that the rules of applying them aren't too lax (they almost certainly are), but citizenfour just seems to revel in the celebrity of the leak as opposed to pushing the issues forward.