Re:You commit three felonies a day
by jbooth on Tuesday June 11, 2013 @01:16PM
(#5863221)
They aren't similarities. The fundamental goal is different.
Registering where you're going, warnings that the phone call is being recorded, those things are about FEAR. It's deliberately letting you know that the government is in the driver's seat and you shouldn't even get started with counter-revolutionary thoughts. The information gathering is secondary.
Tiananmen square has probably more than 1 video camera per square foot. That's not to get better footage, it's to send message.
There might be a day when the US is the same, and this might even be a critical moment on the way to that day, but right now the fact that the US is trying to hide it's intel capabilities as opposed to rubbing them in your face makes them categorically different.
Registering where you're going, warnings that the phone call is being recorded, those things are about FEAR. It's deliberately letting you know that the government is in the driver's seat and you shouldn't even get started with counter-revolutionary thoughts. The information gathering is secondary.
Tiananmen square has probably more than 1 video camera per square foot. That's not to get better footage, it's to send message.
There might be a day when the US is the same, and this might even be a critical moment on the way to that day, but right now the fact that the US is trying to hide it's intel capabilities as opposed to rubbing them in your face makes them categorically different.