Monitoring online activities

[Jazzy]

Do you believe that the government should have the right to monitor citizens’ online activities?

 

[Lamb]

I think they should have the right to monitor key words/phrases that trigger an alert. Beyond that, no.

 

[tango]

Do you believe that the government should have the right to monitor citizens’ online activities?

No. If someone is suspected of wrongdoing the government should specify the suspicion. Simply monitoring everything we do falls well into the "none of your business" category.

I forget who it was who said that when the government fears the people you have freedom and when the people fear the government you have tyranny.

 

[tango]

I think they should have the right to monitor key words/phrases that trigger an alert. Beyond that, no.

Monitoring phrases and key words simply invites problems where none need to exist. To give a few examples...

There has been an explosion in the population of spotted lanternflies in the area.

I'm gunning for my friend's son in his cross-country race this weekend.

I didn't say much in the discussion because I know your friend hates my politics and I didn't want to give her any more ammunition to use against me.

I've tried everything to get my new employee to do the job. I'm going to have to put a rocket under him and if that doesn't work he's fired.


Throw in words that mean different things in different cultures and you create more scope for confusion. In the UK a cock is the bird that crows in the morning, a pussy is a feline pet, a faggot is a spicy meatball and a fag is a cigarette. And yet all of those words are also used in ways typically avoided in polite conversation.

 

[Lamb]

Monitoring phrases and key words simply invites problems where none need to exist. To give a few examples...

There has been an explosion in the population of spotted lanternflies in the area.

I'm gunning for my friend's son in his cross-country race this weekend.

I didn't say much in the discussion because I know your friend hates my politics and I didn't want to give her any more ammunition to use against me.

I've tried everything to get my new employee to do the job. I'm going to have to put a rocket under him and if that doesn't work he's fired.


Throw in words that mean different things in different cultures and you create more scope for confusion. In the UK a cock is the bird that crows in the morning, a pussy is a feline pet, a faggot is a spicy meatball and a fag is a cigarette. And yet all of those words are also used in ways typically avoided in polite conversation.

Monitoring is how they've learned that some terrorists were going to attack, isn't it? That's what I read.

 

[tango]

Monitoring is how they've learned that some terrorists were going to attack, isn't it? That's what I read.

Perhaps, it's always hard to know what's real and what we're told to scare us into supporting things we wouldn't otherwise support. People will support many things if it's ostensibly to prevent terrorism.

 

[Jazzy]

What the government does is not the problem. Your ISP is more likely to know everything you do on the web than the US Government. If anything comes up the ISP gives the government access to their not quite legal data.

They’re tracking you with advertising cookies etc. Some people don’t know there is an option in most browsers to tell the website you don’t want to be tracked. I have the Ghostery Plugin, but hey enjoy being tracked if you don't use a blocking app.!

On the other end, they usually will need a reason to track you. Thus, their keywords searches: things like “Bomb, Jihad, Terrorism”, you know stuff us average people don’t talk about. I’m sure there are some harmless words that are “code” for some as well not that I have the list. But I’m sure you can brainstorm some of the likely ones.

 

[Lamb]

I'm no threat to society, so they can monitor me all they want. Just don't censor me.

 

[tango]

What the government does is not the problem. Your ISP is more likely to know everything you do on the web than the US Government. If anything comes up the ISP gives the government access to their not quite legal data.

They’re tracking you with advertising cookies etc. Some people don’t know there is an option in most browsers to tell the website you don’t want to be tracked. I have the Ghostery Plugin, but hey enjoy being tracked if you don't use a blocking app.!

On the other end, they usually will need a reason to track you. Thus, their keywords searches: things like “Bomb, Jihad, Terrorism”, you know stuff us average people don’t talk about. I’m sure there are some harmless words that are “code” for some as well not that I have the list. But I’m sure you can brainstorm some of the likely ones.

The stupid thing is that if a group of terrorists is discussing blowing something up the chances are they aren't going to go and say "our plan is to bomb building X" in such plain language. It's not exactly rocket science to refer to their device as a "package" or similar and speak as if they were nothing more than a courier company. In the meantime the person referring to how they bombed their test, or found their car had been divebombed by the local birds right after being washed, triggers an automated search.

It reminds me of many years ago when AOL decided to fight online porn by banning the word "breast" from their network. Immediately they ran into problems because poultry farmers trying to offer prime cuts of chicken and turkey could no longer advertise their wares. Breast cancer support groups also complained because they could no longer discuss their ailment without resorting to silly slang. And in the meantime the porn peddlers were almost entirely unaffected because they had no problem with using schoolboy slang to describe body parts in general.

 

[tango]

I'm no threat to society, so they can monitor me all they want. Just don't censor me.

The trouble with monitoring is that data usually gets stored, and the only way to prevent data from being misused is to prevent its collection in the first place.

A lot of people like to repeat the mantra "nothing to hide, nothing to fear". In that regard I hope Jean Charles de Menezes is never forgotten.