billy badfinger wrote:
Is the internet a sort of "Big Brother" apparatus

Yes, that's why the government wants to control it...

billy badfinger wrote:
I assume as long as we aren't doing/planning anything illegal,
"They" won't/can't really do anything to us...Right???
Still...I don't like to think about how "shared" my online life really
might be!

You might be okay (safe) so long as you don't piss off anyone important, or you  just might suffer from collateral damage when they decide to destroy someone else that pisses them off.

billy badfinger wrote:
Is the internet a sort of "Big Brother" apparatus

Jay  Edwards wrote:
Yes, that's why the government wants to control it...

And yet it's the private sector that seems to be doing it the most.. I assume as long as there's a profit motive attached, you're ok with it?? 


To the OP, I see the same thing.. I've been looking at SSD drives and all of a sudden I'm seeing ads on MM/FB/YouTube, etc for SSD's...   So yes, the PRIVATE sector is doing a good job of figuring out and targeting you with your interests..

Kincaid Blackwood wrote:
Big Brother?

The government doesn't care about you that much. The notion of surveillance is based on the assumption of perceived individual importance. To the government, you're just a 10-digit social attached to a given dollar amount in taxes. To corporations, you a potential sale out of millions of others with cash, too. They only care about people collectively.

They're not spying on you, it's just a shrewd algorithm design to sway you to part with your cash. Outside of that, Big Brother doesn't really care...

Yeah, Uh-huh. That's why NSA has agreements with most ISP's to capture your information. Have you been living under a rock to the past few years? The Internet is the ultimate government "big brother" machine.

Jay  Edwards wrote:
Yes, that's why the government wants to control it...

Tropical Photography wrote:
And yet it's the private sector that seems to be doing it the most.. I assume as long as there's a profit motive attached, you're ok with it?? 
...

Um, the private sector does not have the power to seize assets and imprison people.

apples/oranges

Jay  Edwards wrote:

Jay  Edwards wrote:
Yes, that's why the government wants to control it...

Um, the private sector does not have the power to seize assets and imprison people.

apples/oranges

Tell that to your bank.

Michael Bots wrote:
Tell that to your bank.

Um, I am not forced to deal with a bank but I may choose to do so.

Oh, and can the bank put me in jail?

apples/oranges

billy badfinger wrote:
Is the internet a sort of "Big Brother" apparatus

Jay  Edwards wrote:
Yes, that's why the government wants to control it...

What makes you think they don't control it already?

Tropical Photography wrote:
And yet it's the private sector that seems to be doing it the most.

You might be right.  Then again, you might be wrong.

Lohkee wrote:
Yeah, Uh-huh. That's why NSA has agreements with most ISP's to capture your information. Have you been living under a rock to the past few years? The Internet is the ultimate government "big brother" machine.

You misunderstand.

The ability to do it on a selective basis is there and is exercised. The idea that they're interested in spying on everyone (or perhaps any of us here), however, is silly. The average American – artist on MM or not – just isn't doing anything that the government cares to monitor. You get in your car, buy your gas, go to some job or do some work, buy goods and pay sales tax, file your federal taxes at the end of the year. You're not doing anything special.

As such, the government doesn't care. Speak any number of keywords on your cell phone or type them out on your computer and you can send a ping. That may get you logged. Too many pings and you might be watched. But if you make it to that point, you're probably doing something outside of the average.

But is your Facebook the government's process of monitoring you 24/7? Do you think some government drone is reading all your facebook jokes and cat videos? You think the government gives enough of a shit about any of that to assign someone to watch you every second?

The average American does not warrant such special attention although we all like to think we're that important...

Kincaid Blackwood wrote:

You misunderstand.

The ability to do it on a selective basis is there and is exercised. The idea that they're interested in spying on everyone (or perhaps any of us here), however, is silly. The average American – artist on MM or not – just isn't doing anything that the government cares to monitor. You get in your car, buy your gas, go to some job or do some work, buy goods and pay sales tax, file your federal taxes at the end of the year. You're not doing anything special.

As such, the government doesn't care. Speak any number of keywords on your cell phone or type them out on your computer and you can send a ping. That may get you logged. Too many pings and you might be watched. But if you make it to that point, you're probably doing something outside of the average.

But is your Facebook the government's process of monitoring you 24/7? Do you think some government drone is reading all your facebook jokes and cat videos? You think the government gives enough of a shit about any of that to assign someone to watch you every second?

The average American does not warrant such special attention although we all like to think we're that important...

Oh yea of little paranoia....

The government, our government has the ability to capture every iota of information that zips along the information superhighway, they constantly strobe for keywords.

You may make a remark that her ass is dynamite or she's da bomb...

yeah they see that and they analyze it..they also keep tabs on the books you check out from the library, the places you shop and your purchases..

you may think that they care less about you, but just give it a test and see what happens.

and no I am not one of those conspiracy theorists, I just pay attention and read a lot.

Kincaid Blackwood wrote:
You misunderstand.

The ability to do it on a selective basis is there and is exercised. The idea that they're interested in spying on everyone (or perhaps any of us here), however, is silly. The average American – artist on MM or not – just isn't doing anything that the government cares to monitor. You get in your car, buy your gas, go to some job or do some work, buy goods and pay sales tax, file your federal taxes at the end of the year. You're not doing anything special.

As such, the government doesn't care. Speak any number of keywords on your cell phone or type them out on your computer and you can send a ping. That may get you logged. Too many pings and you might be watched. But if you make it to that point, you're probably doing something outside of the average.

But is your Facebook the government's process of monitoring you 24/7? Do you think some government drone is reading all your facebook jokes and cat videos? You think the government gives enough of a shit about any of that to assign someone to watch you every second?

The average American does not warrant such special attention although we all like to think we're that important...

No, I don't think that I do misunderstand. What they capture, and what they are interested in pursuing, are two very different things. How do you think they find things of interest?

Answer: By sifting through a lot of uninteresting garbage to find out if the "average American" is important (or not).