While trolling through Buzzfeed’s list of best signs from the July 4th protests and the comments sections of various articles
on the NSA/Snowden story, I’ve witnessed bold and unafraid Americans speaking
up against injustice and government overreach. One of the more ironic signs
spelled out the NSA acronym as ‘New Stasi Agency,’ a reference to the
intelligence apparatus of East Germany that sought to 'know all.' Additionally, many readers commented on
and expressed outrage toward the unprecedented nature of recently exposed
U.S. surveillance programs. It’s good to know that people take seriously issues
such as unwarranted seizure of citizens’ metadata and secret courts.
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| Courtesy of Buzzfeed |
Not seriously enough, as it turns out. New insights keep
piling up with minimal reaction from the American populous: the FISA court’s
precedent-setting decisions for intelligence gathering, gag orders preventing
tech companies (Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google) from speaking of government
requests for user data, general secrecy surrounding the NSA, FISA and the
latter’s trove of jurisprudence that remains largely out of sight. No
legislation is on the table calling for accountability and transparency. No one
is flooding the streets and their representative’s office demanding explanation
or remedy. Instead, a few protests dotted America on its birthday. No one seems
to care.
