One of the ways that governments might push for greater security is simply to make the internet less anonymous. When you send a transmission across the net sites along the way would keep a record of where it came from and what was in it, and by the end of the day you're facing a bunch of corporations and governments who know exactly what you've sent or received, and when it happened. There could also be filters to automatically blacklist people who are bouncing their connections off mirror sites. It would provide a lot of security, and it might make the internet more civil too. *shrugs*

I always think it's funny when people think the government is watching them, who would want to follow me all day long? I'm boring. True, it takes away privacy, but who the hell is gonna search through all the random crap to find you? You could call me a conspiracy theorist and probably be right, but this is one conspiracy theory that I find too ridiculous.

We have followed you for a time and while it's true that you aren't the most, let's say, eventful person on our list, we remain ever vigilant.

Carry on then.

What happens when a conservative religious group starts buying lists of everyone who views a certain type of porm?

What happens when an extreme political group knows exactly who is visiting certain political groups on their 'hit-list'?

A lack of privacy might seem mild in the hands of government, but government wouldn't be the only one with access.

It's all a matter of greasing the right palms with the right amount of money.

TGFORAVPNACIG

And this:

http://xkcd.com/504/

Security and anonymity are actually valuable assets. You won't know how much you'll miss them until they're gone.

Also bear in mind that you might be a nobody now, but that can change at any time. Avoid online games, for example. Nerd rage is a very big problem that you may be the target of without even noticing it.

You should read up on the controversial RealID implementation in World of Warcraft. It was a very big issue. Newsworthy, even.

All we can hope for is that we can disappear into the growing mass of internet users and that automated surveillance never advances to the point where it overcomes anonymity through sheer force of numbers. In addition, as long as you aren't a [censored] and don't do anything illegal you don't have anything to worry about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yC4jZKSU8G4 Don't be afraid, but I'm going to take your mind. Stick with the original. < aka I called it.

If we lose anonymity on the net, I won't be using it.

I agree. Why would the government want to watch everyone?

No not at all times, don't be silly. They want the ability to watch any single person or group IF they think they're a threat. Pfft don't be dumb, everyone watching you at all times? It literally doesn't work on a basic math level.

They want the gear in place everywhere, so when they do need it they can just turn it on. Simple. This makes me sound crazy, but anyone in a position of power gets paranoid and wants to keep tabs on people. Corporations, Governments, any large group of people with a leader eventually get paranoid. Anyone could get like that. People make it sound crazy when they say oh the government is spying on us, don't lie. Everyone here would spy on people if they knew they wouldn't get caught. Maybe a few exceptions, but humans are weird sometimes.

That is true.

Yes, the tinfoil hat conspiracy thing. Unfortunately I think that is ultimately just a propaganda tool in use to vilify people that enjoy privacy protections they are nuts and a danger and must be monitored. Don't get me wrong I don't think the government is watching me I just know it's a fact the major ISP's have built backdoors into their system so a government branch can basically go into their system and go check out all the statistics they want on someone anytime for any reason reading e-mails (they would need a warrent to go into your house and take letters off your desk, but magically once it's stored in an electronic desk in a private company it's no longer private and requiring a warrent).
There are just tons of rampant abuses to peoples civil liberties, patriot act is such a criticized piece for instance. It just got renewed and guess what a person didn't even sign it themselves, a machine was used to put the commander in chiefs signature on it while he wasn't even in the same state. I fail to see how that is even remotely legal.
I think it's just a matter of time before anonymity is replaced with internet login ID numbers. Of course the rules are different for the wealthy and prestigious, they always are.

Lets say for instance, I say something bad about the government. The government might (and probably do) have filters that find these sorts of comments. Lets say the government decides to target me for surveillance. What if I am doing something they don't like but is perfectly legal? I'm an atheist, what happens if a radical religious group gains control of these surveillance properties and decides to watch anyone known to be an atheist?

How about finding these atheists and sending them to "reform" camps. Reform camps aren't unheard of, we all know which "camps" I am talking about.

The government doesn't need to watch me. Ever. Unless I actually do something illegal, they have the evidence to use surveillance and get a court order from a judge.

If you give the government too much power (or anyone for that matter), it WILL use it.

We'll see what happens with all of these backroom government deals hushed from main society, putting mega corporations and banks ahead of the people and intrusive legislation come November.....

I personally enjoy the sort of anarchy on the internet, where each website digs its trenches and fends for itself. It's not a perfect system, but would a government ran one be? Certainly not.

Man... this is like... why I'm against the whole cloud computing thing man. Because like, the BIG MAN could like, take my information man, and he'd know about me and what I look at man. You know what I mean man?

Just because someone think's someones is watching them, doesn't mean they aren't.

Also, you would have no ability to troubleshoot problems if you were disconnected from the cloud. You'd be completely dependent on the cloud for whatever purpose that cloud serves. Dependency is a terrible thing.

Same.

Anyone here remember when Blizzard was going to require people use their real names when posting on their forums? The uproar that caused?

Can anyone suggest me a tinfoil hat?

What are the best specifications for a tinfoil hat and is there a particular brand of tinfoil that is the best to use?

I would say that anonymity on the net is a joke atm due to regular users who just get FF + a firewall router thinking they are secured. Really you are still transmitting data and whenever you go to google then search something it'll pinpoint your location. So far the only way to bypass that is to use anonymous browsing through proxy servers *Think that's it* however even then you are still screwed as far as security goes.

As for the government suggesting this it doesn't surprise me and it'll probably happen in about 10 to 15 years. Already people were complaining about increased security at airports after 9/11 and things gradually became the norm. However after the recent problems with the underwear bomber and the printer parts thing security has been beefed up even more.

Only thing that will unnerve me is the government doing an invasion of privacy where i'm looking at something that is considered "Art" to some and "disturbing" to others then have me arrested because of it. (Michelangelo's David being one since some groups consider it to be disturbing)

Just use the store brand. It's cheapest and it works the same.

I have a moderate reliance on the internet. I do all online bill paying and some online game playing as well as school things. If need be, I could easily NOT use the internet but it would be a hassle having to convert everything but if the internet were to ruin privacy I would do it.

http://www.overclock.net/attachments/hardware-news/125404d1255011280-fud-intel-worried-about-gpu-viruses-good_luck_im_behind_7_proxies.jpg

Nah, but VPNs and proxies are a thing to look into if you're paranoid. (Like me)

Yeah, I'm boring too.

Even so, it still creeps the hell out of me to see people consider their privacy with such disregard. Difference of generation, maybe ; I don't get how people can even splatter their lives and photos over the net. If you don't value your privacy, people won't either : that's how you end up with companies firing people / refusing to hire people over stuff they posted on facebook. And how to blame the companies ? These people made their lives public, so to speak.

As it is, here, without entering into specifics, two cases were mediatised where people got tracked back, then sued for libel over rather harmless comments made about politicians on youtube. Must we really make that kind of worrying legal endeavours easier ?

Yes the government could implement that, but I live in Texas, as do you apparently. They ain't taking me from my house. Some government type tells me I have to leave, he's getting a mouthful of buckshot. My neighbors would do the same, just with more yelling and wooting. They'd probably have him stuffed as well.


Those filters. Someone told me about those, after I said "If there is one thing I want on my permanent record, it is 'shot the president with a full auto chicken cannon.'" I don't have anything against the president, I just want to see that on my permanent record.