Democracy is Dead Without Privacy

"Violence Traps the US" by Tim Holmes

This TED talk is not the best, but it is the most important I have seen, I think. Mikko Hipponen tells us
how privacy is the root of democracy. The question to pinpoint wrongdoing is not "what do you have to hide?" but "why does the NSA have to remain secret?"  Only cockroaches and criminals never come into the light.

Now the US government (which used to be We the People) has effectively drained democracy from the world, with the ironic exception of those nations like China who insulated themselves from the western internet. In a further bizarre twist, because of the corporate influence on government, the US is assuring its own economic destruction since– as Mikko points out– the only way to be secure in maintaining your privacy is to avoid using anything made in the USA since no US entity is apparently granted privacy. This is of course a remedy only for foreigners. For US citizens there is no remedy.

The sad fact is that while Americans were on the hunt for terrorists who might threaten our freedoms, our democracy was stolen from within. I don't know about you but I can no longer look at my nation with the sense of pride that I once had. I still believe in American citizens and our constitution, but we have designed a system that can be hacked. Now it has been and I don't know if we will be able to get it back. If so one of the early signs will be that Ed Snowden is transformed from a villain into a hero. The future is uncertain, but God is with us and it is as yet unwritten. Keep the faith!