Have You Changed Your Internet Habits Because Of Illegal Domestic Spying?

[Syrinx]

Poll question: Have You Changed Your Internet Habits Because Of Illegal Domestic Spying?

Please elaborate if you want to.

[darkmaestro019]

1. Yes. I use more obscure search engines and I tone down my vitriol

believe it or not, heh. And that is utterly unlike me.

And sometimes I say things to posters here in PM that I am afraid to say "publicly" for fear of a lurking troll reporting me to DHS. Usually something along the lines of "I agree with you but I'm afraid to say so in public." I suppose that's just as risky--they could be a Romulan spy regardless of post count, but keeping my mouth shut ENTIRELY is just too much to ask of me.

And I have also sent a PM or two pleading with a poster to be careful for the same reasons.

And I fucking hate it.


EDIT: I am utterly against being ruled by fear, or having fear limit your experiences, too. It makes me sick to watch myself behave this way. But it's not just fear for myself--it's fear for my beloved and the future I've promised him we'll have together. I suspect it's the same for many--as I said in a thread not quite related, it's our "kids" that They are holding hostage....

[Selatius]

2. Technology all but ensures no privacy.

If you have a cellphone, you can be followed.
If you have a telephone line, you can be tapped.
If you have a bank account, you can be monitored.
If you have medical records on file, you can be checked.
If you have a presence on the internet, you can be tracked.

There is very little you can do to protect yourself if you have especially angered very powerful people in very high places. The only avenue is to live like Eric Rudolph or the Unabomber: "Live off the grid." No technology, you live like the Amish, but for obvious reasons, many people find that trade-off unacceptable. America waved goodbye to privacy a long time ago in the name of convenience and expediting business transactions/communications.

Technologically speaking, George Orwell's world is possible, and it has been for many years now.

[Syrinx]

4. I'm sure I've posted about this before

But I have a "conspiracy theory" that maybe, just maybe, the introduction of the internet into the basic fabric of society (as opposed to a military, scientific, and academic tool) was done to gather intelligence on every person in the nation -- even the world. I think I used the term "honey pot" even though I realize that is usually used in terms of "hacking," and such.

[rucky]

3. If they want to fuck with you, they will.

no matter what you say or do, so you may as well not worry about it until something happens.

[Syrinx]

5. I know what you mean

I really do. Bad times.

[greekspeak]

9. That's basically how I see it

If they set up the "camps," they are going to get me whether I am on the Net or not. Hell they did it 50 years ago with McCarthy's witch hunts, lacking the sophisticated technology and the polarized country. Now it is just easier and faster for them to do it. I am sure they know every move I make, every breath I take. Once being an angry gay liberal atheist becomes a hated enough profile, I will be transported away, net or not.

[monarch]

6. I voted no but

I do think about it. It is frightening to discover how easy the internet makes it to learn personal information about somebody you don't even know.

[WePurrsevere]

7. I can't say I've "changed" them. I'm very much a product of the '60's &..

'70's. The messages of peace, love and equality mixed heavily with Captain Kanagroo, Star Trek, Watergate, Dark Shadows and The Partridge Family. So although I am hopeful and basically a positive person I also do not trust any gov official totally and that's been heightened the more I've lived and learned. This lack of "trust" is perhaps even less so on the internet since it was originally started for US military communication, although admittedly it quickly shifted to being heavily for educational use which is where I was first introduced to (and used) it, while helping in my HS's Guidance Office in 1977. (btw, I was RIGHT Mr Cunningham. :P ) After that I used BBS' and the internet off and on as friends would let me borrow their computers or if I was helping one work on research. In 1991 I finally owned my first computer and went online consistently and ghen almost constantly in 1993.

Anyway, to the point (with apologies for the :hangover: ramble)... NEVER, in all those years, did I totally feel that I was surfing or posting in a bubble and with meta-search engines like Google even less so now. I'm always aware that I may be "watched". Not only by the gov (which, although it is a concern, actually doesn't worry me that much) but by lurkers who may be influenced one way or the other or by someone who knows me "offline" and can (probably easily) figure out who I am if they put their minds to it.

If the gov really wants to "spy" on me, even before the internet, they've always been able to in some way or another. It's just that much easier with modern technology.

[Jensen]

8. NO and really I mean HELL NO.....

for I have no intentions of letting them win! :patriot:

[Minnesota Libra]

10. Of course NOT, better they spy on me than someone who gives..............

.....a crap what they think and do. In fact I someone say things in emails just purposely so HomeLand Security:freak: will have something to read.:hi:

[Burried News]

11. If they put us all in jail we'll have them surrounded. nt

[Jim Sagle]

12. Yes, I try to make a point of telling w to suck my cock.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. YES, I now go to inter-racial porn sites so the Nazis have to watch them

I also email ALL the Republicans I know letters with words like "bomb, terrorist, assassinate," etc... Let's see if they're telling the truth when they say, "I have nothing to hide." The IRS will soon have everything homeland insecurity has gathered.

[Syncronaut Seven]

16. Inter-racial porn sites

I like that suggestion a whole lot! :rofl: You know, once you go black.......

Make sure they're gay pornos for maximum effect. ;o) And thanks for taking one for the team! :rofl:

[liberalpress]

14. No, and i'll tell you why...

I've chosen NOT to be afraid... but if I suddenly "disappear" then you'll

[Kailassa]

15. No point, I was under physical surveillance ,

and had my phone tapped.

A phoney court case was set up against me, fake newspaper reporters came to my house and photographed me, and a very nicely dressed gentleman with a pistol in a chest holster under his jacket came to my house, showed me ID, told me he was an ASIO undercover agent, and was sussing out what I knew about something I'd accidentally bumped into.

Naturally I knew nothing whatsoever about anything he referred to, but I had the feeling he'd shoot me in the most gentlemanly way possible if I had. I have no idea where he was actually from, he could have been English, he was definitely not American.

After 9/11 I sadly reported a friend to ASIO who was making bombs for a secret group here, (Melbourne, Australia.) The group kept showing him videos that sirred him up to hate Jews and to believe in cult-christianity and creationism, and he found it was financed by a Saudi bank. ASIO at that time had hired a lot of extra people to take calls, and those people made it obvious they were not going to pass anything on, just being rude, making jokes and leaving the phone on a bench ignoring me. Finally I managed, through past contacts, to get to a high-up there, and actually got a thank-you call later when they checked it out.

But, of course, the surveillance started up again.

[LuCifer]

17. HEY NSA SPIES! I AM TOUCHING IT!

My keyboard that is. Perverts!

Yeah, I've changed my Net habits. I download MORE porn! I look at MORE anti-BU$Hitler sites! I'm 900 times MORE subversite! Fuku!

Lu

[Roland99]

18. No. I will NOT be frightened by these fear mongering bastards! NEVER!

[Sisaruus]

19. If I die without an FBI file....

I will be an unhappy citizen if I die without an FBI file. If anything, I more aggressively visit sites which will make me that much more noticeable. But then again, in the mid-60s, I deliberately got on communist and socialist mailing lists. However, I do envision them all sitting around at the Pentagon saying "Oh, it's just her again. Next...."