bostonterrierowner wrote:I was thinking about the motives behind all this "Snowden" whistleblowing and after watching parts of ARD "interview" I can share some comments.
4. Why did they choose to let us know that there is no privacy anymore? Is it to make us focus on wiretapping and google engine spying when in fact the new technologies are developed, way more sophisticated and sinister or just to make us think that PTB are more powerful than it really is the case?
It seems to me that a major aspect of the Snowden hoax is getting people to believe that government supercomputers are spying on us. Yes, they are gathering data (always have been always will be) but that is a far cry from actively spying. A human being still needs to evaluate and examine that data. Automated methods of analysis such as artificial intelligence (Natural Language Processing et. al.) have been a bust at the academic and practical levels. Computers still can't understand the human mind after 50+ years of trying.
Google Inc., the NSA, Facebook, etc... are only databases, places to store and retrieve information, nothing more. Just take a look at the major application of data mining: advertising. How many times did you buy something because an online ad hit you at just the right moment?
The government is in the same position it was 50 years ago in terms of spying on its citizens. If they really don't like you they can get all the data they need but can they just turn on a computer have it figure out what you're thinking/planning in some kind of "Minority Report" world? No.
Disclosure: I've never listened to a word Snowden said nor read a word he/she/it has written. From day 1 I felt it to be a hoax and a sham. Snowden is a character out of some 1950's Heinlein short story.