(August 4, 2013 at 3:23 pm)teaearlgreyhot Wrote: If an equivalent to today's NSA scandal broke out say 40 years ago, would there have been as much hubbub about it like there is today? I'm wondering if the privacy concerns that a substantial number of people hold today is a recent phenomenon.
I'm watching old WW2 documentaries this week. I'm seeing that the definition of "liberty" espoused in US propaganda films probably had a very different meaning than it does now. "Fight for liberty" while we're putting Japanese American citizens in camps, segregating blacks, performing eugenics, etc.
So while NSA scandal is alarming, perhaps we should take the outrage to be a promising sign.
There is no equvalent.
This scandal was made possible through the internet.
The equivalent might be the Stasi or Tcheka or Gestapo and such things can only come into existance in a undemocratic society.
