BTC - It's been somewhat quieter on the surveillance counterfront, but there really IS news out there. We are happy to see once sparse reporting of Orweillian or maybe even Aldous Huxley inspired news in conventional media become more of the norm.
In a time when newspapers are losing their shorts, papers have been getting more bold, less afraid of what they have to lose. They have started to report real news again. And we have started reading it again as a result.
For the better part of 10 years, the public gave up on mainstream media. Media outlets absorbed so much of the mercurial politics injected through spin wheels they became poisoned against telling the simple truth of what happened. The result was inevitable. People quit reading the paper. People eschewed TV. They went to the Internet. We bypassed news pilled out by retired CIA/DOD consultants and the "news shaping" of short sighted strokeable careerists chasing someone's carrot.
We always knew it was okay to tell the truth; even if there are consequences. Unfortunately, we live in a time when our American government will say things like "whistleblower protection" only to turn around and arrest journalists. The charges? Reporting the news.
I would like to take this time to recognize repentant news outlets who have increased reporting on the arbitrary surveillance of identified persons.
Washington Post - Bar None. THE very reliable source for national news that applies to surveilling you, consistently. If we could give them an award it would go to the authors of Top Secret America. Now the public knows it's not just conspiracy theory that there's a lot of surveillance goin' on. Other works critical to our blogging has been the sponsorship of debate via Op-Ed on national identity. They now venture unafraid into reports on national identity and the individual mandate.
Wall Street Journal - They hit when it counts. On several occasions they break news when it is time is of the essence. This is specific to: reporting on biometric identity, privatized/corporate surveillance for profit. The conclusion we make is that there isn't much difference between what the government does and unregulated business. WSJ reported on the businessess who glean freely from our private information due to the lack of lawmaking. Laws are useful to inspire boundaries. A pleasant surprise, indeed.
New York Times - Over the course of the last month I have found national or world news which keeps the light on surveillance, technology and the politics of government control DAILY. Their coverage of the Saudi's attempt to squelch Blackberry technology alongside headlines of panicky Chinese proliferation of CCTV of a Uighur town due a history of riots showed the West is not alone in the personal struggle for common privacy as a human right.
USA Today - What we know them for is their willingness to report on the less than upright positions of the TSA in dealing with the American public, consistently. Everything from improper baggage handling, passenger harassment, changes in airline identity policy and those scandalous "adult" body scanners.
Honorable mention of blogs: Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald, Mrs. Smith, Hillicon Valley, Raw Story, Huffington Post, CNet, Computer World and Federal Weekly online and the GAWKER players.
Please don't quit doing your jobs.
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