Dear Mr "I have nothing to hide"...

[baby_mouse]

Supposing the wiretappers have something to hide?

Have you thought of that, my dear?

Is their department performing well? No? May as well sew together something incriminating from phone conversations held by *you*. Bingo! Instant perp.

Does you neighbour want a chunk of your backyard? Quick deal with the wiretappers and bingo! You're in jail and your assets are seized and auctioned. Instant swimming pool.

Do you want to live in a world of spies and lies? It's just around and the corner, the grey glinting of observation towers and behavioural adjustment cameras bristling over the streets of Nothingtohideland.

Corporations next, Mr "I have nothing to hide". Your boss will listen to your phone conversations to ensure that you remain loyal to the company. Outlandish? Drug testing is now the norm, my dear.

Power does not merely corrupt, power develops *into* corruption, becomes corruption *itself*. It doesn't take long for an officially enforced relationship of power to mutate into an officially enforced relationship of abuse *irrespective* of who is in the driving seat.

The terrorists will find a new way to communicate and will not be caught. In the meantime, criminals will gather in the wiretapping offices to see what use this new source of information can be put to.

Insider trading? Settling old scores?

Remember that prick you hated and who hated you at high school? You know, it wouldn't take long for him to get a job in the wiretapping offices, Mr "I have nothing to hide". Just a little time and patience. Then your ass is his. He can dip in on your poe conversations any time he likes and with one or two connections could make your life very nasty indeed.

Tell me this, Mr "I have nothing to hide", how would you stop them, the criminals of your country from simply walking into wiretapping jobs? Have you considered what criminals are and what they want? Where they gravitate towards? They gravitate towards easy money, Mr "I have nothing to hide", and there's going to be NOWHERE in the country better suited to easy money than a wiretapping office.

THAT'S WHY THEY HAVE TO HAVE WARRANTS. YES. NOT BECAUSE OF NAUGHTY LIBERALS BEING AWKWARD, NO. SO THAT THE COURT SYSTEM CAN TRACK THEM.

And that's just one problem, Mr "I have nothing to hide", just because YOU have nothing to hide will not mean, as you will discover very shortly in a wiretapped world, that your ordinary privacy is not worth nothing to you. You will be in for some very nasty surprises if your country goes down that path. You will discover that things you thought you needn't hide might in fact be best hidden, not because there's anything wrong with them, but simply because someone *else* thinks they should be hidden.

Your opinions of what you have to hide or are free to reveal are not tremendously likely to remain static and in alignment with a wiretapper's ideas of what you may hide or reveal.

Have you heard the phrase "Thin end of the wedge?"

How long before your bosses are allowed to sack you on the spot for SEEMING to be disloyal, requiring no evidence whatsoever? (They'd never do that, of course they wouldn't. Uh-huh.)

We do not mistrust the operators of Big Brother's machinery merely because they are figures in authority... (although that would be good reason enough, whomsoever desires power over others is to be regarded with automatic suspicion for the survival of common decency...)...

But because they are STRANGERS.

Paradoxically, in Nothingtohideland, EVERYTHING IS HIDDEN...

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Most people don't realize

that anyone can accuse someone of anything. All it takes is an anonymous phone call to the authorities. Gee I think so and so might by connected to al CIAda. Doesn't matter if you have nothing to hide, they have to investigate you and once they go to the bother of launching an investigation, then they're going to try to charge you with something. That's how it goes every day.

[no_more_rhyming]

2. A little bit

over the top but I'll still strap on my tin foil hat.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

3. People will go to great lengths for revenge

in cases like divorces, custody battles, neighbor disputes and so on. I know of one divorce where the woman was so mad at her husband for cheating on her that she told the IRS that he cheated on his taxes, even though she implicated HERSELF because she also had signed the tax forms.

This spying would encourage people to turn into liars so they could snitch on somebody for the purpose of revenge.

[BOSSHOG]

4. Those who say they have nothing to hide are liars

It makes them feel good to say that. They get to rail at "liberals." They get to do their small part to help out the bush team by passing on that line. They think they are good teammates when they are just blind little lemmings doing what they are controlled to do. They never think of what they have done or what they are hiding could be used against them by someone or something as nefarious as the bush administration. And since they are "conservatives" they have no problem lying to you or me or to themselves. Ain't that right "conservatives?" Just what is in that box in the attic that you aren't hiding?

[Deja Q]

5. One premartial fornication would be more than enough.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. I Have Nothing To Hide! Am i A Liar?

I have nothing to hide, boss. But that is the reason i'm outraged by the government's intrusion into civil liberties. They are wasting my tax dollars and limited gov't resources to randomly intrude on people's privacy. My whole justification for being outraged is that i, just like the convervative idiots, have nothing to hide. Therefore, this ticks me off.
The Professor

[BOSSHOG]

7. Let me expand my subject line

Those who say they have nothing to hide (in order to justify bush's raping of the constitution) are liars. Those who support the constitution would never make such a claim regardless of whether anyone has anything to hide. I have observed "conservatives" over the years and there is no doubt in my mind they have no use for the document (or at the least they do not understand its importance); their latest display is only more proof. I apologize for any implication.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. No Apology Needed

I knew you didn't necessarily mean me. But, i think this whole premise can be respun to be the opposite message.

The Professor

[BOSSHOG]

10. You peak my interest

I'm not the brightest lightbulb but I've been thinking how this issue can be respun to a different message. I don't understand. Please educate me. Do you mean, if you have something to hide then you would object to raping the constitution? I'm not trying to be difficult, just trying to understand. I need as many mental weapons as possible.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Yes, Exactly

Because i have nothing to hide, i resent the waste of resources and the co-opting of basic rights in the interest of fighting a problem to which i am not a contributor.

The idea that the gov't can spy on anybody at anytime in the interest of national security should be the MOST alarming to those with nothing to hide, because it would mean the gov't reserves the right to spy on me for NOTHING! That would seem to be outrageous on its face.

The Professor

[madokie]

9. Hey BOSS, the great divide

people better wake the fuck up. eminent domain then this.
I'm pissed and getting pissed'er