Hi Wiretappers, I love your blog and I wanted to ask your opinion on something that's been bugging me for a while now. Don't you think that when it comes to government wiretapping, ignorance is bliss? If whistleblowers hadn't revealed all this about NSA surveillance, the innocent wouldn't be affected, there wouldn't be so much partisan outrage, and we could all sleep better at night. Hope you answer my question! :-)
Hey there, thanks for your question! We disagree for a few reasons. Firstly, we do not think that this sense of safety exists without a certain degree of security and transparency. Even though we might feel less outrage at certain confidential government policies, the fact that these policies are controversial enough to incite backlash shows that it directly compromises our safety and security. Even though ignorance is bliss, it can also become a blister. Secondly, with news of the NSA surveillance, it was revealed that the surveillance was mainly targeted at foreigners, or minorities who show a potential to become terrorists, which implicates many innocent people especially Muslims who were the targets of this policy. As such, without the acknowledgement of policies that do discriminate minorities to a certain extent, we cannot progress as a society and cannot do anything to help those who are marginalised by society. Government tapping is often selective and targets many innocents or those who are already marginalized and a minority in society which breeds discrimination and injustice, which can be mitigated and even solved if we lessen/stop government surveillance that exploits the right to privacy.
