The Ink-Pot and the Palette

I have two trains of thought on this topic that are sort of in agreement, sort of in disagreement with you. :)

Train #1: For me, specifically, here in the right now, I am not personally concerned about my data being in the hands of the NSA simply because the amount of data they have altogether is very, very large, far outpacing whatever sophistication, mechanism, and technology currently exists to process and swallow it in a useful manner. Slacktivist does a great job of encapsulating my thought on it, so I won't rewrite his article and instead, I'll just direct you to read it:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2013/06/10/big-corporations-collect-a-lot-of-data-dont-know-how-to-use-it/

Train #2: I could also basically be a cosigner of Digby's post and reblog of Chris Hayes' segment on his show last night and I implore you to read it:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/chris-hayes-its-not-some-orwellian.html.

During the 4 year labor strike my family went through (1988 to 1992), we had our phones bugged, were followed by both the police and hired thugs (Pinkerton's, the infamous union-busting firm), had our house "searched" repeatedly by the police -- which amounts to a bunch of armed men tossing your stuff on the floor and breaking shit, then shrugging their shoulders all "whoops!" -- had our bank accounts frozen AT LEAST a half dozen times, tires slashed, vehicle windows broken, had our mail intercepted (and probably read, but could never prove it), school records "lost", college applications "lost", scholarship applications "lost". My stepdad looked for mining jobs in 9 states and couldn't get a single one, despite 20+ years of experience (blacklist? never heard of it).

They knew where we shopped, where our families lived, what doctors we went to and when. My stepdad was even charged with a crime he couldn't have committed, since he was 3 states away at the time looking for a job. Which didn't mean we didn't have to still go through all the steps of being guilty before proven innocent, but I digress....

The FBI has a file not just on my stepdad, not just on my mom. The FBI has a file on me. I was 15. My brother was 13 and he has one, too. A lawyer advised me once that they don't purge those files, they just look for more stuff to put in them.

The point is, that was before the Information Age we live in now. That was a small town in Backwater USA involving a mid-level corporation, Reagan-era union busting through bureaucracy at the federal level, and the collusion and corruption of a small town anxious to please some corporate masters because they believed in the Trickle Down Fairy. In the scheme of things, small potatoes, yet look at the lengths they went to with the data they had, legally and otherwise, and even as clumsy and uncoordinated as they were, how much damage they did. We were one of 435 families in that strike, and our experience wasn't even the worst of the bunch.

I know my experience is comparatively unusual. But I also know as well as some and better than most just how easily and quickly personal information can be used against you, how little it takes to get on "their" radar, and how completely and entirely they will beat you down.

I agree with you -- I don't see us turning back the technological clock, either. And I think "turn[ing] our attention to...how we relate as citizens to our government and how much power we have in that relationship" is absolutely spot on. But even so, we need to understand something just as fundamental: "When you construct a massive surveillance apparatus, history tells us that it will be brought to bear not just on, quote, 'the enemy' but on the people who threaten society's power structure." As the Russian proverb goes, trust in god, but keep rowing to shore.