Question for craigevil

[Ahtiga Saraz]

Regarding the threads:

• Can the Smart Grid be trusted?

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  http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=73051
  

• Global cell phone surveillance: another Spyco Survey

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  http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=73407
  

The first thread was unfortunately hijacked into a discussion of global warming, and then veered into antisemitism, so I understand why you locked it. I regret what happened in that thread, but I trust everyone will agree that clearly I was not responsible for the anti-semitic post.

But why did you lock the second thread? You wrote

Discussions in "Off topic" should still be in the spirit of this board, that is related to Linux/ Computers/ Software etc. Political, religious or racial discussions do not belong on this board.

That would appear to apply to the first thread (after it was hijacked and after another user posted an anti-semitic comment), but the initial post in the second thread contains no religious or racial discussions, and the "political" content is in my view peripheral. That is, I do not consider it particularly "political" to assert that dragnet surveillance systems exist in many nations--- this topic has after all been covered in numerous mainstream media outlets, and news stories on this topic at places like BBC News generally appear in "Technical" not "Politics-UK" or "Politics-USA".

As I tried to explain, the aim of the thread is simply to explain what is known about the scope of government sponsored surveillance (particularly in the MENA region, China, UK, the Continent, and the USA) and how it works. I feel that many people are curious about this topic, which certainly concerns computing (and even Linux specifically, as I hope to explain), and may even wish to take suitable defensive countermeasures based upon a knowledge of how current dragnet surveillance works.

So I request that you consider unlocking the second thread.

Thank you.

[craigevil]

Second thread unlocked.

[Ahtiga Saraz]

Thank you craig! I appreciate it.

In the first thread, I think I tread too lightly in failing to object to the hijacking (something which I have [embarrassed grin] at times been accused of doing myself), so if something like that happens in the second thread, I will consider reporting the offending post.

[Ahtiga Saraz]

@ craigevil:

You (I guess) locked

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http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=74372&start=30

while I was editing the last post which makes no sense as written. I was editing it to clarify that I advocate that citizens of "Western" countries should oppose the Surveillance State by joining civil liberties organizations, making views known to legislators, etc.

One problem with banning all political discussion at Debian forums is that it appears to some of us that there is a real danger that the Surveillance State is progressively making things we do effectively illegal (such as crypto, proxies). If the "Western" FOSS community doesn't kick back, I am concerned no-one here will like what happens even in "Western" countries.

Re

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http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=75532&start=60

am I allowed to reply to catdrool's comments? Isn't there a double standard operating here? Users whose politics you agree with can make comments, but when I start to reply, you appear to lock the thread before I can even explain my own position. This is confusing for everyone who participates in these threads, which seem to be popular despite the alleged proscription on all political discussions.

[craigevil]

You can't even post here without crap like this

the Surveillance State

.

Any post that babbles about "the Surveillance State", spyco, government surveillance, etc is going to get locked period.


Learn to stick with the technical how, and not the why. Or go post on a blog already as many people have suggested you do many times.

Look at my blog on linuxquestions.org, all I did was post the tech info without ranting about various governments. It really is not that difficult to do.

1) How to use Tor,......................
NOT use Tor or whatever because Big Brother is watching you post on Facebook, etc.

if you do not like it email the admins, maybe they will see it differently than I do. Which btw is what you are supposed to do and not posting threads like this one.