I started watching the Snowden (2016) movie the other day, and got to the point about explanation of XKEYSCORE. The whole time I was thinking “how quaint, that this was such a shockingly abusive system at the time”. We’ve crossed the threshold long ago. We’re so far gone that it’s just taken for granted that we’re always being watched, everywhere. I stopped watching the film because it was really bumming me out. There’s nothing we can do about it and it’s so very sad.

It is sad, but there is not nothing we can do about it.

we use communication systems. we can for example encrypt our comms. interestingly, most messaging platforms become owners of 'our identity' and the friend mesh. if we start decentralizing the idea of identity and friend mesh, and it becomes privately managed, and not externally managed, perhaps we can hop from messaging system to messaging system with more ease, and if so, perhaps we can become more free as a society. losing the equivalent of a 'facebook' account should be a minor inconvenience, not a tragic event. we should encourage people we communicate with, to become more aware and more deeply conscious of privacy, encryption, identity, and to have some healthy distrust for the potential abuses of the state.