Spying On Your Own

For the few people that still believe that the U.S. is a free country, respectful of the law and, most of all, privacy, the news about PRISM, a government surveillance program, must come as a shock. Now we know that, at least since 2007, the National Security Agency has been listening in and looking at what Americans say or write through all the electronic media available. The NSA has forced communication and Internet companies to give it access to their clients' accounts, on "national security" grounds.

Funny, I seem to recall that this was the same excuse that the Soviet Union and other totalitarian states gave to spy on their own people during the Cold War era. The U.S used to point out time and again that a free society such as the American one was in marked contrast with the dictatorships on this issue.

Not anymore.

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