Ordering a pizza and back to our future

[Foxfyre]

Many years ago, 1984 was high on the recommended reading lists in most of America's highschools and frequently the book widely discussed on college campuses. But it was so bizarre we looked at it as science fiction or realities of some totalitarian regime. Not something that could ever happen in America.

Then there were the recent scandals of massive data base gathering through wireless phone companies and other incidents of which apparently most Americans remain unaware or they shrug it off as no big deal. Many were reassured when prominent congresspersons defended the situation. And there is more and more pressure from government at various levels to regulate the size of soft drinks we can buy, the amount of fat or sugar or salt permitted into the foods we eat, etc.

How close are we to the Orwellian Big Brother 1984 scenario we used to discuss on an intellectual level only?

What do you think? Are you concerned? Is the following video prepared by the ACLU anything close to being realistic?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNJl9EEcsoE]Ordering Pizza in the Future - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Smilebong]

Many years ago, 1984 was high on the recommended reading lists in most of America's highschools and frequently the book widely discussed on college campuses. But it was so bizarre we looked at it as science fiction or realities of some totalitarian regime. Not something that could ever happen in America.

Then there were the recent scandals of massive data base gathering through wireless phone companies and other incidents of which apparently most Americans remain unaware or they shrug it off as no big deal. Many were reassured when prominent congresspersons defended the situation. And there is more and more pressure from govrenment at various levels to regulate the size of soft drinks we can buy, the amount of fat or sugar or salt permitted into the foods we buy, etc.

How close are we to the Orwellian Big Brother 1984 scenario we used to discuss on an intellectual level only?

What do you think? Are you concerned? Is the following video prepared by the ACLU anything close to being realistic?

Ordering Pizza in the Future - YouTube

I don't think we are that far away. Our country has changed radically in the past 30 years.

 

[nodoginnafight]

Pretty funny video.
Scary? I don't know. I mean we all know all that data is out there. But why would someone (especially a pizza place) pay the high cost of gathering and matching all that data?

Why would anyone go to all the trouble to do that? Just because they can doesn't mean they will.

 

[Pete7469]

I've been concerned about the over reaching power of government for a long time. This new NSA thing isn't "new" to me at all.

For six decades, the global Project Echelon has been used to surveil an unknown amount of material with an unknown degree of specificity.

As far back as FDR the government illegally wiretapped US citizens.

I'm not saying it's right or even tolerable. It's just what government does, but instead of being concerned about liberty, voters decided "hope and change" was the answer.

 

[Katzndogz]

Pretty funny video.
Scary? I don't know. I mean we all know all that data is out there. But why would someone (especially a pizza place) pay the high cost of gathering and matching all that data?

Why would anyone go to all the trouble to do that? Just because they can doesn't mean they will.

The pizza place isn't gathering any data. They are just wired into the data base that gathers the data.

 

[daveman]

Pretty funny video.
Scary? I don't know. I mean we all know all that data is out there. But why would someone (especially a pizza place) pay the high cost of gathering and matching all that data?

Why would anyone go to all the trouble to do that? Just because they can doesn't mean they will.

They would do it because the government would force them to.

When fascism comes to America, it will be carrying a protest sign and screeching, "It's for the children!!"

 

[nodoginnafight]

Pretty funny video.
Scary? I don't know. I mean we all know all that data is out there. But why would someone (especially a pizza place) pay the high cost of gathering and matching all that data?

Why would anyone go to all the trouble to do that? Just because they can doesn't mean they will.

They would do it because the government would force them to.

When fascism comes to America, it will be carrying a protest sign and screeching, "It's for the children!!"

Or maybe .... we have strong doubts about YOUR patriotoism if you object....

I just don't see private business going to this much trouble to do something that doesn't help their bottom line.

And I don't see anyone having the will to go to this trouble just to snoop on everyday citizens.

Given, it's creepy and it stirs some as yet unidentified rumblings in the back of my brain. But it's hard for me to work up any real outrage. Maybe that means I don't deserve freedom - I don't know. I'll work on it.

 

[daveman]

Pretty funny video.
Scary? I don't know. I mean we all know all that data is out there. But why would someone (especially a pizza place) pay the high cost of gathering and matching all that data?

Why would anyone go to all the trouble to do that? Just because they can doesn't mean they will.

They would do it because the government would force them to.

When fascism comes to America, it will be carrying a protest sign and screeching, "It's for the children!!"

Or maybe .... we have strong doubts about YOUR patriotoism if you object....

I just don't see private business going to this much trouble to do something that doesn't help their bottom line.

And I don't see anyone having the will to go to this trouble just to snoop on everyday citizens.

Given, it's creepy and it stirs some as yet unidentified rumblings in the back of my brain. But it's hard for me to work up any real outrage. Maybe that means I don't deserve freedom - I don't know. I'll work on it.

Progressives have made it quite clear for decades that their goal is complete government control over individual lives, from cradle to grave.

And they're working on it even as we speak.

 

[Foxfyre]

How much do you think the American public has become complacent and almost disinterested in the increasing government encroachment on our privacy?

It was almost 30 years ago now that I was working for an ecumencal church agency that had a number of volunteers who were helping with a sort of underground railroad kind of thing to help people from Central American and South American countries enter the USA illegally and move through the area without detection. These were presumed political refugees, but the U.S position at that time was that they were economic refugees and therefore not eligible for asylum. Anyhow, I know a lot of those volunteers were afraid of getting caught and they worried about that a lot. I was not involved in the process, but by virtue of my job, I did have considerable exposure to those who were.

Anyhow, because of some otherwise unexplained clicks on our phone lines, I came to strongly believe that our phones were tapped. And then I started hearing those same clicks on my home phone. I had nothing to hide either place, but I did watch what I said and how I said it just the same conscious that my every word might be recorded somewhere. And who knows how it might be used?

When I left that job soon after, the clicks on my phone stopped within a couple of weeks. Apparently I was no longer a person of interest as close family members were later able to get government security clearances with no problem.

But it does make you think.

 

[nodoginnafight]

How much do you think the American public has become complacent and almost disinterested in the increasing government encroachment on our privacy?

It was almost 30 years ago now that I was working for an ecumencal church agency that had a number of volunteers who were helping with a sort of underground railroad kind of thing to help people from Central American and South American countries enter the USA illegally and move through the area without detection. These were presumed political refugees, but the U.S position at that time was that they were economic refugees and therefore not eligible for asylum. Anyhow, I know a lot of those volunteers were afraid of getting caught and they worried about that a lot. I was not involved in the process, but by virtue of my job, I did have considerable exposure to those who were.

Anyhow, because of some otherwise unexplained clicks on our phone lines, I came to strongly believe that our phones were tapped. And then I started hearing those same clicks on my home phone. I had nothing to hide either place, but I did watch what I said and how I said it just the same conscious that my every word might be recorded somewhere. And who knows how it might be used?

When I left that job soon after, the clicks on my phone stopped within a couple of weeks. Apparently I was no longer a person of interest as close family members were later able to get government security clearances with no problem.

But it does make you think.

Maybe the investigation of illegal imiogration is a legitimate use of the technology?

 

[nodoginnafight]

How much do you think the American public has become complacent and almost disinterested in the increasing government encroachment on our privacy?

It was almost 30 years ago now that I was working for an ecumencal church agency that had a number of volunteers who were helping with a sort of underground railroad kind of thing to help people from Central American and South American countries enter the USA illegally and move through the area without detection. These were presumed political refugees, but the U.S position at that time was that they were economic refugees and therefore not eligible for asylum. Anyhow, I know a lot of those volunteers were afraid of getting caught and they worried about that a lot. I was not involved in the process, but by virtue of my job, I did have considerable exposure to those who were.

Anyhow, because of some otherwise unexplained clicks on our phone lines, I came to strongly believe that our phones were tapped. And then I started hearing those same clicks on my home phone. I had nothing to hide either place, but I did watch what I said and how I said it just the same conscious that my every word might be recorded somewhere. And who knows how it might be used?

When I left that job soon after, the clicks on my phone stopped within a couple of weeks. Apparently I was no longer a person of interest as close family members were later able to get government security clearances with no problem.

But it does make you think.

Maybe the investigation of illegal imigration is a legitimate use of the technology?

 

[Foxfyre]

Pretty funny video.
Scary? I don't know. I mean we all know all that data is out there. But why would someone (especially a pizza place) pay the high cost of gathering and matching all that data?

Why would anyone go to all the trouble to do that? Just because they can doesn't mean they will.

They would do it because the government would force them to.

When fascism comes to America, it will be carrying a protest sign and screeching, "It's for the children!!"

Or maybe .... we have strong doubts about YOUR patriotoism if you object....

I just don't see private business going to this much trouble to do something that doesn't help their bottom line.

And I don't see anyone having the will to go to this trouble just to snoop on everyday citizens.

Given, it's creepy and it stirs some as yet unidentified rumblings in the back of my brain. But it's hard for me to work up any real outrage. Maybe that means I don't deserve freedom - I don't know. I'll work on it.

The government can pretty much force you to provide whatever information it wants you to collect for them. And it has increasingly taken a role in what kind of toilet you may buy, what kinds of light bulbs can be manufactured and sold, what the gas mileage must be on the automobile you buy, and what food and drink you should be able to purchase and consume.

The provisions in Obamacare will require all healthcare providers to enter their patients' medical records into a national data base.

Do you honestly think it improbable that a government who presumes to order what is and is not healthy for us to impose a tax on unhealthy behavior? And is it completely outside the realm of possibility, that given that the national data base will exist, that restaurants would be required to access that data base and impose fines on those who ordered something not deemed proper for them to eat?

I didn't think it would ever be possible that the government would actually dictate what size soft drink I would be allowed to buy or the type of toilet I would be allowed to buy. Now I don't rule anything out for a government that becomes ever more bold and authoritarian in the face of a public who just shrugs and allow it to happen.

 

[Foxfyre]

How much do you think the American public has become complacent and almost disinterested in the increasing government encroachment on our privacy?

It was almost 30 years ago now that I was working for an ecumencal church agency that had a number of volunteers who were helping with a sort of underground railroad kind of thing to help people from Central American and South American countries enter the USA illegally and move through the area without detection. These were presumed political refugees, but the U.S position at that time was that they were economic refugees and therefore not eligible for asylum. Anyhow, I know a lot of those volunteers were afraid of getting caught and they worried about that a lot. I was not involved in the process, but by virtue of my job, I did have considerable exposure to those who were.

Anyhow, because of some otherwise unexplained clicks on our phone lines, I came to strongly believe that our phones were tapped. And then I started hearing those same clicks on my home phone. I had nothing to hide either place, but I did watch what I said and how I said it just the same conscious that my every word might be recorded somewhere. And who knows how it might be used?

When I left that job soon after, the clicks on my phone stopped within a couple of weeks. Apparently I was no longer a person of interest as close family members were later able to get government security clearances with no problem.

But it does make you think.

Maybe the investigation of illegal imigration is a legitimate use of the technology?

That was why I didn't worry about it a great deal at the time. I don't have any problem with valid efforts in law enforcement, and I could see how I could easily look as if I was implicated in illegal activities by my associations with those engaged in them. In fact, perhaps I was guilty of aiding and abetting because I did not report those I knew to be involved in those actiivities?

But the incident drove home the fact that it is ridiculously easy for us to lose our privacy without even suspecting we have lost it. And in this increasingly dangerous world, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is it the new normal? Or can we push back?

Why do millions of us have to remove our shoes at the airport and undergo other intrusive searches when one guy was unsuccessful in igniting a shoe bomb? Or we go through the routine of teensy bottles of makeup or shampoo because one terrorist unsuccessfully tried to make a bomb on board an airplane? Prudent? Or is it punishing us all for the actions of one and thereby handing the terrorists success in their campaign of terrorism?

 

[Foxfyre]

It feels wierd to be allied with the ACLU in any way as I find many of their activities reprehensible and as oppressive as anything government does, but here is one more illustration of what we are accepting as the new normal:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oAAfJ4yttY]What's NSA Surveillance Got To Do With Me? - YouTube[/ame]

 

[RandallFlagg]

Many years ago, 1984 was high on the recommended reading lists in most of America's highschools and frequently the book widely discussed on college campuses. But it was so bizarre we looked at it as science fiction or realities of some totalitarian regime. Not something that could ever happen in America.

Then there were the recent scandals of massive data base gathering through wireless phone companies and other incidents of which apparently most Americans remain unaware or they shrug it off as no big deal. Many were reassured when prominent congresspersons defended the situation. And there is more and more pressure from government at various levels to regulate the size of soft drinks we can buy, the amount of fat or sugar or salt permitted into the foods we eat, etc.

How close are we to the Orwellian Big Brother 1984 scenario we used to discuss on an intellectual level only?

What do you think? Are you concerned? Is the following video prepared by the ACLU anything close to being realistic?

Ordering Pizza in the Future - YouTube

It's just a matter of time. George Orwell was, indeed, a prophet. Freedom lost. Coming to an America near you soon.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Many years ago, 1984 was high on the recommended reading lists in most of America's highschools and frequently the book widely discussed on college campuses. But it was so bizarre we looked at it as science fiction or realities of some totalitarian regime. Not something that could ever happen in America.

Then there were the recent scandals of massive data base gathering through wireless phone companies and other incidents of which apparently most Americans remain unaware or they shrug it off as no big deal. Many were reassured when prominent congresspersons defended the situation. And there is more and more pressure from government at various levels to regulate the size of soft drinks we can buy, the amount of fat or sugar or salt permitted into the foods we eat, etc.

How close are we to the Orwellian Big Brother 1984 scenario we used to discuss on an intellectual level only?

What do you think? Are you concerned? Is the following video prepared by the ACLU anything close to being realistic?

Ordering Pizza in the Future - YouTube

And it’s still something that will never happen in America, to suggest otherwise is ignorant and naïve, or deceitful and partisan.

 

[konradv]

Many years ago, 1984 was high on the recommended reading lists in most of America's highschools and frequently the book widely discussed on college campuses. But it was so bizarre we looked at it as science fiction or realities of some totalitarian regime. Not something that could ever happen in America.

Then there were the recent scandals of massive data base gathering through wireless phone companies and other incidents of which apparently most Americans remain unaware or they shrug it off as no big deal. Many were reassured when prominent congresspersons defended the situation. And there is more and more pressure from government at various levels to regulate the size of soft drinks we can buy, the amount of fat or sugar or salt permitted into the foods we eat, etc.

How close are we to the Orwellian Big Brother 1984 scenario we used to discuss on an intellectual level only?

What do you think? Are you concerned? Is the following video prepared by the ACLU anything close to being realistic?

Ordering Pizza in the Future - YouTube

Recent? That video is about 10 years old and created to protest the Patriot Act. I find it weird that so many on the right are all up in arms now. Why is that and where were they a decade ago?

 

[RandallFlagg]

Many years ago, 1984 was high on the recommended reading lists in most of America's highschools and frequently the book widely discussed on college campuses. But it was so bizarre we looked at it as science fiction or realities of some totalitarian regime. Not something that could ever happen in America.

Then there were the recent scandals of massive data base gathering through wireless phone companies and other incidents of which apparently most Americans remain unaware or they shrug it off as no big deal. Many were reassured when prominent congresspersons defended the situation. And there is more and more pressure from government at various levels to regulate the size of soft drinks we can buy, the amount of fat or sugar or salt permitted into the foods we eat, etc.

How close are we to the Orwellian Big Brother 1984 scenario we used to discuss on an intellectual level only?

What do you think? Are you concerned? Is the following video prepared by the ACLU anything close to being realistic?

Ordering Pizza in the Future - YouTube

And it’s still something that will never happen in America, to suggest otherwise is ignorant and naïve, or deceitful and partisan.

You keep telling yourself that sonny. Whatever helps you get through the night.

 

[RandallFlagg]

Many years ago, 1984 was high on the recommended reading lists in most of America's highschools and frequently the book widely discussed on college campuses. But it was so bizarre we looked at it as science fiction or realities of some totalitarian regime. Not something that could ever happen in America.

Then there were the recent scandals of massive data base gathering through wireless phone companies and other incidents of which apparently most Americans remain unaware or they shrug it off as no big deal. Many were reassured when prominent congresspersons defended the situation. And there is more and more pressure from government at various levels to regulate the size of soft drinks we can buy, the amount of fat or sugar or salt permitted into the foods we eat, etc.

How close are we to the Orwellian Big Brother 1984 scenario we used to discuss on an intellectual level only?

What do you think? Are you concerned? Is the following video prepared by the ACLU anything close to being realistic?

Ordering Pizza in the Future - YouTube

Recent? That video is about 10 years old and created to protest the Patriot Act. I find it weird that so many on the right are all up in arms now. Why is that and where were they a decade ago?

This is where you are wrong. I don't know that anyone is "up in arms" about the video. At least I'm not. I merely see it as a harbinger (or logical progression) of things to come in this country.

EPIC Charting system is currently incorporating ALL medical records into an electronic database that can be accessed by hospitals and, you guessed it, the Feds.

My Wife is a MSN at the local hospital and they recently received a grant from, again, you guessed it, the Feds to begin implementation. But, that wouldn't happen here, in the land of the "free", now, would it?!

 

[Foxfyre]

Many years ago, 1984 was high on the recommended reading lists in most of America's highschools and frequently the book widely discussed on college campuses. But it was so bizarre we looked at it as science fiction or realities of some totalitarian regime. Not something that could ever happen in America.

Then there were the recent scandals of massive data base gathering through wireless phone companies and other incidents of which apparently most Americans remain unaware or they shrug it off as no big deal. Many were reassured when prominent congresspersons defended the situation. And there is more and more pressure from government at various levels to regulate the size of soft drinks we can buy, the amount of fat or sugar or salt permitted into the foods we eat, etc.

How close are we to the Orwellian Big Brother 1984 scenario we used to discuss on an intellectual level only?

What do you think? Are you concerned? Is the following video prepared by the ACLU anything close to being realistic?

Ordering Pizza in the Future - YouTube

Recent? That video is about 10 years old and created to protest the Patriot Act. I find it weird that so many on the right are all up in arms now. Why is that and where were they a decade ago?

The video is an illustration though I understand that big government apologists are not all that coherant in the concept of subtlety and metaphor. But since the scandals re IRS overstepping its authority, outrage from reporters over having their privacy invaded, and the revelation of the massive data base collected from wireless phone companies all came to light in recent months in 2013--this is THIS YEAR--how recent does it have to be to satisfy your standard for recent?