Rick Falkvinge has a great article that makes an obvious point. We can know for sure that government surveillance has foiled exactly zero terror plots. We know this because planning, let alone carrying out, terror plots is a crime but there have been no trials or convictions.
In my first ever post about the NSA scandal, I noted that the NSA’s director, Keith Alexander, claimed that the surveillance had foiled “dozens,” later updated to “over 50,” terror plots. Of course no details were offered. But as Falkvinge says, where are the criminal proceedings?
That brings us back to my original question. Where is the press on all this? The government is clearly lying but there’s nary a word from the main stream press. If it wasn’t for The Guardian (and yes, lately, the New York Times) we wouldn’t know what the NSA was doing and why it matters.
Read Falkvinge’s article. It serves as an excellent reminder of how no government can be trusted to tell us the truth. As I.F. Stone famously said, “All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.” The NSA scandal neatly illustrates this. Everything they’ve said about Snowden’s revelations have been shown to be lies. Believe them at your peril.