PRISM and Democracy

Democracy is defined as a government where all eligible citizens decide on the governing of their society and laws.

PRISM is a United States National Security agency (NSA) program to take advantage of the fact most of the world's internet traffic moves through the USA. Under this program emails, phone, skype, voice over IP, video, pictures, files and all things known and unknown are copied, stored and sifted through by the NSA.

Now if this was a black box kind of item, i would have no objection. By black box, I mean if law officials have a concern about a specific individual or organization, they ask a court of law to gather information on this person or organization. They ask the black box for data on this specific person and organization. If nothing is found they stop. If "bad guy stuff" is found or more persons are implicated in "bad guy stuff" then another court order is obtained for the next link...and so on.

But that is not happening. They used it for over 1400 filed reports in 2012.

Has my country of Canada been complicit in this? Have they given permission for another country to store my private, personal information that I transmit to another person (thereby giving that person and that person only permission to look at it). Is that close to being legal? Was a court order obtained, in Canada, to store my data in another country.

How about your country?

What if someone working in the NSA used this information to blackmail someone? To gain insider information to make money? To make other people money? Some companies like Facebook sell data and metadata to companies for them to market products. The USA is in debt and getting worse. Are corporations asking the NSA for occasional peeks at their data?

Your data. Paid for by United States taxpayers dollars.

Ultimately you must decide if having someone standing over your shoulder, making you fearful and feeling guilty makes us a safer people. Like the Puritan colonists of the United States.

I for one feel that there is no place for the state in the bedroom's of the nation, if we are to be treated as not guilty before proven innocent. This Keifer Sutherland's 24 mentality of ticking bomb scenarios has to stop. This fear has to stop. I did not give my government permission to spy on me.

I say no to PRISM. I say no for Canada to let another country do this to one of its citizens. I live in a democracy.