Quite possibly the single most maddening (and scariest) thing I learned last night (and Piccionelli may have already said it at Internext or one of the other shows I had to miss -- so sorry if this is old news):
Yahoo! employs 10 full-time legal staff members -- 6 attorneys and 4 paralegals, or maybe vice-versa... but whatever -- who do NOTHING but collect ALL the private data of their registered users and VOLUNTARILY hand that info over to the government on a regular basis.
WHAT THE FUCK???
We're not even talking about the Feds having gone to Yahoo! and subpoenaed the data or even just requested it in a friendly way. Yahoo!'s just fucking turning the shit over to them -- like it's some sort of patriotic duty and their contribution to the "War on Terrorism."
The more I hear and the more I read, the more angry I get; at both the government and the media for its constant spewing of bullshit propaganda aimed scaring the bejeezus out of "average Americans," and at those "average Americans" who are so clearly incapable of independent thought, and uneducated, wussy-ass retards that they don't understand how this fearmongering is calculated to ensure they don't see, or if they DO see, they don't question, the unprecedented removal of civil liberties that are being perpetrated on us in the name of "Homeland Security." There IS no way to guarantee we'll be safe from some psychotic religious freak or group of freaks, but the idiot Americans, products of the shithole called public education are more than happy to give up their right to privacy because the reigning assholes in office say that doing so will somehow allow Big Brother to keep them safe.
AssholeCroft and the Shrub
It breaks my heart to see just how many Americans are so clearly unaware that the liberties they've given away will NEVER be returned. Moreover, it enrages me that these morons are allowed to make decisions for those of us who would rather take our chances of another attack from outside forces than to stand by and make ourselves vulnerable to a far more pervasive evil -- a government that has far more power over ordinary citizens than was ever intended in this country.
Once again, I believe it's the unfortunate result of the fact that the ignorant and stupid breed more rampantly than the intelligent. We're outnumbered, and they're being encouraged via talk radio and pulpit to make sure it stays that way.
Ah well, I went off on a rant again... there were some other really interesting points made last night, but I'll save 'em for later.
