I think we do have different opinions, but I can still respect yours. I think it's great to see things from another view.
I don't think the Minority Report is a good thing to base preventative crime stopping on!
That's pretty much a utopian society where everything is controlled, they have even less liberties than we do now.
In all honesty, I think that everyone should operate under the assumption that anything they post, send, or otherwise say can be seen and recorded to some extent. I know the phone companies can see text messages, they can hear phone calls if they really wanted. They can determine where any phone is at anytime and essentially take it over - in a sense. Posts on this forums.. yeah, I don't expect them to be private either. Most of the posts are out there in the open, so there's no going back on those. But even so, I'm sure our host can see things that go on here. After all, we are on their server space. Regardless of hoow safe they may say we are, there's no doubt in my mind that they can see things we might not think they could. So it's not that I don't have anything to hide, I like my privacy, it's just that I know I'm not a target as I don't do anything to draw attention. If you don't do anything wrong, I don't think there is any need to fear. It's not like they really care about me telling somebody what I had for dinner, or about my weekends, etc etc. People don't understand the hoops that the NSA has to jump through in order to pull certain information. YES, they may have information at their fingertips, but they can't just be like... oh hey let me bring up my ex girlfriends phone and see what she's doing. No, that's not how it works. There are certain policies and procedures that you have to follow in order to access certain things.
So in that regards, I believe the NSA does respect our civil rights, just as much as any other company out there like google/microsoft/facebook/etc. In that guys video he says that those companies denied giving access to NSA, yet there have been things coming to light that find those comments to be false. I don't really believe any company when they say they don't access, use or sell certain information. But being able to access this information when it's needed is a great tool when used appropriately. I don't live in fear of the government looking over anything I do, there are much bigger problems out there that they are dealing with. If anything, it puts my mind at ease from how much they have prevented. Some of the things that have been declassified are amazing. The public isn't even aware of anything good the NSA and other agencies like it do, they are only made aware of the negatives chewed up and spit out by the media. These are normal citizens doing their best to help the country. When I bring things like this up around family and friends they get SO mad. They don't get mad at people because they think it's cruel. They get mad because they are really doing their best to help out and they still receive all this bad press brought about by a traitor like Snowden.
Youre definitely right there! It's nearly impossible to win unless youre backed by the democrats or republicans. But the main reason for that is because they are the big two, they have the most money to toss around to promote their candidate. But I think at some point, there will come a time when our generation will stand up (I don't consider the current leaders our generation!) and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Our generation is going to inherit the shittiest world of any generation that has gone before, at least in my opinion. But the youth of the country are pretty massive in numbers, enough to influence an election one way or another. I'm sure if somebody came along with the right morals, attitude and background, people could rally behind them. I'm sure even the older folks might snap out of it and want something new and fresh. It is difficult though.. but in a perfect world. *sigh*