We’re Doomed
One man’s outlook on the near future, and his will to make you question what it’s all about.
I’m not sure when spying on, and ultimately invading the privacy of the general population (A.K.A the free and independent citizens of a country. So, you and me) became a fashion. But just like all the other fashions of late – I’m not taken by it. As a result of the “War on Terror,” and the power-hungry madness of both “democratic” and authoritarian governments, they’re now making huge profits in the aspects of consumerism, psychological persuasion and civil dependency. And all it took to achieve this was to slowly chip away at the individuality model, and establish a sometimes secretive but mostly blatant, display of mass surveillance on the now complacent and willing citizens of whom they govern.
But sometimes, society reacts.
On Tuesday the 7th of February 2017 Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks and the main contributor to its website Wikileaks.org, released “A Series of leaks on the U.S. Central intelligence Agency(CIA) Code-named Vault7.” The document reveals the hacking tools and capabilities of the CIA and states that the CIA “has gained political and budgetary pre-eminence over the National Security Agency (NSA).” The document also divulges, “that the quantity of published pages in “Vault 7” part one (“Year Zero”) already eclipses the total number of pages published over the first three years of the Edward Snowden NSA leaks.”
I’m not going to sit here and quote anymore of the specifics from the document. Like the ones that mention turning Apple and Samsung electronic products into microphones and portable CCTV cameras, because that would ruin all the fun of reading it yourselves. But all sarcasm aside – shit just got real. More real than I ever thought possible within my lifetime. It must be noted however, that each document is classed as a “claim” because it cannot be “proved” to be true. But it would be more of a shock to me if it was found out that the CIA wasn’t doing the things that are mentioned in Vault7. And on the chance that it is true, Vault7 should act as a wakeup call to anyone who was even semi aware that governments listened to, traced, and watched citizens. And Vault7 should most definitely apply as a kick in the head to anybody who is of the daft mindset that just because “they have nothing to hide they have nothing to worry about.”
Obviously, the documents are to do with an American Agency the CIA. But what’s an interesting thing to point out, and keep in mind it is only the 2nd day of reading these documents, I am yet to come across anything that mentions the Australian government, or the Australians governments use/tactics of surveillance.
But there is reading to be done, and one can also not forget to remember that there is more to come after Vault7. However, it does raise question’s such as … How much different would the Australian government be in regards of surveillance and the intrusion of the general public’s privacy? And how would the Australian public react if they had such an array of documents such as Vault7 which implemented their own government in the same intrusions? For not, it seems that the Australian public doesn’t care. After all we do have Metadata Retention Laws in this country, but no one seems to know what that is.
Many questions are to be asked considering the Vault7 document, but perhaps the answer remains the same. That we’re doomed, one way or the other. Because If such a massive, and incriminating, document has been leaked from a source within the CIA, which has its finger in almost everything around the globe, and if such a document is found out to contain truths within it, this could have the potential to cause mass protests all over the US. And perhaps even has the potential to cause protests within the societies of other governments around the world.
But the soul crushing fear comes when its apparent that so many people around the world are either too scared to do anything, to uneducated in aspects of their own personal privacies and freedoms, or find it too exhausting to do anything at all.
But if you need a start – then start with Vault7, and always remember that questioning the actions of those in power, is a must for those of us who reside in society.