1984. It really is happening, isn't it?

*I wasn't really sure where to post this as the 'Posse Comitatus' forum is not allowing new topics. I'm a bit surprised that there isn't a forum labeled 'Big Brother' or 'Privacy', or something to that effect. In any case mods feel free to move this to where it belongs.

Well folks, it appears as though the Orwellian scenario those 'fear mongerers' have been warning us about all these years is in fact the game plan, and we're not just past the tipping point, we are in fact living it. Welcome to 1984, Happy New Year! The jaws of tyranny are clamping down, and these new 'Threat Scores' are its incisors finally piercing our succulent, quivering flesh. If you, like myself, out of sheer disbelief in the possibility of something so sinister becoming a reality, had any doubts as to whether this was actually going to be the direction we were heading, you can now lay those doubts to rest:

"The New Way Police Are Surveilling You: Calculating Your 'Threat Score'"

FRESNO, Calif. — While officers raced to a recent 911 call about a man threatening his ex-girlfriend, a police operator in headquarters consulted software that scored the suspect’s potential for violence the way a bank might run a credit report.

The program scoured billions of data points, including arrest reports, property records, commercial databases, deep Web searches and the man’s social- media postings. It calculated his threat level as the highest of three color-coded scores: a bright red warning.

That's right. Everything you've ever done, especially on the internet, will now be used, pre-warrant, as a way of assessing your 'threat level'.

“This is something that’s been building since September 11,” said Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “First funding went to the military to develop this technology, and now it has come back to domestic law enforcement. It’s the perfect storm of cheaper and easier-to-use technologies and money from state and federal governments to purchase it.”

The conspiracy nuts were right along; every technology and resource used on military enemies will now be used on US citizens as well.

Councilman Clinton J. Olivier, a libertarian-leaning Republican, said Beware was like something out of a dystopian science fiction novel and asked Dyer a simple question: “Could you run my threat level now?”

Dyer agreed. The scan returned Olivier as a green, but his home came back as a yellow, possibly because of someone who previously lived at his address, a police official said.

“Even though it’s not me that’s the yellow guy, your officers are going to treat whoever comes out of that house in his boxer shorts as the yellow guy,” Olivier said. “That may not be fair to me.”

He added later: “[Beware] has failed right here with a council member as the example.”

This made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, as it should all of you. What is the next phase? Will the American people stand for this? I believe this may be the most important issue at hand in this country right now, and if we don't start talking about it more and inspiring other people to talk about it too, we are in for some very dark times ahead. I've never been so close to switching my phone for a black phone, getting a proxy browser and VPN, and possibly deleting all of my social media accounts.

The old, ad hoc line, "If you're not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about" just went out the window with this new Beware software.

a reply to: humanityrising
Oh, they'll stand for it. They'll stand for anything except having their favorite "reality" TV star fired, sports banned, or whatever. It's a sad world.

From what I recall there was speculation/hints to this was being developed for regular use. Once it's accepted, because people feel it only has to do with someone who has "done something wrong",it's open for error. This forum is okay for it, I was going to share this in 'Posse Comitatus' as it seems fitting. S&F.

Don't worry, Guns will save you!

a reply to: humanityrising

It should therefore be mandatory for all politicians, police officers and indeed all public servants and government workers to have a threat score assessment undertaken and the results published to protect the interests of voters and taxpayers.

It could be an awesome tool to weed out the criminals currently holding positions of authority and power.

a reply to: humanityrising

I recall years ago there was discussion of something which reminds me of this. It was in the late nineties or early 2000s when I first heard of it. It was claimed that the government was assigning color codes to houses, designating them for some unknown purpose, based on some unspoken classification system. Stickers of varying colors were being applied to mailboxes, and the disillusioned were reporting receiving red stickers.

Checking Google, I see this phonomena is still being widely discussed, but I didn't immediately see any new information of consequence. As far fetched as it might seem, I could imagine situations in the past where such analogue methods might seem prudent to a system intent on preserving itself.

a reply to: humanityrising

The conspiracy nuts were right along; every technology and resource used on military enemies will now be used on US citizens as well.

So what if their right they're still nuts.

Or is it becoming more like "Brave New World"???

Is it more Huxley or Orwell?

1984 vs Brave New World?

THIS is a wonderful website and I think it illustrates that Huxley is closer to what we're seeing today. Orwell was a bit off the mark I believe.

People love to use Orwell's 1984 as an example, maybe because of the term "orwellian" or something -- but I think that Huxley's vision of the future is a bit more accurate.

I think this inforgraphic from the above website says it all:

originally posted by: Eilasvaleleyn
Don't worry, Guns will save you!

"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."

-George Orwell

(my favorite socialist)

I think the truth is more a composite of Huxley and Orwell's visions.

One that struck me as pure Orwell was during the "Arab Spring" when our governments were trying to make the case for arming the rebels in Libya and Syria....Exactly the same people that we had been fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Overnight our enemies were to be our allies? That was breathtaking.

a reply to: greencmp

That statement was, as is probably honest, mostly sarcastic. However, I do believe GUNS have the potential to stop this stuff from happening. Stop the runaway government spying.
I just do not have any faith whatsoever that they will actually be used that way. For a lot of people, the constitution seems to start and stop at the second amendment. Guns are there to protect your right to have guns.

a reply to: SprocketUK

The largest terrorist organisation in the world is not ISIS or Al-Quaida or Hal-Shabib (if that was even the name of one, I forget), the largest terrorist organisation is the United States government.

Yes, we live in a brave new 1984.

“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” ― George Orwell, 1984

War on terror by the Department of defense in Eurasia. Told by the ministry of truth.

The horrible thing is, that Orwell was very good in predicting/warning.
Only it got even worse.

originally posted by: Eilasvaleleyn
a reply to: greencmp

That statement was, as is probably honest, mostly sarcastic. However, I do believe GUNS have the potential to stop this stuff from happening. Stop the runaway government spying.
I just do not have any faith whatsoever that they will actually be used that way. For a lot of people, the constitution seems to start and stop at the second amendment. Guns are there to protect your right to have guns.

There are some interesting debates about which amendment is more important but, I think free speech is correctly placed first and the right to self defense couldn't fall behind any other.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I'm not sure why it has to be one or the other, though I appreciate the comparison picture. It seems Huxley is the jelly and Orwell is the peanut butter in this sandwich, and if that sweet jelly ever runs out you can be sure mouths will be stuck together and peanut allergies will start kicking in. I really cannot see a difference between Thought Police and the implementation of this Beware software; the idea that someone's threat level can be accurately pre-assessed by web search history and social-media activity is absolutely ludicrous. Will a policeman's propensity to use lethal force heighten after learning his suspect is a designated 'yellow' threat level?

a reply to: SprocketUK

The Russians are said to commonly distinguish between the American people and the American government when pressing their opinions. Similarly, I think the American people would do well to distinguish between the enemies of the people, and the enemies of the government. Our government founded Al Qaeda as a tool to strike the USSR with. Arab terrorists are then natural allies of the American government, yet enemies of the American people. Thus, our government deems us their adversary, and so it seeks to both strengthen and import our enemies, while simultaneously confusing and weakening we the people.

a reply to: humanityrising

The program scoured billions of data points, including...the man’s social- media postings.

I've always had a sneaking suspicion that, by participating in sites like this, we are sleepwalking into our own enslavement; the PTB are encouraging us to be net savvy but, by going along with it, we are unwittingly co-conspirators in our own undoing...the consequences of which have yet to be made manifest.

Maybe the really clever ones are the minority which want nothing to do with the internet.

originally posted by: Sublimecraft

It could be an awesome tool to weed out the criminals currently holding positions of authority and power.

Washington and all other major Capitals would be ghost towns...

a reply to: humanityrising

That's right. Everything you've ever done, especially on the internet, will now be used, pre-warrant, as a way of assessing your 'threat level'.

Thought crimes. What you say on the internet has little to do with how you might react. Talk is cheap. Arrest and conviction records, any "priors" of violence or resisting, are the actual indicators. Behavior as opposed to speech.

Roight?

I mean who would have thought the mass spree killers would do what they did, even though all the indicators were there. Bullies hide their offensive nature, abusing behind closed doors or blaming their victims outright.

This insinuation they are using your "keystrokes" to figure out how heavy they need to come to arrest you is BS. They recording everything alright, just like tyrannies have always done, to find out who is a threat to their paranoid delusions of grandeur and controlling the world.

These threats are the real Patriots.

Hello up there in Oregon. Stay warm and alert!

originally posted by: Eilasvaleleyn
Don't worry, Guns will save you!

Just what I expected… (IOW)

"You don't need guns, Big Brother will protect you."