Thanks to Snowden, I can probably come out of the ATS closet

My family is not into conspiracy at all. They are all busy working and driving kids around to some activity or other. They try hard to remain positive and to be good parents to their little kids. The only news they listen to is on the car radio, as they have now discontinued cable television. Perhaps they read news on the net, but I would be willing to bet my left arm that they do not come to ATS.

I tried to tell them about what was happening, how we were being lied to a couple of years ago, but their response was to "tut-tut, you don't want to be taken as a crazy conspiracy theorist, do you?" It was a hint that I ought to take things really to a more subtle level, but when I did they just ignored anything I had to say.

I knew for sure I was being monitored, that my ISP first connected to the NSA before letting me get onto the net for instance, but my kids just brushed it off by saying 'they' were just probably doing their job. Arggghhh! How did I raise such complacent individuals? Or are they not feeling secure enough at the moment to contemplate that someone has been selling us all out?

Well, thanks to Snowden, I can now point them to ATS. He at least has proven that I was not a paranoid fruitcake. Well ok, a little bit paranoid, --we all have to be-- but not a fruitcake.

Sure wish I had one of those ATS t-shirts or hats to wear the next time I see them. That picture would be worth it.

In the meantime, I have to say a profound Thank You to Snowden. Maybe his disclosure will be the beginning of turning this sick agenda around. For now, I intend to step out of the CT closet and send people to ATS. Grab whatever freedom we have left.

Now point them at this
Link

A broke clock can be right twice a day too.

Lets not go all pat ourselves on the back because we all got one conspiracy right (government monitoring communication traffic is about the most open "secret" there is)

Id still react the way your family did if you hit me with what you said about you knowing the NSA was routing you to the internet, which is not even the way prism works.

reply to post by VoidHawk


Thanks, VoidHawk.

I most certainly will put it this on my list.

reply to post by benrl


I don't live in the US, but I was not taking a wild guess about it. Had it verified to be sure by ISPs and electrical engineers.

Originally posted by benrl
A broke clock can be right twice a day too.

Lets not go all pat ourselves on the back because we all got one conspiracy right (government monitoring communication traffic is about the most open "secret" there is)

Id still react the way your family did if you hit me with what you said about you knowing the NSA was routing you to the internet, which is not even the way prism works.

edit on 25-7-2013 by benrl because: (no reason given)

I used to do regular internet traces of the routes my connections took to get to where they were going. In EVERY instance, my connection ran through either the NSA facility at Sugar Grove, or through the NSA facility in Atlanta, before it was allowed out onto the internet.Not once, in hundreds of traces from various points did I see it take a route bypassing those.That was long before my involvement with ATS, and it was probably long before PRISM as well. It was even before 9/11 that I started running the traces, with the same results.

What the OP is telling you here isn't at all crazy.

Makes me wonder, if they watch our every move, then why do they allow internet piracy to continue? Could they not just do some sort of sweeping country wide arrest of a certain number of individuals, to make a statement?

It would not have to be everybody, obviously because of money, time, yada yada.

They could arrest, say a few thousand people nation wide and declare it some operation and give it a jazzy codename and everything. Then on our so called media we would be "reminded" to not even think of trying such things again.

I mean, if they monitor every line then why don't they get more pedos off our streets? Or in general, stop all sorts of different crimes?

I'm not trying to sound cynical, it just makes me wonder. If they really monitor so much, why do they let so much of it slide?

reply to post by mcx1942


They would work themselves out of jobs - if there were no more threats they could point at, they would become obsolete. They seem to not really care about piracy and pedos and whatnot, because those generally are not a threat to their existence, and provide a justification for that existence at the same time.

They worry more about people who don't like the government, and who might do something about that, and people who have government secrets, who could spill those secrets. There is a reason Snowden got out of reach before spilling the beans, and then went and got FURTHER out of reach afterwards.

Since they don't know where a threat or potential threat may post from, they have to monitor all lines of communication. The rest of the population gets caught in that dragnet, and then they have the potential to discover previously unknown threats to their well being and existence.

reply to post by mcx1942


Internet piracy is a crime against a corporation. I don't see how it would be in their mandate to protect against that, for the moment at least. However when it comes to pedophilia, it is a crime against community and public safety imo, and I'm with you on that one. I think that police forces have been busy trying to do catch up. The internet exploded onto the scene and when this depraved scourge on humanity took off they didn't have any software tools to fight it. I remember how the Toronto police got Bill Gates and Microsoft engaged in providing some tracking tools for them. If it wants to be a force for good, then the NSA could link certain aspects of their dbases for that purpose.

reply to post by nenothtu


I too did trace routes but only after I caught DHS' ICE in an error and then naively alerted the Canadian Security agency CSIS. I was online in Canada reading a Canadian article by a Canadian writer on a Canadian web site whose servers were stored in Montreal. Suddenly the URL changed to ICE=flag something something. Too stunned to take a screen shot of it, I called CSIS to complain and ask what the hell was the DHS doing spying on me. That's when the fun began and when I came to know for certain that I was marked.

As a result of their shenanigans that involved being followed, photographed, 'accidentally encountered and informally interviewed' and given a veiled hint at my death by strangulation, I pretty well removed myself from everyone's life. No email or phone contacts, they backed off sort of, except that my landlord told me my smart meter is the only one in the building that's supposedly been broken for 5 years and requires a regular in-person inspection. (This winter on Feb 18 I think it was, there was a sleet storm coming down outside when there came a knock on my door. Hydro wanted into the apartment building to check the smart meters, (on a morning when linesmen were going out on calls for fallen wires. )

And what was my supposed crime? Possibly that phone call about ICE and a comment on YT about who stood to profit from 9/11. Honestly there was nothing else. I have a record of community volunteer service, was a homeowner and employed professional whose kids received a good education and do not have criminal records.

All this to say that if I'm considered the enemy, then who do they consider to be friends?

Originally posted by aboutface
reply to post by nenothtu

 

All this to say that if I'm considered the enemy, then who do they consider to be friends?

I don't think they really have "friends", just enemies, people they watch, and people they watch more closely. The last two categories fall under the heading of "potential enemies".

Must be a heck of an existence.

I believe they started out their existence meaning well, trying to protect their own people. Since paranoia generally breeds more paranoia if left unchecked to run wild, at some point they turned on the ones they originally intended to protect, and those suddenly became "potential enemies" as well. Now they exist only to exist, and protect their own existence, not ours.

reply to post by nenothtu


I think you hit the nail on the head. It's a system run amuck that needs to be redressed. I am hoping that Snowden's revelations will make the good guys among them give a rethink of their mandate and apply some of it for the greater good.