Phoebe Fletcher makes a very valid point, how & why Dunne resigned is nowhere as important as what he was trying to reveal.
Whether Dunne was having a mid-life crisis and was flirting with Andrea Vance is of no significance whatsoever in light of what Dunne was revealing.
And let’s remind ourselves exactly what it was that Dunne revealed, that the NZ Government were illegally spying on over 80 NZers using the massive GCSB spy network that was set up to spy on foreign intelligence targets.
Our focus on the fluff on this issue as opposed to what was revealed begs the following question…
Dear NZ – why are you allowing Key to ram through the same GCSB powers to Meta spy that have just been revealed by the Guardian? Why are you so slow to rise up when the rest of the world is screaming?
…the shocking revelations that the US have been spying on the very Meta information that Key and Winston are about to greenlight the GCSB to conduct should have every NZ citizen on their feet demanding these first goose steps towards a Police State be halted immediately.
Sadly for NZ, our deeply ingrained anti-intellectual culture is pacified by Key’s nonchalant ‘I’m comfortable with that’ answers and we wrap ourselves in the comfort blanket of ‘if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear’ sophistry.
While the rest of the Western World burns with these revelations, we hasten to make them legal and everyday.
Dunne’s resignation is a nothing issue compared to what his leak has revealed and our media’s lack of attention on that is the damnable sin.
What Key and Winston are trying to do with these expanded GCSB powers should be leading the news every day, but it isn’t. What we are seeing with the vast expansion of these spying powers is the end of privacy for the individual as we know it. It’s a 21st century Stasi with all the horrors that brings with it. We should never willingly give any Government vast unchecked surveillance powers. This isn’t for our safety, it’s for our subjugation.
Perhaps the mainstream media will only step up if they sense their interests are also in danger? What would happen if it was revealed that these systems had been used to spy on NZ journalists? What would the reaction be if that were the case?
Perhaps we might find out sooner than we expect…
Bomber, the main reason msm journo’s aren’t screaming about this is that they are already captured by the PNHQ/GCSB/Aitken St MOD H/O wallahs who *want* all of this surveillance.
In return for advance PR on any juicy Police or Military stories, they are already subjugated to the whims of our totalitarian dictators.
Key is not so much of a problem, as Assistant Police Commissioner Jon White, head of the ATU; or the heads of the SIS, GCSB, and those who sit safely behind Embassy and Consulate walls, pulling strings for the MI5/6 and NSA/CIA/DEA intelligence networks.
NZ is demographically smaller than a decent-sized suburb of NY.
We really don’t matter in the broad scheme of things, except as a handy chunk of rock (like Guam) from which intel can be forwarded to Langley, Virginia and the Pentagon, to inform the ‘World’s Police’ where they will launch their next strike against uppity civilians – of whom the muslim world, apparently, has a surfeit.
We’re not even a useful R’n’R destination any more, but we are a handy place to collect and store digital data.
If you really fancy a juicy story check out which secure software firms are servicing Waihopai, Tangimoana, and Waiouru secure data installations.
My flesh crawls whenever anyone says “the innocent will have nothing to fear” because that soothing phrase strikes at the heart of the Presumption of Innocence, the foundation of our justice system.
Indeed, Hugh.
Will those who espouse the premise that “the innocent will have nothing to fear” be installing surveillance cameras in their homes any time soon? Will they remove the curtains from their windows? And will they allow us to read their bank statements, emails, letters, and overhear pillow talk with their partners?
After all, as they maintain, “the innocent will have nothing to fear”.
And just when did the presumption that the State has no right to surveil me change so radically?
The date for that, I believe, was 11 September 2001.
What’s interesting to me in all this is that the report was due to be released anyway, in which case there wasn’t much point in leaking it. Unless, of course, what was going to be released would have been the result of some creative editing.
Thos who think they have nothing to fear have nothing to fear but that a thought might invade their stupid heads. On the evidence, it’s not likely, but you never know……….
The version to be released was highly censored and shortened.
I think most people suspect this sort of surveillance has been on-going for a long time, so aren’t as outraged when they find out their suspicions are true. Also, many just don’t care.
Although I doubt it will make any long-term difference, at least in the States there’s a bit more media outrage. You have to wonder what makes them more engaged in the issue than we are?
You men NZ has journalists? KOFF!
Actually that was a bit “Bomber” and over the top.
I freely admit there are some capable media people (including journalists, whoever they are).
I tip my hat to “the few” fighting for freedom for air space.
(My apologies to W Churchill).
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