Surveillance Devices Found at Ecuador's London Embassy

June 3, 2013

 Ecuador's Embassy in London is removing planted, hidden surveillance devices from its office.

Julian Assange has...condemned the bugging of Ecuador's London embassy, where he is living, after Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino announced that a listening device had been found in the ambassador's office. (for full story).

My Own Musing over Events

Obama has publicly used the word transparency to define his Presidency. We might remind him that Snowden's exposure is also what transparency looks like. We might remind the administration as well that it's not enough for us to know that these surveillance programs exist.

(Obama said everyone is engaged in these surveillance practices. We might remind the administration to look at the logic of that statement and check a basic book of logical fallacies.)

But more important, we might remind the administration that transparency does not give the green light to acceptance. Transparency is not the end, is not the last stop of arrival in our journey toward a more democratic government. It is the first step.

 I hope we as a people are smart enough to understand the crossroads we are it. Do we make transparency the end point? Or do we make it the beginning point to an equitable and open society? The choice is ours. We can no longer trust the current leaders of the world who participate in controlling our every day lives for the benefit of the few.

If the government is asking us to take sides, I am on the side of those calling for the US to return Edward Snowden's passport, so he may travel to a country that will give him political asylum.

I fear a fixed debate on the issue of privacy versus safety.  This either/or fallacy is a trap to get us to accept transparency as the end point. Why should we agree to protect the interests of the wealthy with our right to privacy?  We have many options at our crossroads, finding a balance is not the only one and should not be viewed as the equitable option. If we poke out our own eyes, how many of us will live fulfilling lives?