When People From Oliver Stone To Famous Ex-Porn Stars Are Speaking Out About NSA Spying...

from the it's-going-mainstream dept

Fri, Jul 12th 2013 6:36pm — Mike Masnick

For years, the way the government has dealt with leaks and revelations concerning NSA spying is to hope that things get brushed under the rug and people forget about it. There are plenty of people who insist they just don't care -- which is exactly what the NSA is hoping for. But, it's increasingly clear that, unlike past leaks, the current set of NSA leaks are attracting a lot more public attention than in the past, and it's leading some quite well known people to speak up about it. The ACLU has now released a video from Oliver Stone, which makes some really strong points about how problematic the NSA's spying is: Stone's comments are strong and on point:

We did not pass the 4th Amendment in order to protect those with something to hide. We passed that amendment, which prohibits general warrants and limitless surveillance, because we know -- all too well -- the cost of unaccountable government. The question is not do you have something to hide. The question is whether we control the government, or the government controls us....

Recent leaks have given us a glimpse into our government's giant surveillance machine. This machine is eating our freedom.

Meanwhile, focusing on a... different audience, FunnyOrDie put out an amusing video "commercial" for the NSA, by famed ex-porn star Sasha Grey, done in the style of a late-night TV ad for phone sex hotlines. There are some good touches in there, including the screenshots of "PRISMtube" for NSA employees to watch private moments with a simple user-friendly UI. Also, they show Sasha setting the Constitution on fire.

Why settle for just one phone sex hotline when becoming a contractor for the NSA gives you unlimited access to any private content made over AT&T and Verizon?

[....] So what are you waiting for? Dial 1-800-any phone number and apply to the NSA today...

Perhaps this latest round of revelations isn't going to just disappear into the memory hole like previous revelations.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: nsa surveillance, oliver stone, sasha grey, surveillance

20 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

out_of_the_blue, 12 Jul 2013 @ 6:52pm

Stick to serious, Masnick. Nothing funny about the NSA.
You can't laugh off the NSA, nor even expect it to stop at present levels. Totally misguided attempts by 14-year-olds to minimize reality. Oliver Stone has substance, but you had to juxtapose it here with funny, and that just helps the NSA, if as I believe, the Snowden leak is a limited hangout psyop to acquaint the laggards with how much they're being surveilled.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
AC Unknown (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 7:27pm

Re: Stick to serious, Masnick. Nothing funny about the NSA.
Blue, just shut your mouth before you get your ass verbally handed to you yet again.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 7:37pm

Re: Stick to serious, Masnick. Nothing funny about the NSA.
Out_of_the_clue strikes back. Admitting to being a laggard is one thing. Admitting that you believe Snowden is a puppet created by NSA is a completely different universe of crazy.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Nigel (profile), 12 Jul 2013 @ 7:37pm

Re: Stick to serious, Masnick. Nothing funny about the NSA.
I think most of us get the joke.

"Pal Talk... whatever the fuck that is" Was pretty funny as well.

I think to suggest that juxtaposing a bit of humor into this is somehow detrimental to the cause is pandering to the wrong crowd. Like the folks, to this day, that don't know or care about SOPA.

After 2 weeks of this shit I frankly appreciate a bit of levity amidst the lies and bullshit coming out of the NSA.

In fact, I cant sit through meet the press or the daily press junket any longer. Carney is starting to look a bit squirmy like Scott McClellan.

Its too painful to watch unfold.

N.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 8:34pm

Re: Stick to serious, Masnick. Nothing funny about the NSA.
You really don't understand the purpose of comedy do you?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 8:37pm

Spied upon Celebrities
This post makes me think that the best way to inform the sheeple would be to get all the TV and movie 'stars', especially the folks involved with reality TV, to make either PSA's or actually comment on live broadcasts about this issue.

Think about it, do celebrities have anything more (or less) to hide from the government? I know, the government is only looking for terrorists and pedophiles, but their KNOWING that some celebrity is a) using coke, meth, etc. or b) knocking heals with XYZ (not their spouse or producer) could be really bad (or good when one thinks about the art of publicity) for their careers. They probably have something to hide, and it is now known to be no longer hidden.

To get the sheeple to listen, this needs to be in the soap operas and daytime talk shows, along with other reality based content. What else do the sheeple watch?

(I think we can forget about getting it on *conservative* talk radio as those folks are likely in bed with the administration). (Maybe the religious shows (who wants their prayers heard (or more importantly what their prayers (sins) are about) by the geeks at the NSA?)).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 8:47pm

Re: Stick to serious, Masnick. Nothing funny about the NSA.
No, YOU had to post here, and now we have to juxtapose it with funny. Except that it's not actually funny, but facepalm.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 9:12pm

Sometimes the best thing is to come in late to an articles' comments and not have to read without_a_clue's posts since the community has already pushed them into invisibility.

It is then possible to do as he does and respond to his post strictly by the title and not the contents... I wonder why that sounds familiar?

Gotta admit days are getting better here at Techdirt as the village idiot disappears into obscurity.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 Jul 2013 @ 10:25pm

Re:
The village idiot won't disappear until you ignore him.

Stop feeding the troll.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
BentFranklin (profile), 13 Jul 2013 @ 12:07am

"... and PalTalk - whatever the fuck that is"

I've been wondering about that too!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Angry Voter, 13 Jul 2013 @ 5:03am

If they don't obey the Constitution
If they don't obey the Constitution then they are not the government - they're just organized crime.

Oh sure, they have men with guns but so do the Bloods and the Crips - only they don't use drone strikes against civilians.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
asap, 13 Jul 2013 @ 7:24am

Re: If they don't obey the Constitution
No, but the Crips and Bloods are responsible for their stray bullets harming the innocent, aren't they?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
John Fenderson (profile), 13 Jul 2013 @ 3:06pm

Re: Stick to serious, Masnick. Nothing funny about the NSA.
You can't laugh off the NSA

Nobody understands anything that isn't funny. Comedy is one of the most powerful tools we have for developing understanding and stirring people to action.

To laugh at something is not to dismiss it. Often, it's quite the opposite.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 13 Jul 2013 @ 7:06pm

Don't listen to Oliver Stone he is a pirate that want things for free! Can't you that he just steals and creates nothing? We need to protect our copyrights! SUPPORT PRISM
[ link to this | view in thread ]
McCrea (profile), 13 Jul 2013 @ 11:26pm

Re: Spied upon Celebrities
Celebrities? Yea right, I just saw Rob Zombie. "We're an America Band" really assured the crowd the America is good and blind nationalism is right.

And wasn't it Five Finger Death Punch that also did some "A-M-E-R-I-C-A" shit?

Really, if celebrities were going to lead the charge, I would have sort of suspected the types who perform at the Mayhem Festival, but nope, not a peep. Not even with a "drone" flying overhead the back of the crowd.

That's probably what we're fight against. _Blind_ Nationalism. The celebrities have fallen for it, too.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Guardian, 14 Jul 2013 @ 3:15am

@15
the reason most are not agaisnt NSA spying is cause HOLLYWOOD is one of the NSA "CUSTOMERS"

haha where you think all this was gonna be used for ...elections?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous, 14 Jul 2013 @ 2:29pm

Re: Re: Spied upon Celebrities
Whatever happened to the days when rock-n-roll was rebellious, anti-establishment, and gave a big middle finger to the government?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
CrazedLeper (profile), 14 Jul 2013 @ 6:14pm

They built it without our knowledge...
so why would we believe that they would dismantle it because we don't like it? They knew it was wrong and did it anyway. Even if the people storm the facility and burn it to the ground, they'd just build another one. This is never going to go away.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ninja (profile), 15 Jul 2013 @ 4:56am

Awareness is power. Hopefully these leaks are the trigger that was needed for much needed changes..
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Adam, 17 Jul 2013 @ 2:24am

NSA Agent Caught SNOOPING on Video
here is Tom Mabe's video for this ..lol

NSA Agent Caught SNOOPING on Video by Tom Mabe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9gtV-rSyEc
[ link to this | view in thread ]