This is a serious WTF moment for me. Keith Alexander who wants to collect all domestic data on any citizen communication, modeled his work space after the bridge of the Star Ship Enterprise, from Star Trek the Next Generation.
That is so wrong on so many different levels.
Star Trek, being this sort of hopeful look into our future, post--so many bad things about our society and even our planet now, and he turns it into a Total Information Awareness Nightmare.
He should have modeled it after the tanks in the Minority Report. Follow me through the orange spy-hole if you want to read more!
What the hell is wrong with these people?
It's like they truly believe they are exceptional, not beholding to the rules or to the people they work for. This whole story screams for a psychological evaluation for the entire team, including Mr Alexander.
When he was running the Army's Intelligence and Security Command, Alexander brought many of his future allies down to Fort Belvoir for a tour of his base of operations, a facility known as the Information Dominance Center. It had been designed by a Hollywood set designer to mimic the bridge of the starship Enterprise from Star Trek, complete with chrome panels, computer stations, a huge TV monitor on the forward wall, and doors that made a 'whoosh' sound when they slid open and closed. Lawmakers and other important officials took turns sitting in a leather 'captain's chair' in the center of the room and watched as Alexander, a lover of science-fiction movies, showed off his data tools on the big screen. qtd by Alternet
Star Trek was supposed to be an example, entertainment that served as a discussion about societal ethics regarding politics, power, race, humanity, everything. And to see it's image used in this fashion. This is beyond disgusting as both an American citizen, and a huge fan of Star Trek.
And calling it the "Information Dominance Center." That sounds like something I would expect to see on a Cardassian Warship, and not on a Federation Starship--what a day tripper--Dominance? Dominion. Duh.
These people, running these programs are dangerous. Congress needs to undertake serious house cleaning in our Domestic Intelligence Community, and weed these nuts out. I would be more understanding about inside jokes to a degree, but wasting tax payers dollars to stroke some weird egotistical structure while violating the constitutional rights of American citizens is beyond apology or explanation.
I recommend you read the hole story and take a good look at the pictures. I mean fuck the Prime Directive and all that. I wonder what Patrick Stewart thinks of this, or Jonathan Frakes? Marina Sirtis? Will Wheaton? William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy probably remember the McCarthy days first hand, and knew people who lived in fear during the years actors were black-listed as communists.
The alternet story posts an additional link, in which former NSA and CIA Director Hayden has this to say about the Interwebz and their issues with anonymity:
"We have a very difficult time with this," Hayden said. He then asked, "is our vision of the World Wide Web the global digital commons -- at this point you should see butterflies flying here and soft background meadow-like music -- or a global free fire zone?" Given that Hayden also compared the Internet to the wild west and Somalia, Hayden clearly leans toward the "global free fire zone" vision of the Internet. Washington Post
So their goal is to MAKE IT SO! by any means necessary. Butterflies and kittens, and mellow music. Wow, what an effing snore. You know there are times when the internet frustrates me as well, but I would rather have the rawness of it's truths, than an emasculated romper room cut down to reflect someone's ideal of easy listening music and 2nd grade reading material.
I will go out on a limb here and state this is the vision that these loons hold for society in general--beyond the net. Their utopian dream of conformity and peace, some visitation to the golden era that never existed, even in the 1950s. How can one achieve this level of societal peace and fluffiness?
Well it won't happen on it's own as a whole, so it will take an awful lot of forced conformity, fear mongering, surveillance--and all the threats that implies, and the squelching of creativity, dissonance, and dissidents in order to achieve the "Project Kitten Fluff" realization. That right there should scare you.
Imagine if you will, if the government got rid of everything edgy, harsh, or scary? Think of all the art forms that would be blocked, or censored, the artists and speakers that would be punished. The discussions that would be ended. What lengths would these lemmings go to, to see this reality happen?
And honestly this isn't about making the world a nicer place, this is all about control. Appearing "regulation nice" is simply the signal that citizens give, to show submission to the bloated intelligence wing of the MIC.
Because nice isn't always good. Nice can be the velvet that hides the claws. Nice can be the facade of passive aggression, nice is simply the excuse. Ask any girl that was taught to be "nice" at all costs, and see what that will get you. Because if you aren't nice, then you get in trouble, you get what you deserve. Women have been fighting this construct very hard for over a hundred years in this country, and apparently only to see it adapted and applied to all citizens as a means of social control.
Hayden's comment on Net Anonymity is equally disturbing. He seems to have forgotten the the anonymous leaflets and pamphlets that lead to the founding of this country. Or perhaps he didn't. Maybe he realized that was key for a small group of determined people, to throw off the shackles of an oppressive monarchy.
I am no longer going to go with this notion that they don't know their own history. I am now operating on the observation that these are all tactical decisions to consolidate absolute power by any means necessary, including but not limited to, the total dissolution of our civil rights and human rights for power and profit.
8:21 AM PT: FYI: I could see if Houston Control, or the National Severe Storms Lab or the United States Geological Survey had work areas modeled on the Star Ship Enterprise. That would fit. After all Star Trek was about a lot of good ideas, exploration, scientific discoveries and scientific data collection for study. But even then--loosely modeled, because I am sure the money would have been better spent on higher quality internet access, data feeds, better portable seismic detection devices etc., I can see that. A little bit of humor and magic thrown into some very tough, but hopefully rewarding jobs.
But this other thing? Sick. We didn't even get the benefit of discussing this in the public first. We only get to talk about it now, after it's already been established for more than a decade.