"As a Democrat, I am disgusted with President Obama" - Leading New Media Guru Jeff Jarvis
Writing at The Guardian, new media guru Jeff Jarvis lets it rip re: President Barack Obama.
As a citizen, I am disgusted by the systematic evasion of oversight you have supported through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts; by the use of ports as lawless zones where your agents can harass anyone; by your failure on your promise to close Guantánamo, and this list could go on.
As an American often abroad, I am embarrassed by the damage you have caused to our reputation and to others' trust in us. I find myself apologizing for what you are doing to citizens of other nations, dismissing the idea that they have rights to privacy because they are "foreign".
As an internet user, I am most fearful of the impact of your wanton destruction of privacy and the resulting collapse of trust in the net and what that will do to the freedom we have enjoyed in it as well as the business and jobs that are being built atop it.
Did I mention that Jarvis voted for Obama?
You could decide to end what will be known as the Obama Collect it All doctrine and make the art of intelligence focus rather than reach.
You could decide to respect the efforts of whistleblowers as courageous practitioners of civil disobedience who are sacrificing much in their efforts to protect lives and democracy. If they are the Martin Luther Kings of our age, then call off Bull Connor's digital dogs and fire hoses, will you?
Jarvis is right to be disgusted with not simply Obama's actual policies ("never did I imagine he would become another Richard Nixon") but the sanctimony and false promise they came wrapped in.
Read the whole thing, which is reminiscent of the helpful attacks on the Clinton administration by Dem-friendly technerds back in the 1990s when Bill, Janet Reno, Al Gore, and other cool Boomers were working overtime to regulate the Net and build government-friendly hardware via the Clipper Chip, the Communications Decency Act, and other attacks on free expression.
