Second, we asked can the government effectively terminate a mass movement dependent upon the social media as its primary medium for the exchange of social information? Again the answer is probably not; at least, not yet. These actions the U.S. government can probably do: (1) Shut down the Internet, (2) Use the National Emergency Alert System over radio, television, and the Internet to spread false information about the movement, or about an alleged outside threat that would dissipate the movement, (3) send mass emails or texts directly to movement members containing disinformation from an apparently reliable source that causes the movement to act in a way that damages its public credibility. What the government probably cannot do yet is shut down all cellular telephone traffic because so many businesses are completely dependent upon cellular communications, including many military and intelligence functions. The latter tend to use specialized satellites, but not in all cases, and businesses would be devastated by a prolonged shutdown of cellular functions. While the complete shutdown of cellular services is not inconceivable, such an action would likely come only after a mass movement is well under way. By that time, other means of communication should be in place to sustain the movement. Nonetheless, in the event of surprise, progressives, like families, should have preplanned meeting places in case of communication emergencies.
Third, we ask whether a mass movement can manipulate an eavesdropping government through the knowledge that the eavesdropping is occurring. This is the classic Hollywood scenario in which the little guy turns the tables against the villain by making certain the antagonist hears only misinformation and acts upon that information while the hero successfully executes his or her completely different plan. This action is possible but would be exceedingly difficult. To avoid tipping off the government, the movement would have to severely limit the number of people who knew of the actual plan. The rest of the movement must believe in the false plan until a sudden change occurs at the last moment. This type of action would violate many of the new democratic values the OWS movement has come to adopt. An alternative scenario is to use the social media to sow many false actions in the eavesdropper's ear, causing it to waste resources day after day defending against protests that never occur, except, of course, until the one that does occur. This tactic would not require that the movement itself be misled since the tactic can be debated and accepted or rejected and then implemented with a go or stay order each day a few minutes before the protest is scheduled to occur. It takes the police much longer to prepare than it does the mass movement so they must prepare each day in case that day the actual protest does develop.
Finally we reach the question of how important it is to carefully watch what we say, text and email, knowing that our texts and emails will be preserved for our lifetimes, or that our conversations could be overheard by our own smart phones in standby mode. On this issue, activists would do well to read about the trial of the Chicago Seven after the Democratic National Convention of 1968, for it is in the nefarious conspiracy laws of the federal government and all of the several states that danger lurks in every discourse. click here While the definition of a conspiracy may differ a little from state to state and oftentimes for different offenses in the federal statutes, the most widely used meaning is an agreement by two or more people to commit a crime or to perpetrate an illegal act where at least one overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy is carried out by one member of the conspiracy. It matters not that a defendant withdrew from the conspiracy, or if the ultimate aim of the conspiracy is legal, if an illegal act was contemplated to accomplish that aim. In the latter case, for instance, each individual in a group that agrees to steal a truck of food and distribute the food to the homeless, or to camp out on the lawn of a foreclosed home to prevent the owner's ejection, is guilty of the separate and distinct crime of conspiracy so long as one member of the conspiracy commits one act in furtherance of the conspiracy. It is important to remember that "conspiracy" is a crime unto itself: the very act of coming to an agreement to commit a crime is a crime, and in some jurisdictions not even the overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy is required as proof of the conspiracy to convict. click here
Conspiracy charges are notorious for shutting down political movements. One reason is that planning nonviolent activities often involves forming an agreement to violate the law, and under Federal law, depending upon the type of facility being protested, or planning the crossing of state lines to engage in the illegal nonviolence, the conspiracy can easily be defined as a felony. Moreover, evidentiary rules in conspiracy cases appear like something out of the dark ages. Every conspirator is liable for the acts of every other conspirator whether he or she consented to that act, knew about that act, or even knew the ultimate aim of the conspiracy. As the courts frequently state it, the left hand of the conspiracy need not know what the right hand is doing. For instance, if OWS planned a massive act of civil disobedience by blocking the entrance to Congress with over 100,000 representational war dead, and one protester robbed a convenience store in his home state to get the money to travel to Washington and participate, all 100,000 protesters are technically guilty of that robbery. They all agreed to the same illegal act and all are responsible for whatever any conspirator does in furtherance of the conspiracy. Additionally, while the statements of co-defendants are normally inadmissible evidence in criminal trials since they violate the defendant's right against self incrimination (the defendant is forced to take the stand if co-defendant testimony is introduced), the statement of a co-conspirator is admissible because it is part of the crime to be proved. The only good thing about conspiracy charges is that if you are facing them you know you are winning the political struggle.
Concluding then, OWS should presume at all times that Big Brother is listening and reading and knows exactly to whom it listens and reads and exactly where they are located. Presuming this, OWS should be careful not to use words indicating agreement to violate the law, but to couch their language in speculative terms, questions, thoughtful imaginings, and such. OWS should presume that they could lose a large part of their social medium at any instant, and make plans for such an event, for it will certainly, eventually come. Finally, if at all possible, OWS should develop plans to use the governments eavesdropping against it. Nothing could better protect against surveillance than making it expensive and worthless.
Total Information Awareness is a tool of a totalitarian state. To find that the NSA and CIA are the most prolific consumers of state of the art surveillance tools, and that they use those tools on their own citizens just in case they need the information later, ought to tell us what to expect in the way of future social change if America's 1% gets its way. We all know something dark and foreboding is coming. We feel it in the air. Many believe it will be total economic collapse. For the first time, Americans will go to the local grocery store, and the shelves will be bare. No law in this universe states that the food at Publix or Krogers or whatever chain dominates your region will always keep coming because of the "invisible hand" of capitalism. You have only your faith, and if you are paying any attention, your faith in the "invisible hand" that allegedly regulates our system should be shaken to the core. The 1% understand that an empty belly is the womb of revolution. That is why they watch us. They watch and listen and prepare.
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