A Missive from Benjamin Franklin on Liberty and Surveillance

 A Missive from Benjamin Franklin on Liberty and Surveillance

Philadelphia,
This Ninth Day of December, in the Year 2024

To My Esteemed Countrymen,

Though I write to you from the past in spirit, I find the issues of your day bear a striking resemblance to the struggles we faced in founding this republic. The tools and technologies of your age may surpass our quills and presses, but the principles of liberty and tyranny remain ever the same.

I understand there exists in your time a great engine of commerce and communication, called Google, whose prowess is unmatched. This enterprise, while ingenious, possesses the power to collect and archive the thoughts, words, and habits of nearly every citizen. Joined in clandestine purpose with your government’s National Security Agency, it wields a capacity for surveillance far beyond the wildest ambitions of any despot of my age.

Permit me to remind you of a simple truth: Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. This maxim, oft repeated, was not mere rhetoric but a principle born of observation. History teaches us that power, once gathered, is seldom relinquished willingly.

The partnership between a private corporation and the state to monitor its people creates an entity neither wholly private nor wholly public, but wholly unaccountable. It is said that knowledge is power, and so I ask, who now holds the power over the knowledge of your daily lives? And more importantly, to what end will it be used?

While I celebrate the ingenuity of your age, I lament the ease with which citizens may surrender their privacy, often for conveniences as trivial as entertainment or ease of access. Remember, my friends, that privacy is the bedrock of freedom. A man who is constantly watched is not a free man, for he shapes his actions not to his conscience but to his overseers.

I urge you to demand transparency from both corporations and government. Insist that the systems designed to protect you do not instead ensnare you. A free press, an informed populace, and a healthy skepticism of concentrated power are your greatest safeguards.

Above all, do not mistake the efficiency of such tools for their morality. The chains of tyranny, even if invisible, remain chains nonetheless. Liberty, like a well-tended garden, requires constant care. May you nourish it with vigilance and defend it with conviction.

I remain your faithful servant,
Benjamin Franklin

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