this is something i've pointed out before, though, in a number of circumstances.

first, why do i think the cops are on me? well, have you read much of this? it's less the general thrust of the site - there's lots of people like me out there - and more that there's certain, specific things posted here and there that aren't supposed to be posted. afghanistan, for example - i'm just not supposed to put up a web page that states that there's no intended end date. that's contradicting something that a lot of effort was put into.

the cops have a mandate to keep people safe, and they do carry it out, they just often forget to mention which people that they keep safe. i'm threatening to the power elite on an information level. i get it. and, you only laugh because you don't, and that's ok - it keeps me safer.

so, to an extent, the surveillance doesn't bother me. what bothers me is how poorly it's being done, because if i was somebody else, an actual member of an actual group, then i'd have figured it out a long time ago and left already.

i can often hear the echo on my sound card, indicating that there's something working at a hardware level. and, i can hear them drop out when i cut the service off. it's not subtle, either. if they're going to hack a terrorist's machine or phone with audio firmware to capture the signal, don't you think it's important that they hire capable enough programmers to fix the echo cancellation? is that not budgeted?

likewise, if you're carrying out a stakeout upstairs for a suspect in a small non-smoking duplex, don't you think it's important not to smoke? 'cause it's pretty easy to find you if you're smoking undercover. kind of a dead giveaway.

if the spies were capable, i wouldn't know they're there. and, in a real way, it's realizing how unprofessional the cops are that is what is bothering me more than the surveillance, itself.

...because if i was a pakistani or saudi on the brink of something incomprehensible, i'd have ditched them years ago on my way to blowing up the world. and, if i was a russian operating inside the country, i'd be long gone by now. as it is, i'm just a simple canadian expressing myself in the written medium that is essentially being harassed by officers that should be out there bothering actual criminals, such as drug pushers and addicts and illegal immigrants, and that is still able to rather effortlessly outsmart them.

we need better forms of collective security than this, where they turn a blind eye to the criminals and target the victims.