The NSA, Verizon and Your Privacy

[mrsleeve]

all those senators outraged over the leak need to be flogged. I think this is exactly what all the right wing gun nuts are afraid of.

Dont say none of us never warned you about this kinda possibility ;)

This

This really shows how the 2 main parties are really the same when it comes down to it. This is also my biggest issue about Obama (continuing Bush policies on war/terror), and he's handling it poorly. Now even some of the Republicans who are about "freedom" are sticking up for the NSA? Eff them!

oh yeah, they "only" spy on you when you communicate with foreign countries. yeah, I'm married to a Canadian citizen. I guess I'm more than likely on their "list".

I like that the NSA expects us to believe them when they say they aren't spying on us. OK, we'll take your word for it. The federal government has never broken it's own laws or lied before! :|

Everything about this stinks.

+

this

When you see John Boehner endorsing Obama's explanation of what's going on, you know we are all royally screwed.

pretty much sums up my thoughts on things as of late

[nando]

at least we finally have something that both parties agree on. :(

[Farbin Kaiber]

The thing I was thinking last night, ok, so they 'only' were collecting the metadata, and not the voice data. OK, so that makes some people feel a little better, but has anyone realized that the cell location data will also be considered 'metadata', so they pretty much have been collecting real time location tracking on people for years. They know every place you've been, what locations you frequent, where you go before and after using an ATM machine, what room in the house your probability will be when they come in the front door to arrest you... They will be able to say, it's 96% probable that he is in the front room, left corner by window in their briefing before they come to serve a warrant on you. Not to mention how easy a "Find/Fix/Finish" gig would be for a guy out at Hancock Field.

[gwb72tii]

all those senators outraged over the leak need to be flogged. I think this is exactly what all the right wing gun nuts are afraid of.

This really shows how the 2 main parties are really the same when it comes down to it. This is also my biggest issue about obama (continuing bush policies on war/terror), and he's handling it poorly. Now even some of the republicans who are about "freedom" are sticking up for the nsa? Eff them!

Oh yeah, they "only" spy on you when you communicate with foreign countries. Yeah, i'm married to a canadian citizen. I guess i'm more than likely on their "list".

I like that the nsa expects us to believe them when they say they aren't spying on us. Ok, we'll take your word for it. The federal government has never broken it's own laws or lied before! :|

everything about this stinks.

qft

[gwb72tii]

so, why were they purposely not targeting mosques?

[nando]

The thing I was thinking last night, ok, so they 'only' were collecting the metadata, and not the voice data. OK, so that makes some people feel a little better, but has anyone realized that the cell location data will also be considered 'metadata', so they pretty much have been collecting real time location tracking on people for years. They know every place you've been, what locations you frequent, where you go before and after using an ATM machine, what room in the house your probability will be when they come in the front door to arrest you... They will be able to say, it's 96% probable that he is in the front room, left corner by window in their briefing before they come to serve a warrant on you. Not to mention how easy a "Find/Fix/Finish" gig would be for a guy out at Hancock Field.

One of the NSA guys also made a statement something like "the amount of data we have is way more than we could ever go through". Except, the plan is to store all that data - indefinitely - until such a time that computing power reaches a point that they *can* sift through all that data and use it against "targets".

Couple these things with drone strikes and government "kill" lists for American citizens (whether they are terrorists in other countries or not), we have something pretty damn scary.

[mrsleeve]

^

You you guys have always thought Dub and myself were a little to far out there..... ;)

[nando]

no, I never liked the "Patriot act" from Day 1.

I don't think there's a "conspiracy" but rather the government has been slowly eroding our rights for the last 2 decades, and it has reached the intersection of powerful computing and is being used with dramatic results. Now that the government has the power, they're using it to their fullest abilities because it's "legal".

that and the large corporations that control 90% of data traffic are all too willing to bend to government forces, presumably because they think there is some financial or regulatory benefit.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Maybe it's just the part of Washington you are in or something, but I'm pretty sure that the first half of your second line is a good definition of a conspiracy.

[mrsleeve]

The last 20 years really?? it goes back a century, its just now gotten much easier to get away with it because the means are not as overt as they were 30 years ago...

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. - Thomas Jefferson

Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add “within the limits of the law,” because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual. - Thomas Jefferson

[BraveUlysses]

[DEV0 E30]

One of the NSA guys also made a statement something like "the amount of data we have is way more than we could ever go through". Except, the plan is to store all that data - indefinitely - until such a time that computing power reaches a point that they *can* sift through all that data and use it against "targets".

You're partially right. The data will indeed be stored indefinitely, this is why there are huge hubs throughout the U.S. Most recently the Utah hub, the ~2.0 billion dollar NSA facility will be or already is operational.

The super computers being developed, and already developed outside of the scope of even the "secret" MIT super computers can and will sift through all of the storage at these facilities faster than you can imagine. One of the main reasons these supercomputers are built is to crack secure encryption, that computing power can also be used to index, analyze, and catalog massive amounts of data. Think google crawlers on crack, then injected with speed.

[nando]

The last 20 years really?? it goes back a century, its just now gotten much easier to get away with it because the means are not as overt as they were 30 years ago...

The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground. - Thomas Jefferson

Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add “within the limits of the law,” because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual. - Thomas Jefferson

that's really what I mean - the technology has really helped enable the government to do what wouldn't have been possible in the 1950s and 1960s.

nice quote btw.

[mrsleeve]

And this is why the Constitution is as important now as it was 230 years ago. And why its not open to reinterpretation with each subsequent generation. Because no matter how much technology grows and makes shit like this possible, our fundamental liberties and rights do not change.

The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all. - Thomas Jefferson


They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Ben Franklin

Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power. - Ben Franklin 1758 Poor Richards Almanac

I get a lot of shit for quoting our founders, I really cant think of any time in my short life time when their wisdom, and warnings ring more true than right now. How much longer can we ignore them and not heed the lessons of the past and brush off their warnings.....

[Vedubin01]

all those senators outraged over the leak need to be flogged. I think this is exactly what all the right wing gun nuts are afraid of.

I am pretty right as it comes and I think Snowden did a huge service to his country and we as Americans. I applaud him in his actions and hope that others will fall in his place to root out this cancer.