Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple and Other Tech Companies Call for Government Surveillance Reform
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
But the "government" and "NSA" are made up of individuals -- not faceless zombies. Why don't they care? Do they just want a pay check?
I don't get these people who work in government agencies, who don't realize that they are individual citizens too. Isn't there someone there to put a stop to this waste of money. Think about what good all the security, military and intelligence money could do if applied to infrastructure, schools, basic scientific research. But noooooooooo, everyone is so scared of terrorists and other countries.
Maybe we need more Snowdens.
Blame McCarthy. The national security appartus really got under way with the red scare in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Since then, a politician only has to call his opponent weak on national security (or terrorism) (or communism), to bring out the votes.
In reality, its all a crock. Like the U.S.S.R. was ever going to invade the U.S. -- be real. Yes, they might have more influence in the far east or somewhere else in the world, but nobody is invading a major 1st world country anymore. Those days are over.
And the words "national security" have lost any real meaning. Anything, anywhere, can be said to be our "national security". Soooo scary.
Its all a bunch of b.s., as Snowden and wikileaks has shown.
This kind of rationalizing really scares me to think that people actually think and believe in the thought of this. WE THE PEOPLE do NOT need to be transparent! It's called the 4th amendment....might want to read it sometime...there's this thing called Probable Cause!!!!
Wow. I hope that doesn't end up like Waco.
All those people died because they followed a religious mad man. And those poor FBI agents... think of their families!
As for the Mormons, either they are being seriously persecuted, or they are the ones pulling these stunts. I wonder which it is...
Yes, like I said, this battle is ours and it does need to be won, I'm glad something as prominent as Apple is standing up to this and leading the charge of giving people a louder more unified voice. Apple has always had extremely rigid principles regarding privacy and I'm both thrilled and relieved to see they still care deeply about this topic, and in fact care deeply enough to be public about it against a horribly authoritarian status quo.. even if it may frost them politically.
Umm, I'm not sure I understand either your humor or you are missing something in the link.
The link is to the data center that the NSA is building. Why would a gov't building end up like Waco?
Secret meeting:
Tech companies: We would like you to be more transparent
Obama: *eye on the red button* ...go on...
Tech companies: We feel that our customers deserve to know what is being done with their data.
Obama: *pushes button* ... guys clean up the mess, I have another meeting coming up with the Columbians.
Tech companies: We would like you to be more transparent
Obama: *eye on the red button* ...go on...
Tech companies: We feel that our customers deserve to know what is being done with their data.
Obama: *pushes button* ... guys clean up the mess, I have another meeting coming up with the Columbians.
Because I think Waco was a government building. I think Hotfile was closed by the agency running it, with a nice Christmas bonus for Hollywood.
Spies are everywhere.... Keep clearing your browsing history!!!!
Lighten' up Francis.
Spies aren't everywhere, but I think its absurd that we have a national security state, that costs billions if not trillions. What a waste of $$$$.
"You keep usin tha word. I don thing it means what you thing it means."
Apple has not evaded taxes. There were thoroughly investigated and it was determined that they paid all that they owed according to existing laws.
If I break through a toll booth, I have evaded the toll and committed a crime.
If I go to the trouble of driving to a bridge that doesn't have a toll and cross there, I have avoided a toll.
Apple avoids all the taxes it can, (just like you do) but it hasn't evaded any (don't know about you).
If you don't like the corporate tax laws, write your representatives. Don't accuse someone of something they didn't do.
You really just said what I was thinking. If these were signed by "Tim Cook" and "Mark Zuckerberg" it would have more of an effect than just stamping the logos there.
Bravo! Bravo! And so true sadly
Just look at how many people have been arrested and charged with violating eavesdropping statutes because they recorded their encounter with the police...even though the police are always recording regular citizens on traffic stops, etc...
Tech companies are mad that the Gub'ment is muscling in on their territory. Google already had dibs on the rights to spy on me.
I've got a fake Facebook account, so all they're getting out of me is made up garbage. Hey, thats pretty much what they get out of a real FB user.
Don't forget, his girlfriend might like to know why his car was parked for two hours outside his ex's house
Or maybe his boss would like an explanation as to why his car spent the day at the beach when he called in sick to work...
Interesting choice for your analogy. Several states would just about do that right now, they already do it with traffic cameras, ticket shows up in the mail. My state keeps trying, and gets shot down by the court each time. Last time they actually had installed cameras at certain intersections, mainly used for ticketing people running red lights. The court took it away since they couldn't identify the driver, just the vehicle.
There's only one problem with this open letter: the wrong companies are making this request.
Here's the reason why: many suspect that the NSA has tapped directly into the Internet backbone lines owned by the likes of AT&T, Level 3, Sprint and Verizon. As such, they are essentially "scooping up" all the Internet traffic without having to access the servers at AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, Linkedin, Microsoft and Twitter and using NSA's gigantic complex of supercomputers to analyze all the data. Now, if the Internet backbone companies were signatories to this request, THEN I'll take this letter much more seriously.
Here's the reason why: many suspect that the NSA has tapped directly into the Internet backbone lines owned by the likes of AT&T, Level 3, Sprint and Verizon. As such, they are essentially "scooping up" all the Internet traffic without having to access the servers at AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, Linkedin, Microsoft and Twitter and using NSA's gigantic complex of supercomputers to analyze all the data. Now, if the Internet backbone companies were signatories to this request, THEN I'll take this letter much more seriously.
I’m all for security. But it now seems the government is using the threat of terrorism as an excuse to mount an unprecedented spying operation on it’s own citizens, without any safeguards against abuses, and without any independent external oversight. As freedom loving people, we should all be concerned indeed.
Tech companies are mad that the Gub'ment is muscling in on their territory. Google already had dibs on the rights to spy on me.
That may let you sleep better at night, but unfortunately that is not how Big Data works. Regardless of what you have put on your FB profile, FB knows exactly who you are, probably better than you know yourself. They know your name, your address, your financial situation, your interests, your likes and dislikes. They probably know stuff about you that you don't want your wife to know about you. Such is the power of Big Data, and the scary thing. It is so powerful, that MIT has shown that you can upload a photo with a person in it, and the system can spit out all the above, without giving any other input other than that photo. This goes for Google too, obviously.
You cannot hide. There are FB and Google trackers on virtually every site these days, and they will map out your life regardless of what you do. Fake info on your profile and logging out after each visit doesn't change a damn thing.
And this is exactly why these companies as well as the government need to be put on a leash when it comes to collecting data.
I find this 'outrage' expressed by companies regarding privacy to be absolutely ridiculous. All of the personal data collected by each of these companies on a daily basis seems to be forgotten in the fight against the big, bad public enemy (the state). While that is very much a valid battle, why are so many people giving a free pass to firms like...Google?! (And, sadly, Apple as well). We should be equally pissed off by the lack of transparency each of these companies continue to exercise. We should be concerned about their global hegemony, and we should be questioning their use of our data in the same manner as we complain about the NSA or GCHQ. Just because they are 'private' firms doing wrong doesn't make them any less 'evil' than 'public' bodies. People's love affair with companies sometimes baffles me (and I include myself in that number).