That's the scary thing about information. We can't know what they could end up using it for. The real question is: Do we want to find out?
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Apple to Team Up With Tech Companies to Ask for Greater NSA Transparency
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That's the scary thing about information. We can't know what they could end up using it for. The real question is: Do we want to find out?
At the House judiciary committee meeting yesterday, Randy Forbes (R, Virginia) said: "That's exactly what the American people are worried about."
"That's what's infuriating the American people. They're understanding that if you collect that amount of data, people can get access to it in ways that can harm them."
For the first time, NSA deputy director John C. Inglis disclosed Wednesday that the agency sometimes conducts what's known as three-hop analysis. That means the government can look at the phone data of a suspect terrorist, plus the data of all of his contacts, then all of those people's contacts, and finally, all of those people's contacts.
If the average person calls 40 unique people, three-hop analysis could allow the government to mine the records of 2.5 million Americans when investigating one suspected terrorist.
A stiff letter? What's that about? Basically it's a stance taken to distance themselves from criticism. Won't achieve anything with the government. I don't think that's the intention. This is more " hey consumers, don't bite us, we're on your side".
All governments hoard power. Only when the public outrage turns to direct action and they look like losing power do they backdown (to retain power). Information gathering gives them massive amounts of power (control) so it would take a massive uprising to get them to change. There's enough people in the community who don't care or don't understand what's being done "in their name", that change on this issue just ain't going to happen.
All governments hoard power. Only when the public outrage turns to direct action and they look like losing power do they backdown (to retain power). Information gathering gives them massive amounts of power (control) so it would take a massive uprising to get them to change. There's enough people in the community who don't care or don't understand what's being done "in their name", that change on this issue just ain't going to happen.
They reported what they were allowed by law to report. I don't know what would happen if they reported the complete truth; I suppose the persons responsible would go to jail without a trial. Imagine Apple reports lots of interesting things and shortly afterwards Tim Cook disappears.
Do they really expect us to believe that companies are going to ask the government politely, please stop being our customer? Pathetic.
If you were Big Brother, something like Google is a wet dream... Where people voluntarily give up information on themselves, their most intimate thoughts and details. They are basically doing their own surveillance on themselves. Same with Facebook.
Now add in intelligence agencies operating through shell companies, and the propensities of intelligence recruiting -- graduate students at Ivy League and other blue chip universities like Stanford who speak multiple languages... DARPA funds a lot of research at such universities as well. Makes me wonder about Google's true origins, at least. Should we believe the potential fairy tale that two graduate students came up with the search engine in a lab, or is there more to it? Where do people really think Google Earth came from? Keyhole, funded by Q-Tel which is openly tied to the CIA. Now that sweetheart arrangement for the Google 747 to use NASA's Moffett Air field makes more sense, doesn't it? And the motto "Don't be evil" -- who would pick that unless they were being evil in the first place? There's a rule of thumb in advertising that the advertiser tells you what they are afraid you think about their product with their advertising. For example, Toyota likes to say in its ads its cars are exciting and stylish -- because they know people think the opposite.
We know Eric Schmidt's position on privacy.
The pieces are starting to fit together, aren't they?
Now add in intelligence agencies operating through shell companies, and the propensities of intelligence recruiting -- graduate students at Ivy League and other blue chip universities like Stanford who speak multiple languages... DARPA funds a lot of research at such universities as well. Makes me wonder about Google's true origins, at least. Should we believe the potential fairy tale that two graduate students came up with the search engine in a lab, or is there more to it? Where do people really think Google Earth came from? Keyhole, funded by Q-Tel which is openly tied to the CIA. Now that sweetheart arrangement for the Google 747 to use NASA's Moffett Air field makes more sense, doesn't it? And the motto "Don't be evil" -- who would pick that unless they were being evil in the first place? There's a rule of thumb in advertising that the advertiser tells you what they are afraid you think about their product with their advertising. For example, Toyota likes to say in its ads its cars are exciting and stylish -- because they know people think the opposite.
We know Eric Schmidt's position on privacy.
The pieces are starting to fit together, aren't they?
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This is merely symbolic
Its nice that these tech companies are fighting for transparency. I applaud the effort. Problem is, the NSA just does what it wants to anyways and you'll never know if they do or don't. They've been recording telephone calls for decades without warrants. The FBI is the only agency that really plays by the rules and uses FISA courts. BTW, the idea of a secret court is asinine. What's the sense of even having the court if the public doesnt know whats going on or there's no due process, no method for people to stand up for themselves in the court. I imagine that's why 99.99% of all FISA warrant applications have been approved by judges. They're nothing more than a symbolic rubber stamp.
And why is the NSA spying on Americans? FISA provides for gathering "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers". How does that equate to spying on every single American inside of our own country. To be honest, I dont care if the US govt spies on people outside of our borders, the Constitution doesnt apply then.
Its nice that these tech companies are fighting for transparency. I applaud the effort. Problem is, the NSA just does what it wants to anyways and you'll never know if they do or don't. They've been recording telephone calls for decades without warrants. The FBI is the only agency that really plays by the rules and uses FISA courts. BTW, the idea of a secret court is asinine. What's the sense of even having the court if the public doesnt know whats going on or there's no due process, no method for people to stand up for themselves in the court. I imagine that's why 99.99% of all FISA warrant applications have been approved by judges. They're nothing more than a symbolic rubber stamp.
And why is the NSA spying on Americans? FISA provides for gathering "foreign intelligence information" between "foreign powers" and "agents of foreign powers". How does that equate to spying on every single American inside of our own country. To be honest, I dont care if the US govt spies on people outside of our borders, the Constitution doesnt apply then.
It comes to show when we are in trouble when the Russian secret service has gone back to type writers for the most secret of communications! Nothing is secret if a computer is being used so get used to it.
P.S. I have bought shares in the Chinese russian type writer company.
P.S. I have bought shares in the Chinese russian type writer company.
This is a very thoughtful post. I like your thought process. I have been working on something along these lines, but related to a physical location. The rough idea would be that you could create a message ( it could be anything digitally encodable) and associate it with a physical location. The association would be through an application. So when it came time for you or anyone else to try and read the message, they would have to be in a certain location.
There are lots of potential issues with this but I am trying to work out how it could be secure and anonymous, without the need to associate the data with an individual.
A fight for transparency happens before you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, this is called damage control. Im pretty sure that these companies saying that the NSA never had direct access to the data is just lawyer talk and the NSA had free reign to pull whatever data they wanted (if they hadn't already tapped into it at the ISP already).
That's not true. Most of the people you are referring to aren't liberals. They are independents or democrats not liberals and many are former Republicans. Many Republicans started voting for Obama when the Republican party became crazy about the black guy being president.
If they really cared they could band together and refuse the requests that aren't accompanied by a search warrant, refuse any confidentiality agreement, announce each request without a search warrant to the public and fight them in court.
Another result due to Edward Snowden.
Good or Bad?
(not expecting a response on that)
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According to "the SOP", those warrants are secret, thus cannot show it to company, but it exists.
Good or Bad?
(not expecting a response on that)
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According to "the SOP", those warrants are secret, thus cannot show it to company, but it exists.
Next time you cast your vote. Look for someone who supports the constitution. Someone who puts the constitution above all other issues. Someone who believes in the power of the individual and their freedoms not the power of government.
This snooping, dragnet, rights diminishing, power grabbing government that we have had for over a decade needs to be turned around and we need to move power back to the people and away from the government. We need a return to self reliance and individual responsibility not a nanny socialistic state.
This snooping, dragnet, rights diminishing, power grabbing government that we have had for over a decade needs to be turned around and we need to move power back to the people and away from the government. We need a return to self reliance and individual responsibility not a nanny socialistic state.
Sounds like Twitter or Facebook.
Fairly easy to make message that use altered words that convey a message but seems ordinary/unimportant to everyone else.
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Next time you cast your vote. Look for someone who supports the constitution. Someone who puts the constitution above all other issues. Someone who believes in the power of the individual and their freedoms not the power of government.
This snooping, dragnet, rights diminishing, power grabbing government that we have had for over a decade needs to be turned around and we need to move power back to the people and away from the government. We need a return to self reliance and individual responsibility not a nanny socialistic state.
Money >>>>> Constitution.
Regardless of party, we all get power hungry politicians.
Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
-Kissinger
Well, that's exactly the problem: Nobody even knows what exactly the agreements or legal requirements ruling these data accesses are, and how much is missing in the published reports. You can't possibly call them "transparency reports" under these circumstances.
Next time you cast your vote. Look for someone who supports the constitution. Someone who puts the constitution above all other issues. Someone who believes in the power of the individual and their freedoms not the power of government.
This snooping, dragnet, rights diminishing, power grabbing government that we have had for over a decade needs to be turned around and we need to move power back to the people and away from the government. We need a return to self reliance and individual responsibility not a nanny socialistic state.
They all say they support the constitution. The problem is that only those serving on (I think) two committees were ever told about this.
Those people need to resign or be fired for gross negligence.
Late to the party, Apple tells the others what they want to hear. Knowing anything the Cupertino company says publicly will be reported on, they choose their words very carefully. Masters of their image, the faithful are thrilled at this announcement.
And the beat goes on...
And the beat goes on...
The way they are paid is, they don't go to prison for life.
From the perspective of the NSA. If you see something and you say something, you can say something from prison. Not that we will let you say anything from prison. Don't worry. You may not get to go to your trial, that said, we will give you the best lawyer you can have. Not that you will ever know who your lawyer was or what they said to defend you.
It's called an anonymous remailer. They have been around for years. I think, they date back to the 1990's. If you choose to use them, make sure to bounce messages back and fourth between countries. Proxy servers are also your friends.
From the perspective of the United States government, the Constitution applies to everyone. From their perspective, they can't do anything to a foreign national that would be unconstitutional for an American citizen.
I am probably the most liberal person on this site. This has been an issue for me, dating back to the 1970's, when, as a kid, I first started studying the math behind cryptography.
That said, here is how it works.
[NSA] Mr. President, that is a nice family you have. It would be a shame if something happened to them.
[POTUS] Just tell me what you want.
Strange that they saw that coming, but couldn't see a way to find a candidate who would actually get votes...
Time will tell, depending on where the national conversation goes from here. At the moment it's almost entirely about unfocused paranoia, and that is never a place where good things happen.
Two bad results we already know about is that Snowdon delivered his stolen national security secrets directly to China and Russia. You know, two places on Earth where personal privacy and the rule of law are the most respected. You couldn't cut that irony with a chainsaw.