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NSA Servers Collect Personal Data Sent by iPhone Apps
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This is more of a legal gray area that needs clarification by the US legislature. From what I've seen is that the communications (not metadata) are filtered out for US citizens overseas. Not sure.
Evidence? Certainly in the UK events have indicated that most terrorists are incompetent - like the fools who tried to suicide bomb Glasgow airport. Our reaction to terrorism is way out of proportion to the risk. All the money spent of surveillance programs could be spent improving the well being of the nation in other ways that are probably more effective. Moreover, having this surveillance only gives an illusion of safety, as shown by the Boston bombing.
I have not seen anything that indicates this is the case. And it is not a grey area. It is outright illegal and unconstitutional.
What might stop terrorists is the US refraining from sticking pencils in hornets nests all around the world. Terrorists don't want to blow up people in another country for no reason, they want to do it because foreigners come in trying to be world police and f with their country. Besides, there's documentaries out there where former NSA employees say they knew that terrorists were in the USA just before 9/11, but they failed to notify the FBI -- look them up.
and us, assuming we are of interest. I say we all start searching random off the wall queries and see if their system will overload.
But in all seriousness, I'm more worried about the fact that all systems are hackable. Eventually NSA's database will leak out and it will cause havoc depending on what they store... Or more likely because of their lack of intelligent profiling, someone will just walk out the door with it. Even with all the data in the world, they still failed to realize that snowden would leak information. One if their own, that passed all their security measures. Maybe the govt was shutdown when he left...
And don't forget they are giving ammunition to the terrorists with this database because of the specific algorithms used in identifying non-innocent personnel. It will show them the exact queries, locations and words to avoid as to not be flagged by their, clearly unsecure systems, allowing them to stay hidden in a cell forever. The fact that the entire world knows details about this information makes the NSA more insecure then any other company that stores your information without you knowing about it.
"Innocent" wtf does that mean anyway?
This is the world we live in now. Gotta take the good with the bad. I don't believe there is any conspiracy or 'evil' behind this, it's simply how such a huge conglomeration of human beings with preposterous abilities have evolved. I'd certainly rather be living now than in medieval Europe.
If they wanted the illusion of safety, they wouldn't classify it... lol making it secret sorta defeats that point of that, doesn't it?
You're probably thinking Dept. of Homeland Security, not the NSA.
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Again, the hornet's nest problem is not an NSA issue. That's more of a problem with the US legislature/US public.
Well, I have seen no evidence whatsoever that this surveillance has prevented competent attacks that would do sufficient damage to justify the financial and ethical costs of the surveillance. The fact that Obama did not stamp on this suggests to me that I should stop donating to his party....
In any case, time for Apple to provide an API for encrypting all meta-data used by apps. They already encrypt the iPhone. At least this would prevent Bob-the-vaguely-curious at the NSA from knowing everything about my life....
The government is also supposed to be limited by the constitution, particularly the 4th amendment in this case, but clearly, that's found its way to the garbage can.
True, in a dictatorship, or a failed democracy. Not true in a successful democracy: you can insist that the government fix the bad.
It seems to fit every definition of "conspiracy," but not necessarily "evil"--depending on how narrowly you choose to define "evil." Even if the current practices (which we've only seen a bit of) are 100% certain not to be "evil" by your definition, are you sure that all the people who make up all future versions of the US government will be equally not "evil"?
What if we gave police the power to execute murderers without a trial, and you were sure they weren't "evil" and would never misuse that power. Would you be sure that the police would continue to use that power without "evil" in future?
The same could be said to justify anything. We could kidnap and enslave 1% of children until they die of exhaustion, and still be better off on average than the dark ages. Doesn't mean people should shut up and not speak out against the practice.
There is a logic to creating a super collection of information of various sorts and being able to drill down for potential threats. However, there is a huge amount of things wrong with NSA and more.
It appears that our government feels itself is 'above the law' and can abuse information, infringe on citizen privacy and more at will.
The NSA, IRS and more have demonstrated a capacity to abuse information at the request of certain leadership. Obamacare is not a secure matter either and after all the facts were laid out about IRS abuse of powers, Obamacare's collection of personal information will be over seen by the IRS.
One need not be a "truther" or look for machinations to see what a blatant lack of restraint our government has shown.
It appears that our government feels itself is 'above the law' and can abuse information, infringe on citizen privacy and more at will.
The NSA, IRS and more have demonstrated a capacity to abuse information at the request of certain leadership. Obamacare is not a secure matter either and after all the facts were laid out about IRS abuse of powers, Obamacare's collection of personal information will be over seen by the IRS.
One need not be a "truther" or look for machinations to see what a blatant lack of restraint our government has shown.
It has very few privileges, you don't even get healthcare or education. Tell us how "they hate us for our freedoms" one more time it might stick.
NSA can see which porn you watch, or worse, which porn your wife watches without you even knowing. That is, a NSA technician could solve most sexual issues that affect couples.
When you decide to protest the government in the future and a police officer shows up to arrest you before you attend, you can thank Angry Birds and your own intellectual laziness in the statement that you have nothing to hide. I don't have anything to hide, but I'll be ****ing damned if I'm going to let you in on my personal details and location so you can check up on me non-voluntarily.
If someone is being targeted there has to be a reason, and that reason should be good enough to get a warrant.
If someone is being targeted there has to be a reason, and that reason should be good enough to get a warrant.
There's a difference between information I choose to share and information that is forcefully taken. Know what that is? Choice.
They spy on the entire planet. Without warrants or declared reasons. They spy on their families, they spy on people they have crushes on.
Besides the fact that the NSA routinely does spy on U.S citizens, it's funny how a lot of people act like no-one outside America matters when it comes to spying... cause' we're all terrorists and commies and socialists
It's like masturbating with foreign's c***.
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The internet began as a military project. Maybe it'll end as it was supposed to be at first.
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Or maybe inspecting what investors around the world think about... oil prices. It's like predicting the future.
Angry Birds scores? I WANT MY PRIVACY BACK!
And by the way, I hope they publish some of their findings, as I scored greatly in the Star Wars themed one.
And by the way, I hope they publish some of their findings, as I scored greatly in the Star Wars themed one.
It's not just the US. Domestic spying is happening all over the world -- Canada is part of the Five Eyes Alliance, which means they probably spy on the US and the US spies on them, then they do a little swap. That way they can truthfully tell the public that they do not conduct domestic spying.
Is it why Boston terrorists weren't caught before attacking?
I think most NSA spying is not about terrorism, but instead it's all about money. How to predict the future on business, where to invest, where not to invest, what presidents and their advisors are talking, what kind of investment foreign banks are putting their money. It's a way more profitable and effective path to invest their spying efforts.
You know that most of NASA is private contractors right, Nasa didn't just build Apollo on their own.
So you don't mind if the British and French are doing the exact same thing with your data?