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Google Takeout means something else in light of PRISM

rachelbythebay.com

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Re: Google Takeout means something else in light of PRISM

#21
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why on earth do you call out Skype? That's true of tons of services.

Skype was another one of the services mentioned. Microsoft was also the first company to start giving data this way to NSA, according to the leak, since 2007, and they signed up Skype to it almost immediately after they bought it.

Oh, well, I wasn't under the impression deleting your account amounts to much of anything anywhere anyway.

Re: Google Takeout means something else in light of PRISM

#23
post #19

I am kind of surprised how many people on HN try to downplay the PRISM thing. The recent revelations and controversy directly affect the business prospects of any US firm that stores data. A couple of months ago I was on an education business fair in Germany and the first thing I heared at the booth of many data-handling businesses was: "We don't store anything in the United States. All our servers are in Europe/Germ…

That, exactly. Google, Apple, Facebook and friends go to great lengths to evade taxes. When it comes to tax matters, those companies have no hesitation to use all the tricks available to a trans-national company. And they pay very smart people to invent schemes that ensure a maximum amount of money is kept out of the US IRS hands. If Google, Facebook and friends were truly serious about protecting their users' privac…

Maybe you can have one but not the other. These guys contract big consulting firms to be the middlemen between them and the government when it comes to tax laws. But I suspect you have to "give" something in return.

Re: Google Takeout means something else in light of PRISM

#26

I am kind of surprised how many people on HN try to downplay the PRISM thing. The recent revelations and controversy directly affect the business prospects of any US firm that stores data. A couple of months ago I was on an education business fair in Germany and the first thing I heared at the booth of many data-handling businesses was: "We don't store anything in the United States. All our servers are in Europe/Germ…

I'm surprised how many people think this is news.

It's simple: if it's passed through the USA, if you store it on a server in the USA or if it contains tags served from the USA you can bet that it's being tracked by one or more three letter agencies. To assume anything less would be folly given the amount of smoke that has been generated to date. To infer there is a fire somewhere is no feat of deduction.

The fact that there is now proof that at least some of these programs are real is only going to convince the last hold-outs, or at least, so I'd hope.

Re: Google Takeout means something else in light of PRISM

#28
post #19

I am kind of surprised how many people on HN try to downplay the PRISM thing. The recent revelations and controversy directly affect the business prospects of any US firm that stores data. A couple of months ago I was on an education business fair in Germany and the first thing I heared at the booth of many data-handling businesses was: "We don't store anything in the United States. All our servers are in Europe/Germ…

That, exactly. Google, Apple, Facebook and friends go to great lengths to evade taxes. When it comes to tax matters, those companies have no hesitation to use all the tricks available to a trans-national company. And they pay very smart people to invent schemes that ensure a maximum amount of money is kept out of the US IRS hands. If Google, Facebook and friends were truly serious about protecting their users' privac…

It's one thing to have a bankaccount in the Netherlands, that's easy. A whole data-center? A data-center with all the infrastructure to support it and employees and it still needs to be fast enough that we can't see a slowdown from moving it out of USA? That's a different undertaking.

Re: Google Takeout means something else in light of PRISM

#29
You know what the NSA loves best? Burying the real news in conspiracy theories so they can write off ALL the complaints. Feeding the trolls undermines the serious fight for govt transparency and civil liberties.

This post hurts Americans, for one person to build a picocelebrity career out of smearing a famous ex-employer

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