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XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

theguardian.com

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Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#541

Post by throow »

lukifer wrote: post #536
throow wrote: post #512

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having the same problem as some other commenters here in that people don't seem to care about these hypothetical situations. They mostly trust the gov't to only track the "bad guys". Are there any good cases of the above-mentioned actually happening? Any other suggestions for responding to the nothing-to-hide argument?

My best counterargument for "nothing to hide": What do you think Nixon would have done with access to a limitless database of (effectively) every human on earth? Privacy is important. But vastly more important is unaccountable power.

Playing devil's advocate here.

But that has never happened and probably never will. Nixon was caught quickly. Besides, that wouldn't even affect me, only people who do bad things or are in positions of political power.

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#542

Post by pigscantfly »

momodomo wrote: post #220
joering2 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably not as much as FB co-founder offering his company Palantir services to government on people's intelligence.

I also suspect that Palantir is involved.

Haha, suspect. You know their tool for importing new types of data into a Palantir system is called Prism, right? Aggregating data from different sources and linking it is all they do.

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#543

Post by lukifer »

kintamanimatt wrote: post #109
dictum wrote: post #82

>Foreignness factor I know NSA's mandate is to spy on foreigners , but it's still very jingoistic and xenophobic that not being American makes it OK to spy on you.

One could assume that Americans are spied on by foreign governments and the data is just exchanged. The US spies on Brits, the UK spies on US persons, and the both compare notes.

This is exactly why "every country spies on foreigners" is unacceptable. There's no reason to assume that this "note-sharing isn't already taking place.

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#544

Post by lukifer »

mpyne wrote: post #505
spahl wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this was written in 2008. Storage capacity could/must have increased massively since then.

But so has the volume of data that NSA would have to retain.

...and so have the compression and filtering tech, I'm sure. If you strip out most attachments, the average email message is incredibly tiny when gzipped.

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#545

Post by pooriaazimi »

lisper wrote: post #326
martindale wrote: post #13

Interesting; it appears someone failed to redact some data from the slides. In the Facebook chat example, the message is "to" 1536051595. Using the Facebook Graph API, we can gather information based on this ID: http://graph.facebook.com/1536051595 Which leads us to the Facebook profile ( https://www.facebook.com/arash.gorjipour.5 ) of an individual, real or contrived, named "Arash Gorjipour". His email address and p…

He's Canadian. And he has dark skin and a funny-sounding name. He's (almost certainly) a real person, by the way. I called his office. He wasn't in, but they offered to page him for me.

Just FYI (almost certainly of no importance because this individual was chosen at random for the slides): his name (both first and surname) are Persian. I'd guess he was an Iranian (graduate) student who has decided to stay in Canada after his studies; possibly to be "free" from an oppressive government's espionage and meddling in his private life. The irony...

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#546

Post by sinak »

Hey folks,

Just wanted to add a note and say that if you're angry about this, the best thing that you can do is to get out into the streets and protest everything that's been going on. Check out the Restore the Fourth rallies happening this weekend, share them on social media, and sign up for your local event.

http://1984Day.com

Getting out into the streets is the single most significant thing you can do - even more effective than calling your legislators. The events on Sunday need to be bigger than the events July 4th for this to really be a success.

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#547

Post by shirro »

aroman wrote: post #81
shirro wrote: post #35

You have to admit these guys are working on some cool problems. If you don't have a problem with the legality of it or potential for misuse it looks like a really interesting place to work.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not condoning their actions, but in case you need a more clear example of where this paradigm breaks down: IBM & Nazi Germany, Nazi Germany in general, etc. Ironically, sillicon valley came into existence building military SIGINT/ELINT systems for the cold war.[0] [0] www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFSPHfZQpIQ

I think there is a developing consensus that the emerging US police state (and that of its allies) aren't appropriate for constitutional democracies. Comparing them to Nazi experiments or nuclear weapons is still a bit premature. The potential is there for it to turn really ugly which is why the time for political action is now. But national security is important and worthwhile within constitutional limits and under democratic oversight and I suspect a scaled back NSA would be no more evil or less interesting than Bletchley Park or the development of Radar.

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#548

Post by samstave »

smacktoward wrote: post #421
kazagistar wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I am just having trouble seeing the point of "see I was right all along"? Why would we be upset at the newcomers to the ranks of the enlightened? I would prefer to just nod, point to the preexisting evidence, instead of driving people away with unproductive "I told you so" hostility.

I agree with you 110%. That being said, I can also imagine how frustrating it must be to be a person who's spent years (maybe decades) worrying about something that's really happening, only to have their concerns dismissed with a wave of the hand or marginalized as "tinfoil hat" conspiracy theories. It's not hard to imagine how that could sour the disposition of even the sunniest person.

Welcome to /r/conspiracy - come on in!

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#549

Post by typon »

curbrusiasm wrote: post #445

This has been up here for 5 hours and on the Guardian's website for nearly 6 hours. How is it possible that not the NYTimes, FOX, NPR, the Washington Post, or CNN have picked this up? These organizations are an embarrassment to the profession of journalism.

I don't think its so much "an embarrassment to the profession of journalism" in terms of incompetency but rather willful ignorance.

Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'

#550

Post by pyrocat »

kazagistar wrote: post #282
netrus wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You crossed the tinfoil line. Copyright infringement was sufficient motivation for the actions taken. The megaupload raid was not okay, but I am pretty sure Hollywood was behind it, not the NSA.

Well, there are reasons to put on our tinfoil hats now... heck, last I heard, MIT students had managed to inject memories into mice.

The headline for that article was astoundingly misleading. They created a fear response in the mice to a place that the mice had never been.
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