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NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

washingtonpost.com

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Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#51

Post by l0stb0y »

swalkergibson wrote: post #37
l0stb0y wrote: post #34

Anytime something bad happens I'm going to ask why the NSA didn't stop it. Paul Walkers death... why didn't the NSA stop it? PS4 DOA orders...why didn't the NSA stop it? Psychboo finding Prezi's source code... why didn't the NSA stop it?

You say this in jest, but they may have opened a can of worms here. Some defendant in a criminal case in Florida subpoenaed his NSA file in his defense. It would sure be interesting to see if this location data can be used as exculpatory evidence to acquit somebody, or if it would even be available. It would be very hard to stomach if that type of information is only available to convict, not exonerate.

The authorities regularly withhold information that could assist defendants so it would be business as usual I'm sure. But yeah, that's one giant can of worms!

Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#52

Post by taproot »

diminoten wrote: post #38
nostromo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the only difference. Other differences that come to mind: Google has yet to kill people with drones or send people to torture prisons in Egypt.

The NSA doesn't run operations, so they didn't do either of these things either. It's a big government.

It sure is and if you think they have no ops i dont know what to tell you.

Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#53

Post by privong »

rallison wrote: post #16
judk wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps does this. The only difference is that Google informs you before you turn on location services.

And therein lies the the big difference. I can opt out of Google's tracking in a number of ways. Secret tracking from the NSA? I will likely not even know it is happening, and if I do, opting out is likely to be slightly more difficult. This, of course, does not even touch upon what that tracking data may then be used for.

> I can opt out of Google's tracking in a number of ways.

At face value, yes. But with the news that companies are tracking web users via browser fingerprints and other methods (even when users have "do not track" enabled), it seems that it is difficult to avoid being secretly tracked by corporations.

Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#54

Post by PavlovsCat »

diminoten wrote: post #38
nostromo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not the only difference. Other differences that come to mind: Google has yet to kill people with drones or send people to torture prisons in Egypt.

The NSA doesn't run operations, so they didn't do either of these things either. It's a big government.

Yeah, and the soldiers don't make the orders, the generals don't make the politics, the politicians just try to keep the military industrial complex fat and snugly and the citizens happy, the citizens just crave security because that's what the media says is what citizens crave while the military industrial complex just seeks profit because it's required to by stockholders and everyone else involved, who are just trying to put food and/or yachts on their family.

"Just doing my job" has been deprecated in 1945. For a reason, and finding out why the hard way is considered harmful.

Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#55

Post by wickedlogic »

Dear rest of the world, we (our US gov) are tracking as much of everything that we (our US gov) find relevant. When we don't, we encourage fund companies who do.

Dear US citizens, can we also stop being surprised that we are doing such things? We have a long history of doing this.

Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#56

Post by efuquen »

sneak wrote: post #39
swalsh wrote: post #4

Meta topic, but it seems kind of rude to link to the print page. The washington post is already a very readable site, If i don't want ads, i'll use adblock.

What's rude is pointless pagination and sidebars.

Pointless in what sense? In that the Washington Post needs to make money or that you want quality journalism, no ads, to pay nothing for it, and golden unicorns to ride on?

Also, the original page has a single page, no pagination:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tr...

Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#57

Post by pirateking »

salient wrote: post #33
DanielBMarkham wrote: post #7

So the deal modern man was presented with was this: we'll give you instant global communication for pennies, but in return governments and corporations will closely monitor everyone on the planet: where they are, who they call, how long the call is, their texts, messages, and other communications -- basically their thoughts. We'll record this forever to use as we choose. Trust us. As a global population, we seem to h…

We need an Internet that is secure by default. The Application layer security is a mess, and has a vast number of ways to attack and break that encryption level. We need to encrypt every packet on the web at the Transport layer or even the IP layer.

What about any of the other infinite number of unforseen attack vectors?

It is a misunderstanding that it is the communication infrastructure and technology under attack here. It is not.

It is the abstract idea of Freedom that is under attack, and so a technology based solution is not the answer. More than powerful technology, we need powerful new ideas about Freedom.

New technology implementations that fix existing attack vectors would still be most welcome, but not a cure all.

Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#58

Post by oleganza »

nostromo wrote: post #27
judk wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps does this. The only difference is that Google informs you before you turn on location services.

It's not the only difference. Other differences that come to mind: Google has yet to kill people with drones or send people to torture prisons in Egypt.

More accurate comment would be "google is not paid by those who kill people".

Re: NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

#60

Post by Scriptor »

efuquen wrote: post #56
sneak wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's rude is pointless pagination and sidebars.

Pointless in what sense? In that the Washington Post needs to make money or that you want quality journalism, no ads, to pay nothing for it, and golden unicorns to ride on? Also, the original page has a single page, no pagination: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tr...

I'm not sure which plugins you have running, but it definitely splits it into three pages for me.
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