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Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

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Re: Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

#3
> Economic losses to US businesses due to lost sales and declining customer trust.

Whenever I have a discussion with friends on this topic, this is what I focus on.

For many people, safety has a higher political priority than privacy. However, when you start saying that mass surveillance kills jobs, it gets much more attention because economic issues are usually on par or above safety concerns.

This is why I don't understand Google's and Facebook's (and IBM's and Cisco's and RSA's, for that matter) response to this thing. If they really wanted to stop these programs, they would make a SuperPAC and run ads everywhere saying "NSA" and "job killers" in the same sentence as many times as possible.

Re: Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

#6
post #3

> Economic losses to US businesses due to lost sales and declining customer trust. Whenever I have a discussion with friends on this topic, this is what I focus on. For many people, safety has a higher political priority than privacy. However, when you start saying that mass surveillance kills jobs, it gets much more attention because economic issues are usually on par or above safety concerns. This is why I don't un…

It is because the people with MBAs and the people on the Board don't really care that much. They'll protest and engage in a little bit of legal action but they don't want to go all out to fight it.

Re: Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

#7
post #6
post #3

> Economic losses to US businesses due to lost sales and declining customer trust. Whenever I have a discussion with friends on this topic, this is what I focus on. For many people, safety has a higher political priority than privacy. However, when you start saying that mass surveillance kills jobs, it gets much more attention because economic issues are usually on par or above safety concerns. This is why I don't un…

It is because the people with MBAs and the people on the Board don't really care that much . They'll protest and engage in a little bit of legal action but they don't want to go all out to fight it.

Google and Facebook just posted record profits, why are the MBAs supposed to care?

Re: Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

#8

I love how people still make noise about NSA, while gladly using facebook.

Facebooks ability to use my kids and cat pictures is not comparable to government ability to read political activists or journalists emails. Random person ability to know what school I did go to is not as dangerous to justice as governments ability to read communication of defense in high profile case.

By your logic, everyone who make noise about NSA should go underground to keep the right to complain.

Re: Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

#9
I've often wondered if the NSA is constitutional. Not what they're doing, but the organization itself. The constitution, from my understanding, grants the federal government power to do certain things. Therefore, if the constitution doesn't specifically grant the federal government the power/ability to run, say the NSA (or other federal department), does that not warrant the entire thing unconstitutional?

Re: Personal Privacy Is Only One of the Costs of NSA Surveillance

#10
post #3

> Economic losses to US businesses due to lost sales and declining customer trust. Whenever I have a discussion with friends on this topic, this is what I focus on. For many people, safety has a higher political priority than privacy. However, when you start saying that mass surveillance kills jobs, it gets much more attention because economic issues are usually on par or above safety concerns. This is why I don't un…

> For many people, safety has a higher political priority than privacy. However, when you start saying that mass surveillance kills jobs, it gets much more attention because economic issues are usually on par or above safety concerns.

Then there are people like my wife, who thinks disclosure hurt the US politically and economically, thus rationalizing that it is Snowden's fault for revealing all these surveillance programs, not the NSA's for having them in the first place. I think that attitude, combined with "safety > privacy" and "I have nothing to hide" are very common amongst more politically-aware people. I, unfortunately, can't come up with many good, non-tinfoil rebuttals.

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