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Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

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Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#101

Post by jqm »

comrade1 wrote: post #64
jqm wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe's management has it's own set of problems. I might add, Europe has also been at war for most of the time it has been inhabited. Just because parts of Europe have taken a break for the last 60 years doesn't negate this.

What problems, btw? Surely nothing even close to the scope of the u.s.

Riots is Spain and France. Civil war in Ukraine. Faltering Euro...

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/08/spain-one-bn-on...

Problems are all over the world. Europe has them too and more may be coming. Going to Europe won't remove a person from problems. It will simply switch one set of problems for another.

I might add... the US is a big and diverse country. Things that might be a problem in one area are not a problem in another. Don't agree with the international military actions of the US? Well... I agree. The US is too quick to use violence usually and doesn't take a long term view. But this is often done (as of late) with the secret approval of the managers of Europe who generally also benefit from this aggressive stance.

Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#102

Post by hugogee »

idlewords wrote: post #37
comrade1 wrote: post #27

I wish there was a way to post anon here. I create a new id every now and then and post but no one sees the posting because it's new... I wish more people would be outraged by where the u.s. Is going and just leave. If you're educated, have desirable skills, you can just come to Europe. If you think you can change what's happening in the u.s. I do not agree with you. You will lose to the political class. They have 10…

Some of us are outraged by where the U.S. is going but stay to try to fix it. Otherwise you get adverse selection effects, like when all the non-crazies left New Hampshire. Plus have you ever had a European burrito? It's not pretty.

I make the best MoFro burritos and tacos. I'll come and cook for everyone! I think the tequila is worse than the burritos though. o,0

Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#104

Post by jqm »

goldfeld wrote: post #84
jqm wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Europe's management has it's own set of problems. I might add, Europe has also been at war for most of the time it has been inhabited. Just because parts of Europe have taken a break for the last 60 years doesn't negate this.

I'm pretty sure a bunch of old realms having long time land disputes and family feuds and ethnic disavowals for over a thousand years is different from an industrial military complex that keeps conjuring up wars for oil and to keep itself well-oiled, and worse yet stirs its fat finger in the world's cup in the name of self-righteous capitalism.

I wouldn't call the hundred years war, Napoleon, WWI and II family feuds or minor family/ethnic land disputes.

Europe also has a long and bloody history. Sadly it seems violence and tribalism are intrinsic to the human condition. Hopefully we fix this at some point.

(I'm not trying to justify the actions of the US incidentally. I don't approve of war for profit. But it is hardly the first time an empire has engaged in wars of profit.)

Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#105

Post by lostlogin »

GabrielF00 wrote: post #74
comrade1 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the u.s. Has been at war for all but 21 years of its existence. I could be wrong - it was a stat from a website with an agenda.

That's nonsense. The US was not involved in armed conflict from 1920 (end of involvement in the Russian Civil War) to 1941 (start of WWII). That's 21 years right there. Maybe they're saying that 21 years was the longest period between military conflicts.

It was a relatively quiet patch in the warring , but a quick look at Wikipedia shows a fair few conflicts during that period including fighting internally against native Americans. Civil unrest with military action, landing troops to protect foreign interests which included shelling and shooting. It all depends how you define armed conflict. I'd say soldiers and guns = armed conflict. Others would say that a declaration of war was required. Have a look at this Wikipedia list of military actions - it may not be outright war, but it wasn't peace. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_mil...

Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#106

Post by lawnchair_larry »

tptacek wrote: post #59
xnull wrote: post #10

This is nothing compared to what allegedly happened to QWest. When the US Government was forcing telecom by telecom to install taps into their business's core routing hubs Joseph Nacchio, the CEO at the time, dug his heels in demanding legal avenues to avoid turning his back on QWest's customers. The US threatened to pull out large contracts that made up a large part of QWest's business. Furthermore, having been serv…

Reprising a comment from a long time ago: Nacchio was convicted of running a pump-and-dump insider trading scam that netted him ~$100MM at the expense of common public shareholders. If there's an award for "most obnoxious implication of NSA's wrongdoing", it should go to the attempted rehabilitation of people like Nacchio. Here's the indictment. It's quite straightforward. http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/…

You of all people should know better than to give any credence to indictments. You know what purpose they serve, right?

Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#107

Post by quarterwave »

rdtsc wrote: post #28

$250K/day -- someone had to come up with that number. Was it some high level official? An intern? I can imagine this dialogue taking place: ---- (Two bureaucrat monkeys. They just got back from lunch from cafeteria at Ft. Meade. Their tummies are bit heavy with greasy hamburgers. Settling in to finish their day before 2pm. One last thing needs to be done -- deciding on this PRISM non-compliance issue) M0: What if the…

Tony: Umm... Control?

Control: Yes, Tony?

Tony: If I may ask, how did you determine this sum of a 150,000 pounds a day?

Control: A very good question, Tony. You see, I simply took the figure that our American cousins have calculated using a supercomputer, and converted the currency.

Tony: That's very clever of you, Control.

Control: Thank you, Tony. It proves that what we lack by way of resources we make up for with good old British ingenuity.

Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#108

Post by dijit »

skue wrote: post #73
ams6110 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some point people would have started being thrown in jail and that's when resistance usually ends.

Right, but what would that look like? Would the FISA court jail a citizen without a trial, and can you imagine a FISA judge wanting to make that call, knowing that their decision will soon become public? Because once someone is prosecuted the U.S. govt would really have difficulty enforcing silence. It's one thing to force a company to be silent about surveillance, it's quite another to force individuals to be silent…

it's not so cut and dry, first they discredit you.

then they say you did something illegal and you're immoral.

then you appear like you're lashing out at a government- trying to blame them instead of atoning for past transgressions.

Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#109

Post by random42 »

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #106
tptacek wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reprising a comment from a long time ago: Nacchio was convicted of running a pump-and-dump insider trading scam that netted him ~$100MM at the expense of common public shareholders. If there's an award for "most obnoxious implication of NSA's wrongdoing", it should go to the attempted rehabilitation of people like Nacchio. Here's the indictment. It's quite straightforward. http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/…

You of all people should know better than to give any credence to indictments . You know what purpose they serve, right?

Well.. I dont. what purposes do indictments serve?

Re: Feds Threatened to Fine Yahoo $250K Daily for Not Complying with NSA's PRISM

#110

Post by lern_too_spel »

dredmorbius wrote: post #99
lern_too_spel wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Over the course of a year, that's equivalent to employing 300 engineers. For a company the size of Yahoo, that would be pretty easy to hide.

That's an interesting comparison, but it's still a pretty big hit. Profits (net income) over the past four quarters were $311 million, the fines would have eaten nearly a third of that, $91.25 million. For 2008 the percentage may well have been higher.

For internet companies, profits are nearly meaningless. Profits are just a financial game these companies play with Wall Street, moving investments from one quarter or year to another by playing around with amortization and other financial tricks to hit EPS targets, a metric that only makes sense for Coca-Colas and GEs. Revenue is what matters, and the $7.2 billion in revenue Yahoo generated in 2008 leaves plenty of room to hide $90 million over four quarterly earnings reports.
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