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US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

washingtonpost.com

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Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#221

Post by mtgx »

frisco wrote: post #130

I think it's interesting to ask why these programs are so widely hated. These are national security assets: evidence gathered here will never be used in a drug case, or a tax evasion case. Why not? These tools exist for the bigger fish: the dozens of Soviet-era nuclear weapons believed to be missing, or the small amounts of dangerous pathogens that periodically vanish from research labs. These are what the government…

FBI has been using National Security Letters for drug cases. In fact, I believe 80-90% of NSL's were used in drug cases. I remember seeing a leak a while ago.

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#222

Post by micloud »

guelo wrote: post #86
nostromo wrote: post #41

I'm saddened to see Dropbox on the list. Did they choose to participate or is it mandatory? In any case, we've moved several projects to BTSync recently from Dropbox (for no other reason than to free up space on Dropbox for our personal files) and have been enjoying the service. As a p2p encrypted protocol, I imagine it's much more difficult to eavesdrop on your files and would actually require a warrant to obtain. I…

Is there an open source dropbox-style app that I can install on my own server?

Try Tonido (http://www.tonido.com). It is not open source though.

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#223

Post by samstave »

frisco wrote: post #130

I think it's interesting to ask why these programs are so widely hated. These are national security assets: evidence gathered here will never be used in a drug case, or a tax evasion case. Why not? These tools exist for the bigger fish: the dozens of Soviet-era nuclear weapons believed to be missing, or the small amounts of dangerous pathogens that periodically vanish from research labs. These are what the government…

>" These are what the government is worried about, and they're not going to risk revealing their methods for something lesser."

Well, thats a simplistic view of what the government is worried about.

The government is worried about the safety of THIER POSITION OF POWER - nothing less.

The information gathered will be used 100% to defend their position of power. The power of the system.

The peoples sentiment and the position of society as it pertains to not uprising against the leeching system of power that sits on top of the people is what they are after.

In more direct words; the military-industrial complex that profits from 99.99% of the worlds population will take every measure to make sure that you remain a consuming, productive asset to their vast wealth.

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#224

Post by anigbrowl »

greedo wrote: post #189
anigbrowl wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm pretty sure Congress approves of this. You'd be surprised how many laws contain clauses exempting the decisions of agencies from judicial review, for example. A lot of lawmakers dislike the idea of an independent judiciary and consider Article III of the Constitution to be a design flaw.

The laws may be written with judicial exemption clauses, but the SC tends to view those with the seriousness they deserve...

But it can take a very long time for a case to get before the SC, and the scope of article III is not unlimited. The SC often declines to grant certiorari in cases that have to potential to result in a constitutional crisis.

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#225

Post by anigbrowl »

Afforess wrote: post #194
anigbrowl wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have such a massive program, according to many; the NTSB is a big bureaucracy and a lot of people consider the whole concept of speed limits and traffic police as a encroachment upon their freedom rather than a reasonable collective decision on how to share transit arteries. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. This seems a rather inappropriate apho…

> This seems a rather inappropriate aphorism, since most people here would very much like to deny the NSA access to information about their phone usage. This is an argument against censorship rather than one in support of privacy. I have no idea how you interpreted it that way. The quote is in reference to the government. It's from a video game, which came out in 1999. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY57ErBkFFE

I'm perfectly aware of where it comes from, and I interpreted it according to the normal rules of English grammar. Just because it's against the spirit of totalitarian government doesn't alter the meaning of the words. After all, the NSA is not denying you information when it collects records of your phone conversations. It's doing so when it denies engaging inthis practice, but if the NSA (or those delegated to oversee it) were to say 'sure, we totally collect that data!' I doubt you'd be OK with it.

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#226

Post by anigbrowl »

greedo wrote: post #186
anigbrowl wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We have such a massive program, according to many; the NTSB is a big bureaucracy and a lot of people consider the whole concept of speed limits and traffic police as a encroachment upon their freedom rather than a reasonable collective decision on how to share transit arteries. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master. This seems a rather inappropriate apho…

Yes, the government has "limited" access to your phone records, with a subpoena issued by a judge, after probable cause has been demonstrated. Anything else is a clear violation of the 4th Amendment.

Not so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_v._Maryland

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#227

Post by nijk »

Afforess wrote: post #183
XorNot wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you call speed cameras, signs, highway maintenance, driver education, highway patrol policing, periodic public information campaigns and aggressive regulation of safety standards in the automobile industry?

Interestly enough, speed cameras and highway patrols have nothing to do with traffic safety either. Highways could easily have camera systems to monitor the exact time when cars get on and off exits to determine how fast on average they were going during their trip. These systems have been tested and work, but the fact is that actually cracking down on speeders is massively unpopular and a political non-starter.

Huh? what you describe (time-based ticketing) already exists, and municipalities don't care that public opinion is against speeding fines.

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#228

Post by zeddie »

enraged_camel wrote: post #215
frisco wrote: post #130

I think it's interesting to ask why these programs are so widely hated. These are national security assets: evidence gathered here will never be used in a drug case, or a tax evasion case. Why not? These tools exist for the bigger fish: the dozens of Soviet-era nuclear weapons believed to be missing, or the small amounts of dangerous pathogens that periodically vanish from research labs. These are what the government…

>>Warren Buffet has predicted a major nuclear terrorist attack on an American city to be a "virtual certainty" given enough time. Everything is a certainty given enough time. In addition, Mr. Buffet may be a great investor, but what exactly how much would he know about terrorists or nuclear weapons? Probably as much as you and I.

Buffett (via Berkshire Hathaway) has made huge amounts of money selling insurance against catastrophes. This includes natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods, as well as other catastrophic events including terrorism.

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#229

Post by gnaritas »

nitrogen wrote: post #156
gnaritas wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is Facebook sharing their database with the government breaking the constitution?

It may be their database, but it's our lives.

Which you voluntarily shared with Facebook and not a violation of the constitution. If you want privacy, don't share it on the Internet.

Re: US intelligence mining data from 9 US Internet companies in broad secret program

#230

Post by Sven7 »

rdl wrote: post #209
mtoddh wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And my guess is the following video is an example of why the NYT is now saying that Obama no longer has any credibility on this issue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fnfVJzZT4

I would have voted for that guy (except for "FISA works!", but enh). I'd even be ok with ditching the 22nd if we could get that guy as President. I wonder what happened -- was it all a cynical ploy, or was there some secret (real or fake) information about how without wholesale monitoring we'd all instantly be destroyed, or what.

Big data is hard to ignore.
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