NSA works with Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc. to collect all your data

[SwampdonkeyPLD]

Has anyone read any legal analysis about the spying? I briefly glanced through this thread.

I'm willing to bet this is all perfectly legal since they were collecting "metadata" before searching the data. I think it was a SCOTUS case (I could be wrong) that said the post office could take pics of the front and back of mail. This is probably no different, collecting location data, who your calling, etc.

We have this entire legal framework, that with advances in technology, allows the government to do things that weren't contemplated when it was created. This whole thing is a perfect example. I bet when the SCOTUS said the post office could take pictures of mail they didn't anticipate this.

[Stromgarde]

It's legal under the law (Patriot Act). Whether the interpretation of it which has allowed this to take place is constitutional remains to be seen, as until recently the courts have been playing catch 22 with regards to standing to challenge it.

[notorious bum]

Taking pictures of mail? lmao No, see, you conveniently ignore that they copy THE ENTIRE CONVERSATIONS of emails, chat logs, texts, and etc.

Let's not ignore the fact that Snowden also testified that any of the analysts could effortlessly tap into the data at anytime and in real-time, ignoring their shitty fabricated loophole of "nothing sinister going on here, we're just collecting all your shit, not looking at any of it"

It's funny you bring up post mail as that is the only form of communication that doesn't have a 100% chance of being recorded now. Too bad they've already got the ball rolling on destroying that little luxury. I'm sure the privatized mailmen will play nice.

edit: obviously leaving out voice recordings, unless you get on a watch-list, which doesn't seem outlandish nowadays if you express any dissent.

[Byrthnoth]

This is yet another shining example of why US internet laws need to be created.

....but not for intellectual property that I want to steal.


...especially not for academic papers. Fuck paying for those.

[thetruepandagod]

In between all the freedom loss enjoy some pics of snowden's GF.

[notorious bum]

This dude really was living the dream... fuck you, Obama.

[AidenCarby]

Guess they can watch me fap to those.

[kuronosan]

All you have to do to get on a list these days in mention, joke about, or be friends with someone associated with mentioning or joking about terrorism or dissent.

[shaggnix]

All you have to do to get on a list these days in mention, joke about, or be friends with someone associated with mentioning or joking about terrorism or dissent.

where they quickly discover they're wasting their time watching you and move on to one of tens of thousands/hundreds of thousands of others on these lists. because this list would be that long or longer if thats all it took to get on it.

i get it, i really do, the "the government is always trying to gain more control, whittle away at your freedoms until theres almost nothing left" mentality. in some cases its a good thing. Here you have to realize that the world has changed, the rules of war have changed, people are willing to break these rules for the causes they believe in, and that leaves us in a position where we either let them shit all over us, or we change in the necessary way to stop them from doing so. there are far worse solutions, and few better. i'm all ears if anyone wants to throw some alternate ideas around. but if you argue for more privacy and less security, you can't bitch when bombs go off and innocents are killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. you can't criticize national security agencies for coming up short. you have decided that these people dieing is an acceptable price for keeping your unremarkable information private.

[Khajit]

I have no idea, those were the two mentioned on the radio. Since then however he's mentioned Iceland, and they seem to be willing to accommodate him provided he can get there.

I guess I'll pay attention to the local news here and see what's up with that I guess but basically foreign white people(and Filipino's) bring out the equivalent of "they took our jerbs" here. Filipinos with the menial stuff noone gives a crap about and White(usually Canadians) for everything else.It doesn't help that many of the foreign "white" people are actually racist (which doesn't go over well with locals when you can tell that every other word they say to you is one they wish to replace with nigger)and even the job policies are designed so that even entry level positions require 5-10 years of experience so that the companies can grab the expat they picked by eliminating the chances for a Bermudian to gain a job.

Housing him would be the equivalent to Obama giving some dudes from the Gordito Lopez de la mancha families (after shipping them from venezuela) mansions in an upscale area while standing near a closed homeless shelter. There's a chance it might not go over well.

[kuronosan]

I'm just making a general statement, shag.

I'm pretty sure if the gub'mint was that good at watching our privacy there would have been no Boston bombings.

[quannum]

I'm pretty sure if the gub'mint was that good at watching our privacy there would have been no Boston bombings.

they didn't have any pot and they weren't journalists.

[thetruepandagod]

I'm just making a general statement, shag.

I'm pretty sure if the gub'mint was that good at watching our privacy there would have been no Boston bombings.

I don't need facebook, google, or phone calls to know how to make a bomb out of shit yo.

[archibaldcrane]

they didn't have any pot and they weren't journalists.

wasn't one of them a major suspect in a triple-murder that was pot related a few years back?

[Mazmaz]

i get it, i really do, the "the government is always trying to gain more control, whittle away at your freedoms until theres almost nothing left" mentality. in some cases its a good thing. Here you have to realize that the world has changed, the rules of war have changed, people are willing to break these rules for the causes they believe in, and that leaves us in a position where we either let them shit all over us, or we change in the necessary way to stop them from doing so. there are far worse solutions, and few better. i'm all ears if anyone wants to throw some alternate ideas around. but if you argue for more privacy and less security, you can't bitch when bombs go off and innocents are killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. you can't criticize national security agencies for coming up short. you have decided that these people dieing is an acceptable price for keeping your unremarkable information private.

Boston bombings killed 3 fucking people. That many die in less than an hour due to gun violence in the US.

Yea terrorism is a real big fucking problem please take all my info

[thetruepandagod]

Disregard the fact that violent conflicts throughout history rarely followed any sort of rules compared to today and were if anything more punishing in regards to innocents, but yea whatever.

[AidenCarby]

Boston bombings killed 3 fucking people. That many die in less than an hour due to gun violence in the US.

Yea terrorism is a real big fucking problem please take all my info

[Blubbartron]

It may not be a popular opinion, but he's absolutely correct. The incidence of terrorism is laughably low. Its impact can range from mild to extreme, true, but even before 9/11 and the ramp up in anti/counter-terrorism, we still only averaged something like 41 attempted terrorist attacks (foreign or domestic) per year. The efforts of our government reduced that significantly, to roughly 16 incidents per year, but seriously - we spend something like 1.2 TRILLION dollars over reducing attempted terrorist attacks by a raw value of 25? In an average year, the number of people dead as a result of terrorism (foreign or domestic) was in the low double digits. This is a fairly solid read, I would highly recommend perusing it. http://onviolence.com/?e=370

[archibaldcrane]

Is it weird that I consider the bigger story here not that the US Govt is collecting call metadata and internet info from Americans, but that they are actively spying on the internet use and call data of virtually the entire world?

[Day]

Well, we are back to back world war champs.