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Worth Reading: Trevor Pott's editorial on NSA PRISM and its real ramifications
IainB:
Ron Paul apparently warned about this sort of thing in, erm, 1984...
September 6, 1984: Ron Paul Warns of Surveillance State - Don't Ever Say We Weren't Warned.
app103:
Ron Paul apparently warned about this sort of thing in, erm, 1984...
September 6, 1984: Ron Paul Warns of Surveillance State - Don't Ever Say We Weren't Warned.
-IainB (June 15, 2013, 06:05 AM)
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Honestly, though, I’m being unfair in singling out Michael Arrington here. Really the only remarkable thing about his involvement with CIA-friendly big data companies is his hypocrisy in attacking those Valley luminaries who won’t admit to exactly the kind of spying his portfolio companies help facilitate. (In the hypocrisy stakes, though, Arrington comes a distant second to Ron Paul who this week told Fox Business, “I’m worried about, somebody in our government might kill [Edward Snowden] with a cruise missile or a drone missile,” after Snowden exposed the mass government surveillance facilitated by companies like Palantir. Last year Ron Paul received over $2.5 million in donations from his biggest single donor… Palantir’s Peter Thiel)
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I'll post the link from above here, so you won't have to scroll up to click it: http://pandodaily.com/2013/06/14/silicon-valley-builds-amazing-spy-tools-is-horrified-when-theyre-used-for-spying/
CWuestefeld:
Uncle Sam can't demand to know where you're spending your cash. And if he does you can always refuse to answer. But your credit card company and bank are very accommodating when Uncle comes calling and asking for information.
-40hz (June 14, 2013, 10:07 PM)
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Not to disagree, but to show how this operates in the real world:
Nacchio alleged that the government stopped offering the company lucrative contracts after Qwest refused to cooperate with a National Security Agency surveillance program in February 2001.
That claim gains new relevance these days, amid leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden that allege widespread domestic surveillance by the NSA.
Back in 2006 Leslie Cauley of USA Today, citing multiple people with direct knowledge of the arrangement, reported that shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks America's three largest telecoms signed contracts to provide the NSA with detailed call records from hundreds of millions of people across the country.
Cauley noted that Qwest's refusal to participate "left the NSA with a hole in its database" since the company served local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states.
From USA Today (emphasis ours):
The NSA, which needed Qwest's participation to completely cover the country, pushed back hard. ...
... the agency suggested that Qwest's foot-dragging might affect its ability to get future classified work with the government.
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Nacchio's legal concerns about the NSA program at the time mirror those of civil liberty groups today.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-and-the-nsa-2013-6
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My conclusion from this is that the government accomplishes this not only (or even primarily) through legislative means, but through financial coercion. Our government has grown so large that servicing it alone is major part of many industries. If you want to stay in business, you've got to go along with the government's wishes. And because this isn't a legislative problem, I don't see how legislation can be a cure for it. The only cure I can see is to neuter the beast: take away its strength. And the way to do that is to shrink it, so it's no longer the 800-lb gorilla that can push everyone around.
wraith808:
Accused bank robber wants NSA phone records for his defense
And so it begins...
-wraith808 (June 14, 2013, 08:21 PM)
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Well it had already begun ...
This is just where it starts to get really really funny!
It's a brilliant defense! Especially if in fact he is innocent! (Wouldn't he be able to get them from the telco first - then purposely ask the NSA for their copy?)
-TaoPhoenix (June 14, 2013, 10:21 PM)
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Oh... I was referring to the actual fallout from this from the public's side. So far, there has been very little in the way of anything concrete from this. Freedom of Information act, baby! *This* will be quite interesting to follow...
IainB:
Before I ever read anything about the NSA leak, I had found these two items rather interesting:
* Wolfram|Alpha - Personal Analytics for Facebook
* Stephen Wofram Blog - Data Science of the Facebook WorldIf it is/was common knowledge that all the vested interests have/had their feet firmly in the public/private data trough, then, maybe the most surprising thing about it all might be that there is any surprise at the Guardian's publishing details of the leak.
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