NSA taps in to user data of Facebook, Apple, Google and others

[C-Man]

*sigh...
Tell you what, let's have this conversation again in twenty years.

 

[QueSi]

That's not really an answer, but ok...I'll have this talk with you in twenty years.

 

[contango]

If you really think they are watching your every move, I think that might be classified as paranoid. There are clearly not enough government employees to watch all of the non-government employees.

I don't suppose for a minute that my every move is currently scrutinised, at least in that I can take off into the woods and not worry that any individual tree has a covert CCTV camera in it.

If the government feels the need to log every single phone call I make and every single email I send and every single web site I visit, I'd be curious to know what they think I'm going to do that warrants them taking money from me to fund such intrusion into my private life.

"Nothing to hide, nothing to fear" doesn't even begin to cut it unless you want the government's intrusion to continually grow. Every time the government decides it wants more information and more powers people repeat their mantra, "nothing to hide, nothing to fear".

We have nothing to fear from our government until we do. I'd rather look at why governments want a particular power and how it might be abused in the future, than shrug and figure that because I've got nothing to hide I'll just let them take whatever they want.

 

[contango]

I'm not spying on anyone, nor do I want to, but if our government can prevent even just one death by spying on them, I'm in full support of it because I have nothing to hide and support saving lives. It doesn't change how free I am.

Just one death? Has it really come to that? How about the government bans motor vehicles then? At a stroke we'll prevent thousands of deaths every single year.

 

[Cachook]

No, of course not

Why treat them as such if they are not an might act that way?

 

[QueSi]

Just one death? Has it really come to that? How about the government bans motor vehicles then? At a stroke we'll prevent thousands of deaths every single year.

Yes, even if it only prevents one death.
Yes, to me, it is our governments job to keep it's citizens safe.
No, the government shouldn't ban motor vehicles, but they have made and continue to make laws to make it as safe as possible. It seems most people don't follow the laws, though which is why they have police to watch everyone and stop/prevent crimes. They are like physical spies to make sure everyone obeys the laws, and NSA is like electronic police who watch everyone to stop/prevent crimes. Should we get rid of all police since they are spying on you too?

 

[QueSi]

Why treat them as such if they are not an might act that way?

I don't treat them as such.

 

[pgp_protector]

Nothing to Hide?

Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide' - The Chronicle Review - The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://mashable.com/2013/06/13/julian-sanchez-nsa/

 

[Lazydaisy67]

Yes, even if it only prevents one death.
Yes, to me, it is our governments job to keep it's citizens safe.
No, the government shouldn't ban motor vehicles, but they have made and continue to make laws to make it as safe as possible. It seems most people don't follow the laws, though which is why they have police to watch everyone and stop/prevent crimes. They are like physical spies to make sure everyone obeys the laws, and NSA is like electronic police who watch everyone to stop/prevent crimes. Should we get rid of all police since they are spying on you too?

Wow, you really drank a lot of their Kool-aid.

 

[QueSi]

Wow, you really drank a lot of their Kool-aid.

No, I can't recall ever drinking Kool-Aid provided by the government, not even in basic training.

 

[Lazydaisy67]

No, I can't recall ever drinking Kool-Aid provided by the government, not even in basic training.

Well then you've got to be a robot. Nobody has that much faith in the 'all powerful Oz' like you seem to.
Course, we understand that to say otherwise might end up with you disappearing, so don't worry about it.

 

[C-Man]

I'm beginning to suspect something....
Could be this:

 

[Cachook]

It appears so.

 

[MrJim]

I'm beginning to suspect something....
Could be this:

 

[Gnarwhal]

It makes me wonder exactly how much of this "secure computing" is actually just a placebo. For instance, Tor browser, which is supposedly one of the most secure browsers you can use for protecting your browsing habits, was developed by the US Navy.

The people you want to keep tabs on will most always be the ones who try to hide what they are doing. What better way than to give a false sense of security that "this browser will hide everything" when it actually could be sending data directly to the source. Has anyone ever actually seen the code or tested the browser to make sure it functions as they say it does or are people taking their word for it?

It wouldn't surprise me much if that were the case. I might ask my brother-in-law if he could look at the code just for the heck of it, he's a programmer for SunGard.

 

[EphesiaNZ]

Well lets face it, if TOR was as super secure and that good at hiding your details would it ever get to be an open source project in the first place?

If I were a military institution TOR would have never seen the light of day if it was really that good.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Well lets face it, if TOR was as super secure and that good at hiding your details would it ever get to be an open source project in the first place?

If I were a military institution TOR would have never seen the light of day if it was really that good.

I see what you're saying and you're probably right... but really could it be stopped? I mean that sounds like a naïve question, I know, but kind of relating the method by which Tor supposedly works (encrypting and spreading your IP/traffic through different relay points) couldn't the software itself find it's way into distribution by the same means? Maybe I'm talking out of my rear...

 

[Cachook]

If it is in the public domain, it can be tracked.....