Is there any NSA news that would surprise you at this point?

[BobStackFan4Life]

reading comprehension!

So that's not what you're saying? Perhaps you can clearly state why you support the NSA and other agencies doing what is described in the article and why you consider it an effective use of resources. Because your responses so far haven't been that clear.

 

[WakeandBake]

I guess you're not one of those paranoid potheads. You never make a call or send an email or text to a dealer?

Potheads have been speaking in code on the phone since rotary phones. RJ is not far off at all. But yeah, always operate under the assumption that someone is listening. And no, never send an email for weed. Basic shit.

 

[ImTheCaptain]

jesus h christ, man. that's exactly what i said. This article gives an extremely limited context for the program, specifically discussing the two things that casual people might recognize. I don't have a problem with it with respect to resource expenditure when compared to other government expenses. I notice the article doesn't bother to note how much this costs.

 

[Lectro]

If anything, it's your (and my) generation that is generally the most reactionary against this bullshit. Playing it off as an "old guy who doesn't get technology" concern doesn't fly. There's article after article, study after study, about the increasing libertarianism and distrust of the government among younger Gen X's and Gen Y.

This.

 

[ImTheCaptain]

not sure what racer's comment has to do with this specific article and my comment about the particular posters bitching about it. also, it doesn't really match up with my comment about older folks' general distrust and ignorance about technology and tech policy. most people over 50 have a hard time understanding new tech/social media/internet security issues and flip out over sensationalized shit.

 

[BobStackFan4Life]

On the other hand, I don't care if they have all this data on me because it is meaningless. Who I call and where I surf on the internet isn't interesting to anyone nor is it incriminating.

On principle I am against it, but in practice I have a hard time giving a fuck.

It will be if they launch an investigation against your dealer and decide to take a closer look at what you've been up to, to see who else you've been talking to.

 

[RJKarl]

not sure what racer's comment has to do with this specific article and my comment about the particular posters bitching about it. also, it doesn't really match up with my comment about older folks' general distrust and ignorance about technology and tech policy. most people over 50 have a hard time understanding new tech/social media/internet security issues and flip out over sensationalized shit.

I think those of us who grew up in 60s/70s expected this kind of stuff. Although the technical specifics may not be totally understood. That is exists and is in use is something we were told would be happening. It's no big surprise.

 

[RJKarl]

It will be if they launch an investigation against your dealer and decide to take a closer look at what you've been up to, to see who else you've been talking to.

To do what you are afraid of will take an FBI/NSA staff of 5M to do what you think they might do.

 

[BobStackFan4Life]

To be worried about this would assume the NSA listens to every call or reads every email.

No. And it doesn't have to involve the NSA. Plenty of other agencies, including the DEA, are involved in questionable surveillance techniques.

This would take an army of people working 24/7/365.

Between all the employees and contractors they do have an army of people working 24/7/365. But yes, of course they aren't listening to every phone call and reading every email. No one said they were.

They have a list of what numbers called each other. They don't have the content.

Unless it's a call into or outside the United States, for example, if his dealer were to call a supplier in Mexico. And of course there are all those "mistakes" they make which involve Americans. Not to mention they're collecting a massive amount of email content via PRISM as well as hacking directly into the servers of Google and Yahoo.

In the preceding 30 days, the report said, field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records — including “metadata,” which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, as well as content such as text, audio and video.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html

P.S. Bake has an intricate code. :

Let's get together for breakfast = he wants hash
The movie starts at 7:45=he wants a 1/4 ounce
I watched the whole game=he wants an ounce

If 10 people call his dealer repeating the phrase "I watched the whole game" anyone who might be listening in will probably be able to figure what's up.

 

[BobStackFan4Life]

To do what you are afraid of will take an FBI/NSA staff of 5M to do what you think they might do.

I've no idea what you're talking about. Everyday low level drug dealers in this country are placed under surveillance and people buying from them are arrested. Quit wasting my time with your bullshit comments.

 

[BobStackFan4Life]

that's exactly what i said.

That you would seriously equate government surveillance of tens of millions of gamers, many who are citizens, with the surveillance of people in a war zone tells me you're an idiot on par with rj who has zero respect for privacy and no understanding of why things like the 1st and 4th amendments are important.
And your argument that it might be a huge waste of money but it's cheaper than sending troops into a war zone- really? There were no terrorist plots foiled as a result of this lunacy, nor was there even any clear evidence terrorists were using these virtual communities to plot attacks, but let's trample on the privacy of people and spend millions in the process just because (yes, it's impossible to say exactly how much all this cost but we know of at least two government funded studies by SAIC and Lockheed Martin that cost millions). The level of stupidity is mind boggling.

 

[ImTheCaptain]

lol ok

i equate intelligence gathering with intelligence gathering. welcome to the 21st century where the internet dissolves boundaries between nations and blurs the line between civilian and combatant. this is the new reality. you want to be private? be prepared to not participate in the modern world. if that's nihilistic, fine. you're voluntarily giving up more information about yourself just browsing/shopping on the web than the NSA probably ever gets on you. But that's ok as long as the big, scary GOVERNMENT doesn't get it, right? lolol

tinfoil nutjobs

 

[bigdoublezero]

there he goes off to his room to write that hit song, "Alone in my Principles"

 

[RJKarl]

I've no idea what you're talking about. Everyday low level drug dealers in this country are placed under surveillance and people buying from them are arrested. Quit wasting my time with your bullshit comments.

Not NSA surveillance. Low level drug dealers are followed by local police and on very, very, very rare occasions by the DEA.

Why the hostility?

 

[RJKarl]

No. And it doesn't have to involve the NSA. Plenty of other agencies, including the DEA, are involved in questionable surveillance techniques.

Between all the employees and contractors they do have an army of people working 24/7/365. But yes, of course they aren't listening to every phone call and reading every email. No one said they were.

Unless it's a call into or outside the United States, for example, if his dealer were to call a supplier in Mexico. And of course there are all those "mistakes" they make which involve Americans. Not to mention they're collecting a massive amount of email content via PRISM as well as hacking directly into the servers of Google and Yahoo.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story.html


If 10 people call his dealer repeating the phrase "I watched the whole game" anyone who might be listening in will probably be able to figure what's up.

The NSA would have ZERO interest in this guy. Bringing them into this is ludicrous.

 

[BobStackFan4Life]

But that's ok as long as the big, scary GOVERNMENT doesn't get it, right? lolol

tinfoil nutjobs

I don't think you have to be tinfoil to think that the government can be extremely abusive when it comes to how they use private info, you just need some understanding of history and human nature. Perhaps you should read about the findings of the Church Committee. Sometimes our government really can be "scary".

 

[awaken]

Somehow we managed to be safe all these years without the govt reading our paper mail. I think the real danger is the public becoming inured to these breaches in privacy. By the time is it used against you, it is too late.

 

[Lectro]

Somehow we managed to be safe all these years without the govt reading our paper mail. I think the real danger is the public becoming inured to these breaches in privacy. By the time is it used against you, it is too late.

This.

 

[DeacMan]

[video]http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-december-9-2013/that-thing-they-said-they-re-not-doing--they-re-totally-doing[/video]

 

[CHillDeac]

On the other hand, I don't care if they have all this data on me because it is meaningless. Who I call and where I surf on the internet isn't interesting to anyone nor is it incriminating. On principle I am against it, but in practice I have a hard time giving a fuck.

But phone calls and internet surf habits are not all that they're tracking. Look at this 'What the Government Can Do With Your Data Location' chart that the ACLU just released. Pretty scary shit when you think about it.


https://www.aclu.org/meet-jack-or-what-government-could-do-all-location-data