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US Mining Data Directly From 9 Silicon Valley Companies
Rick Zeman writes "Hot on the heels of Verizon's massive data dump to NSA comes news of 'PRISM' where The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person's movements and contacts over time. This program, established in 2007, includes major companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook...and more."
The Internet needs to be policed. There are bad men and evildoers actively plotting to do us harm. These nefarious activities now are increasingly being planned and coordinated using the Internet. I don't think this is so bad that the authorities are mining and searching and seeking out these dastardly terrorists.
My life and my family's lives are more important than whatever privacy I had on these sites. I know Apple, Google, Facebook have the data anyway, so I see know harm on giving this up so that I feel safer. Just my two cents, I know its not the majority viewpoint in this current uproar.
tag: "bomb" in user name.
tag: threatening antisocial activities.
ELEVATE WATCH STATUS
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
a good portion of cookie based data collection is sold as a product to the US government
Oh great, now they know about my secret snacking habits?
I accidentally deleted an email. Do you think I can get it from the NSA?
And just for sh!tz and Googles, how many generations of hardware and/or software away before deep data tools will be able to provide the Government with anything they want to know about anyone they want to know it? If they can now identify possible terrorists by emails and phone calls today, how long before they can spank you for bringing pencil erasers home from work or passing gas in a crowded elevator?
I used to be slightly creeped out by by folks who were always suggesting the government was out to get us and that people's fillings were being bugged. Arriving at the day when the apparently paranoid and delusional have been vindicated is clearly not a happy thing. There's no extra room for Washington D.C. in my colon. I respectfully request they evacuate my bowel the next time I do the same.