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MIT Project Reveals What PRISM Knows About You
judgecorp writes "MIT's Immersion project sifts your Gmail, and constructs a map of your associations. Without opening a single message, it gives a clear view of who you connect with. It's a glimpse of some of what the NSA PRISM can do. From the article: 'You can assume that if the NSA is looking at your email, the information in Immersion is similar to what they will see. Consider that they probably see all of your email addresses (and not just Gmail) and that the metadata is examined along with the metadata from everyone you’ve corresponded with, and you can see just how much can be inferred from this data alone.'"
One has your consent, the other doesn't?
One of them is opt-in. One of them is not.
The murderer an the rapist have the consent of the victim, otherwise these crimes simply would not happen.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
They have the consent of the governed only if they follow the constitution which gives them the power to do what they do.
Since they are wiping their rear ends with the constitution on this matter however, they do not have any consent at all.
The simulator helps you understand how your civil liberties are being violated. It helps make vague understandings more concrete.
In today's America, the government has less the consent, and more the apathy of the governed. The fact that the populace is so disengaged and ill-informed is the only reason there aren't many more protests in the streets.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
Consent requires information. If the government does not provide any information what they are doing, there can be no consent. Additionally, any implied consent is bounded by the constitution, and it does not appear that the government of the US has any intent whatsoever to abide by those restrictions.
Interesting points about openness and democratic oversight in government as opposed to the corporate world.
So shouldn't you be up in arms about the lack of both openness and democratic oversight shown in the NSA affair? You can't defend the virtues of one system over another, then turn a blind eye when it reneges on those virtues.
Everything is better with chainsaws.
So... The government secretly developed, deployed, and has been illegally managing this mechanism enabling them to spy on every citizen and foreign national that has passed data or made phone calls through the US. And you recognize how it could easily be used to intimidate, coerce or blackmail.
Your solution then is to allow the program to continue and feel safe from it's potential abuse by asking the same people who illegally developed, deployed and are managing it, to follow the rules? Pretty please?
What could possibly go wrong?
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi