Once again. It's a general computer system that can be put to use for all types of normal business and government related tasks. There were no trade sanctions that prevented countries from doing business with Germany. It's not like IBM supplied the actual applications. And you have the advantage of hindsight when forming your opinions. You can't view historical conflicts using today's societal world view.
Sorry but a gun shop example is no where near equivalent to selling computing equipment that can be used for a variety of legitimate reasons. Last time I checked a background check wasn't required to purchase a computer. The Germans bought computer systems from IBM and then put some of them to use with keeping track of people were actively seeking to eradicate. Blaming IBM for selling the systems which also had legitimate uses is a little much. Did IBM provide a "TracktheJews" or "MaximumKill" application for the Germans? The true horror of the holocaust is that at the time Germany was at the forefront of pushing new technologies and had a lot of brilliant scientists, engineers, and highly regarded universities to educate their people. They were one of the most civilized countries on the planet at the time. However these educated and civilized people sat down and used their engineering, medical, and logistical skills to develop the most cost effective way to kill the most people in the shortest amount of time. Someone set down and drafted architectural blueprints for the death factories, highly efficient industrial ovens, and gas delivery systems. Chemists used their skills to figure out which gas or toxin was the most efficient by testing their ideas on sample groups of human beings. Highly trained Medical doctors experimented on human beings to push the boundaries of medical science. These people were not radical psychopaths, one off evil masterminds, or the indoctrinated Islamist lunatics we see running around today indiscriminately killing anyone who looks sideways at them using whatever method is handy. And the kicker is after the war the victors went around a collecting as many of these people they could find so they could use these top engineers and scientists for their own purposes.
IBM conducted normal business actions when the sold IBM systems to Germany before the war and the death camps were known. Has it come to point where those who sell computer systems are responsible for what others will use the systems for?
People really overestimate the amount of US debt "owned" by other countries. In total it is about 4% with the Federal Reserve holding the rest. You cannot destroy the US dollar without destroying the entire world economy and the vaunted 1% would pull out all stops to prevent any thing that could adversely effect them. Do you think for a second the US government would be allowed to stand still and let this happen and not declare all out economic warfare on the rest of the planet. The US economy would certainly take a hit but it could also eventually adjust to the changes a hell of a lot faster than some other countries. US backed securities and bonds which regulate the dollar are one of the safest investments in the world and even the countries that purport to despise the US still invest their money if the US allows them to. Energy imports are no longer the Achilles heel it once was and the major oil exporters in the world are well aware of that fact. All the US needs to do to screw Russia is start exporting natural gas to Europe and reduce the amount of oil it imports because both actions would cause the price of oil and natural gas to plummet and the Russian economy would be deprived of it's only real source of revenue no matter what currency they try to use. China's demand cannot make up for the absence of US demand and the price for oil would nose dive to around $20 dollars a barrel and totally destroy the countries that depend almost entirely on oil exports to prop up their economies. With other countries being thrown into economic free fall China would also be devastated by the rapid decline in the exports they depend on to run their economy. MAD applies not only to nuclear warheads but also to international finance.
Bill Gates became a billionaire because he recognized early on the potential personal computers would have on the IT industry. No matter your opinion of the man he was there at the beginning of the personal computer era and as a result became obscenely wealthy without relying on marketing and advertising revenue that companies such as Google or Facebook depend on for their success. He leveraged a sketchy OS at a time when standards, both hardware and software, were virtually non-existent. Standards and IT industry related anti-trust law evolved primarily to battle Microsoft's market dominance by those who missed the boat when it came to the future of personal computers. He never claimed to be running a non-profit organization. Why do you think anyone who is successful in life is a sociopath who is required to give their money away to others for whatever reason?
Good idea but only if you defund every state intelligence gathering agency on the planet at the same time. Unless you believe if the US stopped spying all the other countries would just close up shop as well. Until people are ready to admit that the US is by far not the only country that conducts clandestine intelligence gathering operations the NSA and CIA are not going away. And it is not a matter of excusing NSA actions just because others do the same damn thing. It is about putting this entire issue into it's proper context. Without the context there is no way you can intelligently assess a problem before you start making suggestions on how to correct the problem. So hold the government accountable for the domestic programs but the foreign programs are exactly what the state intelligence gathering agencies are supposed to be doing. A state has no "friends" only interests and any so called "friends" or allies are not exempt from the NSA or CIA programs. The US constitution and bill of rights protections are not applicable outside of the US.
Using a legitimately dangerous asteroid will increase the motivation factor and throw budget restrictions out the window. Then we would see whether what we are truly capable of when it comes to technology development.
Yes there were Mustang pilots with verified Mig kills at the beginning of the conflict. This was before they rolled out the F-9F Panther or the F-86 Sabre. The fact that the Mig pilots were fairly inexperienced on the new jet technology and tactics and were going up against experienced pilots helped even the odds as well.
You cannot compare the US relationship with Bahrain with US relations with Iran. Last time I checked Bahrain was not funding and arming just about every terrorist group in the region for the express purpose of undermining US policy. Hezbollah and Hamas are Iran's version of an NGO. When it comes to real world international relations every situation is different. In this case the Iranians were supporting and encouraging the Bahrain protesters to undermine the government of Bahrain. You know just like the US is always being accused of doing. The last thing the US wanted was to help Iran destabilize Bahrain. Haven't you noticed that lately the US is really not doing anything but issuing tough sounding statements followed up with no discernible actions? Frankly it would be better if they would cease making any statements at all. And like I mentioned before not selling US military tech to SA would change nothing. SA can get arms from a number of other countries. Why should the US give up the money earned by military sales when it will not effect the situation? The US is not the only game in town these days and the constant demonizing of the US has allowed other countries such as Russia, China, North Korea, Syria, and Iran to slip under the radar and do anything they want. If you want to see what real "backing" is just look at the Russian and Iranian support of Syria.
The P-51 also shot down quite a few ME 262's because the tactics and maneuverability limitations made the ME 262's predictable. They brought overwhelming speed to the fight but little else. The P-51's even downed a few Russian Migs at the beginning of the Korean war before the US fielded jet fighters in any numbers.
Exactly how did they back the Bahraini government? Deploy troops? Issue dire warnings and threats against protestors? Initiate drone strikes on the protesters? They issued a standard statement to the effect that people have complaints that should be solved peacefully through dialog and not violence, Anything more than that and it is considered interfering in another countries internal business isn't it?
They do not need anyone's backing and that definitely includes the US. China would gladly replace the US in SA. As long as they can sell their oil to anyone they want they hardly need US backing. People claiming the US backs dictators and non-democratic leaders are practically calling for the US to interfere in another countries internal matters. On the other hand they also complain when the US does interfere so the best course of action would be to do nothing which appears to be the current US foreign policy.
As long as people continue to give the terrorists a free pass on their violence by blaming the victims it will never stop. Every terrorist group or totalitarian leader on the planet is always given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the atrocities they commit.
A good place to start getting money out of politics can be done with a targeted attack on campaign contributions. There is a limit of $2500 for individual contributions but the 503 corporations were created for the sole purpose of getting around the $2500 limit. Specifically targeting this issue instead of generalizing the entire system makes it easier for the public to understand. Make the politicians to explain their campaign expenses in detail. Politicians would be hard pressed to justify the amount of donations they receive. Make them explain why a big corporation would contribute massive amounts of money and what do these contributors expect in return. These issues are relatively easy for the average person to understand. Generalization creates so many issues they almost seem unassailable and impossible to change to the average citizen.
They might not have a monopoly on the best and brightest but those accepted to the Naval Academy and West Point are way above your average freshman. One example. The vast majority of America's advanced fighter pilots have degrees in Engineering, Physics, or Computer Science which plays a big part in the candidate selection process.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is a non-profit support organization for veterans who have served in every war since 1899. It lobbies for veteran benefits while also organizing and participating in community service initiatives with military veterans. They were instrumental in creating the GI Bill of Rights in 1944. I have never forgotten what my grandfather once told me when I was 10 years old. We were driving past a VFW sign and I made the kind of joke a 10 year old makes and said "oh look it's the very funny women" office. My grandfather stopped the car and in the most serious voice I had ever heard from him he told me that's not funny in the least and never show that kind of disrespect towards the VFW ever again. At the time I was a little young to understand what he was upset about but in later years I came to understand. He was a WW2 veteran who survived both Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the VFW was a life line for him and many others who came home from that terrible war and desperately needing support to put the horrors they experienced behind them and do so with others that understood what they experienced. The VFW mission has not changed and that's saying a lot in this world where principles and honor are discarded on a whim in return for political expediency and juicy sound bites.
Might or the threat of force has always been used when it came to really big international disputes. To pretend otherwise is wishful thinking. The entire Israeli conflict is the result of the humiliation the Arab's have had to swallow each time they have tried to use military means to eliminate Israel. Israel only had a militia in 48 with no heavy artillery using old WW2 rifles supplied by Greece and still trounced the well supplied Arab armies. In 73 the Arabs had state of the art Soviet weapon systems (first generation SAMS, wire guided anti-tank weapons, and infrared targeting scopes in their tanks) combined with total surprise and once again got their asses handed to them. That played hell with the Arab egos and created a feeling of unendurable emasculation in the male dominated Arab societies which in turn has produced the hateful rhetoric and relentless incitement of violence targeted towards Israel. What reason does Israel have to negotiate with people who espouse never ending hatred and daily threats of violence towards them? None because they possess the might. The Arab powers do not give a single shit about the people suffering on Gaza or the West Bank caught in the middle. All they care about is having a conflict they can use to distract their citizens with so they don't notice the shitty state of their own governments. The amount of money they can skim from the billions supplied by the UN and other donors is also a real good reason to prolong the conflict. And the Israeli success has been their own and contrary to popular opinion the US contributed nothing to the Israeli successes. Even in 73 the US military resupply only happened after the issue was no longer in doubt. The only thing the US has the power to do is ask Israel nicely to deescalate the conflicts. Israel has certainly never needed US approval to do anything they needed to protect themselves. In 67 and 73 Israel could have marched into both Cairo and Damascus after annihilating those countries defenses and really shown them the folly of trying to attack again. If the US was as pragmatic as Israel there would be a lot less tension in todays International relations. The Arab's have created the Palestinian conflict out of whole cloth just to annoy the Israeli's since military force was out of the question. Egypt and Jordan abandoned their citizens after the 67 war by rejecting the Israeli offer to return the land and people captured for a peace agreement. The Palestinians have as much a chance of reclaiming their land as the Mexicans have of recovering Texas. It's past time for Egypt and Jordan to reclaim ownership of the West Bank and Gaza lands they governed when they were taken. The future use of force in the world is inevitable. The most dangerous weapon systems being developed today are advanced missile defenses. These weapon systems will render the major powers nuclear missile deterrents null and void. And those missile systems have been the only thing preventing WW3.
Since when has the VFW been a military intelligence agency? That's like saying the President keeps his confidential information off a link on the WhiteHouse.org public site or the FBI provides a link to their confidential information on their public site.
Israel should serve as a shining example of what happens when you try to use force and end up losing. The loser in the conflict is not entitled to a do over. People asking for a return to the 67 borders forget that the arab's attacked Israel in 73 but lost once again leading to the current borders. Why would Israel give up any land that would do nothing but give it's enemies better firing positions?
I have some serious doubts that the "drumbeat of fear" ever really existed in the first place. Opinion polls are worthless and depending on who shapes the questions can be spun by both sides of the argument. It would be great if the polling firms were required to provide the detailed methodologies being used to reach their conclusions. Using relatively small sample sizes and then extrapolating and applying the results against 350 million citizens requires some details to test the accuracy of the results.
I think it means CISCO wants to avoid the entire discussion so they are going with "no comment" strategy.
CISCO SVP John Stewart declared "As we have stated prior, and communicated to Der Spiegel, we do not work with any government to weaken our products for exploitation, nor to implement any so-called security âback doorsâ(TM) in our products," CISCO investigated the matter in detail and couldn't find the "backdoor" in their product but they did leave open the small possibility that a "backdoor" could exist and they just couldn't find it. This is preposterous but it does cover their assess in the event something turns up no matter how unlikely. Google, MS, and Apple have also formally denied their data centers or any of their products or services were compromised by NSA backdoors. These companies provided data when presented with a valid warrant issued from a normal court or from the FISA court. National security letters have also been used to get a company to provide the information requested. And while people may not agree with the FISA program or national security letters it does not mean they are technically illegal. Both of these methods can be and are being re-evaluated to determine what changes should be made to provide the average citizen with a higher level of privacy. I am pretty sure the NSA does spy on citizens but I believe it is targeted at individuals and not the entire population. But I have doubts they are capturing and analyzing all phone metadata, e-mails, and text messages generated by the entire US population. I also believe that the NSA spying activities and technical capabilities has been over exaggerated in some areas. I see a lot of people automatically believing any accusations made against the NSA without examining the details and veracity of the information used to make the accusations in the first place. I am not defending the NSA or the government I just think any accusations made should be examined in detail before formulating an opinion. It's come to the point where any accusation of wrong doing by the government is automatically 100% true and that type of thinking creates more problems than it solves. Personally I think the government missteps and over zealous security programs are the result of a high level of incompetence and bureaucratic idiocy instead of any malicious intent aimed at the average citizen.
Slashdot Mirror
Once again. It's a general computer system that can be put to use for all types of normal business and government related tasks. There were no trade sanctions that prevented countries from doing business with Germany. It's not like IBM supplied the actual applications. And you have the advantage of hindsight when forming your opinions. You can't view historical conflicts using today's societal world view.
Sorry but a gun shop example is no where near equivalent to selling computing equipment that can be used for a variety of legitimate reasons. Last time I checked a background check wasn't required to purchase a computer. The Germans bought computer systems from IBM and then put some of them to use with keeping track of people were actively seeking to eradicate. Blaming IBM for selling the systems which also had legitimate uses is a little much. Did IBM provide a "TracktheJews" or "MaximumKill" application for the Germans? The true horror of the holocaust is that at the time Germany was at the forefront of pushing new technologies and had a lot of brilliant scientists, engineers, and highly regarded universities to educate their people. They were one of the most civilized countries on the planet at the time. However these educated and civilized people sat down and used their engineering, medical, and logistical skills to develop the most cost effective way to kill the most people in the shortest amount of time. Someone set down and drafted architectural blueprints for the death factories, highly efficient industrial ovens, and gas delivery systems. Chemists used their skills to figure out which gas or toxin was the most efficient by testing their ideas on sample groups of human beings. Highly trained Medical doctors experimented on human beings to push the boundaries of medical science. These people were not radical psychopaths, one off evil masterminds, or the indoctrinated Islamist lunatics we see running around today indiscriminately killing anyone who looks sideways at them using whatever method is handy. And the kicker is after the war the victors went around a collecting as many of these people they could find so they could use these top engineers and scientists for their own purposes.
IBM conducted normal business actions when the sold IBM systems to Germany before the war and the death camps were known. Has it come to point where those who sell computer systems are responsible for what others will use the systems for?
People really overestimate the amount of US debt "owned" by other countries. In total it is about 4% with the Federal Reserve holding the rest. You cannot destroy the US dollar without destroying the entire world economy and the vaunted 1% would pull out all stops to prevent any thing that could adversely effect them. Do you think for a second the US government would be allowed to stand still and let this happen and not declare all out economic warfare on the rest of the planet. The US economy would certainly take a hit but it could also eventually adjust to the changes a hell of a lot faster than some other countries. US backed securities and bonds which regulate the dollar are one of the safest investments in the world and even the countries that purport to despise the US still invest their money if the US allows them to. Energy imports are no longer the Achilles heel it once was and the major oil exporters in the world are well aware of that fact. All the US needs to do to screw Russia is start exporting natural gas to Europe and reduce the amount of oil it imports because both actions would cause the price of oil and natural gas to plummet and the Russian economy would be deprived of it's only real source of revenue no matter what currency they try to use. China's demand cannot make up for the absence of US demand and the price for oil would nose dive to around $20 dollars a barrel and totally destroy the countries that depend almost entirely on oil exports to prop up their economies. With other countries being thrown into economic free fall China would also be devastated by the rapid decline in the exports they depend on to run their economy. MAD applies not only to nuclear warheads but also to international finance.
If he is not going to paid for the content he has already created what would be his motivation to create new content?
Bill Gates became a billionaire because he recognized early on the potential personal computers would have on the IT industry. No matter your opinion of the man he was there at the beginning of the personal computer era and as a result became obscenely wealthy without relying on marketing and advertising revenue that companies such as Google or Facebook depend on for their success. He leveraged a sketchy OS at a time when standards, both hardware and software, were virtually non-existent. Standards and IT industry related anti-trust law evolved primarily to battle Microsoft's market dominance by those who missed the boat when it came to the future of personal computers. He never claimed to be running a non-profit organization. Why do you think anyone who is successful in life is a sociopath who is required to give their money away to others for whatever reason?
Good idea but only if you defund every state intelligence gathering agency on the planet at the same time. Unless you believe if the US stopped spying all the other countries would just close up shop as well. Until people are ready to admit that the US is by far not the only country that conducts clandestine intelligence gathering operations the NSA and CIA are not going away. And it is not a matter of excusing NSA actions just because others do the same damn thing. It is about putting this entire issue into it's proper context. Without the context there is no way you can intelligently assess a problem before you start making suggestions on how to correct the problem. So hold the government accountable for the domestic programs but the foreign programs are exactly what the state intelligence gathering agencies are supposed to be doing. A state has no "friends" only interests and any so called "friends" or allies are not exempt from the NSA or CIA programs. The US constitution and bill of rights protections are not applicable outside of the US.
Using a legitimately dangerous asteroid will increase the motivation factor and throw budget restrictions out the window. Then we would see whether what we are truly capable of when it comes to technology development.
Yes there were Mustang pilots with verified Mig kills at the beginning of the conflict. This was before they rolled out the F-9F Panther or the F-86 Sabre. The fact that the Mig pilots were fairly inexperienced on the new jet technology and tactics and were going up against experienced pilots helped even the odds as well.
You cannot compare the US relationship with Bahrain with US relations with Iran. Last time I checked Bahrain was not funding and arming just about every terrorist group in the region for the express purpose of undermining US policy. Hezbollah and Hamas are Iran's version of an NGO. When it comes to real world international relations every situation is different. In this case the Iranians were supporting and encouraging the Bahrain protesters to undermine the government of Bahrain. You know just like the US is always being accused of doing. The last thing the US wanted was to help Iran destabilize Bahrain. Haven't you noticed that lately the US is really not doing anything but issuing tough sounding statements followed up with no discernible actions? Frankly it would be better if they would cease making any statements at all. And like I mentioned before not selling US military tech to SA would change nothing. SA can get arms from a number of other countries. Why should the US give up the money earned by military sales when it will not effect the situation? The US is not the only game in town these days and the constant demonizing of the US has allowed other countries such as Russia, China, North Korea, Syria, and Iran to slip under the radar and do anything they want. If you want to see what real "backing" is just look at the Russian and Iranian support of Syria.
The P-51 also shot down quite a few ME 262's because the tactics and maneuverability limitations made the ME 262's predictable. They brought overwhelming speed to the fight but little else. The P-51's even downed a few Russian Migs at the beginning of the Korean war before the US fielded jet fighters in any numbers.
Exactly how did they back the Bahraini government? Deploy troops? Issue dire warnings and threats against protestors? Initiate drone strikes on the protesters? They issued a standard statement to the effect that people have complaints that should be solved peacefully through dialog and not violence, Anything more than that and it is considered interfering in another countries internal business isn't it?
They do not need anyone's backing and that definitely includes the US. China would gladly replace the US in SA. As long as they can sell their oil to anyone they want they hardly need US backing. People claiming the US backs dictators and non-democratic leaders are practically calling for the US to interfere in another countries internal matters. On the other hand they also complain when the US does interfere so the best course of action would be to do nothing which appears to be the current US foreign policy.
As long as people continue to give the terrorists a free pass on their violence by blaming the victims it will never stop. Every terrorist group or totalitarian leader on the planet is always given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the atrocities they commit.
A good place to start getting money out of politics can be done with a targeted attack on campaign contributions. There is a limit of $2500 for individual contributions but the 503 corporations were created for the sole purpose of getting around the $2500 limit. Specifically targeting this issue instead of generalizing the entire system makes it easier for the public to understand. Make the politicians to explain their campaign expenses in detail. Politicians would be hard pressed to justify the amount of donations they receive. Make them explain why a big corporation would contribute massive amounts of money and what do these contributors expect in return. These issues are relatively easy for the average person to understand. Generalization creates so many issues they almost seem unassailable and impossible to change to the average citizen.
I have worked with quite a few Chinese IT professionals over the years and they were very good at their jobs.
The problem was it didn't generate enough cash flow to pay off the Party Members. They probably figured out it was cheaper to just pirate MS software.
They might not have a monopoly on the best and brightest but those accepted to the Naval Academy and West Point are way above your average freshman. One example. The vast majority of America's advanced fighter pilots have degrees in Engineering, Physics, or Computer Science which plays a big part in the candidate selection process.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) is a non-profit support organization for veterans who have served in every war since 1899. It lobbies for veteran benefits while also organizing and participating in community service initiatives with military veterans. They were instrumental in creating the GI Bill of Rights in 1944. I have never forgotten what my grandfather once told me when I was 10 years old. We were driving past a VFW sign and I made the kind of joke a 10 year old makes and said "oh look it's the very funny women" office. My grandfather stopped the car and in the most serious voice I had ever heard from him he told me that's not funny in the least and never show that kind of disrespect towards the VFW ever again. At the time I was a little young to understand what he was upset about but in later years I came to understand. He was a WW2 veteran who survived both Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the VFW was a life line for him and many others who came home from that terrible war and desperately needing support to put the horrors they experienced behind them and do so with others that understood what they experienced. The VFW mission has not changed and that's saying a lot in this world where principles and honor are discarded on a whim in return for political expediency and juicy sound bites.
Might or the threat of force has always been used when it came to really big international disputes. To pretend otherwise is wishful thinking. The entire Israeli conflict is the result of the humiliation the Arab's have had to swallow each time they have tried to use military means to eliminate Israel. Israel only had a militia in 48 with no heavy artillery using old WW2 rifles supplied by Greece and still trounced the well supplied Arab armies. In 73 the Arabs had state of the art Soviet weapon systems (first generation SAMS, wire guided anti-tank weapons, and infrared targeting scopes in their tanks) combined with total surprise and once again got their asses handed to them. That played hell with the Arab egos and created a feeling of unendurable emasculation in the male dominated Arab societies which in turn has produced the hateful rhetoric and relentless incitement of violence targeted towards Israel. What reason does Israel have to negotiate with people who espouse never ending hatred and daily threats of violence towards them? None because they possess the might. The Arab powers do not give a single shit about the people suffering on Gaza or the West Bank caught in the middle. All they care about is having a conflict they can use to distract their citizens with so they don't notice the shitty state of their own governments. The amount of money they can skim from the billions supplied by the UN and other donors is also a real good reason to prolong the conflict. And the Israeli success has been their own and contrary to popular opinion the US contributed nothing to the Israeli successes. Even in 73 the US military resupply only happened after the issue was no longer in doubt. The only thing the US has the power to do is ask Israel nicely to deescalate the conflicts. Israel has certainly never needed US approval to do anything they needed to protect themselves. In 67 and 73 Israel could have marched into both Cairo and Damascus after annihilating those countries defenses and really shown them the folly of trying to attack again. If the US was as pragmatic as Israel there would be a lot less tension in todays International relations. The Arab's have created the Palestinian conflict out of whole cloth just to annoy the Israeli's since military force was out of the question. Egypt and Jordan abandoned their citizens after the 67 war by rejecting the Israeli offer to return the land and people captured for a peace agreement. The Palestinians have as much a chance of reclaiming their land as the Mexicans have of recovering Texas. It's past time for Egypt and Jordan to reclaim ownership of the West Bank and Gaza lands they governed when they were taken. The future use of force in the world is inevitable. The most dangerous weapon systems being developed today are advanced missile defenses. These weapon systems will render the major powers nuclear missile deterrents null and void. And those missile systems have been the only thing preventing WW3.
Since when has the VFW been a military intelligence agency? That's like saying the President keeps his confidential information off a link on the WhiteHouse.org public site or the FBI provides a link to their confidential information on their public site.
Israel should serve as a shining example of what happens when you try to use force and end up losing. The loser in the conflict is not entitled to a do over. People asking for a return to the 67 borders forget that the arab's attacked Israel in 73 but lost once again leading to the current borders. Why would Israel give up any land that would do nothing but give it's enemies better firing positions?
I think a lot of people mistake fear with pissed off. The government can ramp up their oversight using either emotion.
I have some serious doubts that the "drumbeat of fear" ever really existed in the first place. Opinion polls are worthless and depending on who shapes the questions can be spun by both sides of the argument. It would be great if the polling firms were required to provide the detailed methodologies being used to reach their conclusions. Using relatively small sample sizes and then extrapolating and applying the results against 350 million citizens requires some details to test the accuracy of the results.
I think it means CISCO wants to avoid the entire discussion so they are going with "no comment" strategy.
CISCO SVP John Stewart declared "As we have stated prior, and communicated to Der Spiegel, we do not work with any government to weaken our products for exploitation, nor to implement any so-called security âback doorsâ(TM) in our products," CISCO investigated the matter in detail and couldn't find the "backdoor" in their product but they did leave open the small possibility that a "backdoor" could exist and they just couldn't find it. This is preposterous but it does cover their assess in the event something turns up no matter how unlikely. Google, MS, and Apple have also formally denied their data centers or any of their products or services were compromised by NSA backdoors. These companies provided data when presented with a valid warrant issued from a normal court or from the FISA court. National security letters have also been used to get a company to provide the information requested. And while people may not agree with the FISA program or national security letters it does not mean they are technically illegal. Both of these methods can be and are being re-evaluated to determine what changes should be made to provide the average citizen with a higher level of privacy.
I am pretty sure the NSA does spy on citizens but I believe it is targeted at individuals and not the entire population. But I have doubts they are capturing and analyzing all phone metadata, e-mails, and text messages generated by the entire US population. I also believe that the NSA spying activities and technical capabilities has been over exaggerated in some areas. I see a lot of people automatically believing any accusations made against the NSA without examining the details and veracity of the information used to make the accusations in the first place. I am not defending the NSA or the government I just think any accusations made should be examined in detail before formulating an opinion. It's come to the point where any accusation of wrong doing by the government is automatically 100% true and that type of thinking creates more problems than it solves. Personally I think the government missteps and over zealous security programs are the result of a high level of incompetence and bureaucratic idiocy instead of any malicious intent aimed at the average citizen.