You have nothing to worry about. The US government is not going to be bankrupt anytime soon. The government funds itself using Monopoly game money along with the capability to print as much as they want when needed. A few adjustments here and a few press releases there and everything gets back on track.On the off chance something really bad does happen it is comforting to know that it will most definitely take down every other country on the planet at the same time.
IP may be a SOCIAL BARGAIN but every society currently on the planet only cooperates in Social Bargains when they get something out of it. Nobody on any side is willing to agree or cooperate on anything if they feel they would be betraying their personal convictions and righteous crusades. Nationalism is on the rise, global cooperation is disappearing, misleading and biased rhetoric has replaced facts, and competition for resources is rising by the day. I see nothing to change these factors other than the complete and utter destruction sure to be delivered by WW3. Maybe the few hundred survivors can start over from scratch and hopefully do a better job.
Really? Which rights have been eliminated? I am under the impression that any changes to the existing rights require constitutional amendments. In the meantime if you feel someone has violated your rights there is a remedy commonly known as the court system. But to actually use the court system effectively you actually need proof that your rights were violated. Hyperbole, gross exaggerations, moral relativism, lies of omission, indignant rants and unrestrained accusations are not evidence.
On average any pilot of a B-2 would need to make over 500+ adjustments every five minutes just to keep it in the air and flying in a straight line during good weather and minimal winds. I never said there were planes that a human could fly without any computer systems. The skills required to pilot a helicopter has little in common with the skills flying military planes engineered for stealth and speed.
The B-2 cannot be flown without fly by wire. The B-117 was in the same category. Both of these planes as well as today's jet fighter craft would never have been built if a human pilot was required.
So what you are saying is nobody has actually uncovered one of these purposeful or accidental backdoors but you will continue to argue they do exist even though there is no evidence?
"plausible deniability" So even though no backdoor has been uncovered those supposedly responsible for these non-existent backdoors are planning to issue a denial for something that doesn't exist?
Do you have some insider information on the scope of Brazilian surveillance operations or are you just going out of your way to justify demonizing only the US operations. You know sort of like the Brazilian president has been doing. And the massive world wide wire-tapping seems to be a cooperative venture amongst all the other countries on the planet collecting and sharing data on their own citizens with the US. Brazil will not be the last country to step up and admit all their denigrating and histrionics over the US programs were nothing but hypocritical lies created for a domestic audience.
I am just glad there are still some very smart people out there still working on the physics of the universe. There may very well be no way to realistically travel to far way star systems but we will never know if we claim universal understanding of everything and then just stop investigating.
So you are a constitutional scholar and are absolutely positive the government is in violation? The government has technically covered their collective asses with the FISA and other pertinent laws passed by Congress that were open to public scrutiny at the time they were proposed and signed into law. Just because no one was paying close attention to the fine print does not mean you can suddenly get up in arms about the government breaking the law. You can argue that FISA is ineffective or lacking in oversight but you need to present actual proof of illegality and not just endless rhetoric and hyperbole. Just like all those claiming Bush broke the law by ordering an attack on Iraq. That attack was already legally sound under the terms of the Iraqi surrender agreement in 1991. It falls under that mystical International Law people are always yelling about but never seem to want to enforce. All talk of WMD and other motivations were just political rhetoric for the masses.
If I were a jet fighter pilot I would be getting worried about my future as a military aviator. Some how I don't think sitting on the ground operating a drone provides the same level of excitement. The pilot is becoming more of a passenger these days. The modern generation of stealth fighters and bombers such as the B-2 are literally impossible to fly by a mere human.
The US has started a program to convert some of the old F-14's to pilot less drones instead of just scrapping them. Without a pilot the current generation of fighters could utilize all the performance built in to the air frame.
This happened over 12 years ago but today people are acting like the outing of the recent SIGINT capabilities is groundbreaking news. Almost as shocking as the governments around the world claiming they had no idea the US had such capabilities.
So your upset because the government is reading your e-mail? The government has neither the resources, both human or technical, to read every ones e-mail. If you are going to be upset pick a real issue and not some self induced paranoia. By ignoring the context of a situation your analysis and opinions are flawed and worthless.
Since when has free speech been squashed in the US?
"massive misinformation campaigns against real world problems" This pretty much describes anyone who is hyperventilating about this whole spying non-sense. People are acting like their nefarious plans to overthrow the government have just been uncovered and they have to start all over. And for the record the US constitution only applies to US citizens but everyone else is fair game.
"They see hot debate topics and flood the media outlets with disinformation". The general public does a much better job than any government could ever do in this regard. Anyone wishing to have a meaningful discussion about the NSA also needs to factor in all the other countries who do the exact same thing. It's not a "two wrongs make a right" argument it is just putting the whole issue into context.
Re:Google have turned DO NO EVIL into an imperativ
on
The Case Against Gmail
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· Score: 1
Google is just upset that the government didn't pay them for the data. Google sales all kinds of information and analytics for profit. A very large part of their revenue stream is generated from advertising and marketing. It's why they can afford to offer their services for free to the average user. After all Google is not a non-profit corporation.
The new a-bomb in today's world is information. Information is the most dangerous weapon today. Information can be shaped and manipulated to achieve specific goals. We have built a globe spanning network piece meal with little or no collaboration between the different countries which has resulted in an unending source of information there for the taking by anyone technologically capable. The WWW is the easiest, most effective, and cheapest way to spread targeted propaganda around the world. The NSA story is neither surprising or unexpected. The people claiming otherwise should get their head out of their ass's now and then and look around a bit more. The hypocrisy being displayed by other countries about US surveillance is simply astounding. Several countries are bleating about the loss of any future collaboration with the US but it should be pointed out that the US really doesn't need cooperation from any country when the stakes are high enough. And those oh so moral Europeans are actually the ones sending data to the NSA on their own citizens and it is about time the US publishes the details of how these countries provide and request data from the NSA. In the name of transparency lets put every thing out on the table. Fuck the consequences. The especially pretentious German leader seems offended that some one would attempt to monitor her but there are some pretty good reasons the NSA should keep tabs on her whenever necessary.The biggest reason to keep tabs on any leader of the German government is because the last time someone took their eye off the ball 50 million people ended up dead. And her claims of being allied with the US is also a matter of opinion. The US helped rebuilt W. Germany after WW2 and provided 40 years of military protection against the USSR. What has Germany ever done for the US to show they are an ally of the US?
A nuclear weapon detonated in space is far less powerful than one detonated within the atmosphere. The shockwave produced is far less powerful then what is needed to alter a fast moving mid-size asteroid trajectory. Depending on how much advance time you have a mission to place nukes directly on the asteroid would probably be the best option we currently have. And if we are ever faced with an incoming asteroid the last thing anyone needs is the UN getting in the way. There are 2 and possibly 3 countries capable of destroying an incoming asteroid and those 3 countries are not subservient to the UN in any meaningful way. A potential asteroid disaster would help move space technology development into high gear with little regard to cost. After all it was ICBM rocket technology development that provided the launch vehicle needed to go to the moon.
What makes you think Stalin gave a single solitary shit about how many of his people died? When Germany first invaded Russia Stalin threw every single peasant into the path of the advancing Germans to give him time to round up all the top military leaders and scientists he had sentenced to the Gulags. Stalin's early military strategy hinged on having more people than the Germans had bullets and it basically worked. The Russians were as bad as the Germans both in ideology and actions. The Germans created a system that could kill and dispose of people in the most efficient way. The Russians just dumped all their victims out of sight in Siberia and let them fend for themselves.
Japan surrendered when the Russians started marching through Manchuria on their way to Japan. The nukes just added another incentive and it was decided that surrendering to the US was more palatable then surrendering or fighting the Russians. It's a pity the allies did not march into Russia after Germany fell. It would have saved the people in eastern Europe from living in communist squalor for 40 years.
The call metadata is already being captured and saved by your phone vendor. Your favorite search engines and websites already have access to your web history. And the government really does not need any of these sources of information to find me. They already have my Tax records, job history, property ownership since deeds are registered, and even my drivers license. And they have had this data since way before the Internet even existed. And I seriously doubt the government has the time and labor resources needed to do anything other than store the information. Even with sophisticated key word filters will return millions of records to be further examined. Any data captured would not be of any use in stopping someone intent on causing mischief. Any data captured in foreign countries by the intelligence services is fair game. This is where Snowden went from whistleblower to someone who deserves to be charged under the Espionage Act. He has went so far as thinking he knows what information is harmful and which is not all by him self. That level of arrogance is astounding. He might have been able to strike a deal with the US government if he only released information dealing with internal actions of the government. He had a lot of leverage with all the foreign data he stole. He could have negotiated a deal that included no jail time by offering to return all the foreign related data. That is certainly off the table now. He better hope the US doesn't gain custody of anyone wanted by the Russian government because the US and Russia have a long history of exchanging people wanted by either nation.
Israel is the only country who actually needs nuclear weapons. It's the only thing keeping it's friendly neighbors from launching human wave attacks to over run the country.
No moron it's called putting the situation in it's appropriate context. The NSA or the government for that matter does not operate in a vacuum. As long as there are other countries practicing espionage against US interests it would be foolish in the extreme to de-fang their own intelligence services. Just like if every country destroyed their nuclear arsenals the US could get rid of theirs.
"See, earlier presidents did bad things too!" That was not the purpose for my statement. It was an attempt to add some context and perspective when debating US government behavior and the consequences of that behavior. Judging US actions without examining the entire picture leads to erroneous and often biased conclusions. But a great many people do not want to put things in it's appropriate context because it might contradict their firmly held beliefs. People seem more interested in "winning the argument" by any means necessary then they are in getting to the truth.
Slashdot Mirror
You have nothing to worry about. The US government is not going to be bankrupt anytime soon. The government funds itself using Monopoly game money along with the capability to print as much as they want when needed. A few adjustments here and a few press releases there and everything gets back on track.On the off chance something really bad does happen it is comforting to know that it will most definitely take down every other country on the planet at the same time.
IP may be a SOCIAL BARGAIN but every society currently on the planet only cooperates in Social Bargains when they get something out of it. Nobody on any side is willing to agree or cooperate on anything if they feel they would be betraying their personal convictions and righteous crusades. Nationalism is on the rise, global cooperation is disappearing, misleading and biased rhetoric has replaced facts, and competition for resources is rising by the day. I see nothing to change these factors other than the complete and utter destruction sure to be delivered by WW3. Maybe the few hundred survivors can start over from scratch and hopefully do a better job.
Really? Which rights have been eliminated? I am under the impression that any changes to the existing rights require constitutional amendments. In the meantime if you feel someone has violated your rights there is a remedy commonly known as the court system. But to actually use the court system effectively you actually need proof that your rights were violated. Hyperbole, gross exaggerations, moral relativism, lies of omission, indignant rants and unrestrained accusations are not evidence.
On average any pilot of a B-2 would need to make over 500+ adjustments every five minutes just to keep it in the air and flying in a straight line during good weather and minimal winds. I never said there were planes that a human could fly without any computer systems. The skills required to pilot a helicopter has little in common with the skills flying military planes engineered for stealth and speed.
The B-2 cannot be flown without fly by wire. The B-117 was in the same category. Both of these planes as well as today's jet fighter craft would never have been built if a human pilot was required.
So what you are saying is nobody has actually uncovered one of these purposeful or accidental backdoors but you will continue to argue they do exist even though there is no evidence?
"plausible deniability" So even though no backdoor has been uncovered those supposedly responsible for these non-existent backdoors are planning to issue a denial for something that doesn't exist?
Exactly how many engineered back doors have actually been found and exploited?
Do you have some insider information on the scope of Brazilian surveillance operations or are you just going out of your way to justify demonizing only the US operations. You know sort of like the Brazilian president has been doing. And the massive world wide wire-tapping seems to be a cooperative venture amongst all the other countries on the planet collecting and sharing data on their own citizens with the US. Brazil will not be the last country to step up and admit all their denigrating and histrionics over the US programs were nothing but hypocritical lies created for a domestic audience.
You do know if corporations are dismantled all the jobs they provide will also go away?
I am just glad there are still some very smart people out there still working on the physics of the universe. There may very well be no way to realistically travel to far way star systems but we will never know if we claim universal understanding of everything and then just stop investigating.
So you are a constitutional scholar and are absolutely positive the government is in violation? The government has technically covered their collective asses with the FISA and other pertinent laws passed by Congress that were open to public scrutiny at the time they were proposed and signed into law. Just because no one was paying close attention to the fine print does not mean you can suddenly get up in arms about the government breaking the law. You can argue that FISA is ineffective or lacking in oversight but you need to present actual proof of illegality and not just endless rhetoric and hyperbole. Just like all those claiming Bush broke the law by ordering an attack on Iraq. That attack was already legally sound under the terms of the Iraqi surrender agreement in 1991. It falls under that mystical International Law people are always yelling about but never seem to want to enforce. All talk of WMD and other motivations were just political rhetoric for the masses.
If I were a jet fighter pilot I would be getting worried about my future as a military aviator. Some how I don't think sitting on the ground operating a drone provides the same level of excitement. The pilot is becoming more of a passenger these days. The modern generation of stealth fighters and bombers such as the B-2 are literally impossible to fly by a mere human.
The US has started a program to convert some of the old F-14's to pilot less drones instead of just scrapping them. Without a pilot the current generation of fighters could utilize all the performance built in to the air frame.
This happened over 12 years ago but today people are acting like the outing of the recent SIGINT capabilities is groundbreaking news. Almost as shocking as the governments around the world claiming they had no idea the US had such capabilities.
So your upset because the government is reading your e-mail? The government has neither the resources, both human or technical, to read every ones e-mail. If you are going to be upset pick a real issue and not some self induced paranoia. By ignoring the context of a situation your analysis and opinions are flawed and worthless.
Since when has free speech been squashed in the US?
"massive misinformation campaigns against real world problems" This pretty much describes anyone who is hyperventilating about this whole spying non-sense. People are acting like their nefarious plans to overthrow the government have just been uncovered and they have to start all over. And for the record the US constitution only applies to US citizens but everyone else is fair game.
"They see hot debate topics and flood the media outlets with disinformation". The general public does a much better job than any government could ever do in this regard. Anyone wishing to have a meaningful discussion about the NSA also needs to factor in all the other countries who do the exact same thing. It's not a "two wrongs make a right" argument it is just putting the whole issue into context.
Google is just upset that the government didn't pay them for the data. Google sales all kinds of information and analytics for profit. A very large part of their revenue stream is generated from advertising and marketing. It's why they can afford to offer their services for free to the average user. After all Google is not a non-profit corporation.
The new a-bomb in today's world is information. Information is the most dangerous weapon today. Information can be shaped and manipulated to achieve specific goals. We have built a globe spanning network piece meal with little or no collaboration between the different countries which has resulted in an unending source of information there for the taking by anyone technologically capable. The WWW is the easiest, most effective, and cheapest way to spread targeted propaganda around the world. The NSA story is neither surprising or unexpected. The people claiming otherwise should get their head out of their ass's now and then and look around a bit more. The hypocrisy being displayed by other countries about US surveillance is simply astounding. Several countries are bleating about the loss of any future collaboration with the US but it should be pointed out that the US really doesn't need cooperation from any country when the stakes are high enough. And those oh so moral Europeans are actually the ones sending data to the NSA on their own citizens and it is about time the US publishes the details of how these countries provide and request data from the NSA. In the name of transparency lets put every thing out on the table. Fuck the consequences. The especially pretentious German leader seems offended that some one would attempt to monitor her but there are some pretty good reasons the NSA should keep tabs on her whenever necessary.The biggest reason to keep tabs on any leader of the German government is because the last time someone took their eye off the ball 50 million people ended up dead. And her claims of being allied with the US is also a matter of opinion. The US helped rebuilt W. Germany after WW2 and provided 40 years of military protection against the USSR. What has Germany ever done for the US to show they are an ally of the US?
A nuclear weapon detonated in space is far less powerful than one detonated within the atmosphere. The shockwave produced is far less powerful then what is needed to alter a fast moving mid-size asteroid trajectory. Depending on how much advance time you have a mission to place nukes directly on the asteroid would probably be the best option we currently have. And if we are ever faced with an incoming asteroid the last thing anyone needs is the UN getting in the way. There are 2 and possibly 3 countries capable of destroying an incoming asteroid and those 3 countries are not subservient to the UN in any meaningful way. A potential asteroid disaster would help move space technology development into high gear with little regard to cost. After all it was ICBM rocket technology development that provided the launch vehicle needed to go to the moon.
What makes you think Stalin gave a single solitary shit about how many of his people died? When Germany first invaded Russia Stalin threw every single peasant into the path of the advancing Germans to give him time to round up all the top military leaders and scientists he had sentenced to the Gulags. Stalin's early military strategy hinged on having more people than the Germans had bullets and it basically worked. The Russians were as bad as the Germans both in ideology and actions. The Germans created a system that could kill and dispose of people in the most efficient way. The Russians just dumped all their victims out of sight in Siberia and let them fend for themselves.
Japan surrendered when the Russians started marching through Manchuria on their way to Japan. The nukes just added another incentive and it was decided that surrendering to the US was more palatable then surrendering or fighting the Russians. It's a pity the allies did not march into Russia after Germany fell. It would have saved the people in eastern Europe from living in communist squalor for 40 years.
The call metadata is already being captured and saved by your phone vendor. Your favorite search engines and websites already have access to your web history. And the government really does not need any of these sources of information to find me. They already have my Tax records, job history, property ownership since deeds are registered, and even my drivers license. And they have had this data since way before the Internet even existed. And I seriously doubt the government has the time and labor resources needed to do anything other than store the information. Even with sophisticated key word filters will return millions of records to be further examined. Any data captured would not be of any use in stopping someone intent on causing mischief. Any data captured in foreign countries by the intelligence services is fair game. This is where Snowden went from whistleblower to someone who deserves to be charged under the Espionage Act. He has went so far as thinking he knows what information is harmful and which is not all by him self. That level of arrogance is astounding. He might have been able to strike a deal with the US government if he only released information dealing with internal actions of the government. He had a lot of leverage with all the foreign data he stole. He could have negotiated a deal that included no jail time by offering to return all the foreign related data. That is certainly off the table now. He better hope the US doesn't gain custody of anyone wanted by the Russian government because the US and Russia have a long history of exchanging people wanted by either nation.
Israel is the only country who actually needs nuclear weapons. It's the only thing keeping it's friendly neighbors from launching human wave attacks to over run the country.
No moron it's called putting the situation in it's appropriate context. The NSA or the government for that matter does not operate in a vacuum. As long as there are other countries practicing espionage against US interests it would be foolish in the extreme to de-fang their own intelligence services. Just like if every country destroyed their nuclear arsenals the US could get rid of theirs.
"See, earlier presidents did bad things too!" That was not the purpose for my statement. It was an attempt to add some context and perspective when debating US government behavior and the consequences of that behavior. Judging US actions without examining the entire picture leads to erroneous and often biased conclusions. But a great many people do not want to put things in it's appropriate context because it might contradict their firmly held beliefs. People seem more interested in "winning the argument" by any means necessary then they are in getting to the truth.