And also, how is any Privacy software going to help if the OS itself has the back-door or whatever?. It doesn't make any sense unless you use an OS that's Open Sourced. And like you say, even then you might as well just unplug your Internet. Even if the OS is secured, you still need to worry about services like the Cloud.
This is going to take more than Software to resolve.
What do you mean by 'the Cloud'? What cloud are you talking about?
With the exception of a few people, American's just don't care about anyting-- unless it interrupts their viewing pleasure.
Very sad and very true.
Stupid distractions like television, facebook, and sport are rendering entire generates hopeless and pointless. Few people do anything anymore and everyone hates everyone else.
Imagine a world where people spend just some of their free time doing socially useful things. There would be no litter in the streets, no potholes in the roads, the elderly would not be alone and issolated, the hungry would be fed and waste space would become parks or food growing areas. There would be no need of stupid things like television shows or any of the other distractions from living.
What I meant was before it got branded a country by the UK political powers it was a territory, AFAIK it never was a country in it's own right but a part of someone else's country.
As a European I'm not sure what to think of this. I was more shocked about the fact that so many people thought that an organisation like the NSA was able to do their work by reading public blogs and newspapers, than I was about the actual PRISM news. Now it's just waiting for the next big terrorist attack which able to amass funds because of the EU no longer data sharing.
Nonsense. To be a successful terrorist you don't need a big pile of money, you just need to be willing to die for your cause. How much does it cost to make nailbombs? Or shoot people? Less than a lot of people spend every day, that's how much.
Which is exactly the definition of the United Kingdom: a group of countries with a common ruler. They even participate as separate countries in various sporting events...
I'm sure the various parts of the UK have only recently been branded countries for political reasons. Wales used to be a principality not a country and northern Ireland was an occupied territory. Scotland is an exception to this as it really was a country that was brought by the English with a sale condition being that it maintained its independent legal system.
European passports already have fingerprint and picture data. Face and fingerprint capture and verification are coming to EU borders as well. Japan already has them. I haven't noticed differences in patting down or intrusive searches between the US and EU. But keep going on living in your fantasy world.
My passport doesn't have fingerprint data, it has my photo, that's it.
The fingerprint crap at EU passport control isn't for EU citizens, it's for non-EU citizens. It's crap though and treating people like criminals just because the US does it is totally wrong.
There are differences between the groping people get in Europe and in the US so I'm told by regular travelers. If I'm not carrying metal though metal detectors in Europe I never get groped.
And it is you that's living in a fantasy world, you have the fantasy that the US is free when it's really quite a lot more oppressive than Europe.
I see lots of them around my part of Europe. They are nice enough people, a bit loud, but they don't cause too much trouble. Those are the innocent people who are going to miss out due to the abusive US government exceeding it's bounds.
Funny thing is that I would like to travel to the US for pleasure but since the whole mandatory sexual assault and fingerprinting came into effect some years back I've spent my vacation money elsewhere. I don't mind getting a visa although it is a pain, but I really don't want to be fingerprinted and treated like a criminal thanks.
That is a core belief of the US government and to a slightly lesser extent the American people. It's been obvious since, and possibly before, the war of independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and John Livingston. June 28, 1776
That quote is an idealistic daydream. 'All men' in that context was only ever taken to cover white US citizens, not blacks, and not citizens of other countries. Were slaves between 1776 and 1865 somehow granted Liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Were Native American Indians?
Very many Jews were killed because they were entered on a Dutch jew-register long before being Jewish was a killing offence. They never considered that Surveillance was bad when the government first asked their religion. You don't think that could happen in the US? What did your government do to legal Japanese citizens in WW2 then?
FedEx and UPS don't photo everything, there is simply no point. What they do is not accept it until you put a tracking code on it and that lets them track it though every point in their system. The USPS could add a unique tracking code to each item at the point it enters their system so it would be easy to trace where a poison letter came from.
If that's not what they are up to then what on earth is the point of this?
Why did you write "killing U.S. citizens"? Why not "killing humans"?
If you believe that US citizens are worth more than any other human beings and should have rights others shouldn't have because of the circumstance of their birth, you're part of the problem.
That is a core belief of the US government and to a slightly lesser extent the American people. It's been obvious since, and possibly before, the war of independence.
Cooking is not an option if you can't afford to live in a place with a kitchen.
I'm not sure if you mean living somewhere that has no kitchen or living on the street.
Actually I could cook quite a lot in a single saucepan on a camping stove that runs off just about any liquid fuel. I would need the stove, a saucepan, a knife, and a chopping board at a minimum plus ingredients. Also somewhere with good ventilation to put the camping stove, ideally outdoors.
I understand actually having a knife on the street might get you shot by police and if you mean homeless I guess everything you own will get robbed regularly.
After now the entire world will watch him stand trial --- a FAIR trial. If anything happens to him by unfair means, the reputation of the United States is over.
So if I wanted to tarnish the reputation of the US all I have to do is make sure Snowden dies in suspicious circumstances.
I wonder how many world leaders have thought about that one.
But alive he is doing quite a job tarnishing the reputation of the US by doing nothing but telling the truth.
It sounds like you are saying that someone who pushes a child out of the path of a car is a coward unless they make sure they are themselves hit by that car in the process. It's possible to do good (or what you believe to be good) without destroying yourself in the process.
Go ahead and try to enter another country without your passport. Let us know how that works out for you.
It's not uncommon for travellers to get their passports stolen, it's possible to get emergency travel documents if this happens although I'm sure it's not easy. I've never had to do it.
I live in Europe and can travel anywhere in the Schengen area without any ID checks at all as long as I don't fly there.
Lets see you travel with your citizenship and no passport.
It's possible. Passports exist to prove identity, you don't need to prove your identity if people already know who you are.
The Red Cross and just about any government can issue temporary ID-proving documents although it's unlikely they will be accepted at airports as quickly and easily as a valid passport.
Putin is a pragmatist. He no doubt has some very good reasons for wanting him to shut up. If they harbour him, then everyone's ire will be turned on the Russians. Russia wants to be seen as a big, serious player, not as a rogue state.
It's the US that's coming off as a rouge state here. The Russians have come off as reasonable and rational on the whole Snowden thing, and the not giving weapons to fundamentalists in Syria thing.
And Snowden himself doesn't seem to have the brains to not shit in his own nest.
Because you believe it's right that everyone must live in fear of the US government?
Snowden is a fucking mess, dumbass motherfucker...
Exactly. How stupid do you have to be to stand up against government tyranny? It's obvious that the US government was just watching out for foreign terrorists outside the US by collecting local phone data. It's even more obvious that the whole EU and UN are branches of al-queda and should be closely monitored for threats. Kofi Annan could be planning a suicide attack right now!!
I'm being ironic and mocking you Anonymous Coward because you are talking BS.
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And also, how is any Privacy software going to help if the OS itself has the back-door or whatever?. It doesn't make any sense unless you use an OS that's Open Sourced. And like you say, even then you might as well just unplug your Internet. Even if the OS is secured, you still need to worry about services like the Cloud.
This is going to take more than Software to resolve.
What do you mean by 'the Cloud'? What cloud are you talking about?
If you send an email "through the cloud" (and how else are you going to send it today) then the NSA collects the "meta-data" (at least).
Some of us still run our own mailservers on machines we control. Not that I'm saying that's perfectly secure or anything.
two words: television, facebook.
With the exception of a few people, American's just don't care about anyting-- unless it interrupts their viewing pleasure.
Very sad and very true.
Stupid distractions like television, facebook, and sport are rendering entire generates hopeless and pointless. Few people do anything anymore and everyone hates everyone else.
Imagine a world where people spend just some of their free time doing socially useful things. There would be no litter in the streets, no potholes in the roads, the elderly would not be alone and issolated, the hungry would be fed and waste space would become parks or food growing areas. There would be no need of stupid things like television shows or any of the other distractions from living.
northern Ireland was an occupied territory
What do you mean "was"?
Fair point.
What I meant was before it got branded a country by the UK political powers it was a territory, AFAIK it never was a country in it's own right but a part of someone else's country.
As a European I'm not sure what to think of this. I was more shocked about the fact that so many people thought that an organisation like the NSA was able to do their work by reading public blogs and newspapers, than I was about the actual PRISM news.
Now it's just waiting for the next big terrorist attack which able to amass funds because of the EU no longer data sharing.
Nonsense. To be a successful terrorist you don't need a big pile of money, you just need to be willing to die for your cause. How much does it cost to make nailbombs? Or shoot people? Less than a lot of people spend every day, that's how much.
Which is exactly the definition of the United Kingdom: a group of countries with a common ruler. They even participate as separate countries in various sporting events ...
I'm sure the various parts of the UK have only recently been branded countries for political reasons. Wales used to be a principality not a country and northern Ireland was an occupied territory. Scotland is an exception to this as it really was a country that was brought by the English with a sale condition being that it maintained its independent legal system.
European passports already have fingerprint and picture data. Face and fingerprint capture and verification are coming to EU borders as well. Japan already has them. I haven't noticed differences in patting down or intrusive searches between the US and EU. But keep going on living in your fantasy world.
My passport doesn't have fingerprint data, it has my photo, that's it.
The fingerprint crap at EU passport control isn't for EU citizens, it's for non-EU citizens. It's crap though and treating people like criminals just because the US does it is totally wrong.
There are differences between the groping people get in Europe and in the US so I'm told by regular travelers. If I'm not carrying metal though metal detectors in Europe I never get groped.
And it is you that's living in a fantasy world, you have the fantasy that the US is free when it's really quite a lot more oppressive than Europe.
A passenger list and passport and visa numbers are fine, but why does the US government want the credit card information of passengers?
Right. Because Americans never go to Europe.
I see lots of them around my part of Europe. They are nice enough people, a bit loud, but they don't cause too much trouble. Those are the innocent people who are going to miss out due to the abusive US government exceeding it's bounds.
Funny thing is that I would like to travel to the US for pleasure but since the whole mandatory sexual assault and fingerprinting came into effect some years back I've spent my vacation money elsewhere. I don't mind getting a visa although it is a pain, but I really don't want to be fingerprinted and treated like a criminal thanks.
That is a core belief of the US government and to a slightly lesser extent the American people. It's been obvious since, and possibly before, the war of independence.
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and John Livingston. June 28, 1776
That quote is an idealistic daydream. 'All men' in that context was only ever taken to cover white US citizens, not blacks, and not citizens of other countries. Were slaves between 1776 and 1865 somehow granted Liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Were Native American Indians?
Surveillance itself isn't inherently bad
Of course it is!
Very many Jews were killed because they were entered on a Dutch jew-register long before being Jewish was a killing offence. They never considered that Surveillance was bad when the government first asked their religion. You don't think that could happen in the US? What did your government do to legal Japanese citizens in WW2 then?
Explain to me how recording an envelope without a return address once it reaches the post office help law enforcement do ANYTHING.
They know what area the Anthrax or whatever was posted from. If they really are investigating something of that nature then it's a good start.
Not that I'm implying recording this data is in any way a good thing.
I'm pretty sure fedex and ups do this.
FedEx and UPS don't photo everything, there is simply no point. What they do is not accept it until you put a tracking code on it and that lets them track it though every point in their system. The USPS could add a unique tracking code to each item at the point it enters their system so it would be easy to trace where a poison letter came from.
If that's not what they are up to then what on earth is the point of this?
Why did you write "killing U.S. citizens"? Why not "killing humans"?
If you believe that US citizens are worth more than any other human beings and should have rights others shouldn't have because of the circumstance of their birth, you're part of the problem.
That is a core belief of the US government and to a slightly lesser extent the American people. It's been obvious since, and possibly before, the war of independence.
"Home of the brave, land of the relentlessly monitored"
Obama is that you? Or Bush? I can't tell anymore, you both sound the same.
Cooking is not an option if you can't afford to live in a place with a kitchen.
I'm not sure if you mean living somewhere that has no kitchen or living on the street.
Actually I could cook quite a lot in a single saucepan on a camping stove that runs off just about any liquid fuel. I would need the stove, a saucepan, a knife, and a chopping board at a minimum plus ingredients. Also somewhere with good ventilation to put the camping stove, ideally outdoors.
I understand actually having a knife on the street might get you shot by police and if you mean homeless I guess everything you own will get robbed regularly.
After now the entire world will watch him stand trial --- a FAIR trial. If anything happens to him by unfair means, the reputation of the United States is over.
So if I wanted to tarnish the reputation of the US all I have to do is make sure Snowden dies in suspicious circumstances.
I wonder how many world leaders have thought about that one.
But alive he is doing quite a job tarnishing the reputation of the US by doing nothing but telling the truth.
It sounds like you are saying that someone who pushes a child out of the path of a car is a coward unless they make sure they are themselves hit by that car in the process. It's possible to do good (or what you believe to be good) without destroying yourself in the process.
Go ahead and try to enter another country without your passport. Let us know how that works out for you.
It's not uncommon for travellers to get their passports stolen, it's possible to get emergency travel documents if this happens although I'm sure it's not easy. I've never had to do it.
I live in Europe and can travel anywhere in the Schengen area without any ID checks at all as long as I don't fly there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area
He won't get a fair trail, that's the point.
Lets see you travel with your citizenship and no passport.
It's possible. Passports exist to prove identity, you don't need to prove your identity if people already know who you are.
The Red Cross and just about any government can issue temporary ID-proving documents although it's unlikely they will be accepted at airports as quickly and easily as a valid passport.
Putin is a pragmatist. He no doubt has some very good reasons for wanting him to shut up. If they harbour him, then everyone's ire will be turned on the Russians. Russia wants to be seen as a big, serious player, not as a rogue state.
It's the US that's coming off as a rouge state here. The Russians have come off as reasonable and rational on the whole Snowden thing, and the not giving weapons to fundamentalists in Syria thing.
And Snowden himself doesn't seem to have the brains to not shit in his own nest.
Because you believe it's right that everyone must live in fear of the US government?
Snowden is a fucking mess, dumbass motherfucker...
Exactly. How stupid do you have to be to stand up against government tyranny? It's obvious that the US government was just watching out for foreign terrorists outside the US by collecting local phone data. It's even more obvious that the whole EU and UN are branches of al-queda and should be closely monitored for threats. Kofi Annan could be planning a suicide attack right now!!
I'm being ironic and mocking you Anonymous Coward because you are talking BS.