House votes to continue NSA spying on citizens

[Papewaio]

Who is playing the role of Praetorian guard?

The voters. And just like early Romans they can be distracted by bread and circuses, and just like Praetorians they will be bought off in the modern sense with tax cuts, pork barrel projects or more important dilemmas to engage with.

My prediction is that a standard issue Republican & Democrat mix Congress and President will get elected in the next twelve years and by then an entire generation will be born to this. The terms of terrorism will extend, the thresholds lowered, Warrantless data collection will extend to cover the war on drugs, violent crimes and then to civil court cases.

I see the latest iPhone takes your fingerprint. Apparently only stored locally on your phone, I wonder how true that statement is given the geolocation bug was used by agencies to track individuals. So now you are tagged and verified every step of the day. Really like Apple products. Next purchase is probably going to be non US. Made in the US means backdoor to all TLAs and as a foreigner all my most intimate communications are allowed to be viewed because I'm automatically a suspect. Don't worry, it seems the locals will be treated the same soon.

Might as well send postcards from the edge as at least you know anyone can read these.

[Papewaio]

Praetorians were bought off. They were the red handed chess pieces not the masters.

So I would say the special interest groups. So follow the cash and it wouldn't surprise me it is a Venn diagram of military industrial with a mix of information tech including telcos. Who site in the nexus of all these interests? NSA so they are a key asset to anyone who wants the power of knowledge.

We are essentially screwed because at the moment the powers that be are in a relatively benevolent phase. However martial law has creeped up with the broader definitions of terrorism and the legalized abilities of the various government organizations. All it would take is a real war or a truly terrible terrorist attack and it would be game over.

[Husar]

Next purchase is probably going to be non US.

What kind of computing device has no connection to the US? And even if you find some cellphone that does not have Google, MS or Apple Software on it, how likely is it that your provider will not supply all your communications to the NSA? There doesn't even appear to be a proper encryption unless someone has thought up the whole thing themselves and was not influenced by encryption techniques that were influenced by the NSA.

I saw the TV series "Person of Interest" on TV today and while I used to think it's a funny fictional series, it seems almost like a documentary now. They even had the NSA give a company all kinds of personal information they collected from private citizens.

[Papewaio]

I can only vote on US policy by spending money.

So yes it will probably be a google android OS on Chinese hardware which my five eyes cooperating Telco will upload willingly to the NSA.

Hopefully Steam will more fully embrace Linux flavours... I could always potentially run games in a virtualized environment on a Linux base.

So right now there isn't alternatives. Nokia is owned by MS. RIM is Canadian so therefore part of the five eyes too.

That leaves Samsung... Which is part of an even more corporate government embedded scenario. HTC which is nice and all.

So yes as far as mobile devices are concerned we are screwed.

[Xiahou]

From Wired:
How the US Almost Killed the Internet

This article leaves me disgusted. The NSA is acting as the most insidious criminal organization you can imagine- with the important distinction of having full government backing.

[Husar]

From Wired:
How the US Almost Killed the Internet

This article leaves me disgusted. The NSA is acting as the most insidious criminal organization you can imagine- with the important distinction of having full government backing.

How naive, all Intelligence Agencies are doing this all the time and they have to to keep you secure. How can you say this is wrong when they all do it and they all cooperate and share data and none of them spy on their own citizens?

[Tellos Athenaios]

From Wired:
How the US Almost Killed the Internet

This article leaves me disgusted. The NSA is acting as the most insidious criminal organization you can imagine- with the important distinction of having full government backing.

That article? Why not try the Spiegel one which this talk is based on: