House votes to continue NSA spying on citizens

[Xiahou]

Not to be outdone, the FBI wants in on the action too...

The U.S. government is quietly pressuring telecommunications providers to install eavesdropping technology deep inside companies' internal networks to facilitate surveillance efforts.

FBI officials have been sparring with carriers, a process that has on occasion included threats of contempt of court, in a bid to deploy government-provided software capable of intercepting and analyzing entire communications streams. The FBI's legal position during these discussions is that the software's real-time interception of metadata is authorized under the Patriot Act.

Attempts by the FBI to install what it internally refers to as "port reader" software, which have not been previously disclosed, were described to CNET in interviews over the last few weeks. One former government official said the software used to be known internally as the "harvesting program."

Carriers are "extra-cautious" and are resisting installation of the FBI's port reader software, an industry participant in the discussions said, in part because of the privacy and security risks of unknown surveillance technology operating on an sensitive internal network.

It's "an interception device by definition," said the industry participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because court proceedings are sealed. "If magistrates knew more, they would approve less." It's unclear whether any carriers have installed port readers, and at least one is actively opposing the installation.

Someone pass me a tinfoil hat please....

[Husar]

Might be time to get rid of my smart phone and go back to a dumb one.

That's not going to stop anything. Doesn't really matter whether you say it, SMS it or write it publicly on Facebook. If they capture all of it, then they get your message anyway.

What really surprises me is that some of you people are against it. Given that this is legal due to the patriot act, you don't sound very patriotic. Why do you hate freedom and aid terrorists?

[rvg]

That's not going to stop anything. Doesn't really matter whether you say it, SMS it or write it publicly on Facebook. If they capture all of it, then they get your message anyway.

What really surprises me is that some of you people are against it. Given that this is legal due to the patriot act, you don't sound very patriotic. Why do you hate freedom and aid terrorists?

There's only one thing left to do: Each and every one of us has to send out at least one terrorist phonecall/SMS per day. Maybe mention to close family members something about blowing up a school or something along those lines. If the entire population gets flagged and has to be monitored, the whole surveillance system will implode.

[rvg]

Why worry? If needed, the system can be easily overwhelmed with false positives and become totally useless. On that note, is my shipment of TNT ready yet?

[Fisherking]

Oh yes, by all means!

But remember the kid in Texas. It was an obvious joke but they locked him up and through away the key.

Making jokes or trying to overwhelm the system will get you in a lot of trouble. These people make the Stasi look like the good guys.

[TheLastDays]

These people make the Stasi look like the good guys.

Oh some of them weren't that bad. I used to go fishing with that one guy...

Anyway I mean I don't plan to do anything illegal that I'd have to hide and still I don't think this is right. Wanting my privacy doesn't have anything to do with being a terrorist.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Hooray, add another apathetic cog in the machine.

[Fisherking]

No, the answer is not to give up. It doesn’t matter that you are tying to have a low profile either, or have no bad intent.

You are missing what is happening!


In your neighborhood there is a dangerous paranoid. He thinks everyone is out to get him and that everyone is a terrorist. He thinks it is his job to eliminate all those terrorists to save the world. This makes everyone a target. Any tiny innocent thing can set this guy off.

But you can’t call the police because they believe him.

That Him, just happens to be the Federal Government and all of its agencies.

You are all, defacto bad people!

The Nut Job has to be stopped and put some place where they won’t hurt anyone. But it is not going to be easy!

[Montmorency]

The state can do whatever surveillance stuff they want, as long as they get the rent-seeking monkey(s) off their back.

[rvg]

Oh yes, by all means! But remember the kid in Texas. It was an obvious joke but they locked him up and through away the key.

That's because it was just him. Add a million more and the system becomes useless.

[Strike For The South]

5 years ago the same people bemoaning the government now were actively cheering it on and throwing out the traitor line at any opportunity. I feel less than nothing for you people.

This is what the nation state does, in fact if the United States wasn't doing this I would think the bureaucrats are getting lazy. The correct way to change this is to organize, and elect representatives whom will change the law and afford the same protections to phone and e-traffic that the post gets (which was a big battle in its day) This is nothing new, correspondence has always been a privacy vs security battle.

The real "Orwellian" thing here is this melodrama on the internet. People confirm their biases, bitch, throw around words like stasi and bemoan the state of things to make themselves feel important. You know what's important? Voting, excersising your rights as a citizen.

I'm just waiting for some obese, mouth breathing, tea party ass to pump a postal worker full of lead because he's a government employee. There is nothing worse in this life than people with short memories.

[Noncommunist]

That's because it was just him. Add a million more and the system becomes useless.

But for that to work, everyone would need to be confident that everyone else is doing it. Otherwise, many would be less willing to stick their neck out for fear that others wouldn't and only the brave idiots get in trouble. Not quite prisoners dilemma but stag hunt where free riding doesn't really offer much of an advantage but confidence is still needed for everyone to get on board.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stag_hunt