NSA Harvests Facebook, Google, Apple User Data, Secret Files Claim

[Gilhelmi]

"No, you are just a paranoid loon. There is NOOOooooOOO way that is happening."

So world, Just like too remind you. I might be paranoid, but I am not wrong. I told y'all so

 

[Syzygy23]

Why should any of use care? Are you really THAT embarrassed about your choice of porn? I don't ever plan on conspiring to commit acts of terrorism and violence, if you guys feel the same way then then nobody has anything to worry about.

 

[Sarge034]

Countermeasures are so much easier if you know how the other party is infiltrating.

Yes, but when you have literally no other way to communicate other than face to face because all com traffic is being recorded and monitored... You really can't counter that kind of grand scale operation.

And I'm pretty sure the leaders of countries that are not USA give a damn whether or not CIA is legally allowed to spy on their own people.

I'm sure they do, but at that same token you would be a fool to assume other intelligence agencies, even ESPECIALLY our friends, aren't doing the same thing (cough MI6 cough). Don't mean it's right, but it DOES happen. A lot.

Not true. CIA is only chartered to operate on foreign soil. NSA, the intelligence branch of the DoD, dwarfs the CIA in size and scope and suffers no such restrictions. They routinely operate within US boundaries and spy on US citizens. While this is clearly illegal according to the Constitution (the military is specifically forbidden from engaging in domestic law enforcement activities) this has been the case since the end of WWII and the onset of the cold war.

I know. I was being obtuse to the other poster because (s)he had said, "...US intelligence agencies..." instead of specifying the NSA. I was having some fun at their expense. But I totally agree, the NSA is a very VERY grey area of the law. They are kindda a part of the DHS, and then again kindda not. The reason they get leeway is because they are in charge of protecting ALL Federal computer networks from cyber-terrorism. Foreign and domestic. This puts them in the realm of the DHS, FBI, and local criminal investigation organizations, while again also kindda not because they are also placed squarely in the realm of the CIA.

Congress has been wiping it's ass with the Constitution for a long time, and "We The People" have been letting them do it because, apparently, freedom is only worth dying for if it's someone else putting his ass on the line.

Mea... I chalk it up to ignorance plane and simple. Too many people just simply don't give a damn. Easiest example is during the voting season. I've had this conversation way more than I want to admit. "I'm voting for X because they are an X." "Ok, so what do they stand for?" "Does it matter? They are an X."

As for your response to Syzygy23... Safety and freedom are on a slider scale and everyone finds a balance they are willing to live with in a different place. Just sayin...

 

[Vegosiux]

Yes, but when you have literally no other way to communicate other than face to face because all com traffic is being recorded and monitored... You really can't counter that kind of grand scale operation.

I'm sure they do, but at that same token you would be a fool to assume other intelligence agencies, even ESPECIALLY our friends, aren't doing the same thing (cough MI6 cough). Don't mean it's right, but it DOES happen. A lot.

Of course it does happen, one'd be fooling themselves to think otherwise. But the point of such operations are that they're covert, so there's plausible deniability. Which goes out the window the moment you admit to specifics.

It's like, if you kind of sort of suspected that someone's likely sneaking into your garage at night and rummaging through your stuff to see what you're keeping in there, all you can do is be cross about it. But if you know who it is, how and when they're doing it, you have the information to employ legal means against them to make them cease and desist.

 

[Orlake]

Still enjoying that freedom you've been fighting (*cough* invading) so hard for, America?

 

[Flames66]

Anonymous, I have a job for you. Destroy this system or make it otherwise inoperable. It is time Governments learned that privacy is a basic human right and they must respect it.

 

[Sarge034]

The National Security Agency is a branch of the Department of Defense. They are not connected to or answerable to the Department of Homeland Security either organizationally or financially. There's really nothing gray about it. The NSA is a military agency engaging in domestic law enforcement activities. This is a flagrant violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1807 which allows exceptions only for the national guard and coast guard.

Do some more research please.

Spoiler: Wall of text

In 2004, NSA Central Security Service and the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agreed to expand NSA Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education Program.[22]

As part of the National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 (NSPD 54), signed on January 8, 2008 by President Bush, the NSA became the lead agency to monitor and protect all of the federal government's computer networks from cyber-terrorism.[1] In 2010, Robert Gates called for DHS to have a "cell" that would be able to apply the full surveillance powers of NSA for domestic cyber security.[23]

NSA's mission, as set forth in Executive Order 12333, is to collect information that constitutes "foreign intelligence or counterintelligence" while not "acquiring information concerning the domestic activities of United States persons". NSA has declared that it relies on the FBI to collect information on foreign intelligence activities within the borders of the USA, while confining its own activities within the USA to the embassies and missions of foreign nations.

Of course it does happen, one'd be fooling themselves to think otherwise. But the point of such operations are that they're covert, so there's plausible deniability. Which goes out the window the moment you admit to specifics.

It's like, if you kind of sort of suspected that someone's likely sneaking into your garage at night and rummaging through your stuff to see what you're keeping in there, all you can do is be cross about it. But if you know who it is, how and when they're doing it, you have the information to employ legal means against them to make them cease and desist.

And coming full circle that is why I believe this information to be, at the very least, misinterpreted. If I had to guess I would say this is the code name for the program they have to streamline the process of requesting/subpoenaing information from telecom companies.

 

[J Tyran]

I'm sure they do, but at that same token you would be a fool to assume other intelligence agencies, even ESPECIALLY our friends, aren't doing the same thing (cough MI6 cough). Don't mean it's right, but it DOES happen. A lot.

British GCHQ is tied into this mess, the British government has similar restrictions about spying on its own citizens that the US have. That legislation says nothing at all about foreign agencies or governments, Government Communications Headquarters has been getting this data regarding its own citizens off the Americans and completely bypassing the law. There is a political inquiry scheduled over it.

I would speculate that this has been working both ways with both (at least, more might be involved) have been busy spying on each others citizens and swapping the data and bypassing regulation in both countries, thats only speculation though only the GCHQ using the US data has been confirmed so far.

 

[Strazdas]

FIrst of, its The Guardian. And while its heaps above Daily Mail and other scum, it is still a tabloid. So its source reliability is very questionable.

That being said, it is entirely possible they are datamining and the service owners may nto even know about it. they have resources for it, and they seem to be hell-bent on knowing everything everyone does.

Let them. i dont share any valuable info online that they could use, and outside of that i pity the man who will overlook it.

 

[Sarge034]

snip

Interesting. I hadn't heard about that... For fear of low content, is the inquiry simply a probe to determine if there was any wrongdoing or is it more blame based?

 

[Carrots_macduff]

whatever you do dont get a kinect!

 

[The White Hunter]

to ensure that only non-US persons outside the US are targeted

I still find it utterly hilarious that there's actually people that upon reading this go "Oh, well that's okay then". And to make it even better those people are living in a country that likes to pride itself on it's sense of freedom and democracy.

Ah well, just Americans being American. Nothing all too new there.

And China watching what US citizens is bad. Double standards.

I personally find it pretty despicable, we have our own draconian and invasive security agencies to spy on us.

 

[Trueflame]

It's complete and utter bullshit, and it doesn't surprise me in the slightest. That's probably the saddest part. I can only hope that now that this story has broken out, Obama, the administration, the NSA, and Congress will be asked some very hard questions. Ideally that would end with a repeal of the Patriot Act... But I won't hold my breath on that. Maybe they'll manage to curtail it at least a little though.

 

[Killclaw Kilrathi]

It lists images and videos as things they collect. Can you imagine just how huge their storage is going to have to be? And if this stuff needs to be readily accessible at any time, that just makes it worse. I can imagine huge skyscraper-spanning server farms full of every kind of weird porn on the internet.

 

[The White Hunter]

Oh know, the government knows that I like to search for the fonts that are in games!
Seriously I gave up the idea that any people had actual privacy at all after the Patriot Act was signed way long ago. In this day and age privacy is something that is said to be there, but doesn't actually exist as long as the internet and social media are out there.
Still, just put this on the list of things I don't like about my government, which the NSA probably knows about. XD
Plus corporations have been doing this for ages as well so everything in our lives is always being monitored.
[HEADING=1]Constant Vigilance!
0,..,0[/HEADING]

What we need is some kind of pirate king to rise up and stick it to the world government US.

 

[Killclaw Kilrathi]

Hey, here's an idea. What if there was a class action suit against the government that resulted in citizens being granted the constitutional right to access all data the government has collected on them? Unlimited free cloud storage!

 

[J Tyran]

snip

Interesting. I hadn't heard about that... For fear of low content, is the inquiry simply a probe to determine if there was any wrongdoing or is it more blame based?

At the moment it seems more aimed at "get in here and tell us what you have been up to", it seems business as usual in the way the government doesn't really know or care how spies get their info as long as it doesn't cause a fuss. The only other official statement from GCHQ was "We have complied with the law". There are a few articles on British news about it but as ever with these things they do not say much. In the last 12 hours as the story is spreading the British foreign minister has publicly stated the claims are "nonsense", unusual for a foreign secretary to deal with a domestic matter and the government obviously took it seriously enough to yoik the spies into to explain themselves.