NSA whistle-blower

[Arthur Dent]

Despite all of the hype around this topic, I just don't think most Americans care about it that much. It's really sensational to say "The government is spying on your email and Facebook!" but it just seems like most people don't care. I don't know if its because people just trust that the government is using it to only go after terrorists, or if they like the internet so much they just accept the risk, or if it is simply apathy in general.

If only all of that shady stuff had been done by Democrats instead of Republicans, then we would care. Right now we have to focus on more important things, like BNEGHAZI and finding all those secret emails Obama was sending to low grade IRS employees.

But it is being done by Democrats. Despite promises, the new administration didn't cancel or scale back the program. Now that there is bipartisan precedent, the thing is well entrenched.

[cardsfansince82]

I meant started, but yeah it has definitely been continued by the left. I think the public has been beaten into grudgingly accepting just about anything under the guise of national security.

[Mary1966]

I go to a grocery store where my purchases are recorded and they send me coupons for things that I have bought in the past. Does this unnerve me? Not really. I think people have been gradually made accustomed to information gathering so some of this stuff no longer surprises us. Do I think that everyone should have the last four digits of my Social Security number? That and other information can add up to identity theft. I've never had my identity stolen, but I've had my email hacked. I just got a new debit card from my bank, and I feel very comfortable with buying things online. I hardly use cash anymore. We live in 2014, whether or not it is also 1984 is debatable. But in 2014 we do have to live with some information gathering.

[ghostrunner]

who the hell is Daniel Ellsberg.

I laughed.

[pioneer98]

I meant started, but yeah it has definitely been continued by the left. I think the public has been beaten into grudgingly accepting just about anything under the guise of national security.

IMO Obama has taken at least as hard a line, if not a harder line, on national security than Bush. He knew that he was going to get beaten over the head for being "soft" because Republicans have done that to every Democrat in office for the last, what, 75 years? The use of drones, going after Bin Laden, the spying...the reason they won't give up on Benghazi is because that's about the only security issue they can attack him on, and even that's a reach.

[Felix The Cat]

I go to a grocery store where my purchases are recorded and they send me coupons for things that I have bought in the past. Does this unnerve me? Not really. I think people have been gradually made accustomed to information gathering so some of this stuff no longer surprises us. Do I think that everyone should have the last four digits of my Social Security number? That and other information can add up to identity theft. I've never had my identity stolen, but I've had my email hacked. I just got a new debit card from my bank, and I feel very comfortable with buying things online. I hardly use cash anymore. We live in 2014, whether or not it is also 1984 is debatable. But in 2014 we do have to live with some information gathering.

It's reasonable to question whether or not privacy is a facade in the digital age. But the government is a lot scarier entity than corporations (well, except for the cases where they are on the same side for the interests of $$$$$). For the most part, if you can choose whether or not to do business with a corporation and you can hopefully avoid any privacy related issues that way. You can't really run away from the government unless you decide to move out of the country. And even then, the NSA/CIA probably have their fingers in every developed country anyway - not to mention every capable government is almost certainly trying to do what the NSA is doing right now.

[Arthur Dent]

For the most part, if you can choose whether or not to do business with a corporation and you can hopefully avoid any privacy related issues that way.

This is far from the case. In fact, it's almost impossible to participate in modern society without dragnet collection of personal information. Here, for example, is an interview with an author who wrote about a book about what it takes to avoid this sort of collection. Short version: it's extremely difficult and not at all feasible for any ordinary person.

n 2014 we do have to live with some information gathering.

And we had to accept that in 1970, or whatever, too. A primary difference now is that the cost of collecting this sort of information has dropped to almost $0, so a lot more of it is happening. Information gathering isn't inherently wrong, but there ought to be legal standards. The free for all now where the government reads all our e-mail and fly by night data brokers create dubiously accurate reports on us that we don't even necessarily have the right to review is crazy invasive.

[pioneer98]

This was a fascinating read. It's the behind-the-scenes stuff about how the leak happened. Snowden sent the info physically in a box to 3 separate people, none of whom knew each other, so if one was caught, they couldn't rat out the others. It's crazy to think that this crazy amount of highly sensitive data was sitting in a box in a hallway in front of a guy's apartment for a few days.

Another wild detail: The USPS has a massive database of all mail sent by to and from address (160 billion plus per year). So it's not as secure as it used to be. Also, they log all the IP addresses of people who track packages on their website. The USPS caught a drug dealer via his IP address because he tracked a package once.

Snowden's Box