Prism

[coroneshotel2]

it is so wrong what do you think ie the data mining that the NSA does

[Reverend Jim]

See Silent Circle shuts down encrypted email service over fears of NSA spying and Expectation of Privacy in the "Turing Era

[jwenting]

One of the founding fathers said: he who gives the government a bit of his liberty to get a bit of security will end up having neither.

Which is exactly what has happened. You let it happen, you asked for it, now you have to live with it. Do not expect the government to ever let go of the power you handed them on a golden platter, in fact expect them to do whatever they can to increase the power they have over you to the point where you have no say in your own life whatsoever.
That's the nature of government, ANY government.

[Reverend Jim]

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke

Qui Tacit Consentire - Latin proverb meaning "Silence Implies Consent"

You should have seen this coming years ago. George Bush (younger) declared the existence of "free speech zones". That should have been a major red flag.

[BigPaw]

Isn't having a secret-squirrel operation boasting to be inaccessible to Governmental Security in the height of terrorism alerts asking for trouble?

The groups that choose these secret-squirrel arrangements are going about it in completely the wrong way. Wouldn't it be better to be 'lost in the crowd' rather than the building with the sign, "Hide-out for people with really, really huge, possibly dodgy, secrets"?

Why is this Silent Circle being trusted by these people? Maybe the Government won't want to close it because they've already infiltrated it? Maybe it wasn't as secure as they were selling it to be. After all, at the end of the day, it's only software. Hey, maybe this Silent Circle group has already sold them out and is walking away with their own story.

Why not distrust everything, everywhere?

[Reverend Jim]

Let's see. Microsoft says "your data is secure with us" and Silent Circle says "we can't keep government snoops out of your data" and subsequently shuts down that service. Whom do you think I am more likely to believe?

Trust has to be earned.

[ZZucker]

The Washington Post reports that the NSA has done many thousands of illegal snooping without the approval of the rubberstamp courts. Is the system out of control?

By the time people are scared to say anything against their rulers, it's too late!

[BigPaw]

Let's see. Microsoft says "your data is secure with us" and Silent Circle says "we can't keep government snoops out of your data" and subsequently shuts down that service. Whom do you think I am more likely to believe?

Trust has to be earned.

Yes, this is true, but in harmony with what ZZucker says, and in harmony with the reason Silent Circle shut down, and referring back to my post, there is no value in hiding in places that have the label "Secret Hide-out" plastered all over it.

These people, in their nievity, are putting too much trust in technologies that in reality are no more secure than a paper bag.

[Reverend Jim]

there is no value in hiding in places that have the label "Secret Hide-out" plastered all over it.

You might make the same argument about putting your money in the bank. A famous (at least in Canada) thief was once asked "why do you rob banks". He replied "because that's where the money is".

The Washington Post reports that the NSA has done many thousands of illegal snooping

Thousands of times each year since 2008. According to Edward Snowdon, 2,776 incidents in the most recent year. And most of the analysis work is contracted out to private companies. According to the latest figures, 70% of the intelligence budget goes to private contractors.

[Stuugie]

70% of the intelligence budget goes to private contractors.

And what happens to it all from there?

[Reverend Jim]

Some of it goes into analysis (and by that I mean giving the government the results it wants) and the rest goes into profits. The government invades Iraq and Haliburton cleans up building infrastructure and other companies do the same providing security and making munitions. The government creates a massive security infrastructure and contracts 70% of it out. The government throws millions of people into privately run jails and the profits go to the rich. The government starves public schools and the charter schools pick up the slack (more profits for the rich). These days it seems like government is little more than a mechanism to take your money and give it to the Romneys and the Koch's of the country.

[jwenting]

that number is a fluke, a fake.

Yes, the government spends a lot of money. But a lot of that goes to buying things like computers, cars, paying construction companies to build new data centers for the NSA, paying Lockheed Martin and Boeing for new drones to spy on people, etc. etc.