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Wasn't the point I was making. It's the notion that this program is somehow Obama's idea, and that the program is some reason to call Obama a bad president.

He is a bad President.... he's continued and expanded the whole operation. We currently have a monster NSA data center being built at the south end of the valley where I live. It's going to consume an equivalent of 45% of the entire state's electricity. It is a data-mining, crunching, and threat assessment facility. It will record and analyze every communication inside of the USA... building threat profiles based on the content of these communications. This has happened under this President. Would you say this is merely the guy's before problem? Or would you think that somehow this President has jumped on the train as well?
 
So we should sacrifice our basic right to privacy and live in a weirdo surveillance police state just so we can..ahem, "prevent" the occasional terrorist attack? Millions more die from cancer, etc., yet Americans can't even agree on a decent healthcare system. Yet very rare terrorist attacks are enough to make us willingly hand over our privacy?

And how effective is such surveillance anyhow? It doesn't seem all that effective.

No, what I'm saying is this whole uproar in general is nothing but a big hypocrisy and fear mongering. Oh no, scary big brother is out to get us!! :eek:

It's all good when damn near every corporation collects various info, but it's taboo when government does. Yet, the media and general public are the first ones to complain about lack of intelligence.
 
Read the updated article.

This is why titles should not be so absolute until the all facts are proven.

Denial ≠ factual

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No, what I'm saying is this whole uproar in general is nothing but a big hypocrisy and fear mongering. Oh no, scary big brother is out to get us!! :eek:

It's all good when damn near every corporation collects various info, but it's taboo when government does. Yet, the media and general public are the first ones to complain about lack of intelligence.

Last time I checked a corporation doesn't have a military or legal authority to hold anyone.

But I also am against corps having all of this data as well. Government having it, however, is considerably worse.
 
911 changed America and the world.

America hasn't changed. Ever heard of the McCarthy era? If the Internet had existed then, every single person in the US would've been monitored for Communist ties. The US has always been aggressively paranoid.
 
Why is this surprising to anyone? I assumed we were all aware this was happening...Now, will we do anything about it? And if so what? These are the questions to ask.
 
The program began under Bush. Good luck with learning how to think critically.

Funny, I don't discredit this possibility and quite likelihood.

But thanks for doing two things

1) incorporating Bush into your counterargument (and really sole source of distraction) for defending Obama

2) I am more outraged by Obama than Bush Sr, because didn't we (we being people who did, not I kind sir), the people, vote for him out of change and stuff like that BECAUSE we were tired of Bush, instead of using Bush as the pass reason for why this country is being so poorly run? Bad predecent is bad precedent, it doesn't make current policy anymore excusable. Well crap, it's definitely 'changed' since 5 years ago. It's coming up in policy intensely more often, and as I stated in my other post: too many people are passive and let Obama slide, cause he's Obama, and cause of constantly publicity, and his celebrity-ness, with his wife at the Oscars presenting best picture. And showing up on glamour magazines. IT'S ENOUGH!

FE_120430-obama425x283.jpg


who wouldn't upvote crap like this mindlessly ten million times over?

Or have an AMA with him, and the only topic of discussion being how tasty the White House beer is.... Wow, his beer glass is transparent. That's about it.
 
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Not saying he is one way or another. However, it is a scary sound bite, when you consider this is exactly what every tyrant would tell their people.

Don't be afraid to have an opinion. Everybody does!

:D It's not a sound bite, it's a portion of his speech, not chopped up or anything. There is no context that makes this feel alright.
 
So we should sacrifice our basic right to privacy and live in a weirdo surveillance police state just so we can..ahem, "prevent" the occasional terrorist attack? Millions more die from cancer, etc., yet Americans can't even agree on a decent healthcare system. Yet very rare terrorist attacks are enough to make us willingly hand over our privacy?

And how effective is such surveillance anyhow? It doesn't seem all that effective.

One could argue that it is because of such surveillance, that terrorist attacks are very rare.

Also, how do you know it is not effective? Do you know what happens if these measures are not in place (provided all else equal)?

I'm not saying I'm overjoyed that the government might have all sorts of data, but the alternative might not be any better. It can arguably be much worse.
 
Also, how do you know it is not effective? Do you know what happens if these measures are not in place (provided all else equal)?

I'm not saying I'm overjoyed that the government might have all sorts of data, but the alternative might not be any better. It can arguably be much worse.

I know because officials love to hold a big self-congratulatory press conference when they foil a terrorist plot. If this surveillance were helping them do that more often, we'd be hearing about more foiled terrorist plots.

The point is that we shouldn't surrender our rights because of a minor perceived threat. I'm too young to have been alive during the McCarthy era, but as a nation didn't we learn anything from that period about paranoia and abusing our own citizens? It's not worth it.
 
The program began under Bush. Good luck with learning how to think critically.

That doesn't explain why Obama continued the practice though. If you are going to mock someone for not being able to think critically shouldn't you be able to demonstrate you can first? All I see in your reply is a knee-jerk political response -- nothing intellectual about it.
 
America hasn't changed. Ever heard of the McCarthy era? If the Internet had existed then, every single person in the US would've been monitored for Communist ties. The US has always been aggressively paranoid.

That's very true. I just admire US's PR spin on the world stage though. It has so successfully portrayed itself as the Good in a simplistic Good vs Evil comparison. Anyway, I can understand how the present situation is a shocker to those who grew up since the 90s, in the early Internet age. The world has just come back to the old ways for the rest.

The biggest irony to me is, both the UK and the USA are so rapidly moving to a model (though more nicely dressed up) that's indifferent to how China manages its Internet asset, all in the name of national security and unity. LOL!

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One could argue that it is because of such surveillance, that terrorist attacks are very rare.

Very true. And an argument that'll invariably receive support from greater than 50% of scared population, hence legitimately "democratic".
 
America hasn't changed. Ever heard of the McCarthy era? If the Internet had existed then, every single person in the US would've been monitored for Communist ties. The US has always been aggressively paranoid.

Spot on. Paranoia and fear drive the economy. War profiteering, no bid contracts, stores selling out - any time there is a hint at something terrible possibly occurring, there is a knee jerk reaction. Y2K, people built bunkers, withdrew their accounts, rationed food. 9/11, lead us into a war with a country not involved (should have been Saudi Arabia as the high jackers were Saudi) and no bid contracts for Halliburton. The cold war, created decades of tension from countries fighting over former Nazi scientists to the 80's/90's. Families built fall-out shelters, children were taught to "duck and cover" in the event a nuclear bomb hits (as if a wooden desk will protect them). After the cold war, there had to be another enemy. Years of governments such as the UK and US manipulating the MIddle East to secure oil lead to a backlash into the 80's and today. The Iran-Contra affair, selling weapons to the very people/terrorists we fight, politicians running platforms warning of terror if they aren't elected, lobbyists lining their pockets, back room deals.

It has been and always will be about money. Period. Our government wants us to fight, we've come to use liberal and conservative as insults and the internet has not helped in bringing us closer together. Instead, forums, chat rooms, comments written to strangers insulting them for their beliefs, accusing people with no basis of being xxxx. This isn't about Republican or Democrat, they're all the same. This is about power, control, fear, capitalism. Wars create money, short term and long term. Fear makes people buy. Cut education, lower the standard of living, minimum wage, increase higher education costs, and create a world of feudalists living paycheck to paycheck, fighting each other instead working with each other. This isn't a conspiracy, this is reality, and has been for centuries.
 
Headline: Intelligence Program Gives US Government Direct Access to Customer Data on Apple Servers

-vs-

Story: The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers are reporting on a top secret intelligence program that gives the U.S. National Security Agency direct access to user data on corporate servers across a wide spectrum of Internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple.
 
Ugh, great....more control, as if there isn't enough already. This government is getting way too big. That's it!!! I'm selling everything I own and moving to an island to fish, cook, and work on a bartering / trade system.

I'll be a hell of a lot happier then 99.9% of the population.

Middle finger response.
 
Don't be evil.

That line is going to keep coming back over and over to haunt them.

d970ccb04497_story.html"]The Washington Post[/url][/i] newspapers are reporting on a top secret intelligence program that gives the U.S. National Security Agency direct access to user data on corporate servers across a wide spectrum of Internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple.

Apple reportedly joined the program in 2012, though Microsoft has been involved since 2007. It is unknown how or why Apple resisted joining the program for five years, nor why it decided to join in 2012. Twitter is noticeably absent from the list of companies, while Dropbox is said to be "coming soon".

Longtime Apple board member and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore tweeted earlier: "In digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?"

.....Theoretically, the program is used to obtain data on foreign operatives, but it is possible for the NSA to scoop up untold amounts of data related to American citizens as well.....

.....The Guardian reported earlier today[/url] that the National Security Agency is collecting call logs from Verizon Business Network Services "on an ongoing daily basis" on all calls "between the United States and abroad" or "wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls." The data includes "the numbers of both parties on a call [...], as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls".....

Article Link: Intelligence Program Gives US Government Direct Access to Customer Data on Apple Servers [Updated]

This is a touchy subject, and it's obviously Top Secret no more. First of all, I'm surprised that they can intercept phone calls surreptitiously without apparently so much as a magistrate's court order. I despise this whole intel gathering as much as the next guy, and view it as an invasion of privacy. I'm also very leery about giving the Fed virtually unlimited powers to use against it's citizens.
(Absolute power corrupts/Power corrupts, absolutely).

But I've come to grudgingly accept it as a necessary evil. Things aren't as they used to be. Terrorism is right here on our soil, right amongst us, and I sleep a little better at night, knowing that the intelligence agencies charged with our protection, have some tools to level the playing field in their fight with those, who would indiscriminately hurt, maim or kill us.

Kudos to APPLE for also, belatedly, joining this program.
 
I'm just saddened that we are loosing more and more rights, freedom's and privacy for a false sense of security. The reality is all these measures are only to give the people a "Warm and fuzzy feeling".

How many activities have been stopped by all our lost freedoms and privacy? And whats to stop a person from sitting in an area off a highway next to an airport and blow down an airplane with a rocket launcher?

I for one am disgusted at what our government has become since the patriot act was signed.
 
Can even the most (blind) and denying loyal Obama followers admit: Obama dun goofed.

Between this and Verizon, AP tapping, Benghazi coverups (don't bother overexaggerating it, it was a 9/11 off shore, even on 9/11, but anyways...) that has whistleblowers jobs threatened from coming forward, awesome sauce, NDAA to allow indefinite detention of prisoners WITHOUT due process signed on New Year's Eve when Obama promised to veto it, the politically discrimating IRS, whose head visited WH 157 times (of course Obama knew about it, you thought he learned about it when mainstream media reported it? He is president, come on, he was/is in on it), electing Rice as a national security adviser, THIS IS INSANE.

something needs to be done immediately. I don't think the American people can be afford to be passive anymore.

He is not a democrat. he is something straight out of 1984.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)

Read the first sentence.
 
I know because officials love to hold a big self-congratulatory press conference when they foil a terrorist plot. If this surveillance were helping them do that more often, we'd be hearing about more foiled terrorist plots.

The point is that we shouldn't surrender our rights because of a minor perceived threat. I'm too young to have been alive during the McCarthy era, but as a nation didn't we learn anything from that period about paranoia and abusing our own citizens? It's not worth it.

There are 2 fallacies with your statement:

1. You assumed that every threat neutralized is reported. There is no reason to believe that to be true. Especially because:

2. Every threat was started as a "minor threat". Something like 9/11 wasn't planned overnight. If we had known more about such a threat and neutralized it in its initial planning phase, the threat could have been a "minor threat". Instead, we didn't know about it until it happened.

I'm not saying the government (or anyone) should have full access of all information they desire. Of course there needs to be some balance. Without knowing exact what information they collect, there is really no way of coming to any meaningful conclusion regarding the appropriateness of data collection.
 
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