The NSA watches you poop.

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iannis

Musty Nester
31,351
17,657
Framed in the context of allowing relevant authorities greater ability to combat pertinent and identified threats, yes. Framed in the context of McCarthyism, no.

But I'm pretty sure every last one of us facepalmed when the TSA happened and we realized this wasn't even credible enough to be McCarthyism.

We trusted the government to maybe be able to do something right for once. Fuck us, right?
 

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
Obviously or it wouldn't have passed so easily
tongue.png
.

I feel like Chaos keeps trying to make this into a partisan issue. "See, those silly republicans, they supported the Patriot Act and now complain about it!". I think this is an issue that both sides should be rightly upset about. Liberals obviously because for the most part we were against it at the time. Conservatives, because even those that supported it at the time probably didn't expect the courts to essentially just rubberstamp anything that comes across their desk.
It definitely is not a partisan issue. You had people on all sides of politics who didn't bat an eye at the Patriot Act and no, I do not think it is disingenuous to point that out. When people make rash decisions out of fear and allow our government more power, this is what we get. Because nobody gave a shit at the time, now we have drama. It is kind of silly. I mean, OF COURSE the government would push its authority to the absolute limit. That is what government does. You give government an inch, it will use that ENTIRE inch, and you have to constantly bat it back from taking more. Anyone who thought "Hey we're going to give government unprecedented power, but they won't ever do anything I don't like with that" was just retarded. And probably still is.

But then there is the fact that mostly, no one seems to care now. I wonder what it would take to get a real rise out of people. Obviously more than Snowden has given up so far. I imagine any asylum he gets will be contingent on him shutting up.
 

iannis

Musty Nester
31,351
17,657
It's more like "we give our government unprecedented power with the expectation that they use that power to the aims for which it was granted." Considering that's the entire basis for functional government I don't think that is a rash position or one motivated through fear. There's plenty of cognitive dissonance to go around here.
 

Torrid

Molten Core Raider
926
611
Also recall that many of these controversial powers were SUPPOSED to be temporary, but they of course keep getting extended. Like nobody could see that coming.

I think Obama just gets away with his lies and hypocrisy because

A) People just like him as a person, they don't think Obama is sinister, and they trust him. They don't pay attention to news details and just go with some sort of binary like/dislike gut feeling on a personal level.

and B) the republican fools (redundant I know) cried wolf so many times, that people are just indifferent when real scandals happen. They think it's all just manufactured to embarrass and discredit him. (see Benghazi, IRS)
 

Agraza

Registered Hutt
6,890
521
My gmail is 99% spam, so this will probably be pretty dull for me.

Or not...looks like they filtered out all the corporate shit. All I see are people.
 

Torrid

Molten Core Raider
926
611
New article at The Guardian today detailing what 'direct access' means for one company: Microsoft.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...tion-user-data

Highlights:

? Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the agency would be unable to intercept web chats on the new Outlook.com portal;

? The agency already had pre-encryption stage access to email on Outlook.com, including Hotmail;

? The company worked with the FBI this year to allow the NSA easier access via Prism to its cloud storage service SkyDrive, which now has more than 250 million users worldwide;

? Microsoft also worked with the FBI's Data Intercept Unit to "understand" potential issues with a feature in Outlook.com that allows users to create email aliases;

? Skype, which was bought by Microsoft in October 2011, worked with intelligence agencies last year to allow Prism to collect video of conversations as well as audio;

? Material collected through Prism is routinely shared with the FBI and CIA, with one NSA document describing the program as a "team sport".
Time to switch toJitsi.
 

Gavinmad

Mr. Poopybutthole
43,950
52,725
Here's a link to the actual executive order being talked about

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-...RJrreM.twitter

and this is the section that people are saying means that they can shut down all US communication.

The Secretary of Homeland Security shall: [do a bunch of different things and then you get to e]

(e) satisfy priority communications requirements through the use of commercial, Government, and privately owned communications resources, when appropriate;
My problem is that it's so vaguely worded that it's not unreasonable for people to interpret as meaning you can effectively shut down private communication resources at will by declaring an emergency.