NSA Broke Privacy Rules "Thousands" Of Times

[exfileme]

And that was just in the 12 months between April 2011 and March 2012.

NSA Broke Privacy Rules "Thousands" Of Times : Read more

 

[MajinCry]

People in the east start revolutions to dethrone corrupt dictators. What do we in the west do?

"This iPhone 3000 is awesome!"

 

[jldevoy]

To rise up against an abusive government is terrorism, unless it happens outside the USA...in which case it's a fight for freedom and democracy.

 

[VegasGuy55]

Hmm, learn something new every day. I wasn't aware the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution had any "rules" covering the conduct of federal agencies. I though it was just one of several (possibly 10) amendments that enumerated the rights of citizens. I would have guessed the "rules" would be found in US Code or perhaps some kind of agency guideline. Oh well, probably not a big deal. A misrepresentation of something so fundamental certainly wouldn't have any affect on our understanding of the problem and any efforts to correct it. Yawn...Saturday.

 

[eodeo]

"At the end of the day it’s all about trust."

I dont trust you to spy "correctly". Here's a revolutionary idea- DONT SPY on us- dumbass

 

[flamethrower205]

Meh, human error will always happen and is it that surprising/bad? No one likes to feel like their private communications/ info is being tapped to, but we protect that information for particular purposes. For instance, business transactions/ info may be kept secret to prevent competition from getting it while personal letters to loved ones are kept secret because most are uncomfortable disclosing very personal information to the general public. That said, the government doesn't give a sh!t about this information (unless it somehow links you to a crime) and has no interest in publicizing it. Calling it a dictatorship or abusive is ridiculous - Obama doesn't come knocking on your door with armed forces because of a dirty email you sent to your wife. If anything these posts calling the US a dictatorship or such show a complete lack of understanding of how BAD some governments actually can be.

 

[Parsian]

“Civil disobedience, as I put it to the audience, was not the problem, despite the warnings of some that it threatened social stability, that it led to anarchy. The greatest danger, I argued, was civil obedience, the submission of individual conscience to governmental authority. Such obedience led to the horrors we saw in totalitarian states, and in liberal states it led to the public's acceptance of war whenever the so-called democratic government decided on it...

In such a world, the rule of law maintains things as they are. Therefore, to begin the process of change, to stop a war, to establish justice, it may be necessary to break the law, to commit acts of civil disobedience, as Southern black did, as antiwar protesters did.”
― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

 

[flamethrower205]

Meh, human error will always happen and is it that surprising/bad? No one likes to feel like their private communications/ info is being tapped to, but we protect that information for particular purposes. For instance, business transactions/ info may be kept secret to prevent competition from getting it while personal letters to loved ones are kept secret because most are uncomfortable disclosing very personal information to the general public. That said, the government doesn't give a sh!t about this information (unless it somehow links you to a crime) and has no interest in publicizing it. Calling it a dictatorship or abusive is ridiculous - Obama doesn't come knocking on your door with armed forces because of a dirty email you sent to your wife. If anything these posts calling the US a dictatorship or such show a complete lack of understanding of how BAD some governments actually can be.

 

[Gulli]

@flamethrower205

"That said, the government doesn't give a sh!t about this information (unless it somehow links you to a crime) and has no interest in publicizing it."

Until one day the US government decides to "help" their American corporate donors by engaging in industrial espionage against foreign corporations (ah, who are we kidding, they're already doing that), or they need something from you and will use your phone, e-mail and browser records as leverage, or they want to influence the outcome of an election somewhere around the globe (which they've done lots of times in the past).

And in all those years the credible terror plots that were actually thwarted (so not counting mere communication with other terrorists or plots that failed for technical reasons) can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Oh, and it's not like the NSA operates for free...

 

[Zaxx420]

The NSA will just continue breaking rules and laws at their convenience because they don't have to answer to anyone except themselves...it's that simple.

 

[randomizer]

I don't think violated court orders look any different either in absolute or relative terms.

 

[Gulli]

To add to what I wrote earlier: it really doesn't even matter what justifications are made up for or by the NSA when society has decided it is willing to take some security risks to protect privacy (that's the law), and the fact that there are different rules for spying on foreigners shows a significant NIMBY attitude: people don't want to be spied on and no amount of BS rationalizing by unaccountable forces should override that.

 

[flamethrower205]

@Gulli
Lol mate, all of those points sound rather paranoid. Has Uncle Sam personally twisted your arm in that manner, or is this hearsay?
(I suppose this invites some made up horror story, so I'm leaving it up to you to keep things truthful)

 

[ipwn3r456]

Did the NSA learned from Kim Jung that we need strict monitoring of their citizens? Sounds like it.

 

[maxiim]

To mend this situation with the sheep that is the United States population they are proposing setting up an overview committee for the NSA, only thing is EVERYTHING that committee does will go through the head of the NSA, so at the end of the day they are doing nothing, just wasting tax dollars on bullshit to fuck you in the ass even more.

 

[ipwn3r456]

Did the NSA learned from Kim Jung that we need strict monitoring of their citizens? Sounds like it.

 

[spectrewind]

Before posting on this and engaging in anything that could be considered seditious to the U.S. government, be sure you are using an off-sure VPN account and then connecting via TOR. For starters...

 

[spectrewind]

"using an off-sure"

**Off-shore

 

[Algernon Ex]

"You can look at it as a percentage of our total activity that occurs each day," said an unnamed NSA official. "You look at a number in absolute terms that looks big, and when you look at it in relative terms, it looks a little different."

I think I am going to rob a bank this week and possibly slaughter a few individuals in the process (collateral damage). If you look at this in absolute terms, it may look like one big illegal act. But if you look at it as a percentage of the total of legal activities I perform each day (e.g., brushing my teeth), then it looks a little different. It really is all relative.

 

[Algernon Ex]

By the way, due to the sarcastic comment I just made, I am most likely already on the US most wanted watchlist and I should expect a SWAT team to visit me in the middle of the night, any time soon.