News Stories

[0utf0xZer0]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

What the fucking fuck? Is this real?

Two major newspapers claim the existence of a massive NSA surveillance program, perhaps the single most intrusive surveillance program ever.

No, not the phone one in AnimeFan's article above. Worse.

Guardian


Washington Post


The big names uniformly expressed shock and denial, of sorts:


Seriously, what the fuck? Is this a hoax?

I find it more suspicious than the Verizon leak just because of the claim that the program has been operating since 2007 and this is the first time we've heard about it. Though the amount of computing power the NSA seems determined to acquire these days does raise some suspicions about how much data they actually plan to work with.

[HasuMasu]

NSA: "We finally have access to private chat logs. Now, let's see what these terrorists are planning..."

CHAT: "lol wat pronz you got?"

99% useless information...

[hawkeyesvn]

Originally Posted by Hasumi

99% useless information...

Remember the scene in Simpsons movie

NSA: bored to death

*Phone call of Homer to his wife while hiding from his neighbor*

NSA: *Excited*Hoorayyy! Guys, I got one!"

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by Irenicus

What the fucking fuck? Is this real?

I'm no terrorist, why should I care?

[Dextro]

New leak shows feds can access user accounts for Google, Facebook and more

Just one day after disclosing the existence of a secret court order between the National Security Agency (NSA) and Verizon, The Guardian and The Washington Post both published secret presentation slides revealing the existence of a previously undisclosed massive surveillance program called PRISM. The program has the capability to collect data “directly from the servers” of major American tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook and Yahoo. (Dropbox is said to be “coming soon.”)

Fun fun for for everyone!

[SaintessHeart]

I laugh at the date/year given. Seriously, what makes them think that the NSA only know about these?

I am willing to bet they started tracking since the time of MySpace.

[monir]

Originally Posted by Dextro

New leak shows feds can access user accounts for Google, Facebook and more



Fun fun for for everyone!

The irony here is 2nd Ammendment got/gets/will get much more attention than the 1st. No worries. This will be forgotten in a few days. Mind you, this isn't anything new either. As long as I can keep my guns I won't care how invasive the Feds get.

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by 0utf0xZer0

1) Would it be cynical to take bets on whether he ends up getting a longer prison sentence than the rapists?

Cynical, perhaps...but unfortunately one that is likely to be justified.

Originally Posted by GenjiChan

I'm no terrorist, why should I care?

Oh, I don't know, something about government overreach and trampling on the rights of citizens, but obviously you don't care about any of that

Originally Posted by monir

The irony here is 2nd Ammendment got/gets/will get much more attention than the 1st. No worries. This will be forgotten in a few days. Mind you, this isn't anything new either. As long as I can keep my guns I won't care how invasive the Feds get.

Really? in a massive showcase of government overreach, the conclusion you managed to draw is that gun owners are terrible?

[sa547]

Hooboy, RT's gonna have a field day with this supposed "expose".

[monsta666]

Originally Posted by kyp275

Really? in a massive showcase of government overreach, the conclusion you managed to draw is that gun owners are terrible?

He didn't say gun owners are terrible simply that people have their priorities wrong. Freedom of speech is more important than gun ownership and that is reflected in the order of amendments.

As a personal side-point firearms are pretty much pointless if the energy you face is the government or army. They will always have more guns and ammunition than you plus it would seem the US government is making it harder these days for civilians to gain ammo. If change must happen it takes organised work from the community and people standing up for one another. This is more helpful in maintain freedom than guns will ever be. If people united in big enough groups it will be very difficult for the government to issue the order to kill civilians even if they are labelled "terrorists" of the State.

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by monsta666

He didn't say gun owners are terrible simply that people have their priorities wrong. Freedom of speech is more important than gun ownership and that is reflected in the order of amendments.

I must've missed the memo noting that the importance of rights are ranked via their order in the Constitution. I mean, how could I have known? It was obvious that the right to jury trial for matters above $20 or how soldiers are housed in peace and war time is far more important than slavery, or women's right, or equal protection, or state rights etc.

As a personal side-point firearms are pretty much pointless if the energy you face is the government or army. They will always have more guns and ammunition than you

Yes, because the US military, consisting entirely of volunteers, is really just a simple monolithic entity with no thought of their own

If change must happen it takes organised work from the community and people standing up for one another. This is more helpful in maintain freedom than guns will ever be.

way to oversimplify the issue, which btw doesn't belong in this thread to begin with, certainly not with the topic at hand and how it was brought up.

If people united in big enough groups it will be very difficult for the government to issue the order to kill civilians even if they are labelled "terrorists" of the State.

There is this one place called "Syria", I suggest you google it and think about what you just wrote again.

[monsta666]

Originally Posted by kyp275

I must've missed the memo noting that the importance of rights are ranked via their order in the Constitution. I mean, how could I have known? It was obvious that the right to jury trial for matters above $20 or how soldiers are housed in peace and war time is far more important than slavery, or women's right, or equal protection, or state rights etc.

Not saying what he said was necessarily right but that is how I interpreted what he said. It was not an attack at gun owners as initially suggested by you.

Originally Posted by kyp275

Yes, because the US military, consisting entirely of volunteers, is really just a simple monolithic entity with no thought of their own

There is this one place called "Syria", I suggest you google it and think about what you just wrote again.

Feel free to open a new thread. You don't need the entire military to go against you to be outnumbered and out gunned. There will always be some soldiers that will follow insane orders. This is especially true if those troops are threatened to follow commands by threats to their family members.

The same sort of thing happened in Syria and Libya. Troops there fired at civilians and while some deserted the army not everyone did. It is only after a time that slowly but surely there will be generals who will pull out and join the rebels that the tide would turn but then when that occurs you get the beginnings of a civil war. Granted this scenario is not inevitable as the whole army can rebel against the government from the get-go as happened in Egypt but again in that case guns were unnecessary because there was no armed conflict. People simply protested in big enough numbers for the government to step down.

Beating armies, and governments is not really done through owning guns. It takes people joining up and getting together. An even better way of fighting the government however is not to take up arms and build a community that is self-sufficient as possible and is not dependent on the government to provide services. If you can get to the position were you are so self-sufficient that you can refuse your money AND labour then the government and corporations will be hit hard where it really matters. This was the tactic of Gandhi against the British using civil disobedience to gain independence.

[GDB]

I believe monir's point was just proven. More energy has been expended talking about guns than privacy since the PRISM story was linked here.

That said, I'm appauled, but it's not like there's anything we can do about it. The government will do what it wants, and destroying the privacy of citizens is clearly something both sides agree on. Thus, your only options are to vote for the guy who is currently spying on you, or the guy who will start spying on you once the first guy is gone. And that isn't about D or R, but just incumbent vs newcomer.

[ganbaru]

Iran not U.N. nuclear watchdog's only headache, report shows
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...9560OS20130607

For 71 of 159 member states, the IAEA "was not able to get timely responses to agency requests for, or clarification of, safeguards relevant information," it said, without naming them.

[kuroishinigami]

Originally Posted by kyp275

Oh, I don't know, something about government overreach and trampling on the rights of citizens, but obviously you don't care about any of that

Meh, the government in my country has been trampling the rights of citizens since I was born. It's time to welcome America to the same misery as us

[flying ^]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

The NSA Is Collecting Phone Records of Millions of Americans:

"We're being watched. Or listened to. Or recorded. Probably all three. The National
Security Agency is collecting the phone records of millions of US citizens on Verizon
right now. It's ongoing. It's daily. It's happening right now. How is that possible? A
top secret court order forced Verizon to give up the call data.

The Guardian, which got a hold of the court order made by the secret Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, reports that the government basically has "unlimited
authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19."
The order was granted on April 25th, so data has been collected since then."

See:

http://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-is-collec...amer-511565570

That revelation makes for a good meme generator (see verizon commercials)


But as for PRISM? I'm no longer shocked.
I was "shocked" once with this revelation years ago and will not be shocked again (on this issue).
Just think of PRISM as the "software" or the final piece of the that's needed to justify and power up that huge "Facility" slated to open in Bluffdale, Utah this fall (and word is that that "Facility" can store data equivalent to 312 billion iPhones!)

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by kuroishinigami

Meh, the government in my country has been trampling the rights of citizens since I was born. It's time to welcome America to the same misery as us

Well us too I guess.

Yahoo! breaks its silence on MDA licensing scheme

SINGAPORE: Yahoo! has broken its silence on the new licensing rules for online news sites in Singapore, which kicked in on June 1.

The response came in a posting on its webpage by Alan Soon, Yahoo!'s country manager for Singapore and managing editor for Southeast Asia.

Yahoo! noted that prior to the new licensing framework it was already bound to comply with the Media Development Authority's Internet Code of Practice.

Mr Soon said this key guideline complements Yahoo!'s own internal editorial policies around what is suitable for its readers, and that further regulation is redundant.

Yahoo! noted that the new framework has caused confusion and unsettled both users as well as the media industry.

However, Yahoo! also said the new licensing rules will help pave the way for full accreditation and access for its reporters.

It believed this will help strengthen its editorial reporting.

Yahoo! said as a network, it serves one million unique users in Singapore each day.

Unlike reporters from mainstream media, Yahoo! reporters are not accredited with the Ministry of Communications and Information, and are not given access to government media conferences.

Under the new rules announced on May 28 and which came into effect on June 1, local news sites with a significant reach will require individual licensing.

10 news sites were placed on this list, including Yahoo! Singapore.

These new sites need to put up a performance bond of S$50,000, and will need to comply with any take-down notice from authorities within 24 hours.

Sometimes I wonder if the government understood the internet better, or the internet understood them better. They seem to get butthurt easily at the degratory comments at them that they forgot to realise :



Grow thicker skin. Seriously.

[Mr. DJ]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

The NSA Is Collecting Phone Records of Millions of Americans:

"We're being watched. Or listened to. Or recorded. Probably all three. The National
Security Agency is collecting the phone records of millions of US citizens on Verizon
right now. It's ongoing. It's daily. It's happening right now. How is that possible? A
top secret court order forced Verizon to give up the call data.

The Guardian, which got a hold of the court order made by the secret Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, reports that the government basically has "unlimited
authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19."
The order was granted on April 25th, so data has been collected since then."

See:

http://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-is-collec...amer-511565570

To make it even more fun, the government's been doing this since Bell.

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by monsta666

Feel free to open a new thread.

There's a reason why the existing thread is locked away.

Beating armies, and governments is not really done through owning guns. It takes people joining up and getting together...This was the tactic of Gandhi against the British using civil disobedience to gain independence.

It's not the only way, but it's certainly one of the many ways. The Syrian rebels aren't gathering together and singing kumbaya at the government forces. And what would Ghandi have done if the Brits took the modern day Syria route and started wholesale slaughter?

And really, the whole gun issue has far more to do than some theoretical rebellion scenario, so stop trying to frame it as such.


On the whole PRISM thing, they went way overboard in the name of security. I mean, really, what kind of precedent does this set? I'm all the more exasperated by what I see and hear from the every day folks, many of whom seems all too happy to fall along the "if you have nothing to hide, then you've got nothing to be afraid of, therefore everything is ok!" line.

[AnimeFan188]

Paper: UK government getting US spy agency's data:

"The U.K. has been secretly gathering communications data from American
Internet giants with the help of fellow spooks at the U.S. National Security
Agency, the Guardian newspaper reported Friday, a demonstration of the
international scope of America's top-secret espionage program.

The Guardian said it had seen documents showing how the British signals
intelligence agency GCHQ has had access to America's "PRISM" electronic
eavesdropping system since at least June 2010, adding that the data had
generated nearly 200 intelligence reports over the past year."

See:

http://news.yahoo.com/paper-uk-gover...142348677.html


I guess the NSA believes in "sharing the wealth".