NSA found to be collecting details on all phone calls in the United States

[turionx2]

It's a matter of privacy for the innocents. Do we really want the authorities to have unlimited access to our personal lives: what we had for lunch, who we fancy, what we are doing at the weekend, that embarrassing mistake we made recently, what we are planning to buy for our nephew for Christmas.

 

Push for the sale of telephones that encrypt phone calls instead of wasting time with the law. Rebelling against the government never works.

 

These details may seem trivial, and in a sense they are, but they are still private and - it seems to me - if we cannot live day-to-day safe in the knowledge that the capability for such mass surveillance is not likely to be exercised inappropriately, then that substantially impacts upon quality of life. If there is not one bit of your life that you can call your own, then what is the point in living?

 

These are all external factors that have nothing to do with truely living.

 

Humans don't know what "living" means. Just admit that we are dragging our feet along life and we eventually start stomping our feet on the ground like spoiled brats when something doesn't go our way.

Nitpicking: the NSA has also intentionally weakened encryption software, so this is not always a good option.

 

More broadly: Privacy is not about having anything to hide. To quote myself:

 

Privacy's point is not to hide things. It's a protection against government power.

 

Giving the government the power to read your email, tap your phone, and record your porn usage isn't bad simply because it's embarrassing. After all, the data will likely only be seen by a computer. But it gives the government enormous power to make decisions about you -- decisions about whether you may take a commercial airline flight, get a security clearance, or even get a job -- without your knowledge or consent, and without you knowing how they make the decisions. If they reach the wrong conclusion or take data out of context, there is no recourse.

 

Pervasive surveillance also means that the little crimes we commit every day -- pirating a movie, forgetting to report something on our taxes, smoking marijuana (and posting about it on reddit) -- are revealed to the government. They won't bother prosecuting most of them, but they can always choose to prosecute, and if a government official decides to abuse their powers they have a ready-made list of trumped-up reasons to arrest or harass you.

 

In short, a lack of privacy gives the government the power to be even less transparent in its decision-making, and gives it yet more power over its citizens. It's not a question of discovering your fetishes or being embarrassed, and we shouldn't act as though only those with something to hide have reason to fear the government.

 

Read this: https://chronicle.com/article/Why-Privacy-Matters-Even-if/127461/

 

Sounds like a fake crises to distract us from bigger problems.

 

Imagine there was no wire tapping of any information. Would anyone live life? Actually live it?

 

Bold part: Any smart person would use truecrypt.

Edited November 11, 2013 by turionx2

[DevilSolution]

 

What does killing have to do with spying on worthless phone calls?

 

You should ask yourself what the jews did that made nazi germany hate their guts before writing another presumption.

 

The nazi's lost the war. So who won?

 

[snip] the NSA, i run linux, i dont analyse my kernel updates but i have access to the source, regardless of obscurity. [snip] third parties too, i just hit update. Its a simple question of trust, do you have something to hide??

 

The NSA will target people of interest, scientist have the most to fear in this respect, with intellect comes responsibility, you can abuse this if you so wish and if you do i personally hope someone is there to intervene.

Big deal. If any of you had anything to hide, then you would be smart enough to store the valuable information on an encrypted key.

 

Thats naive, who built the encryption? how far behind THEM are WE??

 

P.S some revolutions do not boil down to meaningless vandalism, someone, somewhere is struggling. Their voice deserves to be heard. The government has ALOT more than me to hide.

 

The real question is, who gave you the tools to rebel? what are those tools? and why and when should they be used??!!??

Edited November 11, 2013 by DevilSolution

[hypervalent_iodine]

!

Moderator Note

DevilSolution,

 

This is a family friendly site. Please keep the profanities to a minimum.

 

And could people stop trying to Godwin this thread?

[Moontanman]

 

The nazi's lost the war. So who won?

 

[snip] the NSA, i run linux, i dont analyse my kernel updates but i have access to the source, regardless of obscurity. [snip] third parties too, i just hit update. Its a simple question of trust, do you have something to hide??

 

The NSA will target people of interest, scientist have the most to fear in this respect, with intellect comes responsibility, you can abuse this if you so wish and if you do, i personally hope someone is there to intervene.

 

Thats naive, who built the encryption? how far behind THEM are WE??

 

P.S some revolutions do not boil down to meaningless vandalism, someone, somewhere is struggling. There voice deserves to be heard. The government has ALOT more than me to hide.

 

The real question is, who gave you the tools to rebel? what are those tools? and why and when should they be used??!!??

 

 

yeah well some us aren't super hackers, I only survive because i'm not interesting enough for anyone to bother with...

[DevilSolution]

 

 

yeah well some us aren't super hackers, I only survive because i'm not interesting enough for anyone to bother with...

 

Exactly, the wise use disguise. But im open and dont hide. I'm a drop in ocean and i certainly dont observe it, let the moon make the waves.