Say goodbye to the notion of privacy

[ArlJim78]

whether encrypted or not, the computers at the new NSA center in Utah will be able to crack and track all electronic data. this Wired (http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/ff_nsadatacenter/all/1) article is alarming.



Under construction by contractors with top-secret clearances, the blandly named Utah Data Center is being built for the National Security Agency. A project of immense secrecy, it is the final piece in a complex puzzle assembled over the past decade. Its purpose: to intercept, decipher, analyze, and store vast swaths of the world’s communications as they zap down from satellites and zip through the underground and undersea cables of international, foreign, and domestic networks. The heavily fortified $2 billion center should be up and running in September 2013. Flowing through its servers and routers and stored in near-bottomless databases will be all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Google searches, as well as all sorts of personal data trails—parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital “pocket litter.” It is, in some measure, the realization of the “total information awareness” program created during the first term of the Bush administration—an effort that was killed by Congress in 2003 after it caused an outcry over its potential for invading Americans’ privacy.

[JustRalph]

This has been discussed in tech circles for the last year or so. There is even an underground movement that was supposed to be building a secret internet......it lasted 3 months before the government infiltrated it........ You cant get around the government anymore.

This battle is over.......

[johnhannibalsmith]

...article is alarming.

We've let this happen in the name of "crime fighting" and this will of course be justified under the same pretense. I've given up many moons ago thinking there would ever be a stop to this until they knew every dollar that moved in or out, every utterance spoken or heard, and every word written or read.

If you refuse consent to be searched during a traffic stop because you've done nothing to provide any reasonable suspicion, no problem, you are merely detained until the "dog" looks at the car sideways and they have the probably cause to toss the vehicle. After all, if you've got nothing to hide, you should have just let them search so it's your fault that they've ruined your day and your car since you did something to warrant being stopped.

Too many people going six over on the road, stick a camera there. Too many people bouncing on yellow, stick a camera there. Need to keep an eye on traffic congestion, stick a camera there. Got a building, put a camera on it. Got a satellite, put a camera on it.

It's about seven-ninths amazing that anyone ever gets away with crime at all, or so you'd think.

Now, we're tethered together in a virtual universe, convinced to make every important decision, transaction, thought, word, message, even sexual escapade within the realm of this universe. It isn't your computer or phone or iWhatever. The kicker is that soon enough they won't even need the traffic stop, much less the dog, as an excuse anymore.

[GameTheory]

The NSA has been doing this for years -- I think they finally just got their own building for it. I'd read stories years ago how they had taken over broom closets and other areas in AT&Ts building and other major internet hubs and filled it with their equipment -- basically routing all internet traffic through their machines. The NSA traditionally has not shared their intel with anyone (including the CIA), although after 9/11 there was lots of criticism about that. Seems they just want to hoard data but not share it and not act on it either.

[boxcar]

The NSA has been doing this for years -- I think they finally just got their own building for it. I'd read stories years ago how they had taken over broom closets and other areas in AT&Ts building and other major internet hubs and filled it with their equipment -- basically routing all internet traffic through their machines. The NSA traditionally has not shared their intel with anyone (including the CIA), although after 9/11 there was lots of criticism about that. Seems they just want to hoard data but not share it and not act on it either.

Hoarding data for no purpose? Gotta be an agenda in there somewhere.

Boxcar

[lsbets]

Hoarding data for no purpose? Gotta be an agenda in there somewhere.

Boxcar

Its the natural powergrab of government. There doesn't have to be an agenda, beyond more, more, more.

[GameTheory]

Hoarding data for no purpose? Gotta be an agenda in there somewhere.They had info on various terrorist activities -- they just sat on it. At least according to a couple of former-NSA guys that resigned because they couldn't believe it. Unless they are lying -- it is impossible to tell with the NSA. They don't talk about anything.

[PaceAdvantage]

They had info on various terrorist activities -- they just sat on it. At least according to a couple of former-NSA guys that resigned because they couldn't believe it. Unless they are lying -- it is impossible to tell with the NSA. They don't talk about anything.They are operating under Fight Club rules...

WELvpeYo5m0

[highnote]

Ths U.S. DOD created the internet. I have assumed they have been monitoring it for years.

[highnote]

The CIA wants to track you through your dishwasher!

http://news.yahoo.com/cia-wants-spy-dishwasher-185203816.html

[redshift1]

Actually nothing new here, if you've worked for a large corporation before, you quickly realize all your work related electronic communications are subject to monitoring and are stored for who knows how long.

Same with my internet provider. Forewarned is forearmed, disposable smart phones purchased with cash.


.

[Robert Goren]

Actually nothing new here, if you've worked for a large corporation before, you quickly realize all your work related electronic communications are subject to monitoring and are stored for who knows how long.

Same with my internet provider. Forewarned is forearmed, disposable smart phones purchased with cash.


.Why you would assumed they aren't being traced too? What is to stop them from recording all calls made from them and keeping track from where the calls were made? They might not know your name when you bought it, but it won't take them long to figure it out if they want to.

[redshift1]

Why you would assumed they aren't being traced too? What is to stop them from recording all calls made from them and keeping track from where the calls were made? They might not know your name when you bought it, but it won't take them long to figure it out if they want to.

Not in one of our megalopolises, you'd disappear in the background noise between relay towers and thousands of people and electronic babel per square mile.

Remember you're continually cycling through new phones.

.

[Robert Goren]

The only safety from the individual is shear volume of information that the government is collecting. There are 313 million Americans and few suspicious Canadians like Trotter(:rolleyes: ) to keep track. It is a daunting task. Still if you visit a site selling cowboy boots, Google will put ads for cowboy boots on this site for months for you and only you to see. It makes you wonder what they can do if they set their minds to it.

[redshift1]

The only safety from the individual is shear volume of information that the government is collecting. There are 313 million Americans and few suspicious Canadians like Trotter(:rolleyes: ) to keep track. It is a daunting task. Still if you visit a site selling cowboy boots, Google will put ads for cowboy boots on this site for months. It makes you wonder what they can do if they set their minds to it.


Using sophisticated search algorithms our government will anticipate our behavior like in PKD's Minority Report. All of our internet usage and keystrokes will be recorded and criminal convictions will be determined by statistical significance plus or minus 5 points.

.

[PaceAdvantage]

Using sophisticated search algorithms our government will anticipate our behavior like in PKD's Minority Report. All of our internet usage and keystrokes will be recorded and criminal convictions will be determined by statistical significance plus or minus 5 points.

.I used to laugh at stuff like this...not so much anymore...

[Rookies]

Using sophisticated search algorithms our government will anticipate our behavior like in PKD's Minority Report. All of our internet usage and keystrokes will be recorded and criminal convictions will be determined by statistical significance plus or minus 5 points.



"A picture is worth a 1,000 words." All of us remember that old saw.

However, there was a movie less than 20 years ago (that I can't recall), which featured the use of computer digital technology to mask a murder and interchange suspects. Thought, at the time- pretty cool, but that can't really happen today, could it?

Fast forward today and the drill down to that technology renders EVERYTHING into question. Unless you were physically there to bear some witness, anything can be transformed.

Furthermore, Big Brother can now amass an astounding amount of info on each and every one of us and even more frightening- CHANGE IT for any purpose they desire!

[PhantomOnTour]

Rising Sun?

[PaceAdvantage]

Yes, manufactured evidence would seem quite easy to pull off...

But then again, hasn't it always been relatively easy to "plant" something on someone?

[boxcar]

Yes, manufactured evidence would seem quite easy to pull off...

But then again, hasn't it always been relatively easy to "plant" something on someone?

To answer that, all we have to do is look to see who the president is. :D

Boxcar

[Rookies]

Rising Sun?

BINGO!