U.S. government admits to massive online spying - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Lambadvanced;40940767]This has nothing to do with your rights, governments have historically used spying techniques that they haven't utilized on their people, this is normal, and this is a typical sensationalized article attempting to elicit a reactionary and outraged response.[/QUOTE] Yes of course nothing has ever been wrong with the status quo before, right? [editline]7th June 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=ColdWave;40938515]im tellin u all they are usin this so they can see if we buy guns so then obama can go into your house and take em, im tellin u this is all of our freedum being taken away wow this is horrible, i bet next they will ban the right to free speech Seriously guys, what does this matter? Is this somehow destroying our lives? If so I'd like to know, I don't feel any sort of anger or need to stand up to anyone just by reading whats here.[/QUOTE] Violates 4th amendment among some other things.

[QUOTE=Warriorx4;40940826]Yes of course nothing has ever been wrong with the status quo before, right?[/QUOTE] This thread is under the assumption (probably didn't read the article) that this means they spy on us, it clearly doesn't. I don't know what "before" has to do with anything since we're talking about this article, but I'd love to hear of your status quo disruption in a legitimate manner, not just a condescending taunt. [editline]7th June 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Warriorx4;40940826]\ Violates 4th amendment among some other things.[/QUOTE] Yeah you know those foreigners with those bill of rights! This doesn't break any amendments, read the article.

Damn foreigners. Now having read the article I concede.

And no one's going to do shit about it.

[QUOTE=person11;40940624]It is amazing that Congress has been approving this for years and that none of them have leaked this. You'd think the Libertarians and Tea Party people would have leaked this by now to condemn the government. Imagine how much Ron Paul would have benefited from this had this leaked while he was still running against Romney and Santorum, a year ago. Also, this whole thing just makes me distrust Libertarians even more. The ones who must have known about this said nothing. Why is it that American Libertarians seem to make up problems by speaking against women, abortion, and welfare, and yet did not talk about PRISM? It is hypocrisy.[/QUOTE] I'd imagine they feared getting Bradley Manning'd.

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;40936874]when are you guys going to have a revolution or something[/QUOTE] [img]http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2012/09/revoluition_ensemble_660.jpg[/img] It begins.

[QUOTE=fruxodaily;40936874]when are you guys going to have a revolution or something[/QUOTE] We have no leader yet.... WAIT ALEX JONES!

[quote]Obama defends phone data collection program Intelligence groups scouring foreign emails, chats and other data[/quote] [quote]Intelligence groups scouring foreign emails, chats and other data[/quote] [quote][B]foreign emails, chats and other data[/B][/quote] [quote][B]foreign[/B][/quote] If the article were titled 'Obama defends spying on KGB agents in America' you wouldn't be all up in arms. We spy on other countries, they spy on us. Counter-spying requires operating against people within the US who are not US citizens. This is old news, just a new method. Please, read the article before leaping to conclusions.

Just because they've only admitted to spying on foreigners doesn't mean they're not doing it to their own citizens. You think they'd admit to that?

[QUOTE=Pikachu231;40937180]If any of you are surprised, you shouldn't. Government's been spying on us for over a decade now. Patriot Act ring a bell?[/QUOTE] J. Edgar Hoover would like a word with you.

[QUOTE=Mac2468;40944798]Just because they've only admitted to spying on foreigners doesn't mean they're not doing it to their own citizens. You think they'd admit to that?[/QUOTE] I think there's a pretty big difference between spying on foreigners in the country explicitly for nefarious purposes and spying on their own citizens just because. I also think you could apply the same argument you're using to pretty much anything the government says. 'FEMA. Just because they've only admitted to coordinating disaster relief doesn't mean they're not building death camps. You think they'd admit to that?' That line of reasoning goes nowhere useful.

Time to begin only speaking with people through clients which offer decent data encryption! [sp]Yeah right.[/sp]

[QUOTE=Warriorx4;40940814]Okay. You start.[/QUOTE]This is why shit like a Revolution would never happen in this country. Nobody wants to be the spark that lights the fire.

[QUOTE=Mac2468;40944798]Just because they've only admitted to spying on foreigners doesn't mean they're not doing it to their own citizens. You think they'd admit to that?[/QUOTE] This isn't so much a slippery slope is it is a slippery leap over a ravine.

It's really hypocritical to start making "and no one's gonna do anything" posts in threads like these. You're sitting at a computer browsing the internet, not doing anything to make a statement. What makes you so much better than the people you criticize? If you're going to criticize people for their apathy, at least admit to not doing anything to help. Don't pretend your some kind of activist.

the only people who protest in the united states of america that get heard of are illegal immigrants and lgbt rights activists because overlooking felonies and focusing on gay marriage are two issues which our own citizens deem more important than our economy, or privacy and the latter is going to affect our international friends soon enough, too

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I always suspected they were up to this. Once something is on the internet it is no longer private.

When I said I didn't want my info out there because the government was collecting it all, literally nobody I knew believed it. And they still probably won't, or will just be like "it's not my problem"

[QUOTE=TheTalon;40936913]There's 310 Million of us The average teenager sends 60 texts a day Good luck[/QUOTE] Ctrl + F "ahmad detonate"

Let me just quote myself from some other article. [QUOTE=Spirit_Breaker;40739182]You know that propaganda is working when people start thinking that it's impossible that government is corrupted/ that this is happening.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=TheTalon;40936913][B]The average teenager sends 60 texts a day[/B][/QUOTE] Whuaaow. I don't even send that many in a [I]month[/I]. How even?

Let me play the devil's advocate for a moment: what if this system did indeed expose potential terrorists on a yearly basis? What if they did stop a few people that were planning something along the line of the Boston bombings? Would that be worth it? Imagine that the government did not spy on its own citizens but every year there's some horrific terrorist attack that claims several lives. Is that really better? It's a rather nasty dilemma.

[QUOTE=Clavus;40945859]Let me play the devil's advocate for a moment: what if this system did indeed expose potential terrorists on a yearly basis? What if they did stop a few people that were planning something along the line of the Boston bombings? Would that be worth it? Imagine that the government did not spy on its own citizens but every year there's some horrific terrorist attack that claims several lives. Is that really better? It's a rather nasty dilemma.[/QUOTE] Very much a "ends justify the means" argument. If you killed 14 bystanders while chasing a terrorist, is that justified? Not in my opinion.

[QUOTE=.Isak.;40945927]Very much a "ends justify the means" argument. If you killed 14 bystanders while chasing a terrorist, is that justified? Not in my opinion.[/QUOTE] They're not killing 14 bystanders. It's mass violation of privacy, that isn't as bad as murder last time I checked.

[QUOTE=Derp Y. Mail;40945780]Whuaaow. I don't even send that many in a [I]month[/I]. How even?[/QUOTE] Well some people have friends you see [editline]8th June 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=.Isak.;40945927]Very much a "ends justify the means" argument. If you killed 14 bystanders while chasing a terrorist, is that justified? Not in my opinion.[/QUOTE] If all I have to "give up" is my country spying on foreigners to be safer then I'll take it.

Put "suspicious" words/phrases in your messages to fuck with them.

Big brother will always be watching you.

[QUOTE=Clavus;40946215]They're not killing 14 bystanders. It's mass violation of privacy, that isn't as bad as murder last time I checked.[/QUOTE] Obviously, but it's still an "ends justify the means" argument. It's totally up to opinion - I'm personally against it.

[QUOTE=Lambadvanced;40946256]Well some people have friends you see [editline]8th June 2013[/editline] If all I have to "give up" is my country spying on foreigners to be safer then I'll take it.[/QUOTE] Yeah but they're not just spying on foreigners. Here's an idea, stick with the old system of getting a warrant.

[QUOTE=demoguy08;40936904]Or they actually believe that this kind of massive surveilance is necessary[/QUOTE] Fuck people who think like this. Reasoning like "I have nothing to hide, so let them do it" is also unacceptable.