The Internet is a surveillance state

Discussion in 'Freedom and Liberty' started by Silversnake, Mar 19, 2013.


  1. Silversnake

    Silversnake Silverback

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  2. tulianr

    tulianr Don Quixote de la Monkey

    It's been true for quite a while. It takes serious effort to limit the amount of data gathering that the government and companies can perform on us; and to come anywhere near to eliminating their ability to spy on us practically means withdrawing from society.

    I was shocked at the government's ability to gather data on parties they were interested in, when I was first assigned to NSA in 1982. Those abilities increased ten-thousand fold with the advent of the internet and widespread use of computers.
     
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  3. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    The reality is they are building bigger data centers everyday to store more and more data including everything we type or say on the internet and phones. Your cell phone and home computer usage is your bright beacon of data to the world, for whoever wants that information. Your text, facebook, internet search, twitter and all those other great functions- and every byte of data you send out is being analyzed and saved for later if needed. Not to hard to imagine a profile being developed for every person in the country- you just need the computing power to pull it off.

    Utah Data Center - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
     
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  4. Mountainman

    Mountainman Großes Mitglied Site Supporter+++

    I started working for a military contractor company in 1983 that only made COMINT and SIGINT equipment and was there 20 years. We use to have fun listening to the cell phone conversations around lunch time with the nooners going on. Now with everything happening on the internet and smart phones, there is a gold mine of info to be collected...not a good thing.
     
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  5. tulianr

    tulianr Don Quixote de la Monkey

    In the late 1980s, with several years of snooping experience behind me at that point, I attended a briefing for a new geolocation (using satellites to locate a radio transmission) system that was coming online, and I was just blown away (at the time) that this capability existed to the level that it had been developed. While I still had my mouth open, an NSA old-timer in the back spoke up and said, "But how is this system really different than what we were using in the early 1970s?" I was thinking, "1970s? Oh my God. What else don't I know about?"

    Government interception capability is usually years ahead of what is thought of as "state of the art" technology. To keep things that way, many encryption systems have simply been classified and seized by the government when a patent is applied for. An old, but good, book - The Puzzle Palace, by James Bamford - gives an account of some of these seizures. The book gives a good history of NSA operations and capabilities. For a more recent account of those capabilities, search on "Intercept Capabilities 2000." The European Parliament ordered this investigation, in 2000, and then made the report public. For folks not very knowledgeable on such, it can be an eye opener. The capabilities in this report are now 13 years old - a lifetime in the technological age.

    The internet has offered some challenges to government data interception, but has also provided it with some amazing opportunities as well. Privacy, in this day and age, is an illusion. Only your thoughts are private, ...... for now.
     
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  6. Beano

    Beano Monkey

    Frightening stuff. I'm one who transcends generations; a sort of guy who likes things simple and preps for roughing it, and at the same time, I love my gadgets and my smartphone with its associated 4G network is like another appendage. I take the foolish way out in justifying my massive usage of data by telling myself that it doesn't matter, they'll track me anyway. I know I should go dark, or, at least, stand in the shade some more.....but it's the side of me who loves technology and loves to stay connected.
     
  7. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    A simple request for any type of Fed Aid will quickly indicate to all how much is on the Feds Computers. No Joke and this is a raw deal , tends to turn my A$$ RED. They will even have the type and VIN of a car you owned 15 years ago, or more. Been there.
     
  8. tulianr

    tulianr Don Quixote de la Monkey

    I don't think that you're being foolish in justifying your data usage with such reasoning. I do as well. I see the massive amount of data out there like the ocean. Government information gathering is generally passive, trolling along the surface. As long as you don't breach the surface of that ocean, you're not likely to get much attention. There's a lot of ocean out there, and there are a lot of fish in that ocean. There are plenty of those fish who just can't seem to stay in the water, and they keep most of the government collectors busy. I swim along in the ocean, causing few ripples.

    Admittedly, once you do breach the surface, they have a lot to work with. The secret though is to stay out of heavily fished waters, and don't taunt the fisherman.
     
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  9. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    Just did a bit of fishing the other day. Known person of interest, showed no negatives in Intelius search! Not even a local address, only a PO Box. Facts with SO is different and a remote address in this state is not even listed plus a case domestic violence is a fact. Untill then I had found People Search from Intelius searches billions of public records instantly. Search free now! as a pretty good source. Makes me wonder if you can pay a few to be invisable? i will be requesting my fees be returned from People Search from Intelius searches billions of public records instantly. Search free now!.
     
  10. tulianr

    tulianr Don Quixote de la Monkey

    Some fish run deeper than others. Yours may be a flounder.
     
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  11. VHestin

    VHestin Farm Chick

    Every so often I will do a web search on myself just to see what I've been doing. Keeps me aware of what others can find out about me.
     
  12. HK_User

    HK_User A Productive Monkey is a Happy Monkey

    No doubt it be a bottom feeder, none the less a stalker soon finds itself in the spot light.
     
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