Thursday, August 01, 2013

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...

"A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its "widest-reaching" system for developing intelligence from the internet.
" -The Guardian, 2013
"Never say anything over the phone you wouldn't say to a cop." -The Anarchist Cookbook, 1971
Computer processing power and speed have grown exponentially since 1971, as have the speed and accessibility of data storage and the interconnectedness of most forms of communication and commerce.

You want to know what hasn't changed a bit since 1971? Human nature. The biggest difference among Nixon and Holder and Hoover and Obama is the SPF of their preferred sunscreen.

19 comments:

  1. But don't ask them to search through their own emails.
    http://www.propublica.org/article/nsa-says-it-cant-search-own-emails

    It seems the only system immune to the NSA's massive tendrils belongs to... the NSA.

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  2. Well, I know Nixon was a Big Government Republican, what am I saying, I know Nixon was a Republican, BUT--

    Nixon=served his country and stopped Communist infiltration inside the United States government.

    Obama/Holder=served Communism and helped infiltrate the United States government.

    Shootin' Buddy

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  3. Searching for pressure cookers after someone else searched for backpacks?

    They know about that!

    I swear, I keep expecting Orwell to rise from the dead to start a copyright infringement lawsuit on the US Gov't.

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  4. Yes, Robb, but were they, or had they ever been, members of the communist par... sorry ...al Qaeda?

    Our freedoms are so important and constantly under attack from outside sources that we must defend them by taking them away from ordinary citizens and putting them under guard in Yucca Mountain.

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  5. Orwell does appear to be prescient with this group running things.

    Course, it is to be expected when you elect revolutionaries to run things.

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  6. Sometimes I wonder if we wouldn't wind up better off if one of those solar flares like missed us recently made a direct hit.

    Thinking like that makes me feel like a script writer for the 1990's version of "The Outer Limits".

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  7. I remember when Al Gore first invented the Interweb,and everyone at work was learning to email,and I said something like "y'know,the government can probably read that and they know where you live".
    Sadly,I'm no smarter than anybody else and I put my personal business online too,but Orwell predicted it,and now we're living it,and it's too big to stop now.I bet somebody somewhere (besides me)knows what caliber I shoot,and knows that I read Tam and Joel every day,and what I had for lunch today.
    All I can do about it ,is say bite me.

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  8. Well, like we used to say on the phone when we heard static: "Fuck Hoover."

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  9. 1. if Nixon was trying to stop communist infiltration of Govt, he failed.
    2. Govt believes freedom only applies to Govt and selected agencies.
    3. Fuck Holder.

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  10. Obama shut down Yucca Mountain. I think to use them now, you have to go through the $%#%#%$^&$! Blogger Verification Process.

    But since they're Redacted anyway.....

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  11. Wow. They can search all that, but can't search their OWN emails. Fascinating.

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  12. Might just as well just say whatever one has to say anyway, and periodically throw in a [finger] for whomever might be observing.

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  13. One could also say that Obama is just Nixon with better press.

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  14. You can't fight terror without stepping on some rights.
    It's a delicate balance that insures your safety, security and well being.

    Now shut up and get in the boxcar.

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  15. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2013/08/government-knocking-doors-because-google-searches/67864/

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  16. MSgt B,

    Check out Robb Allen's comment upthread. ;)

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  17. I've been in the Internet Security business for 20 something years, and know a *lot* of the people who created that industry. People who are big wigs in this business (much more important than I).

    One of the good things about being at the biggest security conference is that you run into these people and get a chance to catch up.

    I'm shocked at the level of anger that I'm seeing. Perhaps I shouldn't be - I've been more than a little ranty on this myself - but this sounds a little threeper-ish.

    Gen. Alexander addressed the conference to ask for the industry's cooperation. He'll no doubt get some, because the industry is pretty buttoned-down and there's money to be made.

    But the folks that created the industry, who really define the cutting edge - I don't at all get the feeling that there's a hankering to cooperate with the NSA.

    I don't think that Alexander has the slightest idea about this.

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  18. Nixon had nothing on Obama in terms of scope and ambition. Obama makes him look like Thomas freakin' Jefferson by comparison.

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  19. I'm certain that Nixon actually liked this country. That's a significant difference right there.

    Mike James

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