3 ms·

I guess the near-daily occurrences of mass shootings don't technically count...

rhino369 11y ago
If the NSA was tasked with it maybe I'd count it. But the NSA isn't supposed to be preventing crime in the USA. Plus most mass shootings are lone gunman. You are never going to prevent that with communication spying.
- rmxt 11y ago
  Communication spying of the PRISM variety [1] is exactly the kind of thing that should aid in the prevention of lone wolf style attacks. You're telling me that a modern lone wolf never uses a web search to find out "how to [buy an automatic rifle/how to rent a car anonymously/insert heinous act here]"? If the surveillance is gathering up these searches and still has no record of stopping attacks, then two options, amongst others, are: get better filtering and analysis techniques, or my preferred option, disband the (illegal) programs. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)#Extent_of_the_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)#E...
  - lern_too_spel 11y ago
    PRISM isn't a mass surveillance program.
    - rmxt 11y ago
      Just because it requires "selectors" before it can provide output, doesn't mean that it's not taking bulk communication as input. How can something that requires "minimization procedures" be anything besides mass surveillance? If I'm missing what you are disputing about the "mass" part of PRISM, please explain further.
      - lern_too_spel 11y ago
        The selectors apply to data already collected from the few people the FBI has under surveillance. There is simply no "mass" about it.
  - rtl49 11y ago
    A third possibility is that such queries are detected, but maintaining secrecy is judged to be a higher priority than preventing a comparatively smaller number of deaths while revealing their capabilities.
  - lukeschlather 11y ago
    PRISM isn't supposed to be used against US citizens in that manner. They've admitted that PRISM can be used in that manner, but that's never been a goal of the program and theoretically what little oversight there is is supposed to prevent that.
rtl49 11y ago
No, this phenomenon is only related to the topic of terrorism in that it also receives an excessive amount of attention and irrational fear.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

If the NSA was tasked with it maybe I'd count it. But the NSA isn't supposed to be preventing crime in the USA. Plus most mass shootings are lone gunman. You are never going to prevent that with communication spying.

rmxt 11y ago
Communication spying of the PRISM variety [1] is exactly the kind of thing that should aid in the prevention of lone wolf style attacks. You're telling me that a modern lone wolf never uses a web search to find out "how to [buy an automatic rifle/how to rent a car anonymously/insert heinous act here]"? If the surveillance is gathering up these searches and still has no record of stopping attacks, then two options, amongst others, are: get better filtering and analysis techniques, or my preferred option, disband the (illegal) programs. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)#Extent_of_the_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)#E...
- lern_too_spel 11y ago
  PRISM isn't a mass surveillance program.
  - rmxt 11y ago
    Just because it requires "selectors" before it can provide output, doesn't mean that it's not taking bulk communication as input. How can something that requires "minimization procedures" be anything besides mass surveillance? If I'm missing what you are disputing about the "mass" part of PRISM, please explain further.
    - lern_too_spel 11y ago
      The selectors apply to data already collected from the few people the FBI has under surveillance. There is simply no "mass" about it.
- rtl49 11y ago
  A third possibility is that such queries are detected, but maintaining secrecy is judged to be a higher priority than preventing a comparatively smaller number of deaths while revealing their capabilities.
- lukeschlather 11y ago
  PRISM isn't supposed to be used against US citizens in that manner. They've admitted that PRISM can be used in that manner, but that's never been a goal of the program and theoretically what little oversight there is is supposed to prevent that.

rtl49 11y ago

No, this phenomenon is only related to the topic of terrorism in that it also receives an excessive amount of attention and irrational fear.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]