4 ms·

NSA to release estimate of number of Americans under surveillance

29 points by chenster 10y ago

chakalakasp 10y ago
Well, now, depending on how you define surveillance, it's either 0 or 319 million, give or take.
- aaronmdjones 10y ago
  I was just thinking the same thing. Given that Yahoo, Google, Microsoft et al recently-ish obtained permission to release rough numbers of NSLs and such ("in FY 2015 we received between 1000 and 2000 requests for user data"), I would not at all be surprised if the result is: "We have surveilled between 1 and 318 million American citizens"
  - Nomentatus 10y ago
    Same thought. Metadata won't count for them, obviously, or the answer is "all." Probably they won't count storage of transcribed content either (again the answer might well be "all.") Here's guessing that they won't count multiple bots scrutinizing transcriptions of every word you've said in emails or on the phone as "surveillance", either. I personally wouldn't be shocked if the correct answer in this latter case is also "all." I might add that for those who think that they have nothing to hide, that's the wrong question. As I've found out personally, the real question is whether every single friend of yours you contact, let's say by phone, has anything to hide. When interrogated, they won't be told that surveillance was the source, they will be told or led to believe YOU were the source, and turned them in. Then the fun really begins. [Note that in the incident I just described, an acquaintance's wife was dragged in for what was a criminal offense at the time, but this offence has since been removed from the criminal code, so I don't feel bad about not reporting it at the time. She was not, to the best of my knowledge, prosecuted. Surveillance on me has since increased, however; and my circle of friends decreased.]
satyajeet23 10y ago
I will totally believe those numbers.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Pica_soO 10y ago
Breaking News: Secret-service agency venturing into census statistics
kahnpro 10y ago
Let me guess, 319 million, less the number of people who don't use the internet or make phone calls?

29 points by chenster 10y ago

chakalakasp 10y ago

Well, now, depending on how you define surveillance, it's either 0 or 319 million, give or take.

aaronmdjones 10y ago
I was just thinking the same thing. Given that Yahoo, Google, Microsoft et al recently-ish obtained permission to release rough numbers of NSLs and such ("in FY 2015 we received between 1000 and 2000 requests for user data"), I would not at all be surprised if the result is: "We have surveilled between 1 and 318 million American citizens"
- Nomentatus 10y ago
  Same thought. Metadata won't count for them, obviously, or the answer is "all." Probably they won't count storage of transcribed content either (again the answer might well be "all.") Here's guessing that they won't count multiple bots scrutinizing transcriptions of every word you've said in emails or on the phone as "surveillance", either. I personally wouldn't be shocked if the correct answer in this latter case is also "all." I might add that for those who think that they have nothing to hide, that's the wrong question. As I've found out personally, the real question is whether every single friend of yours you contact, let's say by phone, has anything to hide. When interrogated, they won't be told that surveillance was the source, they will be told or led to believe YOU were the source, and turned them in. Then the fun really begins. [Note that in the incident I just described, an acquaintance's wife was dragged in for what was a criminal offense at the time, but this offence has since been removed from the criminal code, so I don't feel bad about not reporting it at the time. She was not, to the best of my knowledge, prosecuted. Surveillance on me has since increased, however; and my circle of friends decreased.]

satyajeet23 10y ago

I will totally believe those numbers.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Pica_soO 10y ago

Breaking News: Secret-service agency venturing into census statistics

kahnpro 10y ago

Let me guess, 319 million, less the number of people who don't use the internet or make phone calls?