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The problem is that Obama himself has acknowledged the program both exists and is very active, the only limitation being 'Internet monitoring is only for those
by davros 13y ago
The problem is that Obama himself has acknowledged the program both exists and is very active, the only limitation being 'Internet monitoring is only for those outside United States'- no comfort for Google users like myself outside the US[1].
I don't mind targeted surveillance against genuine suspected terrorists. What frightens me is broader intelligence collection especially commercial intelligence. Over time programs broaden and if we're not really, really careful we'll find gmail being read by intelligence analysts who can brief our US competitors.
If non-Americans can't trust Google with their information that is an existential risk to its future. I think the Google leadership needs to do a lot more than this one short post!
[1] From Obama's comments:
Now, with respect to the Internet and emails, this does not apply to U.S. citizens, and it does not apply to people living in the United States. And again, in this instance, not only is Congress fully apprised of it, but what is also true is that the FISA Court has to authorize it.
So in summary, what you’ve got is two programs that were originally authorized by Congress, have been repeatedly authorized by Congress.
That seems pretty clear - there is a congress-approved spying on non-US citizens Internet and email.
EDIT: added Obama quote
- adventured 13y agoI find it fascinating that Matt Cutts didn't bother to address any of this in his defense of Google. Obama and James Clapper have both admitted to what is obviously Prism, a large scale spying program targeting Internet users and their data. It rather makes it clear that Google is participating in espionage programs for the NSA. Supposedly, maybe, it isn't directed at Americans (har har).
- unreal37 13y agoI don't think they are. I think ISP's allow government equipment on their networks to capture traffic as they see fit. If every ISP participates, then they have Google data, Facebook data, Yahoo data, and on and on.
- declan 13y agoObama has acknowledged that federal law allows FedGov to obtain emails of non-citizens without a search warrant but through a court-overseen process. This is part of a 2008 law that we all know (if you've been paying attention) does this. The president has not, however, confirmed that the news reports about "PRISM" are accurate. All he's done is summarized the law.
- dTal 13y ago"I don't mind targeted surveillance against genuine suspected terrorists." This kind of language bothers me - "suspected terrorist" requires no proof at all, while sounding authoritative (65% of Americans support the remote execution by drone of 'suspected terrorists'). I know roughly what you meant, of course, but where that line is drawn is a discussion that needs to be had. I'd say that with the level of surveillance that goes on, we are all suspected terrorists now.