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http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compel http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compel You can be compelled by the US government to do things you mi

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compel http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compel You can be compelled by the US government to do things you might not like to do. Google can either comply since they are a US based company, or not. The benefits of compliance outweigh the downsides of not complying. >secret unethical, most likely unlawful and surely unconstitutional request? There has been no evidence that what the NSA is doing is illegal. It has congressional oversight and approval.

marvin 13y ago
What would be the likely result if Larry Page made a blog post detailing all the information they are petitioning the government to allow revealing, and then went directly to the media with the same information? It would be a bold act of civil disobedience, but obviously none of the CEOs of any of these companies have had the balls to do it. I'm thinking that the US Government would have a much harder time prosecuting a high-profile, wealthy CEO over a systems administrator no one had heard of until a month ago. And the media attention would be harder to derail.
- joering2 13y ago
  Exactly my point. If Google does work with NSA in secret, then shame on Page and Brin for "doing evil". I cannot imagine how strong and adverse message gov would send out into the world shall they choose to harshly prosecute someone of a Google or Microsoft's CEO caliber.
- temphn 13y ago
  I'm thinking that the US Government would have a much harder time prosecuting a high-profile, wealthy CEO http://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-and-the-nsa-2013-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-a... "Only One Big Telecom CEO Refused To Cave To The NSA ... And He's Been In Jail For 4 Years https://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/2013-June/008815.html https://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/2013-J... We know what happened in the case of QWest before 9/11. They contacted the CEO/Chairman asking to wiretap all the customers. After he consulted with Legal, he refused. As a result, NSA canceled a bunch of unrelated billion dollar contracts that QWest was the top bidder for. And then the DoJ targeted him and prosecuted him and put him in prison for insider trading -- on the theory that he knew of anticipated income from secret programs that QWest was planning for the government, while the public didn't because it was classified and he couldn't legally tell them, and then he bought or sold QWest stock knowing those things. This CEO's name is Joseph P. Nacchio and TODAY he's still serving a trumped-up 6-year federal prison sentence today for quietly refusing an NSA demand to massively wiretap his customers.
- munificent 13y ago
  > What would be the likely result if Larry Page made a blog post detailing all the information they are petitioning the government to allow revealing, and then went directly to the media with the same information? He would go to jail. And then, instead of being a powerful executive in a strong position to push the government to do the right thing, he would be powerless.
  - cubalibre 13y ago
    Do you have any evidence, other than this PR letter, that he's pushing the government to do the right thing? Was he doing this before Edward Snowden leaked?

marvin 13y ago

What would be the likely result if Larry Page made a blog post detailing all the information they are petitioning the government to allow revealing, and then went directly to the media with the same information? It would be a bold act of civil disobedience, but obviously none of the CEOs of any of these companies have had the balls to do it. I'm thinking that the US Government would have a much harder time prosecuting a high-profile, wealthy CEO over a systems administrator no one had heard of until a month ago. And the media attention would be harder to derail.

joering2 13y ago
Exactly my point. If Google does work with NSA in secret, then shame on Page and Brin for "doing evil". I cannot imagine how strong and adverse message gov would send out into the world shall they choose to harshly prosecute someone of a Google or Microsoft's CEO caliber.
temphn 13y ago
I'm thinking that the US Government would have a much harder time prosecuting a high-profile, wealthy CEO http://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-and-the-nsa-2013-6 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-joseph-nacchio-a... "Only One Big Telecom CEO Refused To Cave To The NSA ... And He's Been In Jail For 4 Years https://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/2013-June/008815.html https://mailman.stanford.edu/pipermail/liberationtech/2013-J... We know what happened in the case of QWest before 9/11. They contacted the CEO/Chairman asking to wiretap all the customers. After he consulted with Legal, he refused. As a result, NSA canceled a bunch of unrelated billion dollar contracts that QWest was the top bidder for. And then the DoJ targeted him and prosecuted him and put him in prison for insider trading -- on the theory that he knew of anticipated income from secret programs that QWest was planning for the government, while the public didn't because it was classified and he couldn't legally tell them, and then he bought or sold QWest stock knowing those things. This CEO's name is Joseph P. Nacchio and TODAY he's still serving a trumped-up 6-year federal prison sentence today for quietly refusing an NSA demand to massively wiretap his customers.
munificent 13y ago
> What would be the likely result if Larry Page made a blog post detailing all the information they are petitioning the government to allow revealing, and then went directly to the media with the same information? He would go to jail. And then, instead of being a powerful executive in a strong position to push the government to do the right thing, he would be powerless.
- cubalibre 13y ago
  Do you have any evidence, other than this PR letter, that he's pushing the government to do the right thing? Was he doing this before Edward Snowden leaked?