Edward Snowden and you: liberty or blissful ignorance?

What do you think about Snowden's actions?

  • It needed to be done - the government is overstepping its bounds.

    Votes: 25 92.6%
  • His actions were illegal -the programs are in place to combat crime and we don't need to fear them.

    Votes: 2 7.4%

  • Total voters
    27
  • Poll closed .
Perhaps. With the political spectrum being more of a horseshoe than a line, it can get a little difficult to differentiate between the police state intrusive government and the nanny state intrusive government. Either way, less is more! Reagan wins again! ;)
 
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http://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-oversteps-its-legal-authority-and-the-court-can-1152184383

The Washington Post dropped two reports that exposes the recklessness of the NSA's spying program. The first report is insane: the NSA has "broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority" thousands of times a year and the second report explains the insanity: the FISC court that's supposed to be in charge of government spying programs has said that "its ability do so is limited and that it must trust the government" to report when the government has screwed up.
WANT MOAR GOVERNMENT!!!

Perhaps the best line in the whole thing is down in the comments section:
God damnit, I hate it when the tin-foils are right about stuff.
 
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George Orwell out of the grave:

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http://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-oversteps-its-legal-authority-and-the-court-can-1152184383

WANT MOAR GOVERNMENT!!!

Perhaps the best line in the whole thing is down in the comments section:

That's what's laughable about all the assertions of oversight: you're policing the government with the government. The Founders set up separation of powers to avoid these stumbling blocks - you wouldn't want a serving Army General to be president, nor would you want a Congressman to declare whether legislation is constitutional or not.

The entire arrangement is laughable and is built upon obfuscation.
 
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Oh, the bitter irony. Hopey Peace Prize gets another first place ribbon:
http://news.yahoo.com/report-obama-brings-chilling-effect-journalism-140240984.html
Leonard Downie Jr., a former executive editor of The Washington Post, wrote the 30-page analysis entitled "The Obama Administration and the Press." The report notes President Barack Obama came into office pledging an open, transparent government after criticizing the Bush administration's secrecy, "but he has fallen short of his promise."
Those suspected of discussing classified information are increasingly subject to investigation, lie-detector tests, scrutiny of telephone and email records and now surveillance by co-workers under a new "Insider Threat Program" that has been implemented in every agency.
Downie found the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were a "watershed moment," leading to increased secrecy, surveillance and control of information. There is little direct comparison between the Bush and Obama administrations, though some journalists told Downie the Obama administration exercises more control.
To date, six government employees and two contractors have been targeted for prosecution under the 1917 Espionage Act for accusations that they leaked classified information to the press. There were just three such prosecutions under all previous U.S. presidents.
 
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Programs that were of course initiated by the Bush program, and took years to come to fruition. Poisoning of the envrionment due to a failure to recognize intelligence... Not ironic, but business as usual by our right wing friends....
 
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I think you missed the scorecard while working on your apologist dreck, Thrasher.
Hopey Peace Prize: 8 prosecutions
Nearly a century of previous presidents including Dubya: 3 prosecutions
 
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This must be the funniest turn in this whole nsa leak scandal.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/w...aying-field-of-elves-and-trolls.html?hp&_r=1&

Not limiting their activities to the earthly realm, American and British spies have infiltrated the fantasy worlds of World of Warcraft and Second Life, conducting surveillance and scooping up data in the online games played by millions of people across the globe, according to newly disclosed classified documents.

Fearing that terrorist or criminal networks could use the games to communicate secretly, move money or plot attacks, the documents show, intelligence operatives have entered terrain populated by digital avatars that include elves, gnomes and supermodels.

The spies have created make-believe characters to snoop and to try to recruit informers, while also collecting data and contents of communications between players, according to the documents, disclosed by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden. Because militants often rely on features common to video games — fake identities, voice and text chats, a way to conduct financial transactions — American and British intelligence agencies worried that they might be operating there, according to the papers.

Now isn't that a dream job of a wow addict? Play WOW 24/7 and get paid for it :D SWtotor players beware too! Empire is watching you!
 
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The spies have created make-believe characters

Haha yes indeed, they're definitely getting paid to actually play the game. Have to make it look authentic!
 
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I am trying to think now which of my MMO friends are from the NAS or CIA lol?

for that matter, what makes you think NSA has not infiltrated RPG Watch? Here is fun game, guess which RPGWatch member is a NAS spy? lol
 
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I think such person would have to be to someone with large post count, like one of the top posters here @watch :biggrin:
 
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What I find interesting is that there is this two-way - approach :

- No U.S. citizen should be illegally spied upon by the NSA.
- All non-U.S. citizens can be legally spied upon by the NSA.

Or in short :

Everything outside of the U.S. is an potential foe of/to the state.

[Sorry about the grammar.]
 
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Latest news : The NSA plans to make an "quantum computer" which should be able to dissolve ANY encrypting within a relatively short time ...
 
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I doubt that the NSA as such is researching quantum computers even though I'm sure they'd be interested if one was to be developed. DARPA may have some related projects but fully functional quantum computers are a long way off. At this point I'd say that most research on the subject is done at universities without military interference as it's mostly base research. There will probably be more military interest once the basic hurdles are overcome.
 
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