NSA Collecting Contact Lists From Around the World

Yes. They appear to be immune from the shutdown.

In a very best case scenario, this is an incredible waste of time, money and resources.

We know who the potential terrorists are, and what countries they come from.

Give your local agency credit they did it the smart and cheap way - they got the lists off the online spammers and scammers who already have all this information.

not to worry, Facebook widely touted "your privacy" for years as being paramount to them......until a few days ago. if you're on an internet computer and posting pics, video clips, etc. you always have to assume these things can not only be seen by who you intend to share them with. keeping a running timeline of your life online is basically a naive and stupid thing to do. HR departments all across North America just love how dumb and careless people can be with personal information. how many teachers have had a career derailed or ended for posting an innocent picture of them having a drink while on vacation? It's not the 1970s anymore! but of course if you lose your job or a shot at being considered for a job you can take comfort in knowing in some way this was all just a byproduct on a war against terrorism, or is it? People really need to wake up and be aware that information and the internet can be fun but it can also be used against you for several years if your online habits don't fit someone else's idea of political correctness. so assume you're being spied on by big brother whenever you connect

You are combining two different issues.

Government gathering of supposedly private information is one thing.

Businesses gathering information from public posts to use in their hiring process is another.

In the first case, you are crazy if you ever thought that anything posted on the internet was private.

In the second, "you" put the info out there! 'nuff said.

It's all very legal, you see.

The actual data harvesting is not done on USA soil, so no foul.

That doesn't keep the whole thing from smelling foul, though!

Yep. I was hearing things about it today.

Anything that requires a warrant or is unconstitutional, is done offshore.

How much do you want to bet that the government also has the ability to route US internet traffic through offshore servers?

I think a lot of people unknowing think that E-mails have the same laws protecting it as letter mail does in most countries. That their expectations of a private communication thru a public media is unfounded. In most these e-mails the only identifier is the content and the IP address. The IP address is not private.

If people are dumb enough to essentially publish Personally Identifiable Information (forums, twitter, facebook, cloud) then they essentially get what they deserve.

Don't forget...ghost tags work wonders!!!

To wit: the U.S. Army has released a Cyber Crime Alert Notice (alert notice?) which reports the 3rd party release of an app for Android to handle official MyPay accounts. MyPay is how all military/retirees/civil service manage their pay accounts from the federal gov't.

The gov't has not authorized apps for "pay".*

Over 50,000 boneheads have downloaded this app and are "managing their money" with it (i.e., giving access to who-knows-who). If a criminally minded person releases this app and siphons a dollar a month from each user, that's $50k a month...and growing.

The human race...we're all a bunch of idiots

*Go to http://apps.usa.gov for an "official" listing of approved apps for government use.

And one group that wants to put a stop to this NSA eavesdropping is the TEA Party.

...just sayin'.

Part of me is hoping that the street level libs will get going on this, and I think they are.

The difference between them and the tea party, is that the tea party is civil...they start rioting in the streets.

Right or wrong, they are always looking for reasons to spread mayhem and destruction.

you guys are over doing the politics thing

I didn't realize that having every drop of our information collected was political.

We should probably ignore it.

I'd like to see the server farm(s) that we're paying for.

any thread that causes you to stop and think is a good one, as this one is

nah...they're just loud, and the rooms are cold. The real work takes place in boring cubicles, too.

The days of all the cool blinky light status panels and registers counting in octal are gone.

You would probably rather see how much crap Google can cram into a building. It's amazing in that the public doesn't pay for Google.

I want to put a stop to the secrecy cloak that has been draped over the White House.

I agree with that. GA

And all this time I thought the new guys would undo what Cheney did.

The king is dead, lyn. Long live the king!

What?!? I though we had the most transparent government in the world. The executive branch is totally transparent.

I think I just puked a little

It's transparent all right, unless you want to know what they are doing.

This was going on way before he got to the scene.

Yeah, but it was pretty much that guy's bunk-pulpit!!!

The NSA spying has decreased since that guy's administration (executive branch of government/cabinet) was hired???

I am just glad he finally had Guantanamo closed down...what a great guy!

good thing he's smiling............ I never would have seen him.

Really?

I guess I had a different definition of transparency

This administration is so transparent.............. you can't see what its doing.......

It goes way beyond the NSA spying....

http://www.gallopade.com/client/PDFs/CCUSCON.pdf

Sooo...the Constitution is spying on us?

No. The federal government decided to involve itself in public education.

It didn't take long for a few people to realize, that a constitutionally educated public would demand a constitutionally limited government.

Over the decades, the constitution, and what it really means, have been pretty much eliminated from the school curriculum.

This creates a situation in which the government can massively expand it's power and influence over our lives, with little push back from the citizens.

"Common Core" completes the process, and turns us all into obedient sheep.

http://lwv.org/content/history-federal-government-public-education-where-have-we-been-and-how-did-we-get-here

"Common Core" completes the process, and turns us all into obedient sheep."

Or, it normalizes the educational standards across the country so that a student from a state like Arizona, whose legislators have strangled education by CUTTING EDUCATIONAL FUNDING and giving that money to big business has to be brought up to the same level as a state that properly funds education. Kids moving from my cheapa$$ state are routinely held back one, or two, grade levels when they move to states which properly fund education.

Take a look at spending on education across the USA and you will see what I mean.

Mississippi, Utah and Arizona are at the very bottom of educational funding. Mississippi, because it is a very poor state.

Utah and Arizona are there by the choice of their tea party radical wacko legislators who had rather see the country fall to ruin as long as big business is getting most of the pie.

Can you link that?

And...

Does more money make kids smarter?

The Worst States for SAT Scores include Maine, Hawaii, South Carolina, Georgia and New York. DC is also very low.
Here is the ranking of SAT Scores by State List:

2009 State Sat Scores

Source: College Board and various news services Rate: Student Population Rate as reported by www.collegeboard.com

"Does more money make kids smarter?" Depends how it's used.

Does denying ADEQUATE FUNDING make kids dummer? It denies them a chance for equal opportunity.

I'm not playing dueling statistics with you, just stating my position.

Does denying ADEQUATE FUNDING make kids dummer? It denies them a chance for equal opportunity.

I disagree, that makes about as much sense as Affirmative Action, (Hiring not from ones skills set but by race) The correct answer is actually the same as your first and that is:

It depends how it's used.

Anyways, What is the definition of Adequate Funding.

You can disagree all you want. That doesn't make you right.

Your affirmative action comparison is totally wrong! The two have nothing in common.

If it takes $50.00 to educate a kid and you only are given $25.00, You can't do it.

You have not been paying attention.

Didn't say I was right, but thank you.

AS far as your $50.00 to educate by using $25.00.

That is where you are wrong, with no doubt.

Here is an example.

Wisconsin is a very good example of this. Governor Scott Walker, had the teachers contribute 5% and 12% to their pensions and healthcare with the Taxpayers picking up the remaining 95% and 88%.

As well as the savings by putting the Public Sector Union, WEDC self-insurance program (Which was nothing more than a Union Racket.) and put the insurance out to competitive and fair bidding.

And of course the Public Sector Union Cried:

Your talking our money, Well that didn't sound good

So then they cried:

Education is being destroyed, And teachers will get laid off Well, the districts that went along with the reforms have hired even more teachers, and the districts are fiscally sound, but the administration that signed Union contracts before these reforms took place are fiscally suffering

Then it was, Your taking away the future of the Children. Children were really never the reason for these people, it was basically the first reason they cried.

Well what Happened, The first year, Wisconsin turned a $3+ Billion dollar deficit into a $400+ million surplus.

And this year, the surplus is at $700+ million where we be getting $100 Million Back, $30-50 Million into a raining day fund, and the rest to be determined. Probably increasing infrastructure and re-evaluating our schools. Probably to bail out the districts that are suffering from signing the union contracts before the reforms.

kramarat has is also correct in his post #37

So it does depend on the actual definition of the needs, otherwise it's just throwing money at a problem isn't the answer.

So Yes, when you put controls on the free spending racket in education, you can educate with less money, with the same results........

Pretty story. Proves nothing.

There's lies, damn lies and statistics.

Just bend 'em to suit your side of the argument.

Of course Arizona is a mess...

Poor Jan Brewer inherited a disaster from Napolitano. She had no idea how bad it was.

Poor child. You have no idea how it is. Napolitano had nothing to do with it.

Many of our political leaders believe the earth is flat, there is no other family unit than two parents, with one working and the other staying home cooking, cleaning and having babies.

They would coin their own money, educate their own children with their own beliefs, refute all federal aid and secede from the union if they could.

Secretly, many of them worship Warren Jeffs as a prophet, and would have 5 wives if they could. Some do.

Indeed, I can take you to past a number of houses where plural wives live in the same compound with only one man. That's here in town. Up north, in the rural areas it's even worse.

Look at Hilldale, UT/Colorado City, AZ to see what a cult (that calls itself a religion) is really like.

Nope, Arizona is not a typical state. Far from it.

Here's what the tea party people are doing.

Bringing down your public debt, and spending more on education than anything else.

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/Arizona_state_spending.html

We must be living in different worlds.

That's your estimated 2014 budget, with 27% going to education. They are also paying down your debt. I can't find the problem.

Christopher Chantrill

Christopher Chantrill is a writer and conservative, and author of Road to the Middle Class. He runsusgovernmentspending.com, the go-to resource for government finance data, and is a frequent contributor to the American Thinker. He lives in Seattle, Washington ...

This guy is fair and unbiased???????????

Is your auditors office biased?

Look how many school districts were engaged in theft.

http://www.azauditor.gov/pastIR.htm

And how does AZ fair when compared to other states?

Also, if you look back in time, AZ spent more money on education in 1990's than we do now.

Why are we arguing over this again??? I can't remember.

That is where the problems lies....... it's misleading by saying what is spent........ but how it's spent.

This I can't say about AZ on the ROI on educational spending.

I don't know.

Something to do?

I think that every state would be wise to get off the federal teet.

Lets see what the lobbyists have to say about that.

Well,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

I'm not sure about that.

I know Arizona would be MUCH worse off and MUCH more corrupt, without some federal oversight.

I'm not talking about oversight; I'm talking about allowing Washington to bribe, coerce, and blackmail the state governments with our tax money.

On argument there.

Oh gawd! Lives in Seattle??? Fuhgeddaboudit. We have some of the hippiest-slacker doodahs in the world....

....makes my nuts!

Crazy Tea Party.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/news/articles/20130927mil-debt-feds-retired.html?nclick_check=1

I'll have to turn cookies on to view this. Maybe later.

Misdirection and blame...

...great arguing point

Some say it is fictional, public sector of course says it is......... Yet they have nothing to say when we were facing a deficeit in excess of $3,000,000.00. And given a choice, I rather be getting an unexpected rebate, a reduction in taxes, than an increase and a balanced budget. And that is not fiction.

Lyn,

Correction

That's $3,000,000,000.00 dollars deficit and not $3,000,000.00 dollar deficit.

The Public sector union, particularly the teachers union, has big problems trying to defend this kind of responsible fiscal spending. So they respond the same as your response.

I'm still trying to figure out the multiple wives thing.

Is that the tea party too?

multiple wives thing?????????

lyn's post 43.

Indeed, I can take you to past a number of houses where plural wives live in the same compound with only one man. That's here in town. Up north, in the rural areas it's even worse.

Why would anybody want more than one?

It's the only way to get to "heaven" and get your own planet after you die.

Have a nice trip........

Multiple wives sounds like hell on earth....anything would be better.

One is telling you to take the garbage out.

One is telling you to take your shoes off before coming in.

The third is out racking up charges on the credit card.

The three on one dream never happens.

Oy vey!!!

Statistics are fun.

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?ind=L1300

They shouldn't use teacher take home pay, when figuring money spent per student.

So much for the phrase "Idiots Out Walking Around"!

Not long ago our gov't. granted/ceded those powers to various agencies with "a need to know", so when we weren't looking our "right to privacy" disappeared. Well to some extent it's still there in an interesting fashion. If you examine the law you'll see that if something is "out in plain view for all to see" then it's ok to for anybody to capture it. Since emails are generally unencrypted; i.e., in plain view, it's ok to capture them, but you can't act on what you see unless there's a hint of criminal activity, which is of course where things get a bit blurry.

Just read these:

http://money.msn.com/credit-rating/irs-tracks-your-digital-footprint

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/driving-somewhere-theres-govt-record-0

Orwell's "Big Brother" is small peanuts compared to what can be done now.

The scariest part, is that the IRS operates above the law.

If they say you are guilty...you are guilty until you can prove otherwise.

Read between the lines on these:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/irs-could-audit-you-for-social-media-posts/

http://rt.com/usa/information-tax-media-social-526/

http://www.moneyandrisk.com/living-well-on-less/philosophy/is-your-facebook-friend-a-spy-or-irs-agent/

It screams "POLICE STATE".

Just imagine what they will be doing ten years from now.

Now this is an example of something that Snowden shouldn't be talking about!

http://news.yahoo.com/report-nsa-cia-collaborate-drone-strikes-040318235--politics.html

Who...aside from maybe George Orwell and his ilk...would have ever thought that

Americans and the would collaborate on releasing classified military information to the world? And, not just releasing it, but hell-bent on finding it, paying for it, and publishing it without regard to its intrinsic value and the fallout which may result?

The fact that some of these information spills result in the deaths of American citizens and American service members just seems lost on people.

Forget retorts on the subject of the deaths related to leaks...the "News" doesn't report statistics for items not in their best interest.

Enjoy your fake freedom of the press...

Your second link is the result of the movement that calls the constitution a "living" document, that must be changed to suit the times...which is nonsense; human nature has not changed.

The sensitive leaks that have been released by the current administration, is called treason.

While I'm worried about what the NSA and IRS are doing, and was becoming sympathetic to Snowden, he should not be releasing specific information on how we find and kill terrorists. That is also treasonous.

Despite the behavior of the previous couple of administrations, I still haven't lost faith in the country, and we need a strong, (within it's constitutional boundaries), and honest government in place, to go find and kill our enemies.

"Your second link is the result of the movement that calls the constitution a "living" document, that must be changed to suit the times...which is nonsense; human nature has not changed."

Actually, I understood that our founding fathers had the foresight and knew back that that they did not have all the answer and made it so it could change with amendments.

They allowed things to be added to it, but I don't think that they intended for administrations to, (on their own), decide to ignore our natural, or, God given, inalienable rights that were spelled out.

Although, I suppose that if it's a living document, any president can change anything they want...on a whim.

Here's a list of what pissed them off in the first place, and didn't want to allow to happen again:

http://unalienable.com/transdec.htm

No, not to ignore it, but to amend it, yes............. and its not the president that can change it or ignore it.

We've got a president that is doing both.

Excuse me!

I don't think it's about him.

He's just the latest face on something that's been brewing for decades. I doubt that he's even aware of the entire plan.

I know what ails you, Why don't you ........

"Step into a Slim Jim"

Can you quit with the pictures?

I just wanted to make people aware of the latest news on the NSA. That's it. Obama didn't start this.

You are correct.

One thing is because as serious as politics of this country is.............. this country's politics is nothing but a joke.

It doesn't matter who started this........ the people that go along with this, and push agenda of division are the problem. Which is the majority in politics. These people are the issue.

A leader should not get pulled into the fray, but this president can't help himself.

By saying we should work together and actually mean it, not by saying next, that its the other parties fault. When it plane to see it's across the board.

It's also plain to see your intense hatred of the current POTUS.

Hatred?

No, why do people who try to defend this president by calling this POTUS critics hatred or racism.

When all it is, is disappointment, plain and simple.

And it pretty much extends right on down the line. As well in the Senate and Congress.

You call it what you want, I'll do the same.

No other president in the history of this country has ever been the subject of so much open ridicule and outright contempt.

I'm not defending him, I'm just saying no one has even been so hostile to the office, or the office holder before.

No other president in the history of this country has ever been the subject of so much open ridicule and outright contempt.

that's not true.

I'm just saying no one has even been so hostile to the office, or the office holder before.

There are a number of ways to interpret that statement, I don't know what yours is.

Short memory...