Careful who you phone home to

Gay slur!

poopshovel wrote:

JG Pasterjak wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: I'm on Gore's side on this too, it doesn't matter to me what his other politics are. But here's the part that has been left out: Verizon (and all cell/ISP providers) routinely sell their customer data. Every time someone swipes a credit or debit card to buy something they are tracked, those grocery store 'fuel rewards' cards are a perfect example. The money which makes that discount possible does NOT just come out of the goodness of their hearts, it comes from the companies who buy the data. The recent grumbling on this site about being tracked by Google ads is yet another indication of how your data is collected and sold to the highest bidder. So honestly it being turned over to the NSA isn't really much different, it just sounds nasty because it's a spy agency and not a mass marketer.

Wait, are you saying I'm now going to start receiving PHONE CALLS from plus-size lingerie models instead of just seeing google ads? I better go charge my phone. jg

Here at BBWseekingTWC.com, we strive to keep your personal information confidential. Unfortunately, when the Feinsteins come a'knockin, we have little choice but to get on our knees and start rockin. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience. Long live the fuhrer!

Wonder if I can specify an upper weight limit?

It's hard to imagine a more terrifying combination of words than: "Secret Court."

If there is one thing there makes me more mad then anything, it is the way that the past presidents have used 9/11 and terrorism to make their 1984 dreams come true.

chuckles wrote: It's hard to imagine a more terrifying combination of words than: "Secret Court."

You noticed that too?

pinchvalve wrote: Heck, the NSA can listen in to my calls, videotape me peeing, put a videocamera in my hat...I have almost nothing to hide.

It's that almost part that gets you every time.

I don't buy the "do whatever you have to to prevent another..." argument. Its crap and a cowards ways out.

I am that guy standing ready to do violence on your behalf. I sure as hell ain't doing it to keep you safe. I am doing it to keep you free. My oath I have taken since 1991 does not mention your security one time.

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

How about I worry about my own security? The most effective anti terrorism tactic we have is not the government. It is the actions of a free and dedicated Citizens of this republic.

Flight 93? Shoe Bomber? Underwear Bomber?

Good old fashioned butt-whuppins delivered by a free population who cares. THATS how you keep people safe, know who your neighbors are, and be willing to step up to protect others

The government's solution was the TSA.

Now, I will step off my Toby Kieth-esque soapbox and join Poopy and JG with the voluptuous lingerie ladies.

another benefit of freedom...

Mental wrote: Now, I will step off my Toby Kieth-esque soapbox and join Poopy and JG with the voluptuous lingerie ladies. another benefit of freedom...

Here Here!

BAMF wrote:

pinchvalve wrote: Heck, the NSA can listen in to my calls, videotape me peeing, put a videocamera in my hat...I have almost nothing to hide.

It's that almost part that gets you every time.

A little education for the folks that have nothing to hide:

Why you should never talk to the police

Everyone should watch it. Seriously. 48 minutes. A law professor and police officer take equal time to explain.

Presidential candidate Obama said: (The Bush) administration also puts forward a false choice between the liberties we cherish and the security we demand. I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom. That means no more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. And it is not what is necessary to defeat the terrorists.

spitfirebill wrote:

chuckles wrote: It's hard to imagine a more terrifying combination of words than: "Secret Court."

You noticed that too?

"secret court" is almost- but not quite- as scary as the word "bipartisan" to me...

SCARR wrote:

spitfirebill wrote: So if this court order was double super secret, how did peeps in the UK know about and we didn't?

No-one has been able to confirm that it is even true. It is the normal news Mantra nowadays, "POST IT QUICK!!!! who cares if it is true... make stuff up if needs be, we have to be first."

Except the DOJ is already investigating who leaked the info... So most likely not just made up.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

"apology letter" made me LOL.

This stuff really doesn't surprise me at all, and honestly it should scare the hell out of you -- more because of where it's going than what they're already doing. I work in the data storage/protection field and the big buzz right now is Big Data and "The Internet of Things". Essentially, they're talking about how devices are getting very connected and doing a TON of data collection with new storage backends that are capable of holding all this data for a very long time with an analytics engine running on that data which can correlate discreet data points in ways that we couldn't dream of before. One of the big examples of how to monetize this kind of technology has been the case study of a wireless carrier that took the very same metadata that they're talking about with Verizon and analyzed it for various trends. One of the things they found was that when a subscriber left the carrier, there was a high probability that the people they called most of the time would also leave. By constantly analyzing that data, then, they would begin to send special offers to the "frequently called" numbers of any cancellations, thus increasing their retention rate significantly.

Pretty benign, really, but when I heard about that my first thought was "what else could they do with those correlations?" Who you are texting, who you call, when you call, where you make those calls from, how long you talk... all of that data means very little when humans try to look at it, but when you have giant Hadoop clusters that can ingest that data and start manipulating it and looking for patterns, you can start to get a lot of personal information about someone.

One of my customers is a law enforcement agency that has built out a license plate scanning system. They don't have the funding or sophistication to try to do any of the latest-and-greatest data mining techniques, but at a basic level they want to retain every single license plate reader hit that they get from in-cruiser scanners and pole-mounted scanners with a GPS location and a time stamp. Then they want to look back on that data and identify trends. They gave an example of if they knew that a drug shipment was coming in every Thursday, they would be able to search the database for license plates that showed up on the scanners on a particular highway every Thursday and then start with every one of those as a suspect. Once that data is stored and there is a system to be able to analyze it, you can bet that it won't be used for only official reasons.

I've always thought the the conspiracy theory tinfoil-hat people were just totally nuts and needed to just get over it, but the more I see people talking about the use cases for this type of technology, the more it really starts to seem kind of worrisome and real. You have cases where stores are tracking what people buy with their loyalty cards and can find out that their kids are pregnant before they do. I saw a demo where a storage company was touting how their data analytics technology might work with RFID-enabled packaging in a grocery store, by watching what they put into their cart and being able to try to modify their shopping behavior: Buying beer? You usually come in the next day when you buy that much beer and get ibuprofen, so here's a text message reminding you that ibuprofen is on sale right now; buying your fourth package of red meat in four days? here's a text message with a coupon for fish because we think you eat too much red meat.

Combine this with the data capture the NSA has been doing with the major internet services companies, plus having all your health records available, plus everything else they're doing to collect and store data.... Even if you "didn't do anything wrong", it should be a bit concerning that all that data will be stored, available, and analyze-able by pretty much anybody with a government job...

The Bi-Lo grocery chain is really aggressive in pushing their bonus cards and that Fuelperks thing. There's one around the corner from my house, I shop there occasionally for quick stuff (they are definitely more a lot more expensive than Wal Mart on the same products) and I go to their pharmacy.

The other day I was in there, the girl asked for my bonus card and I allowed as i din't have one. The bagboy (actually he's in his 70's) took off to the customr counter to get me one, I politely refused to take it. He looked at me like I had just sprouted a second head. The cashier asked for my phone number, I politely refused. She asked me why I didn't want the card or to give out my number and I explained that I get quite enough spam etc. She looked surprised, then said 'so that's why I get so much junk in my inbox.' Duh.

...I would've taken that opportunity to talk about my junk in her inbox.

Anyway, are we, the drive-thru public still paying attention to this? Props to some of the talking heads on the left for calling it like they see it. This shouldn't be a partisan issue.

poopshovel wrote: ...I would've taken that opportunity to talk about my junk in her inbox.

well played, but we need to see the girl to decide if that joke would have been wise

JoeyM wrote:

poopshovel wrote: ...I would've taken that opportunity to talk about my junk in her inbox.

well played, but we need to see the girl to decide if that joke would have been wise

I would've gone for it regardless. Best case, she's appalled. Worst case, she giggles and I make her day.

Interview with Edward Snowden. How sad is it that I was scared to google it...and freaked out that it didn't "auto-fill?" Also sad that the crunt on the "news" (Lawrence O'Donnell) keeps calling him "James."

http://www.policymic.com/mobile/articles/47355/edward-snowden-interview-transcript-full-text-read-the-guardian-s-entire-interview-with-the-man-who-leaked-prism

Speaking of O'Donnell, his final thought was: "I know all of my phone calls and emails are being recorded, and I'm still not scared."

Really? How about when the guy in charge isn't on "your side."

Maybe you're not plotting anything sinister, but what happens when they decide to destroy you? You're telling me you've never emailed/texted/said on the phone ANYTHING that could be considered "inappapropriate" enough to get you fired from your job?

Bob Costas.

Heck, the metadata already tells them based on the GPS in your phone where you are and if you're in a moving vehicle how fast you are traveling. Do you think when they get strapped for cash they aren't going to mine that and start mailing out tickets?

Actually, we'll be lucky if they mail them out, they could as easily just bill it to the phone like a 900 number and what could you do?

When people say "I don't care, I'm not doing anything illegal," remember that you don't get to decide what is illegal. The government (the people recording you) do.

oldopelguy wrote: Heck, the metadata already tells them based on the GPS in your phone where you are and if you're in a moving vehicle how fast you are traveling. Do you think when they get strapped for cash they aren't going to mine that and start mailing out tickets? Actually, we'll be lucky if they mail them out, they could as easily just bill it to the phone like a 900 number and what could you do?

I have had many times that my GPS said I was going over 1000 mph... I fear that ticket.