NomadEngineer

Comment Threads

• danlalan commented on CIA branch invests in tech firm that monitors blogs, Twitter, social media
  @Thorn: Only a fool underestimates his enemies. As several others have said, having the government listen to what we say in public is hardly threatening. As far as I can tell, there has been no attempt to stifle free speech, nor have I noticed anyone being particularly intimidated by the knowledge that someone is listening. And I'm quite certain that if some government agency were to go after someone because of their views, it would start a major shitstorm. That said, if you threaten someone or admit to some kind of lawbreaking in public, you probably deserve what you get....
• Modusoperandi commented on CIA branch invests in tech firm that monitors blogs, Twitter, social media
  "This doesn't really frighten me much to be honest. This is only collecting information that people have already willfully published to the entire world." ...except that wide-net datamining callously disregards presumption of innocence. In order for a cop to search your car he has to have a reason. In order for him to bust down your door he has to take his evidence to a judge. In order for the State to comb the Net for everything about you, they should need the same. "Being on the internet" is not suspicious....
• Modusoperandi commented on CIA branch invests in tech firm that monitors blogs, Twitter, social media
  Wait, that should probably be "reasonable suspicion" rather than "presumption of innocence"....
• AirPillo commented on CIA branch invests in tech firm that monitors blogs, Twitter, social media
  ... exactly, this isn't like searching my car, if you must analogize it to a car, it's more like reading my bumper sticker. I have given them permission to do it by going out of my way to publish it in public view. They already are allowed to peruse it manually, in person, as much as they want. They always have been. I am actually normally very loathe to expand law enforcement powers, normally, especially the way that has been done lately. This, however, isn't expanding their powers, it is simply automating something they already have complete legal permission to...
• siliconsunset commented on CIA branch invests in tech firm that monitors blogs, Twitter, social media
  The difference here is that, for whatever reason, they've made this action public. It only makes sense to me that they've been doing things like this since BBS days. That IRC conversation you had a decade ago? Yeah, it's logged somewhere. That Gtalk message? Yep. When you use someone else's computer, you give them the chance to store your logins/passwords/etc. When you use someone else's services, you're doing the same thing. Emails, instant messages, nude pictures, opinions, feelings, content... if you uploaded it to the internet assume that anyone can get it. Think that's an overstatement? Go on 4chan or...