Google was just the beginning, the government is next

  • Thread starter Thread starter White & Nerdy
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White & Nerdy

White & Nerdy

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Wasilla, AK
Guess what... soon, the government will be storing pretty much everything about you. Parking recipts, Google searches, e-mails, cell phone calls, probably even posts on this very site.

A few details on the facility are here.

The facility they're building in Utah will also specialize in world-class codebreaking, so encryption will do no good.
 
Oh noez, they'll be able to tell that I snuck out to the shops last Sunday, because I bought a ticket! :eek:

Anyway, you'd be able to tell where alot of people went by looking on their FB or Twitter, their emails is something any hacker can get into pretty easily, their search history is useless and almost untraceable in say, an Internet cafe. Phone calls are nothing new, and posts on this site. Well, a 5 year old is probably capable of finding a post by a member on this site.
 
I'm not seeing the big deal about getting monitored. Sure, they'll know all about you but does that really impact how you live?
 
So, all the things I do out in the open, are now up for grabs?

 
I bet Anonymous are already clawing at their keyboards in preparation :lol:
 
Tesla
I'm not seeing the big deal about getting monitored. Sure, they'll know all about you but does that really impact how you live?
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That's the wrong way to think about it. Don't think "If I'm not doing anything wrong, why would I care if the government monitors me?" Think "If the government doesn't have a good reason to believe I'm doing something wrong, why should they monitor me?"
 
White & Nerdy
That's the wrong way to think about it. Don't think "If I'm not doing anything wrong, why would I care if the government monitors me?" Think "If the government doesn't have a good reason to believe I'm doing something wrong, why should they monitor me?"
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Because people change. I mean, suicide bombers at some point in their lives didn't to about pretending to blow themselves up at the age of 5. Extreme example I know, but everyone starts somewhere, and a seemingly harmless person could be an activist...
 
White & Nerdy
That's the wrong way to think about it. Don't think "If I'm not doing anything wrong, why would I care if the government monitors me?" Think "If the government doesn't have a good reason to believe I'm doing something wrong, why should they monitor me?"
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I don't think that they'd ever monitor someone who was of no importance officially (like you or I) individually. Perhaps some political figures, but I just can't see them using the information gathered from you just so they know what you do.

I believe it'd be used more as a census-style system, where the information could be used to create a statistics database that could potentially aid in how funding and resources are handed out.
 
In about every major city in the world you can't walk around without at least 2 cameras filming you.
 
White & Nerdy
...
The facility they're building in Utah will also specialize in world-class codebreaking, so encryption will do no good.
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:lol: Yeah. Havn't seen one person yet that cracks my encryption codes.

Utah, utah...yeah, I think I know someone that's got access to that area, want me to get him to hack their PoP database? Who wants their record cleared? :sly:
 
E28
Except it could also help stop things like kidnappings, bank robberies, assassinations...
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That's not the point. Storing all your phone conversations and web searches forever is a massive violation of privacy. For several reasons.

First and foremost, your "people change" argument applies to those keeping the databases as well. Old bureaucrats become corrupt, new ones come to power, and good intentions suddenly go missing.

Two, that place is a gold mine for the criminals themselves. With the amount of sensetive information exchanged in phone calls and e-mails that will be private until the center is operational, a hacker would only have to break in ONCE to create an endless bonanza for people like spammers and identity theives. It WILL happen some day. Nothing is perfectly secure.

Three, see one. The government just shouldn't be collecting that much information on its citizens' lives.
 
Well, you live in Alaska. The least populated state of the US. Find a cabin, and live of the land. Then you don't have to worry no more. :sly:
 
Indeed, but isn't lack of human contact believed to cause insanity? Or something. You have to interact with other people at some point, and the less of that the government tracks, the better. It's the principle. Face it, that spying project is short-sighted at best and sinister at worst.
 
White & Nerdy
Indeed, but isn't lack of human contact believed to cause insanity? Or something. You have to interact with other people at some point, and the less of that the government tracks, the better. It's the principle. Face it, that spying project is short-sighted at best and sinister at worst.
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I think if they monitored you. They'd just laugh at you. I know I already do.

If the government feels like monitoring me, they'd probably have already started to anyways.

I do hope they have fun gathering all the data in the world though. Would be nice to see the whole internet and everything you've ever done in one place. Imagine the storage capacity of such a facility.
 
Yeah, because privacy is such an outdated concept. Saying the government shouldn't have eternal access to everything you've said on the phone or by e-mail is totally laughable.
 
Parking tickets and so on are public information anyhow, provided they are issued by the government.

As for phone calls, text, emails, and so on, those tend to fall into the privacy area.

I find it un-surprising that the European and Commonwealth posters are stating the "well, I don't do anything wrong so I've nothing to hide" mindset.

Dennisch
In about every major city in the world you can't walk around without at least 2 cameras filming you.
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Unless you live in the US. We aren't quite as keen on CCTV like Europe seems to be.
 
No? I sure looks like that it helps solve a lot of crimes lately. But privacy when walking down the street is way more important, obviously. :sly:
 
Dennisch
No? I sure looks like that it helps solve a lot of crimes lately. But privacy when walking down the street is way more important, obviously. :sly:
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Tell that to the violent crime rates and success in London. :sly:

As I say, locks keep honest people out.

Plus, on something like this, my curiosity about how pipe bombs are made, which is a genuine bit of curiosity, among other things, would not go over well. Am I going to blow up anything? No.

And then if you combined that with me taking a course of the Middle East and having friends from the Middle East, and now I'm a terrorist.

Watch out, gonna get you.
 
Dennisch
Oh no.
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The fact is, CCTV really doesn't do much to stop or solve crime. Monitoring everything people do online is just going to result in profiling of people who probably aren't going to do anything.

Locks keep honest people out, as they say.
 
Indeed. And then you have to think about the existence of this data center not just now, but 10, 20, 30 or more years in the future. A lot of things could happen between now and then that would make the presence of such a database genuinely bad news.
 
Azuremen
The fact is, CCTV really doesn't do much to stop or solve crime. Monitoring everything people do online is just going to result in profiling of people who probably aren't going to do anything.

Locks keep honest people out, as they say.
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My oh no was actually in response to this :

Watch out, gonna get you.
 
Not to sound hipster, but I knew they did this before this thread. I think that they've been at it for years, especially the fact that Facebook is owned by the CIA... but then again, this is a conspiracy video.. that I kinda believe.
 

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