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Comment by m_darkTemplar | Hacker News Reader

I don't know, I still don't mind if the NSA has access to my data if they're not allowed to share it.

I accept that things that I share on the cloud/with big tech companies are probably accessible by someone. I don't have any guarantee that the top people at Google/Yahoo aren't looking through my stuff--they certainly have the ability to do so.

As long as you're storing your data in a service like this, someone will have access, probably multiple people. This new PRISM stuff just tells me that a few more people have access, it doesn't really change much for me.

If you are concerned about this type of privacy I'd suggest living like Stallman then. It's not as if you don't have methods to keeping your data private.

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> I still don't mind if the NSA has access to my data if they're not allowed to share it.

Some day you may regret that sentiment.

> If you are concerned about this type of privacy I'd suggest living like Stallman then.

No. I shouldn't have to completely disconnect in order to be safe from government spying.

I'm a private citizen and they are public servants: get that through your head.

Stallman isn't completely disconnected, I see an email from him probably every other day. He's very aware of what's happening in the world. He still has email and he can get the news through various websites as long as they don't require non-free software.

I have trust that they are indeed public servants, apparently a lot more than people here. I don't see them going after the every day person with the data they have. For that to happen a lot more bad laws would have to be passed.

> I don't see them going after the every day person with the data they have. For that to happen a lot more bad laws would have to be passed.

You're not making the connection. These people have access to everything without supervision and want to completely destroy online privacy. It only takes one corrupt person to abuse the system and use that information against you. Why, just by going online I can gather about you that-

- Your name is Ryan Cheu and you study Computer Science at MIT (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4735907)

- I have your photo and work history (http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ryan-cheu/13/95a/b69)

- You are a Christian and very vocal about it (http://en.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/m30cy/to_ratheism_fr...)

- You are attracted to Asian women (http://en.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/j3ogo/girlfriend_l...)

- You play a ton of Starcraft and even run a team at MIT where you can be reached at starleague-officers@mit.edu (http://en.reddit.com/r/starcraft/comments/11iwc5/recruiting_...)

- You didn't want your Reddit account to be linked to your Github but it was easy enough to find: https://github.com/ryancheu (http://en.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/1679go/new_red...)

This is just the information I had access to from a basic search. Imagine what they have.

So, does any of this bother or scare you? Could any of this information be taken out of context and used against you? Are you getting the picture now?

No it doesn't, a lot of that info is actually in my Hacker News profile, you can just click on my username. If that did scare me, then I shouldn't have that info up there, right? Because people will have access to it someway or another if you have it online like that. That's my whole point. Just trusting no one will ever find your info is not good practice if you're actually concerned about it, regardless of what laws are in place.

I'll also note that it doesn't take just 1 person to go corrupt, it also takes laws to change to let them act on that info and a court system that sides with them.

Oh right, "nothing to hide, nothing to fear." Sure.

> Because people will have access to it someway or another if you have it online like that. That's my whole point.

Yes, the shit you post in public online, not the private (PMs, email, phone calls, logs of your activities, etc). It's private and none of their business. That's my point.

We're not just talking about public posts on reddit profiles here.

You are on a site called "Hacker News". What if by some strange reason you are suspected of some kind of computer related crime. Does it help your case if you visit sites like "Hacker News"? Do you actually want to spend time in a court explaining to them what "Hacker News" is because the government got access to information like what websites you frequent, or would you rather discuss the more damning evidence.

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