And since we know that SnapChat doesn't actually delete the photos people send with it, it's probably safe to say that the NSA now also has the largest boob and dick recognition system in the world.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/part/1/crosshead...
> (c)at the time of the offence charged he was a member of GCHQ, and it was necessary for him to make the photograph or pseudo-photograph for the exercise of any of the functions of GCHQ.
("Make" here includes "download from the Internet" becuase that causes a local copy).
Looking through all the legislation is a bit worrying. Perhaps it's all just exemptions asked for but not used as a way pf covering what they actually do; or maybe it's asked for because they might do it in the future but don't do it now; or maybe they ask for it because they do it?
"Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography"
[0] -- http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/pentagon-declined-investi...
"Sir, he burned off half his face to resist identification."
"...Have him drop trough."
Serious note though, it's similar to how the kinect is sitting in households across America, and I think the new one with the XBOX One can't be turned off. A microphone and camera system right into people's living rooms.
And of course, the government now wants a database of consumers credit information.
I try to not be a conspiracy theorist but when you hand them this much information, it's hard to trust people to do the 'right' thing.
you are only half a year to the party
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2013/08/12/microsoft-re...
99% of XBox owners will not physically unplug the XBox every time they are done using it because of hazy privacy concerns. Suggesting that a few people could is worse than doing nothing. Those with the knowledge and skill to understand the problem will be inclined to solve the problem only for themselves. A bunch of others will use the "they could just unplug it" line to blame the average user for being insufficiently dedicated/savvy. It dissipates the energy for solving the problem properly. And if the NSA is using the Kinect cameras, then they'll be perfectly happy with photos of 99% of users.
As an example, consider the iPhone. Smartphones existed before it. But by packaging the tech in a way that anybody could use it, they made smartphones mainstream. If we want to make privacy mainstream, we need to do something similar, not fall back on blame-y non-solutions like telling people to unplug things.
Are you saying that thus far it has never been the case that NSA or some other US Governmental agency has intercepted Snapchat images off the wire? How would you know whether or not it has ever happened? I think it is very reasonable to assume that NSA can do this.
> Except in the fantastical magical world of the conspiracy theorist.
This is an outright insult. Vent your frustrations elsewhere.
[0]http://vr-zone.com/articles/nsa-tapped-fiber-backbone-spy-go...
All those folks who share selfies of themselves anonymously online both of them clothed and unclothed, we are starting to see the ability to pinpoint who they are, just because they keep an online facebook.