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onecommentonlyon NSA Chief describes what PRISM is

They aren't telling, and that may be telling on itself. Court approval apparently is needed but then Verizon hands all metadata every day, based on a court approval.

onecommentonlyon NSA Chief describes what PRISM is

PDF link of the description http://www.dni.gov/files/documents/Facts%20on%20the%20Collec...

onecommentonlyon Government likely to open criminal probe into NSA leaks

Expected, unless the leaked doc said "ignore court order" or "kill the Presi..." leaking is illegal.

The person that leaked this knew that he /she would be prosecuted, if... Let's hope that he took care not to leave any crumbs as he gave the info to the Guardian

onecommentonlyon PRISM: "Collection directly from the servers"

True, if not for this http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/06/veri...

The order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson, compels Verizon to produce to the NSA electronic copies of "all call detail records or 'telephony metadata' created by Verizon for communications between the United States and abroad" or "wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls".

The order directs Verizon to "continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this order". It specifies that the records to be produced include "session identifying information", such as "originating and terminating number", the duration of each call, telephone calling card numbers, trunk identifiers, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, and "comprehensive communication routing information".

This court order and the extremely wide net makes me believe the worst for the rest.

onecommentonlyon Eric Schmidt: CNET gets it right on the NSA/Google issue

Wow! Just waiting for "directly doesn't mean direct access" excuse. He has posted the slide, and considering what happened with Verizon I am likely to believe that Google, Facebook and "we care about your privacy" Microsoft have given them just as much as Verizon. Or a lot, one way or another.

On another topic, oh to be a fly in the wall when Mr US Citizen Greenwald passes through JFK customs.

onecommentonlyon Google Takeout means something else in light of PRISM

If Google says that Takeout has all your information stored on Google, and if NSA wants everything for Person X, why isn't this ideal?

onecommentonlyon Google Maps personalization could hurt public space and engagement

giving preferential treatment to the places frequented by our social networking friends, the places we mention in our emails, the sites we look up on the search engine.

This all of the sudden looks like a nightmare to me, post NSA Prism. You aren't getting that info from me. Not Google, not Facebook.

onecommentonlyon Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year

To answer precisely: I have given more than $50 each to both ACLU and EFF in the past 10 years.

onecommentonlyon Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year

You are assuming I didn't write that $50 check.

onecommentonlyon Electronic Frontier Foundation Survives on $5M/year

It's a disgrace. Not to pick on any particular person, considering that Silicon Valley has dozens of billionaires and thousands of filthy rich people, but Sean Parker got lucky with Facebook and spent like $12.5m in a wedding (including a fine). It's their money and all, but can't these rich people also write a $1 million check to an org as important as EFF ?

onecommentonlyon “The government does not have access to Google servers”

Google has way more data from a million little things we online than it should have. The government can easily get it, it can leak, get hacked etc. If the data isn't archived, no one can ask for it. Simple as that.

onecommentonlyon Google Takeout means something else in light of PRISM

"If they were servicing extremely-broad FISAs like Verizon's "send us all your phone metadata" then the distinction would be academic, but both Google and the NYT seem clear that Google hasn't accepted anything on close to that scale."

Maybe I read it wrong but Verizon was ordered by the court to do just that and to shut up about it. I doubt they were asked to accept, just the court ordered it and it is so because it became a 'legal request.' I have to wonder what Google, Microsoft and Facebook were asked to provide to NSA in large scale. If they can have all calls to see if anyone calls certain "terrorists," why not get a log of all Skype calls, FB likes, messages, Google searches etc to see if anyone is linked to "terrorists" or searching for related materials?

onecommentonlyon Google Chief Architect: we only respond to specific orders about individuals

>> the fact that we do stand up for individual users' privacy and protection, for their right to have a personal life which is not ever shared with other people without their consent, even when governments come knocking at our door with guns, is one of the two most important reasons that I am at this company

The indisputable fact is that your company gathers a lot of private info online about its users for profit, make that for extra, extra profit. Best case scenario, it makes NSA's job super easy, all they have to do is ask for it. Worst case scenario, the government knows all our thoughts as we type on Google search and everything else we do on Google. I do not trust that such info will stay private. Not anymore.

>> the national security apparatus has convinced itself and the rest of the government that the only way it can do its job is to know everything about everyone. That's not how you protect a country. We didn't fight the Cold War just so we could rebuild the Stasi ourselves.

Yeah, WTF do they think they are, Google or Facebook?????

onecommentonlyon Larry Page addresses PRISM

Verizon said what they could: we have to comply with the orders when we get them. Nothing weaselly, maybe because we read the judge's order.

Why should we trust the safety of any information on our searches, emails, location data, chats etc stored by Google? Stop storing it

onecommentonlyon Larry Page addresses PRISM

Either way, if Google has troves of info of everything you do online, NSA will get it. One way or another, front door, back door, in-direct access and what not

onecommentonlyon Larry Page addresses PRISM

The Guardian suggested that more leaks are going to be published...

onecommentonlyon Larry Page addresses PRISM

A few thoughts: It's unlikely that he cannot deny or admit giving data to NSA /FBI, because he both admitted and denied, albeit with weasel words. No "backdoor" and "no direct access" but maybe from the front door and indirect access :). I suspect that NSA has live access to Google /FB / MS for certain cases, tracking every online move for certain individuals. That's why it costs just $20 million, maybe they created a portal from which they track Person A going from site to site, what he searches for, who he calls, and what he types.

Larry smells the end of his company's "trust us with all your data...all your life on cloud...search while logged in...visit pages with Google Analytics...it's secure" etc. etc etc. While NSA might not catalog everything you do, Google does and everything is there for NSA's and FBI's asking. The more information Google and Facebook (to pick two of the largest) have stored, the worst it is for us. They know EVERYTHING about pages you visit, how long you stay there, what you searched for, what places you went to (Android) what you emailed, foods you liked, what your ordered from ebay, and so on. A treasure trove for NSA, a nightmare for us.

Start thinking! Stay logged out of Google and FB, use hosts file, Ghostery etc to block and make NSA's and FBI's life as hard as possible.

What's good for Google is good for NSA, but not necessarily for you. NSA would love Google Now, wouldn't they?