It's absolutely no surprise to me that virtually everything on the Internet is subject to capture and analysis by the good folks at NSA. They've had the capability of one sort of another since electronic communication began and they have kept up with the growth of technology and 'social media' and all that. That's what they do. Never forget that if they can do it they will.
However, you should keep in mind that just the 'metadata' alone (calling number, called number, etc) for just the telephone side is probably on the order of 10 - 12 terabits per day and even with very sophisticated data mining there is no way they can look at more than a tiny fraction of it. Then again, if you pop up on a target list then you can pretty much guarantee you're entire life will be captured. Bank transactions, email, blog posts, Facebook, Twitter, all of it. If you happen to use cloud storage, as I do, for Quicken and PC Backup then they've got that too.
Remember when you gave Google your cell number for 'emergency contact'
or when you gave Bank of America your cell for verification of account changes?
Did you give your doctor your cell number for emergency contact? How about your employer?
Isn't it convenient to be able to use Google or Facebook accounts to log into other apps?
On the positive side the mind numbing volume of data probably means that if a given piece of data doesn't trip some alert it is probably lost forever. If it does meet the search or mining trigger then it probably means that it is stored, if not forever then a very long time.
Big Brother of 1984 fame was a piker in comparison.
5 comments:
"keep in mind that just the 'metadata' alone (calling number, called number, etc)"
One day later, we learn (again from The Guardian) of PRISM, another NSA project that captures plenty of content data in still more media. Anything they want to know about us, they can. And will. Any notions of privacy that may have been recognized in American history have long since been pitched in the trash, along with the last copy of the Fourth Amendment. Welcome to the world we all helped create.
Among the metadata I submit a koan to be representative of the truth behind these fascist violations of the Constitution: President Obama, what is the sound of one finger standing alone in the forest?
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I am really disappointed that this has just gotten more invasive on his watch. I was expecting better.
We have no one to blame but ourselves.
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