PRISM, Microsoft et al. and Your Privacy

[trap15]

Any conspiracy theorist will tell you: http://duckduckgo.com/

[sscamaro2010]

My biggest fear is this information being used as a political weapon. What if the party in power at the time ordered the IRS to target groups or people for audits based solely on political affiliation? Now that the IRS is going to run the health care industry, what if you were refused treatments based on your political or religious beliefs. Or your race. Or what groups you belong to.

[antron]

^ or what if you became the victim of disinformation?

[dcharlieJP]

First they came for the Sony fans, and I said nothing....

... sometimes its best to turn a blind eye

[7711]

Any conspiracy theorist will tell you: http://duckduckgo.com/

https://www.ixquick.com/
I've been using it for maybe 2 years, works great. Also if you can't live without google try Startpage
https://startpage.com/

[God]

CGHQ has a program called "Optic Nerve". If you use Yahoo! webcam, they take a screenshot every 5 minutes and throw it into a database for facial recognition. This is aimed at everyone, people not even suspected of crime or terrorism.

[gameoverDude]

That's scary. No webcams for me.

The USA Senate's recent moves against internet privacy truly suck. Those who voted against Obama's privacy rules can fuck right off. Hopefully this fails in the House.

How do I spell corporate lobbying? B-R-I-B-E-R-Y. Whatever loopholes prevent it from legally constituting bribery need to be closed.

The Republican Party sucks. I voted mostly Democrat this last time, but will probably go 100% D next election. I sure hope Trump is a one-term wonder. If his approval rating sinks to the teens or even single digits, I won't be surprised. It's already not too stellar. It's a shame presidents cannot be recalled in the USA. If they could, then I think they'd be more accountable to the people. It should be "We The People", not "You Our Almighty President".

Trump being prez is a strong argument for losing the Electoral College. The EC means you vote as a Californian, Iowan, New Yorker, etc. and not as a USA citizen. That's just wrong. Popular vote should rule.

I use both DDG & Startpage (aka Ixquick). Love 'em. No real reason to use Google anymore.

[God]

I wonder what the response from the American people would have been if the Brits had sent an army of drones to peek in their windows at night?

In a robocop voice: "Be not alarmed citizen (of a foreign country) we're simply recording you for our facial recognition database. ...you may continue making love."

The USA Senate's recent moves against internet privacy truly suck. Those who voted against Obama's privacy rules can fuck right off.

I feel like partisan politics is just a red herring unless someone gets a real strong stance on privacy. This has been going on long enough that neither side's hands are clean. But yeah, the guys who voted against it can fuck right off.

How do I spell corporate lobbying? B-R-I-B-E-R-Y.

Speaking of bribery, yahoo's pricelist leaked a few years back. Law enforcement "reimburses" them for their trouble. $30 - $40 per account.

[BryanM]

Trump being prez is a strong argument for losing the Electoral College. The EC means you vote as a Californian, Iowan, New Yorker, etc. and not as a USA citizen. That's just wrong. Popular vote should rule.

On the other hand, the electoral college is a much better reflection of the current state of political power. Republicans have controlled pretty much the entire country on every level since 2010, but democrats think they're doing a-ok awesome just because they had a seated president.

Trump being president wakes up these disinterested democrats into, maybe, thinking that things aren't fine. That maybe a party against clean air and water shouldn't even be on the spectrum. That maybe they should attend primaries to fix the democratic party.