June 7, 2013 archive

Today there is an enormous amount of outrage and anger out on the Internet about revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) apparently has connections into 9 major Internet companies and has also been receiving all "metadata" about phone calls. The reality is that we as a country granted the NSA and other intelligence agencies broad sweeping powers of electronic surveillance in October 2001 when the US Congress passed the US PATRIOT Act and President Bush signed it into law. Those powers have only expanded in the time since. The big question is how to balance the legitimate needs of governments to track down criminals and terrorists against the legitimate needs of citizens for privacy and freedom. How much freedom/privacy are you willing to give up in the name of security and safety? Some of the many articles: http://www.techmeme.com/130606/p47#a130606p47 Who voted for the PATRIOT Act: http://educate-yourself.org/cn/patriotact20012006senatevote.shtml EFF: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/confirmed-nsa-spying-millions-americans Timeline: https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying/timeline/ Bruce Schneier's call for more transparency: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/what-we-dont-know-about-spying-on-citizens-scarier-than-what-we-know/276607/