Tech Industry Sends Letter Asking For NSA Transparency

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Wait, aren't "strongly worded letters" something the government does? Maybe these companies are trying a little reverse psychology on the feds or something. :D

On Thursday, nearly two dozen tech companies including Facebook, Apple, and Google, along with privacy advocates such as the ACLU and Electronic Frontier Foundation, sent a letter to congressional leaders, intelligence leaders and President Barack Obama, urging greater transparency in how the government demands consumer data from the firms.
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None of these companies would have stood up if Snowden hadn't blown the lid off the NSA spying.

Great way to make themselves look good in the public eye though.
 
mr_zen256 said:
None of these companies would have stood up if Snowden hadn't blown the lid off the NSA spying.

Great way to make themselves look good in the public eye though.
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.. and now certain senators want to hold us from the Olympics unless Russia hands over Snowden. How dare they threaten Olympic hockey and curling like that!
 
"HEY! WTF! WE'VE SPENT MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ADVERTISING SAYING WE PROTECT OUR USERS SECURITY, AND THEN YOU GO AND TELL EVERYONE WE'VE BEEN WORKING WITH YOU FOR YEARS HANDING OVER DATA WHENEVER YOU ASK! WTF! THIS MAKES US LOOK BAD!"

Or, you know, you could FIGHT the government on this shit and actually try to protect your users security

Just saying....
 
mr_zen256 said:
None of these companies would have stood up if Snowden hadn't blown the lid off the NSA spying.

Great way to make themselves look good in the public eye though.
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None could legally do anything in public because of secret courts. It took someone who leaked the data (and now can't come back to the US/possibly faces the death penalty) to make it so that these lawsuits could start in public courts. All kinds of f'd up.
 
Spidey329 said:
.. and now certain senators want to hold us from the Olympics unless Russia hands over Snowden. How dare they threaten Olympic hockey and curling like that!
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Considering how unwatchable NBC makes the Olympics... This isn't a bad thing necessarily
 
Spidey329 said:
.. and now certain senators want to hold us from the Olympics unless Russia hands over Snowden. How dare they threaten Olympic hockey and curling like that!
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God I hope this happens. Can you imagine the medals Canada will rake in without the US.
 
This is all for show.

If you want to change the laws...convince the big donors...the banks and unions, to send strongly worded letters. Has nothing to do with right or wrong but everything to do about who controls the campaign money.
 
Skripka said:
Considering how unwatchable NBC makes the Olympics... This isn't a bad thing necessarily
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This, so much this. I've still been meaning to watch the BBC version of the opening ceremony SHUT THE F* UP MATT LAUER.
 
Kim Jong-il: Aw, Hans Brix!
Hans Blix: Let me look around, so I can ease the UN's collective mind.
Kim Jong-il: Hans, ya-breakin' my barrs here, Hans, ya breakin' my barrs!
Hans Blix: I'm sorry, but the UN must be firm with you. Let me see your whole palace, or else...
Kim Jong-il: Or erse what?
Hans Blix: Or else we will be very, very angry with you... And we will write you a letter, telling you how angry we are.
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The NSA is positioning the tech industry over their shark tank as we speak :D

With even the budget and number of employees in the NSA being Top Secret I am not going to hold my breath waiting for them to explain their actual activities ;)
 
Spidey329 said:
.. and now certain senators want to hold us from the Olympics unless Russia hands over Snowden. How dare they threaten Olympic hockey and curling like that!
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Because the last boycott worked so well for us :eek: ... I wish we could return to the good old days before the Olympics became a political event ... but '36, '68, and '72 ended all that :(
 
Spidey329 said:
.. and now certain senators want to hold us from the Olympics unless Russia hands over Snowden. How dare they threaten Olympic hockey and curling like that!
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Senators say lots of extremely stupid things, they're not going to boycott the Olympics over something like this.
 
lilbabycat said:
This, so much this. I've still been meaning to watch the BBC version of the opening ceremony SHUT THE F* UP MATT LAUER.
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Yeah, thanks for explaining all the magic I'm about to see right before it happens on the screen!
Thanks for treating me like a child, and having to explain every damn part of the ceremony.
Thanks for time delaying the ceremony (and any events I want to watch) to prime time hours that end at midnight (or later), I understand you pay a lot of money for them and want to maximize your viewership commercial revenue, since I have to work in the morning like most people I don't stay up to watch them "live" I record them on the DVR and fast forward through all the commercials, neaner neaner.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Senators say lots of extremely stupid things, they're not going to boycott the Olympics over something like this.
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You're talking about people who reached a grand budget compromise...then 24 hours later derailed the compromise and downgraded our nation's credit rating...all to score cheap political points. The ONLY reason they would NOT boycott the Olympics over something like this, is if NBC (the only authorized Olympics broadcaster) spends a hell of a lot of money lobbying those clowns to STFU.
 
Why doesn't the tech industry SUE to be able to disclose more information. Put some money behind it. Basically saying

They could even sue saying that with recent snowden events bringing greater scrutiny the fact that these companies are cooperating with the NSA is actually starting to damage their profit margins and potential future profits. As such it may start to make more financial sense not to and pay penalties.
 
I seem to remember the leaked document saying that in exchange for NSA access in to these companies systems, software and servers, the U.S. Government would give immunity to the boardroom & CEO. People seem to forget this little fact.
 
Grimlaking said:
Why doesn't the tech industry SUE to be able to disclose more information. Put some money behind it. Basically saying

They could even sue saying that with recent snowden events bringing greater scrutiny the fact that these companies are cooperating with the NSA is actually starting to damage their profit margins and potential future profits. As such it may start to make more financial sense not to and pay penalties.
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It is very difficult to sue the US government and the government has liability protection anyway ... because this is a classified program the government is allowed to refuse disclosure ... without supporting documents it is difficult to meet the minimum proof requirements for a case

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/10/why_you_cant_sue_the_government_for_spying_on_you/
 
Transparency is great, but that doesn't mean they would stop doing what they were doing. A limit to the powers of groups created by executive order would be better.
 
it's all smoke and mirrors.. they're trying to keep the appearance of being on the side of consumer privacy... but everyone knows most of big tech quickly bows over and takes it whenever asked (threatened or paid off with crony capitalism) by the govt... Crying about more transparency is just a part of the contingency plan in case they were outed. It's interesting they're all playing from the same playbook once they were busted giving our information away. "we have to comply, we don't give "direct" access, we require subpoenas (even though FISA was a rubber stamp), we want the NSA to allow us to prove how many requests it gets"` <-- what is that supposed to tell us? nothing substantial.. it's just a distraction from the real issue. They are spying on everyone.. foreign and domestic.
 
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