Google: US Spying Scandal Will 'Break The Internet'

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Eric Schmidt says the US spying scandal will "break the internet." Oddly enough, no one had anything to say about Google's own data collection policies and procedures. ;)

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who has been outspoken on the topic, pulled no punches with his assessment of how the spying scandal has and will continue to impact Google and other tech companies. The impact is "severe and is getting worse," Schmidt said. "We're going to wind up breaking the Internet."
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If this scandal breaks the internet then it won't all be the government's fault. A huge portion of blame will lay on the heads of the journalists who have blown this issue out of all proportion and deceived the public to great degrees and to the public themselves for being so easily taken in by these journalists and refusing to believe the truth when it is told to them squarely.
 
The worst that I could see happening are countries like Russia and maybe China cutting off their internet from the global internet. Russia is already trying to do this. I for one, don't really see that as a bad thing.

The US "spying" might make headlines but it is hardly the biggest threat to the Internet. All over Europe as well as the UK they are passing privacy laws that simply don't make sense / won't work in the context of the internet. They pass those laws with full knowledge that it will be impossible for companies to comply, but simply don't care. Many of those lawmakers are old and probably still bitter about the ways that the Internet has changed the world, and likely get off on the idea of making life hard for Internet companies by passing unrealistic laws.
 
The US government's actions have made it clear they feel there are no rules or rights on the internet.

They are going to lose so badly its going to be funny and it serves them right.
 
Oh look, it's the Internet's biggest creepster complaining about nations and individuals getting more concerned about their own privacy. Gee, the people at Google must finally be finding out that people are totally gonna look at Google and compaines doing mega-crazy, unconsented data mining across multiple platforms and get upset. It's already happening with all the ad blocking and no scripting along with the increasing awareness of just how lurk-y and watching everything you're doing-y they've been since pretty much all of us were born.
 
So should we download as much porn as possible in the event of an internet breakage?
 
BBC just had a great documentary on this stuff. Called "The Dark Web". It discusses the spy programs, bitcoin, silk road (old and new), new tech to counter spying, and other related stuff. It's on YT. They even interview Sir Tim Berners-Lee who states his displeasure with the government perversion of privacy.
 
lcpiper said:
If this scandal breaks the internet then it won't all be the government's fault. A huge portion of blame will lay on the heads of the journalists who have blown this issue out of all proportion and deceived the public to great degrees and to the public themselves for being so easily taken in by these journalists and refusing to believe the truth when it is told to them squarely.
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Are the journalists executing some kind of massive ddos, packet sniffing or other mechanisms? You are the expert.

What infrastructure is threatened by their blog posts?
Specifics, please.
 
aardvark sandwich said:
Are the journalists executing some kind of massive ddos, packet sniffing or other mechanisms? You are the expert.

What infrastructure is threatened by their blog posts?
Specifics, please.
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Actually, I kinda agree with you. Journalists aren't really doing much of anything except taking full advantage of people who were already pretty much insane-crazies to begin with. Yes, they're playing on uninformed fears, but those people that are flipping out would have been or already were being spoon-fed by the selfish people taking advantage of their misplaced trust.
 
This from a company who control two-thirds of global internet searches, and provides results that are in nobody's best interest except their own legal department. It literally makes me sick that a nation of 315 million people cannot produce a single objective search engine for the internet.
 
JeffDC said:
It literally makes me sick that a nation of 315 million people cannot produce a single objective search engine for the internet.
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In the age of the internet, what qualifies as "objective", is ultimately quite subjective.
 
So Google and all the rest, just bent right over, and said "Please don't stick it in too far.." and of course the government did, and now Google is complaining about it, years after the fact? The time to say and do something, was back then before things got out of hand, now it's too late.
 
Yeah, until Snowden revealed the NSA information.....everyone was silent, or damn near so....INCLUDING Google.

News flash....the "internet" has been broken for a LONG time.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Actually, I kinda agree with you. Journalists aren't really doing much of anything except taking full advantage of people who were already pretty much insane-crazies to begin with. Yes, they're playing on uninformed fears, but those people that are flipping out would have been or already were being spoon-fed by the selfish people taking advantage of their misplaced trust.
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Or, the government has proven time, and time, and time, again that they are not to be trusted.
 
Will I still be able to access my Steam library.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Oh look, it's the Internet's biggest creepster complaining about nations and individuals getting more concerned about their own privacy. Gee, the people at Google must finally be finding out that people are totally gonna look at Google and compaines doing mega-crazy, unconsented data mining across multiple platforms and get upset. It's already happening with all the ad blocking and no scripting along with the increasing awareness of just how lurk-y and watching everything you're doing-y they've been since pretty much all of us were born.
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Be honest do you hit F5 all day just waiting for a headline about Google and then when it comes up your eyes roll around like a slot machine? Too funny.
 
I was there today. They really avoided a lot of topics that I feel should have been discussed but it was still worth attending. Unfortunately there was practically nobody there and the Q&A session only lasted for 5 mins or so.

@Icpiper: I don't think they mentioned Snowden the entire time.
 
Schmidt is just worried the sensitization to privacy is interfering with Google's approach to monetizing your activity.
 
Tak Ne said:
The US government's actions have made it clear they feel there are no rules or rights on the internet.

They are going to lose so badly its going to be funny and it serves them right.
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What does your government do? Chances are its as bad or worse and you haven't even tried to find out and ultimately don't care because its your government.
 
Lith1um said:
Or, people have proven time, and time, and time, again that they are not to be trusted.
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I fixed that for you. :D Seriously, even you can figure out that people suck and people will _always_ be in charge of or put themselves in charge of other people so this is nothing new and will never change regardless of how many whatif models of a better society are proposed that never get implemented.

DPI said:
Be honest do you hit F5 all day just waiting for a headline about Google and then when it comes up your eyes roll around like a slot machine? Too funny.
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Nowai! I totally have an app for that.
 
I will never understand how really smart people get to that level and then don't understand the politics of things. It wont break the internet. It may be an excuse countries use to break the internet. But it isn't the reason the internet will be broken. Disconnecting from the overall interwebs will not prevent US spying at all. If anything it makes it easier since now you don't even have to pretend to worry about collecting on US citizens. Russia and whoever might disconnect from the internet as a whole, but thats just a measure to allow them to control their internet and dissidence and has zero to do with US spying.
 
lcpiper said:
If this scandal breaks the internet then it won't all be the government's fault. A huge portion of blame will lay on the heads of the journalists who have blown this issue out of all proportion and deceived the public to great degrees and to the public themselves for being so easily taken in by these journalists and refusing to believe the truth when it is told to them squarely.
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The government set up this fucking debacle. All journalists did was expose it. Now the same government will draft legislation and choose whether or not to pass it, and nothing a journalist will say will make a goddamned difference. I hate the media but your buck-passing is laughable at this point.
 
All this spying is going to lead to the creation of a standard system where all your internet data is encrypted, which will drive the FBI/NSA etc completely fucking insane
 
ShamisOMally said:
All this spying is going to lead to the creation of a standard system where all your internet data is encrypted, which will drive the FBI/NSA etc completely fucking insane
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Only to be met with cries of chronic government under-funding.
 
Now that I have thought about this for a few min, fuck it I hope they break the internet. My life would be far more enjoyable if I wasn't bombarded with useless advertising, the constant pinging of my phone about someone liking someones post about a "you won't believe what happens next" story. I could go back to listening to my vinyl records in the garage and having people walking by stop and ask what is paying rather than walking around on their phones stumbling out into traffic and getting hit by a bus. Never actually seen that but it might make my night slightly more entertaining if it did happen.
 
If people are forced to choose between their government and the internet I am going to have a good time.
 
ShamisOMally said:
All this spying is going to lead to the creation of a standard system where all your internet data is encrypted, which will drive the FBI/NSA etc completely fucking insane
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That's insane. That'd be like if a new system of currency were created with full anonymity. It'd never work.
 
Stiletto said:
That's insane. That'd be like if a new system of currency were created with full anonymity. It'd never work.
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It can and will work, just will be slandered in every way possible like crytpo currencies. Take for example chrome suggested I meant to say crackpot instead of crypto. Its the old fear mongering. If you have nothing to hide who would you need to do this. Instead of the actual approach of I have nothing to hide however I don't want you reading everything I do.
 
aardvark sandwich said:
Are the journalists executing some kind of massive ddos, packet sniffing or other mechanisms? You are the expert.

What infrastructure is threatened by their blog posts?
Specifics, please.
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aardvark sandwich I've been very clear for almost a year now. The media has generated lies and misrepresented the reality of the problem. Individuals such as yourself and many others refuse to let go of your belief in these falsehoods. You and many like you meet attempts to dispel these lies with links to more media reports that also lie and misrepresent the truth. You refuse to be reasoned with and insist the government is doing things that they are not doing.

Example: The NSA does capture all internet traffic from known foreign intelligence targets.

Media claim: The NSA captures all internet traffic.

I explain the difference: The media left out the " from known foreign intelligence targets" part of reality.

Your response(sic): A link to another regurgitated article that says the same thing that the first media outlet says.

When I ask you to show where it is that these reporters claim the targets are US Citizens you and others like you dodge and point to other news articles that you believe provide proof and yet these other articles are not even about the NSA or are about some other claimed report of abuse that again lacks the defining distinction of whether or not the activity is actually directed at US Citizens.

You would rather place your fear and anger against an unproven threat than accept the far greater and proven threat that the media is manipulating you even after it is proven and placed right before your eyes.
 
lcpiper said:
aardvark sandwich I've been very clear for almost a year now. The media has generated lies and misrepresented the reality of the problem. Individuals such as yourself and many others refuse to let go of your belief in these falsehoods. You and many like you meet attempts to dispel these lies with links to more media reports that also lie and misrepresent the truth. You refuse to be reasoned with and insist the government is doing things that they are not doing.

Example: The NSA does capture all internet traffic from known foreign intelligence targets.

Media claim: The NSA captures all internet traffic.

I explain the difference: The media left out the " from known foreign intelligence targets" part of reality.

Your response(sic): A link to another regurgitated article that says the same thing that the first media outlet says.

When I ask you to show where it is that these reporters claim the targets are US Citizens you and others like you dodge and point to other news articles that you believe provide proof and yet these other articles are not even about the NSA or are about some other claimed report of abuse that again lacks the defining distinction of whether or not the activity is actually directed at US Citizens.

You would rather place your fear and anger against an unproven threat than accept the far greater and proven threat that the media is manipulating you even after it is proven and placed right before your eyes.
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Your criticism from me has been an unquestioning belief in media. Got it.

What I am specifically demanding in this instance is specifics as to how the media is endangering the physical infrastructure of the internet.

I dont want to blindly believe some dude I saw on the internet, I want specifics.

No matter what you think of articles I've posted giving detailed accounts of specific NSA programs addressed by name, I have seen no evidence from you regarding the media and the physical infrastructure of the internet. Until you provide me with specific objective examples, you are just some guy on the internet to me. It is hilarious that you think I should just take your word for it while simultaneously crying foul on the actual stolen NSA slides I've posted umpteen times.

Give.

Me.

Objective.

Data.
 
lol, you all voted this administration in.
You reap what you sow. ;)
 
Scythe said:
Yeah, until Snowden revealed the NSA information.....everyone was silent, or damn near so....INCLUDING Google.

News flash....the "internet" has been broken for a LONG time.
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No they weren't. There were plenty of people complaining about these same things before Snowden and much of it started even before 9/11 and the following Patriot Act. Some of you are not old enough to have been aware of it yet. Some of you were too busy to care. But this isn't a new struggle and the idea that Snowden enlightened us to a new threat is false. Snowden was encouraged by the efforts of others before him, guys like William Binney.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Binney_%28U.S._intelligence_official%29

William Binney got bent out of shape because he believed the NSA was doing something illegal. He believed this because he didn't know that the President(Bush), and used his authority under the War powers act to authorize the activity. Despite the fact that they warned him he insisted and resigned and went "Whistle-blower". Ten years later the Government reveals the facts about the Letter, William Binney has this tremendous "Oh SHIT !" moment, and Ed Snowden is still sitting in Russia knowing damn well that there is no chance in hell that the US Government will be able to successfully prosecute him if they get their hands on him.

Since 2001 and William Binney, and others, attempts to prove wrong-doing, only one program has been shown to "target" US Persons, this is the Bulk Meta-Data Program. This is also the only program the Government has admitted to and is a program that was authorized by the President's War Powers Letter. The program is legal, it continues today. The Constitutionality of the law that allows this program is being challenged but the courts have as yet not ruled against it. Although Ed Snowden released some information related to the Bulk Meta-Data Program he has release far more information about programs and techniques that have nothing at all to do with US Person's and their privacy. These releases were tailored and published in an attempt to mislead the American People into believing that the NSA has defied every premise of personal privacy rights of US Citizens and is intended to cause harm to the US Intelligence Services. As one would expect, many people simply don't care, but many, like many of you, care and are vocal and they can not be convinced to even question if they are mistaken. The end result to date is that a small percentage of Americans are convinced that they are being abused by the Government and in particular by the NSA. The ability for the NSA to effectively collect information on foreign intelligence targets has likely been harmed.

Perhaps just as important and more dangerous in the long run is that in order to protect itself from future insider threats like Ed Snowden, the Intelligence Services now openly admit that they will now conduct on and off-the-job surveillance of Security Clearance workers who must now accept total loss of expected privacy as the cost of working in the Government/Military Sector. This will be very expensive and destroys the Trust Model that we have relied on for well over 60 years. Worse, this is truly the "slippery slope" which may herald a day when the Federal Government may decide that "if the people we trust with security clearances can't be trusted, why not openly watch them all".

I find it painfully ironic that the only truly tangible effects of Ed Snowden's revelations is that on the one hand no actual misdeeds have been proven and no programs have effectively been stopped or changed while conversely the most intrusive surveillance program ever used on American Citizens has been put into place and openly acknowledged by the Federal Government. This is the reality of Ed Snowden's betrayal.
 
Ed Snowden is still sitting in Russia knowing damn well that there is no chance in hell that the US Government will be able to successfully prosecute him if they get their hands on him.
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My bad, this should have said;

Ed Snowden is still sitting in Russia knowing damn well that there is no chance in hell that the US Government will not be able to successfully prosecute him if they get their hands on him.
 
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