Feds Tell Web Firms To Turn Over User Account Passwords

[HardOCP News]

I'm surprised by what the government thinks it's okay to do when no one is looking. Wait, no I'm not.

The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed.

 

[LeninGHOLA]

Sounds like wire fraud to me.

 

[MCRAYGSX]

This is what happens when there is no one in Gov to supervise and no one know who this secret court is. Like Jimmy Carter said " no democracy "

 

[Megalith]

Smoke screen.

The government never asks; it simply takes.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

It's a targeted thing to sniff out information for specific people in specific situations that really do need to be watched. The government doesn't care about me talking with my friend about my last date or your stupid "government creeps me out" posts unless you freak out like damicatz does and start saying you wanna overthrow something like an idiot. So yeah, if you're not doing something wrong, you really shouldn't be worried. It isn't like they're gonna forward all those yucky penis pics you sent to your office girlfriend just to watch you get in trouble.

 

[NickJames]

Wtf? Does the gov not know what a HASH is?

 

[FrgMstr]

Wtf? Does the gov not know what a HASH is?

Mmmmm, hash.

 

[Jagger100]

Wtf? Does the gov not know what a HASH is?

You think they don't have resources to brute force and reverse lookup common hashes and then about a million variations of those common hashes? If the hashes are salted, its by the company that has the hash and will tell the government what it needs to know to offset it.

 

[-Axiom-]

This is what happens when there is no one in Gov to supervise and no one know who this secret court is. Like Jimmy Carter said " no democracy "

We don't want a Democracy, Democracies are bad mmmm k.

We have a non functional Representative Republic.

 

[fdiaz78]

It's a targeted thing to sniff out information for specific people in specific situations that really do need to be watched. The government doesn't care about me talking with my friend about my last date or your stupid "government creeps me out" posts unless you freak out like damicatz does and start saying you wanna overthrow something like an idiot. So yeah, if you're not doing something wrong, you really shouldn't be worried. It isn't like they're gonna forward all those yucky penis pics you sent to your office girlfriend just to watch you get in trouble.

This is utter bullshit. We have a Goddam constitution that specifically prohibits this. Are you ok with lazy, blanket police state tactics? Hey mind if I scan your computer? I have a hunch you work for terrorists.

Folks people died to safeguard our freedoms. This is unamerican.

 

[BBA]

It's a targeted thing to sniff out information for specific people in specific situations that really do need to be watched. The government doesn't care about me talking with my friend about my last date or your stupid "government creeps me out" posts unless you freak out like damicatz does and start saying you wanna overthrow something like an idiot. So yeah, if you're not doing something wrong, you really shouldn't be worried. It isn't like they're gonna forward all those yucky penis pics you sent to your office girlfriend just to watch you get in trouble.

That is the most moronic post I have read today.

 

[TheWeazmeister]

It's a targeted thing to sniff out information for specific people in specific situations that really do need to be watched. The government doesn't care about me talking with my friend about my last date or your stupid "government creeps me out" posts unless you freak out like damicatz does and start saying you wanna overthrow something like an idiot. So yeah, if you're not doing something wrong, you really shouldn't be worried. It isn't like they're gonna forward all those yucky penis pics you sent to your office girlfriend just to watch you get in trouble.

Yeah, that sounds all nice and good, until some ahole decides that he wants to abuse the power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. There's a reason why the founding fathers setup checks and balances.

 

[Quicksilver_]

It's CreepyUncleGoogle guys, relax.

 

[Dayaks]

It's CreepyUncleGoogle guys, relax.

I love this. I have to start looking at who's posting sooner.

And this news is disturbing but not surprising.

 

[Hallucinator]

It's a targeted thing to sniff out information for specific people in specific situations that really do need to be watched. The government doesn't care about me talking with my friend about my last date or your stupid "government creeps me out" posts unless you freak out like damicatz does and start saying you wanna overthrow something like an idiot. So yeah, if you're not doing something wrong, you really shouldn't be worried. It isn't like they're gonna forward all those yucky penis pics you sent to your office girlfriend just to watch you get in trouble.

Then you won't mind dropping down your shield of privacy and let NSA, FBI and other its same kind come inside YOUR house and nose around as if they live there? Maybe they might bump you aside and log in your PC to browse the event viewer and log in history? Oh, they might wanna to check out the list of passwords on "Stick It" yellow slips shattered around your PC desk? Oh they're harmless - don't mind them breathing down your neck as long as you have done no wrong.

Feel comfortable with this?

 

[HisSvt76]

Then you won't mind dropping down your shield of privacy and let NSA, FBI and other its same kind come inside YOUR house and nose around as if they live there? Maybe they might bump you aside and log in your PC to browse the event viewer and log in history? Oh, they might wanna to check out the list of passwords on "Stick It" yellow slips shattered around your PC desk? Oh they're harmless - don't mind them breathing down your neck as long as you have done no wrong.

Feel comfortable with this?

Exactly and while there maybe have go at your old lady where does it stop?

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

Then you won't mind dropping down your shield of privacy and let NSA, FBI and other its same kind come inside YOUR house and nose around as if they live there? Maybe they might bump you aside and log in your PC to browse the event viewer and log in history? Oh, they might wanna to check out the list of passwords on "Stick It" yellow slips shattered around your PC desk? Oh they're harmless - don't mind them breathing down your neck as long as you have done no wrong.

Feel comfortable with this?

I really don't mind if they did. They can pretty much dig through any of my stuff. There's nothing at all interesting or worth hiding from a government agency. They can read my e-mail, check my browser history, dig around in my files...I don't care because I don't do anything I need to hide. They'll find a buncha pics of my cat, figure out my screen name on catforum.com, find out what I post here, and read a bunch of e-mails I sent to my friends to talk about a book I'm writing and if we can hang out this weekend at the mall. So yeah, I'm comfy with that and people who aren't have something to hide or are afriad because they're doing something they think is wrong and they know it.

 

[spintroniX]

uncle google is an epic troll

 

[forcefed]

Time to stop using free services from american tech companies.

 

[[21CW]killerofall]

It is shit like this that is really making me think of moving to Europe. Now if only I could find a job and a work permit. Hell I wouldn't even be that picky about which country in Europe.

 

[Mr. K6]

uncle google is an epic troll

Or just stupid.

It is shit like this that is really making me think of moving to Europe. Now if only I could find a job and a work permit. Hell I wouldn't even be that picky about which country in Europe.

I'm curious what country you think in Europe also doesn't do this.

 

[l88bastard]

I really don't mind if they did. They can pretty much dig through any of my stuff. There's nothing at all interesting or worth hiding from a government agency. They can read my e-mail, check my browser history, dig around in my files...I don't care because I don't do anything I need to hide. They'll find a buncha pics of my cat, figure out my screen name on catforum.com, find out what I post here, and read a bunch of e-mails I sent to my friends to talk about a book I'm writing and if we can hang out this weekend at the mall. So yeah, I'm comfy with that and people who aren't have something to hide or are afriad because they're doing something they think is wrong and they know it.

I live in a country generally assumed to be a dictatorship. One of the Arab spring countries. I have lived through curfews and have seen the outcomes of the sort of surveillance now being revealed in the US. People here talking about curfews aren’t realizing what that actually FEELS like. It isn’t about having to go inside, and the practicality of that. It’s about creating the feeling that everyone, everything is watching. A few points:

1) the purpose of this surveillance from the governments point of view is to control enemies of the state. Not terrorists. People who are coalescing around ideas that would destabilize the status quo. These could be religious ideas. These could be groups like anon who are too good with tech for the governments liking. It makes it very easy to know who these people are. It also makes it very simple to control these people.

Lets say you are a college student and you get in with some people who want to stop farming practices that hurt animals. So you make a plan and go to protest these practices. You get there, and wow, the protest is huge. You never expected this, you were just goofing off. Well now everyone who was there is suspect. Even though you technically had the right to protest, you’re now considered a dangerous person.

With this tech in place, the government doesn’t have to put you in jail. They can do something more sinister. They can just email you a sexy picture you took with a girlfriend. Or they can email you a note saying that they can prove your dad is cheating on his taxes. Or they can threaten to get your dad fired. All you have to do, the email says, is help them catch your friends in the group. You have to report back every week, or you dad might lose his job. So you do. You turn in your friends and even though they try to keep meetings off grid, you’re reporting on them to protect your dad.

2) Let’s say number one goes on. The country is a weird place now. Really weird. Pretty soon, a movement springs up like occupy, except its bigger this time. People are really serious, and they are saying they want a government without this power. I guess people are realizing that it is a serious deal. You see on the news that tear gas was fired. Your friend calls you, frantic. They’re shooting people. Oh my god. you never signed up for this. You say, fuck it. My dad might lose his job but I won’t be responsible for anyone dying. That’s going too far. You refuse to report anymore. You just stop going to meetings. You stay at home, and try not to watch the news. Three days later, police come to your door and arrest you. They confiscate your computer and phones, and they beat you up a bit. No one can help you so they all just sit quietly. They know if they say anything they’re next. This happened in the country I live in. It is not a joke.

3) Its hard to say how long you were in there. What you saw was horrible. Most of the time, you only heard screams. People begging to be killed. Noises you’ve never heard before. You, you were lucky. You got kicked every day when they threw your moldy food at you, but no one shocked you. No one used sexual violence on you, at least that you remember. There were some times they gave you pills, and you can’t say for sure what happened then. To be honest, sometimes the pills were the best part of your day, because at least then you didn’t feel anything. You have scars on you from the way you were treated. You learn in prison that torture is now common. But everyone who uploads videos or pictures of this torture is labeled a leaker. Its considered a threat to national security. Pretty soon, a cut you got on your leg is looking really bad. You think it’s infected. There were no doctors in prison, and it was so overcrowded, who knows what got in the cut. You go to the doctor, but he refuses to see you. He knows if he does the government can see the records that he treated you. Even you calling his office prompts a visit from the local police.

You decide to go home and see your parents. Maybe they can help. This leg is getting really bad. You get to their house. They aren’t home. You can’t reach them no matter how hard you try. A neighbor pulls you aside, and he quickly tells you they were arrested three weeks ago and haven’t been seen since. You vaguely remember mentioning to them on the phone you were going to that protest. Even your little brother isn’t there.

4) Is this even really happening? You look at the news. Sports scores. Celebrity news. It’s like nothing is wrong. What the hell is going on? A stranger smirks at you reading the paper. You lose it. You shout at him “fuck you dude what are you laughing at can’t you see I’ve got a fucking wound on my leg?”

“Sorry,” he says. “I just didn’t know anyone read the news anymore.” There haven’t been any real journalists for months. They’re all in jail.

Everyone walking around is scared. They can’t talk to anyone else because they don’t know who is reporting for the government. Hell, at one time YOU were reporting for the government. Maybe they just want their kid to get through school. Maybe they want to keep their job. Maybe they’re sick and want to be able to visit the doctor. It’s always a simple reason. Good people always do bad things for simple reasons.

You want to protest. You want your family back. You need help for your leg. This is way beyond anything you ever wanted. It started because you just wanted to see fair treatment in farms. Now you’re basically considered a terrorist, and everyone around you might be reporting on you. You definitely can’t use a phone or email. You can’t get a job. You can’t even trust people face to face anymore. On every corner, there are people with guns. They are as scared as you are. They just don’t want to lose their jobs. They don’t want to be labeled as traitors.

This all happened in the country where I live.

You want to know why revolutions happen? Because little by little by little things get worse and worse. But this thing that is happening now is big. This is the key ingredient. This allows them to know everything they need to know to accomplish the above. The fact that they are doing it is proof that they are the sort of people who might use it in the way I described. In the country I live in, they also claimed it was for the safety of the people. Same in Soviet Russia. Same in East Germany. In fact, that is always the excuse that is used to surveil everyone. But it has never ONCE proven to be the reality.

Maybe Obama won’t do it. Maybe the next guy won’t, or the one after him. Maybe this story isn’t about you. Maybe it happens 10 or 20 years from now, when a big war is happening, or after another big attack. Maybe it’s about your daughter or your son. We just don’t know yet. But what we do know is that right now, in this moment we have a choice. Are we okay with this, or not? Do we want this power to exist, or not?

You know for me, the reason I’m upset is that I grew up in school saying the pledge of allegiance. I was taught that the United States meant “liberty and justice for all.” You get older, you learn that in this country we define that phrase based on the constitution. That’s what tells us what liberty is and what justice is. Well, the government just violated that ideal. So if they aren’t standing for liberty and justice anymore, what are they standing for? Safety?

Ask yourself a question. In the story I told above, does anyone sound safe?

I didn’t make anything up. These things happened to people I know. We used to think it couldn’t happen in America. But guess what? It’s starting to happen.

I actually get really upset when people say “I don’t have anything to hide. Let them read everything.” People saying that have no idea what they are bringing down on their own heads. They are naive, and we need to listen to people in other countries who are clearly telling us that this is a horrible horrible sign and it is time to stand up and say no.

 

[Mini-Me]

That is the most moronic post I have read today.

CreepyUncleGoogle can make you an entire calendar of those.

 

[Mini-Me]

Wow, l88bastard has it EXACTLY right. People like CreepyUncleGoogle complain about corporations creepily spying on consumers, and rightly so, but they have no sense of perspective about where the true danger actually lies.

I posted this before in another thread, but it belongs here too. The context was slightly different, but...:

To me, the biggest problem with corporations spying on consumers is that the information can be aggregated and become usable by the government.

By themselves, corporations use this kind of privacy-invading information for creepy targeted advertising. I don't like it, but it doesn't threaten the future of the human race. Governments on the other hand spy on people to institute a control grid, and their ultimate goal is to make any "crime" impossible to get away with. (Major corporations want this too, because they benefit from the current pecking order, but they need to go through government first to accomplish it.) That sounds great at first...until you realize that ANYTHING can become criminalized, including ordinary human behavior and even speech. We only have three real protections against that:

• The Constitution...which unfortunately does not have any real teeth. There is no built-in mechanism to hold government officials personally accountable for breaking the supreme law of the land, and the only built-in mechanisms meant to reverse encroachments (e.g. judicial review) have obviously been far too weak to prevent cumulative expansion of government beyond its legal mandate.
• The political process...which is obviously broken. Just look at all of the bipartisan copyright extremism in Congress, and the way the government gives companies like Monsanto immunity from the rest of the law. Whatever the "will of the people" is, it's not that.
• The latent ability of the people to defend themselves, if push comes to shove...which is being vigorously attacked by a perennial campaign for completely unbalanced government control of firearms.

A complete technological control grid will make it possible for the government (and its string-pullers) to criminalize whatever they want, and the people will have no recourse, because that very control grid will make "crime" impossible...which includes revolution and may eventually include mere political organization.

So...yes, there's nothing on Earth more dangerous than the government knowing exactly what everyone is doing at any given time.

 

[LightningCrash]

Wtf? Does the gov not know what a HASH is?

Are you sending your password pre-hashed, or does your password form send it plain?

Some newer VB's standard login form will Md5 the password field once before sending it over, but stuff like ForumRunner still sent it plain the last time I checked.

 

[Serpent]

-snip-

That... is friggin' creepy.

Never really thought that hard about it, but yea, I have to agree.

 

[bloodhawke83]

This is what happens when there is no one in Gov to supervise and no one know who this secret court is. Like Jimmy Carter said " no democracy "

democracy is mob rule and that's what we have.

USA is a republic.

 

[Hallucinator]

I live in a country generally assumed to be a dictatorship......

[epic 411 but recommended reading!]

...I actually get really upset when people say “I don’t have anything to hide. Let them read everything.” People saying that have no idea what they are bringing down on their own heads. They are naive, and we need to listen to people in other countries who are clearly telling us that this is a horrible horrible sign and it is time to stand up and say no.

Very epic true. Americans, wake up.

UncleCreepTroll, you're so naive. Please read the whole thing for your privacy and safety's sake. Ever think of what they gonna to do with lists of your entire relatives, friends and whoever's emails and addresses?? You really don't mind them being contacted with false news about you? This can go deeper than this. Need I go on? You get the picture.

 

[The Recessionist]

I have 1 question:

How many people think that the "Kenyan" is behind all of this?

 

[Mini-Me]

I have 1 question:

How many people think that the "Kenyan" is behind all of this?

It this your litmus test for the partisan stupidity of this forum? Not everyone here gets it, but it's still pretty commonly recognized around these parts that tyranny is a bipartisan affair.

 

[GoldenTiger]

I live in a country generally assumed to be a dictatorship. One of the Arab spring countries. I have lived through curfews and have seen the outcomes of the sort of surveillance now being revealed in the US. People here talking about curfews aren’t realizing what that actually FEELS like. It isn’t about having to go inside, and the practicality of that. It’s about creating the feeling that everyone, everything is watching. A few points:

1) the purpose of this surveillance from the governments point of view is to control enemies of the state. Not terrorists. People who are coalescing around ideas that would destabilize the status quo. These could be religious ideas. These could be groups like anon who are too good with tech for the governments liking. It makes it very easy to know who these people are. It also makes it very simple to control these people.

Lets say you are a college student and you get in with some people who want to stop farming practices that hurt animals. So you make a plan and go to protest these practices. You get there, and wow, the protest is huge. You never expected this, you were just goofing off. Well now everyone who was there is suspect. Even though you technically had the right to protest, you’re now considered a dangerous person.

With this tech in place, the government doesn’t have to put you in jail. They can do something more sinister. They can just email you a sexy picture you took with a girlfriend. Or they can email you a note saying that they can prove your dad is cheating on his taxes. Or they can threaten to get your dad fired. All you have to do, the email says, is help them catch your friends in the group. You have to report back every week, or you dad might lose his job. So you do. You turn in your friends and even though they try to keep meetings off grid, you’re reporting on them to protect your dad.

2) Let’s say number one goes on. The country is a weird place now. Really weird. Pretty soon, a movement springs up like occupy, except its bigger this time. People are really serious, and they are saying they want a government without this power. I guess people are realizing that it is a serious deal. You see on the news that tear gas was fired. Your friend calls you, frantic. They’re shooting people. Oh my god. you never signed up for this. You say, fuck it. My dad might lose his job but I won’t be responsible for anyone dying. That’s going too far. You refuse to report anymore. You just stop going to meetings. You stay at home, and try not to watch the news. Three days later, police come to your door and arrest you. They confiscate your computer and phones, and they beat you up a bit. No one can help you so they all just sit quietly. They know if they say anything they’re next. This happened in the country I live in. It is not a joke.

3) Its hard to say how long you were in there. What you saw was horrible. Most of the time, you only heard screams. People begging to be killed. Noises you’ve never heard before. You, you were lucky. You got kicked every day when they threw your moldy food at you, but no one shocked you. No one used sexual violence on you, at least that you remember. There were some times they gave you pills, and you can’t say for sure what happened then. To be honest, sometimes the pills were the best part of your day, because at least then you didn’t feel anything. You have scars on you from the way you were treated. You learn in prison that torture is now common. But everyone who uploads videos or pictures of this torture is labeled a leaker. Its considered a threat to national security. Pretty soon, a cut you got on your leg is looking really bad. You think it’s infected. There were no doctors in prison, and it was so overcrowded, who knows what got in the cut. You go to the doctor, but he refuses to see you. He knows if he does the government can see the records that he treated you. Even you calling his office prompts a visit from the local police.

You decide to go home and see your parents. Maybe they can help. This leg is getting really bad. You get to their house. They aren’t home. You can’t reach them no matter how hard you try. A neighbor pulls you aside, and he quickly tells you they were arrested three weeks ago and haven’t been seen since. You vaguely remember mentioning to them on the phone you were going to that protest. Even your little brother isn’t there.

4) Is this even really happening? You look at the news. Sports scores. Celebrity news. It’s like nothing is wrong. What the hell is going on? A stranger smirks at you reading the paper. You lose it. You shout at him “fuck you dude what are you laughing at can’t you see I’ve got a fucking wound on my leg?”

“Sorry,” he says. “I just didn’t know anyone read the news anymore.” There haven’t been any real journalists for months. They’re all in jail.

Everyone walking around is scared. They can’t talk to anyone else because they don’t know who is reporting for the government. Hell, at one time YOU were reporting for the government. Maybe they just want their kid to get through school. Maybe they want to keep their job. Maybe they’re sick and want to be able to visit the doctor. It’s always a simple reason. Good people always do bad things for simple reasons.

You want to protest. You want your family back. You need help for your leg. This is way beyond anything you ever wanted. It started because you just wanted to see fair treatment in farms. Now you’re basically considered a terrorist, and everyone around you might be reporting on you. You definitely can’t use a phone or email. You can’t get a job. You can’t even trust people face to face anymore. On every corner, there are people with guns. They are as scared as you are. They just don’t want to lose their jobs. They don’t want to be labeled as traitors.

This all happened in the country where I live.

You want to know why revolutions happen? Because little by little by little things get worse and worse. But this thing that is happening now is big. This is the key ingredient. This allows them to know everything they need to know to accomplish the above. The fact that they are doing it is proof that they are the sort of people who might use it in the way I described. In the country I live in, they also claimed it was for the safety of the people. Same in Soviet Russia. Same in East Germany. In fact, that is always the excuse that is used to surveil everyone. But it has never ONCE proven to be the reality.

Maybe Obama won’t do it. Maybe the next guy won’t, or the one after him. Maybe this story isn’t about you. Maybe it happens 10 or 20 years from now, when a big war is happening, or after another big attack. Maybe it’s about your daughter or your son. We just don’t know yet. But what we do know is that right now, in this moment we have a choice. Are we okay with this, or not? Do we want this power to exist, or not?

You know for me, the reason I’m upset is that I grew up in school saying the pledge of allegiance. I was taught that the United States meant “liberty and justice for all.” You get older, you learn that in this country we define that phrase based on the constitution. That’s what tells us what liberty is and what justice is. Well, the government just violated that ideal. So if they aren’t standing for liberty and justice anymore, what are they standing for? Safety?

Ask yourself a question. In the story I told above, does anyone sound safe?

I didn’t make anything up. These things happened to people I know. We used to think it couldn’t happen in America. But guess what? It’s starting to happen.

I actually get really upset when people say “I don’t have anything to hide. Let them read everything.” People saying that have no idea what they are bringing down on their own heads. They are naive, and we need to listen to people in other countries who are clearly telling us that this is a horrible horrible sign and it is time to stand up and say no.

Quoted for emphasis. "First they came for..." well you know the rest.

 

[The Recessionist]

It this your litmus test for the partisan stupidity of this forum? Not everyone here gets it, but it's still pretty commonly recognized around these parts that tyranny is a bipartisan affair.

You and I will be just fine. But, if you see me engaging in too many of these types of discussions, please alert me. I really only finally joined to participate in budget builds discussions. Ha Ha

 

[kac77]

So yeah, if you're not doing something wrong, you really shouldn't be worried. It isn't like they're gonna forward all those yucky penis pics you sent to your office girlfriend just to watch you get in trouble.

Translation: I don't think I'll ever rise up against the government even when it's obviously out of control. So I believe I have nothing to worry about.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

Very epic true. Americans, wake up.

UncleCreepTroll, you're so naive. Please read the whole thing for your privacy and safety's sake. Ever think of what they gonna to do with lists of your entire relatives, friends and whoever's emails and addresses?? You really don't mind them being contacted with false news about you? This can go deeper than this. Need I go on? You get the picture.

Lemme put it like this...

People are currently caught up in a popular movement that encourages dislike of their government. They ignore their civic duty to be informed, rational citizens that make decisions based on complete information from credible sources. Instead, they turn to a spoon-fed snippet of "story" given to them by someone who has no clue and makes a bunch of assumptions. They use that as a basis for outrage because it aligns with their population-instilled feelings of injustice that are rooted in the unfounded belief that their situation is unique to them and somehow so much worse than before. They use that outrage as a way to protect their own selfish desires to hide the things they do online that they know are wrong because they fear getting caught cheating on their wife or girlfriend; they fear someone finding out they download nasty kiddie porn; or they're one of the 1 in 20 people in the US that have been incarcerated at some point in their lives and they're trying to hide their experimental drug use. So, instead of figuring out if what's happening is best for socitey as a whole, they decide what's best for them as an individual and throw aside their civic obligations. They base their outrage on a few out-of-context quotes from someone involved in writing the Constitution or a misinterpertation of an amendment or just a genrally hillbilly/redneck idea of the buzzword "freedom" to push their own beliefs and perpetuate the popular "I hate everything the government does and don't care if there's a benefit because I'm not going to bother researching it" idea.

So yeah, old men will forever go on being unable to control their hormones and keep their penis in their pants. Instead they'll pull the disgusting thing out and rub it on anything that feels good while they download horse and goat porn. When they have a chance, they'll freak online in a forum, using Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, or anyone else's quote to perpetuate a society of selfish people with sticky keyboards who want to hide their sexual deviance behind the Constitution without understanding what's on it or the context in which it was written.

Afterwards, they'll go to work and, instead of working, stand around talking about cars and sports, dropping the occasional comment about how awful the governement is while they're supposed to be doing something to earn a paycheck. All of them will pretend like they're collectively upset and that their thoughts are formed by a deeper understanding imparted by something other than groupthink and a 30 second snippet that they saw on TV between commercials advertising a bar of soap and a new model phone they all "must" own because they need it to survive and to look interesting to the opposite sex (protip: not being fat, bathing frequently, and laying off the onions works better).

 

[Uvaman]

I88bastard:

Let this be very clear to you: the US government is made of better people than those of fourth-rate cesspool countries you talk about. US in number one. There's no corruption whatsoever in the USA government, and ALL of our politicians are selfless saints of superior moral fiber.

How DARE compare your shitty dictatorship with our democratically elected high-minded individuals that govern out intellect and defend the best interests of their people with the last drop of their very being.

The planet, nah, the Universe has been blessed with the jewel of absolute perfection that is the US.

If the US government wants to violate all my privacy, so be it, I am absolutely certain its for my own good, and protection from harms I cannot understand. I have nothing to hide, and i WILL keep my head down. I NEED protection from the harm the inferior beings that populate the rest of the planet can inflict, with their inferior intellect, and poor excuse for government.

Read this words, it WILL NEVER HAPPEN in the US.

I am being sarcastic of course, all this information is ALREADY being used to suppress people in the US, the occupy movement was hit hard using all kinds of computer information. What most people don't really know or understand, its that if you keep your head down, you can do pretty good.. even the countries we in the US have a habit of making fun of, like soviet Russia in past and stuff like that, there are millions of people, who keep their head down, and for the most part, its fine, Just like you mention in your country (of origin) I am sure, if you keep your head down, yeah, you can have a job and make a living, enjoy your family, and be happy.
Most people can't visualize its not like everybody gets hit all the time in all this countries.
I have been told by political refugees as much, I believe it. Most people don't know specially the 'I have nothing to hide' morons the problem is how it works against you, when you want to change something in your country, when you protest ect. THEN you find out just how much power your government has, and how big it really is.. and its not big because it gives out social security or medicare, it big because it can ruin your life in a blink, it can track you with a few clicks, it can set you up with a few more.
That is normal in China, most people in the US are blind to the fact that this is where we are already, go ahead, protest for a while, see what happens, see how 'free' you really are.

 

[BBA]

Lemme put it like this...

People are currently caught up in a popular movement that encourages dislike of their government. They ignore their civic duty to be informed, rational citizens that make decisions based on complete information from credible sources.

You are a fine upstanding citizen sir, you will have nothing to worry about ever. You're on the good side. You will be the one gladly informing on those who have 'issues', you should be proud that you will be able to serve you government at all costs.

 

[BBA]

Lemme put it like this...

People are currently caught up in a popular movement that encourages dislike of their government. They ignore their civic duty to be informed, rational citizens that make decisions based on complete information from credible sources. Instead, they turn to a spoon-fed snippet of "story" given to them by someone who has no clue and makes a bunch of assumptions. They use that as a basis for outrage because it aligns with their population-instilled feelings of injustice that are rooted in the unfounded belief that their situation is unique to them and somehow so much worse than before. They use that outrage as a way to protect their own selfish desires to hide the things they do online that they know are wrong because they fear getting caught cheating on their wife or girlfriend; they fear someone finding out they download nasty kiddie porn; or they're one of the 1 in 20 people in the US that have been incarcerated at some point in their lives and they're trying to hide their experimental drug use. So, instead of figuring out if what's happening is best for socitey as a whole, they decide what's best for them as an individual and throw aside their civic obligations. They base their outrage on a few out-of-context quotes from someone involved in writing the Constitution or a misinterpertation of an amendment or just a genrally hillbilly/redneck idea of the buzzword "freedom" to push their own beliefs and perpetuate the popular "I hate everything the government does and don't care if there's a benefit because I'm not going to bother researching it" idea.

So yeah, old men will forever go on being unable to control their hormones and keep their penis in their pants. Instead they'll pull the disgusting thing out and rub it on anything that feels good while they download horse and goat porn. When they have a chance, they'll freak online in a forum, using Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, or anyone else's quote to perpetuate a society of selfish people with sticky keyboards who want to hide their sexual deviance behind the Constitution without understanding what's on it or the context in which it was written.

Afterwards, they'll go to work and, instead of working, stand around talking about cars and sports, dropping the occasional comment about how awful the governement is while they're supposed to be doing something to earn a paycheck. All of them will pretend like they're collectively upset and that their thoughts are formed by a deeper understanding imparted by something other than groupthink and a 30 second snippet that they saw on TV between commercials advertising a bar of soap and a new model phone they all "must" own because they need it to survive and to look interesting to the opposite sex (protip: not being fat, bathing frequently, and laying off the onions works better).

Wow...now I am beginning to suspect you because you seem to know a lot about being a pedophile. Where is the FBI's number....oh, never mind, they already have read your post. You can expect a courtesy visit very soon.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

Wow...now I am beginning to suspect you because you seem to know a lot about being a pedophile. Where is the FBI's number....oh, never mind, they already have read your post. You can expect a courtesy visit very soon.

Out of rational responses, huh?

 

[cptnjarhead]

um... 4th amendment? Get a warrant and search all you want. You cannot assume that the people doing the searching will never abuse their power and in a perfect world they wouldn't.

 

[dandirk]

I really don't mind if they did. They can pretty much dig through any of my stuff. There's nothing at all interesting or worth hiding from a government agency. They can read my e-mail, check my browser history, dig around in my files...I don't care because I don't do anything I need to hide. They'll find a buncha pics of my cat, figure out my screen name on catforum.com, find out what I post here, and read a bunch of e-mails I sent to my friends to talk about a book I'm writing and if we can hang out this weekend at the mall. So yeah, I'm comfy with that and people who aren't have something to hide or are afriad because they're doing something they think is wrong and they know it.

I highly suggest you read up on some history. Numerous times have fear caused our rights and common sense/logic been thrown out the windows People been accused of wrong doing, without much proof. Many times they aren't even told what they are being accused of, by whom, yet they are found guilty enough to ruin their lives.

Just as recently as the 50s.. Heard of McCarthyism?

I am sure many of the people accused and brought to "justice" thought the same as you, nothing to hide. Yet unless you are 100% willing to completely conform to the "current" status quo, you are open to persecution for the most silly of things.

Do not underestimate the fear and blindness of the public. Again if you forget the past, you are doomed to repeat it.