US government 'blew it' on NSA surveillance

[questionmark]

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Marissa Mayer, the CEO of Yahoo, struck back on Wednesday at critics who have charged tech companies with doing too little to fight off NSA surveillance. Mayer said executives faced jail if they revealed government secrets.

Yahoo and Facebook, along with other tech firms, are pushing for the right to be allowed to publish the number of requests they receive from the spy agency. Companies are forbidden by law to disclose how much data they provide.

During an interview at the Techcrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Mayer was asked why tech companies had not simply decided to tell the public more about what the US surveillance industry was up to. "Releasing classified information is treason and you are incarcerated," she said.

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[Kowalski]

They were only following orders....We've seen how well that excuse works....

I guess, I shouldn't be too judgemental, though...Maybe they couldn't really do anything....At least their standing up now.

[Raptor Witness]

............

Edited September 13, 2013 by Raptor Witness

[Babe Ruth]

Releasing classified information is NOT treason, Ms. Mayer. I would not expect you to know it there in your Ivory Tower of Complicity and Cowardice, but treason is the ONLY crime defined in the US Constitution, and releasing classified information is not there honey.

What cowards she and Zuckerman are. Daniel Ellsberg put his life on the line by releasing TOP SECRET documents, and the Supreme Court vindicated him, as did Congress back in those glory days.

Bradley Manning and Ellsberg have more courage in a fingernail sample than she and Zuckerberg have in their whole bodies.

This is so Orwellian it's not funny.

[Dredimus]

Releasing classified information is NOT treason, Ms. Mayer. I would not expect you to know it there in your Ivory Tower of Complicity and Cowardice, but treason is the ONLY crime defined in the US Constitution, and releasing classified information is not there honey.

What cowards she and Zuckerman are. Daniel Ellsberg put his life on the line by releasing TOP SECRET documents, and the Supreme Court vindicated him, as did Congress back in those glory days.

Bradley Manning and Ellsberg have more courage in a fingernail sample than she and Zuckerberg have in their whole bodies.

This is so Orwellian it's not funny.

I could almost agree with that if Manning had any inkling of what he was releasing... but he didnt... his only goal was to try and hurt the government and military because he had his back end on his shoulders.

[preacherman76]

These are dark days we live in.

[Babe Ruth]

I could almost agree with that if Manning had any inkling of what he was releasing... but he didnt... his only goal was to try and hurt the government and military because he had his back end on his shoulders.

I understand we all are merely posting our opinions, but why is it I should believe that you have any particular insight into what motivated Manning?

[Dredimus]

I understand we all are merely posting our opinions, but why is it I should believe that you have any particular insight into what motivated Manning?

Critical Thinking and a time line of events... 400,000 of the documents were downloaded in a single day... January 5, 2010 and another 90,000 on January 8, 2010... and another 250k between March 28th and April 9th which were given to wikileaks on April 10th. In the chat logs between Manning and the person believed to be Julian Assange... Manning states that she/he is doing this because he/she felt isolated at work and the "relationship" with wikileaks gave her/him a breif respite from the isolation and alienation. Read the case files, study the situation... Im all for exposing what needs to be exposed but this was simply not the case with Manning. Manning wanted to slam something or some one... wanted to hurt what was behind that uniform because of the way she/he had been treated...

My opinion of this situation would be different if Manning had just released the pertinent files pertaining to criminal acts over seas or state side by the United States Armed Forces or the Government. However, thats not the case... 750,000 documents in the matter of a few months... He/she had no idea what they were sending out.

[Dredimus]

As for the OP, im sorry QuestionMark. I did not mean to derail your thread and will put a button on it from here on out. BR, if theres more you wish to discuss about my "opinion" feel free to message me or start another thread.

[questionmark]

As for the OP, im sorry QuestionMark. I did not mean to derail your thread and will put a button on it from here on out. BR, if theres more you wish to discuss about my "opinion" feel free to message me or start another thread.

Feel free to derail it in any direction I can agree on. The mods might not like it though.

[Raptor Witness]

They were only following orders....We've seen how well that excuse works....

I guess, I shouldn't be too judgemental, though...Maybe they couldn't really do anything....At least their standing up now.

No, more likely it's because someone worth billions just doesn't really care, especially when he's profiting off of our privacy.

[questionmark]

Now my five cents about these crocodile tears:

The ball does not end with the secret court. Had any of these companies tried they would have taken this case all the way to the supreme court and most probably won the case of keeping the data of their clients private. But that would have come at the price of having their site closed, at least for a while. And a closed site does not bring any revenue.

As long as profit precedes the right of the customer they can howl all they want: They are not credible. Credible are those who closed down their sites and services because they did not want to give in.

And meanwhile Kim DotCom is laughing all the way to the bank as he jumped straight in giving the market what it demands and cannot be provided in the USA because of spying requirements.

Way to go!

Edited September 13, 2013 by questionmark

[Wickian]

Now my five cents about these crocodile tears:

The ball does not end with the secret court. Had any of these companies tried they would have taken this case all the way to the supreme court and most probably won the case of keeping the data of their clients private. But that would have come at the price of having their site closed, at least for a while. And a closed site does not bring any revenue.

As long as profit precedes the right of the customer they can howl all they want: They are not credible. Credible are those who closed down their sites and services because they did not want to give in.

And meanwhile Kim DotCom is laughing all the way to the bank as he jumped straight in giving the market what it demands and cannot be provided in the USA because of spying requirements.

Way to go!

I've used a few sites that have done this.