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The Surveillance-Internet Complex


Kowalski

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On Jan. 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation about the dire threat posed by the military-industrial complex. An updated version of his speech would read:

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex surveillance-internet complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists the intrusion on our privacy exists, and will persist."

The interests of Internet businesses and companies that collect data to profile individual users are closely aligned with government agencies that engage in surveillance or that would benefit from it.

Curtailing commercial surveillance would threaten the business models of Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and greatly reduce the marketing power of Internet juggernauts such as Amazon. For many applications, the Internet could no longer be free.

For this reason, most Internet companies are staunchly opposed to the kinds of restrictions on their behavior that E.U. Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has proposed (and the U.S. has successfully fought). She calls for Web businesses to obtain explicit consent before they collect data used to profile individual users. Perhaps the most controversial part of the proposal is the "right to be forgotten," which would allow users to have data about them deleted if there was no legitimate reason for keeping it.

Of course, the data collected by companies on the Internet, along with metadata provided by the phone companies, is just the information NSA and the FBI says they need to keep our country safe. Those agencies have a vested interest in seeing current privacy policies continue as they are--the very policies that create large profit opportunities for Internet companies.

Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/surveillance-internet-complex-154132315.html

I thought this was an interesting article....

Definitely makes you think, doesn't it?

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Who do you think funds all this? The guv and people who don't ask questions.

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Who do you think funds all this? The guv and people who don't ask questions.

I just thought it was interesting. No surprise to me really.

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A good editorial.

I'm so glad I don't do Facebook. The other stuff is bad enough.

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A good editorial.

I'm so glad I don't do Facebook. The other stuff is bad enough.

I don't Facebook or Twitter, either....

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From what I've read, the stuff the government surveillance pales in comparison to what the private companies do.

I'm convinced that there's nothing that can be done to stop it. It's simply a by-product of a connected world.

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I'm convinced that there's nothing that can be done to stop it. It's simply a by-product of a connected world.

True true.

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Maybe the world is too connected then.

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From what I've read, the stuff the government surveillance pales in comparison to what the private companies do.

I'm convinced that there's nothing that can be done to stop it. It's simply a by-product of a connected world.

There is nothing wrong with the connected world... but just as you don't leave your personal papers lying around for everybody to read you should not publish your personal data all over the internet.

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There is nothing wrong with the connected world... but just as you don't leave your personal papers lying around for everybody to read you should not publish your personal data all over the internet.

Very true, but I think the big rub with folks is when what they think is their anonymous activity starts getting tracked.

Would the lady down the street be surprised to know that when she calls Window World to get an estimate for replacement windows that the 19 year old kid taking the call suddenly knows her credit score, how much her home is worth, and that she bought a vibrator from Amazon last week.

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Exactly. You don't even have to have Facebook. We're at a point where someone online can get to know your tastes and fetishes pretty well and with little effort, just by looking at the keywords you type on google. And if you willingly 'import' your personal life onto Facebook, well, it'll only make dissecting your life easier if the need arises.

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From what I've read, the stuff the government surveillance pales in comparison to what the private companies do.

I'm convinced that there's nothing that can be done to stop it. It's simply a by-product of a connected world.

The beauty of it (depending upon one's perspective, of course) is that in this day of unbridled crony capitalism, the private companies and government work hand-in-glove.

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