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Comment Re:smoke and mirrors (Score 2) 95

This. When they approach Google, MS, FB, asking for data, it's data that they already know is there. They're tapped into every major Internet peering node in the US and an untold number of them over seas. They likely have agents and eavesdropping devices at interesting companies like MS. They know that the data they collect is illegal so they need to manufacture chain of evidence that they can actually use. That's the only reason they send requests/warrants.

Comment Re:easy, (Score 2) 393

i can tell you a shitload of them already just blast their entire existence onto their FB page anyway

No. They. Don't.

It's a common man fallacy intended to lull the general population into not thinking about the problem.

The truth is people do not put "everything on FB." They tell LIES on FB and scream to FB about privacy when they're caught in their tangled web. Your phone records, bank statements, medical records, on and so on are not on FB for the world to see either. When you choose to put something on FB it's your choice. You cannot opt out of the NSA. You cannot unfriend them. You can't click a check box to restrict them in any way.

Stop pretending that people do not use the privacy controls on FB to limit what people can see.

Comment Re:NIMBY (Score 1) 436

by NotBorg (#44098225) Attached to: The Aging of Our Nuclear Power Plants Is Not So Graceful

and the sun effectively "goes out" for several hours every day.

Hey dude, problem already solved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_energy_storage#Molten_salt_technology

They're building one in Nevada that can pump out the MWs for 10 hours without direct sunlight. The whole facility only puts out 110 MW, however. So about 10 of these will replace the average nuke site.
Communications

Google Asks Government For More Transparency, Other Groups Push Back Against NSA 323

Posted by Soulskill from the do-not-go-gentle dept.
Nerval's Lobster writes "In an open letter addressed to U.S. attorney general Eric Holder and FBI director Robert Mueller, Google chief legal officer David Drummond again insisted that reports of his company freely offering user data to the NSA and other agencies were untrue. 'However,' he wrote, 'government nondisclosure obligations regarding the number of FISA national security requests that Google receives, as well as the number of accounts covered by those requests, fuel that speculation.' In light of that, Drummond had a request of the two men: 'We therefore ask you to help make it possible for Google to publish in our Transparency Report aggregate numbers of national security requests, including FISA disclosures—in terms of both the number we receive and their scope.' Apparently Google's numbers would show 'that our compliance with these requests falls far short of the claims being made.' Google, Drummond added, 'has nothing to hide.'" Another open letter was sent to Congress from a variety of internet companies and civil liberties groups (headlined by Mozilla, the EFF, the ACLU, and the FSF), asking them to enact legislation to prohibit the kind of surveillance apparently going on at the NSA and to hold accountable the people who implemented it. (A bipartisan group of senators has just come forth with legislation that would end such surveillance.) In addition to the letter, the ACLU sent a lawsuit as well, directed at President Obama, Eric Holder, the NSA, Verizon and the Dept. of Justice (filing, PDF). They've also asked (PDF) for a release of court records relevant to the scandal. Mozilla has also launched Stopwatching.us, a campaign to "demand a full accounting of the extent to which our online data, communications and interactions are being monitored." Other reactions: Tim Berners-Lee is against it, Australia's Foreign Minister doesn't mind it, the European Parliament has denounced it, and John Oliver is hilarious about it (video). Meanwhile, Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who leaked the information about the NSA's surveillance program, is being praised widely as a hero and a patriot. There's already a petition on Whitehouse.gov to pardon him for his involvement, and it's already reached half the required number of signatures for a response from the Obama administration.

Comment Re:profanity (Score 2) 334

by NotBorg (#43955043) Attached to: Linus Torvalds Promises Profanity Over Linux 3.10-rc5

This is why businesses choose Microsoft.

That's right! Businesses care about Profanity Hardened Kernels when the kernel would be used on a desktop. Everything else is a-oh-kay. Cars, supercomputers, servers, printers, routers, phones, tablets, cameras, toasters, Large Hadron Colliders, space stations... There's no business in any of that so PHK doesn't matter there.

However, on the desktop, it really matters. Fuck you Linus!!!!! Your potty mouth alone is what holds back Linux on the desktop!!!! It's the only market Linux sucks at and it's the only market businesses care about. The corollary is clear.

Linus, grow up. Bite your tongue and pick up a chair like a professional. Also when you're on stage if you could scream and run around a bit, that would help too. It's how professionals act.

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