do you think google should turn over their customers(us) searches to the govt.? my opinion is, heck if you are not doing anything wrong, what is the big deal? I am for it!(i think) of course after I read peoples points in here I may change my mind. I am a woman and entitled to do that..heheh.. mark me for week three cleo.(on the calendar) :arrow: :arrow:
i need to read more about it. just heard a small blurb on the radio yesterday... but in general... i'm for the government having as little access to my personal information as possible. you see how our government machine works... give a little, they take a lot. and i'm not talking this particular administration, but government in general. when they need it to prosecute a criminal, subpoena the records, but if i want to check out internet porn in the privacy of my own home, i don't want some random google search being misinterpreted and get me on a child porn watch list somewhere! but like i said, i need to read more about the specifics. good poll.
On the Download! As I pride myself on being a Devil's Advocate in many positions, I like to see both sides of the arguement while making an educated opinion. First of all, I can see why the gov't wishes to do something so grandiose to put a stop to online perversion. However, I also believe in freedom of speech - mainly because I am a songwriter/poet myself - and so I can unregretfully argue the opposing point made about NOT letting them see the search data. So this is where I stand: If the White House is threatening with a subpoena, then they are well within their legal right to do so, unless this subpoena is intentionally out to stop the freedoms of online website publishers. As far as general website access (mainly revolving around children) I say it's up to PARENTS, not the Bush administration, to retaliate. Let what will be alone...it's the same with censored music or television...if you don't want your child to hear it, then use the ON/OFF switch as intended. Chances are, if they are smart enough to get by parental control, than either A) They were smart enough to know what they're seeing in the first place, or B) You didn't monitor them appropriately (on a side note, remember not to hover all the time...the more that a child feels threatened, the more they will do to go against the rules set for them...mind you, however, there is no such thing as perfect parenting!).
What I do on, or with, my computer is my business. Unless there is reason to suspect that I am endangering others - or am planning to endanger others. Then a properly executed supoena/search warrant should be served. And I don't buy the argument that if we wait until someone is suspected then it may be too late. There were muders, rapes, thefts, etc. long before the internet came along. There's already too much of my personal information floating around, I don't want to think that "Big Brother" is starting to track any and all moments of curiosity at the keyboard.
As a computer professional, let me give you this small piece of information that might put your mind at rest... It is extremely hard, if not impossible, for the government to associate an individual with the search. In truth, the government is not wanting the Google records to target individuals, they are simply wanting to know what the trends are. That having been said, ECHELON is already tracking electronic communication (including Internet surfing) looking for keywords. ECHELON can, in most cases, track users when a keyword is flagged.
perhaps that is true right now, but what about in the future? your info does not put my mind at ease...
In the future everyone will be implanted with nanochips which will read your thoughts and, when a criminal thought crosses your mind, will immediately notify the government of your location via GPS positioning. Feel better now? Basically what the feds have asked Google is no more insideous than asking the automakers what kinds of cars are best sellers. Google is making a big deal of it because, by doing so, they get their name splashed on the news for a couple of days. Who can argue with free advertisement?
LMAO, made me think about that movie a few years ago w/Tom Cruise where they took care of the criminals before they even became criminals. The name escapes me right now.
i can smell the sarcasm, but what you're saying is really not far from what some would really like to do. Right now the technology is just RFID and is mainly being used to implant your dog or cat for identification purposes. there are already rfid tags on product packaging and they will soon be going into the products themselves. the idea being that the product can be tracked which means you can be tracked. there are plans for human impantable rfid chips for tracking people as well - and these plans include having them implanted deeply - such as in muscle or perhaps an organ - it makes it that much more difficult to dig out. you can consider this kind of stuff to be conspiracy theory bunk, but it really isn't. the technology is already there and more is on the way. http://www.spychips.com this site might interest you - try reading a little in the blog.
The implant. Presuming that it's not just conspiracy nonsense, that is. You don't like it. You see evil in it. So, what are you going to do about it?
clif, i'm not sure what your point is, here, but i'll go along with it... first, this isn't conspiracy nonsense. in the pic above, the top device is an rfid tag meant for implanting in humans, the one under that is the one meant for animals, the next two are a piece of rice and a dime for size comparisons. these are real things using today's current technology - more sophisticated things are surely on the way. And there are people who want to see them implanted in everyone out there. for an over the top conspiracy theory, i suppose you could see revelations in this where these rfid tags are truly meant to identify you and you do all your transactions through it. i'm not into that tho, but i know your a bible thumper so i figured i'd throw it in there. about what i'm going to do about it? i suppose there are a few things - for one, i won't get it implanted. this might be more difficult to get around in the future because there are so many sheep out there that don't give a crap about anything except convenience - enough of these sheep sign up and then you have a system that the financial institutions can switch to and then exclude others from. secondly, i won't buy a product that has an rfid tag implanted in it. right now, tho, there is no way to know - so there would have to be a law that would compel mfgs to let consumers know that a product has an rfid tag in it. thirdly, i vote - for all the good that it seems to do - and i have been known to write letters to my representatives - again, for all the good that it does (i usually just receive a form letter or no response at all). satisfied?
Sure, just curious. Many people simply log on here (or elsewhere) and gripe, but do nothing else. Then you know very little about me.
Clif wrote: Not true Clif. All ISP's have to retain data, for the government, to track all addresses with association to accounts. So, for the legal users, your moves on the WEB are an open book. The system they will impliment soon can backtrack and find the source from any move you make. Think your safe with encryption, think again, any company producing encription software or hardware is required, by law, to install the "Clipper Chip" for vioce and the "Capstone" for data. These devises have "keys" for access. These keys are held by the Dept of Justice & the NIS and are used to unlock any encrypted transmission they want to. Still feeling good about your privacy?? Read how "Carnivore" was installed on Earthlink 5 years ago: http://www.epic.org/privacy/carnivore/fbi_dec.html Here's the court order to force Eathlink to comply after they filtered the data it collected: http://www.epic.org/privacy/carnivore/cd_cal_order.html Folks, the worst spyware on the web is good ole Uncle Sam, get used to it cause it aint going to stop. And the more you scream for protection against terrorists the worse it will get. You can't get something for nothing, the more you scream, the more freedom you loose. Wake up and smell the bandwidth!!!!
