Snowdon is a dummy

And you know this because your an expert?

I'm entitled to my informed opinion

...and you're entitled to your uniformed opinion.

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That mass spying's real value may lie in other things than anti-terrorism... such as controlling political radicals, collecting industrial secrets, or sabotaging UN processes when the US don't like them, such as on climate change...

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And you know this because your an expert?

Of sorts... My line of work is in social research (which involves a certain familiarity with the general rules and techniques of data gathering and analysis); I have worked for years in Afghanistan; and I've met with more Islamists than I cared to count.

And you know better than me because?

The point is that mass spying will never be efficient. And it is dangerous for the US democracy and diplomacy.

How, pray tell, is mass spying "dangerous for the US democracy and diplomacy" at this time?!

I, personally, am glad NSA is doing everything in its power to apprehend terrorists. Sometimes one has to lose some of their basic rights if the cause is worth it in the long run. As a result of new technology, our culture is undergoing drastic change, in more ways than one....

NSA just doesn't have the time to read every e-mail or listen in on every call.

My line of work is in social research (which involves a certain familiarity with the general rules and techniques of data gathering and analysis;

I have worked for years in Afghanistan; and I've met with more Islamists than I cared to count.

http://www.theweek.co.uk/technology/60074/spies-undermining-efforts-to-monitor-dark-web

While some at GCHQ and the NSA try to crack encrypted networks, others may be undoing their work
LAST UPDATED AT 09:51 ON Fri 22 Aug 2014
See related:
Dark net: what lurks beneath the surface of the internet?
British and American intelligence agents are undermining their colleagues' efforts to monitor and control the so-called "dark web" – a hidden zone of the internet where activities and identities are concealed – according to the developer of software designed to allow people to browse anonymously

Andrew Lewman, the Tor Project's executive director, says he believes NSA and GCHQ agents have told his software engineers about flaws they uncovered in the program's code.

By doing so, they have given his team the opportunity to patch the cracks and maintain the anonymity of the network, Lewman said.

"There are plenty of people in both organisations who can anonymously leak data to us to say maybe you should look here, maybe you should look at this to fix this," Lewman said in an interview with the BBC. "And they have."

The Tor browser was originally designed by the US Naval Research Laboratory, and still receives funding from the US State Department. It is used by military, activists and some businesses to browse the internet confidentially. But it has also been used for illegal activities such as buying and selling drugs, trafficking illegal pornography and trading child abuse images.

Lewman said he receives anonymous messages about problems with the browser's code on "probably a monthly" basis, but cannot prove that they came from the NSA or GCHQ.

"It's a hunch," he said. "Obviously we are not going to ask for any details… [But] the fact that we take a completely anonymous bug report allows them to report to us safely."

He added: "It's sort of funny because it also came out that GCHQ heavily relies on Tor working to be able to do a lot of their operations.

"So, you can imagine one part of GCHQ is trying to break Tor, the other part is trying to make sure it's not broken because they're relying on it to do their work."

GCHQ responded to the allegations by saying: "It is long-standing policy that we do not comment on intelligence matters. Furthermore, all of GCHQ's work is carried out in accordance with a strict legal and policy framework, which ensures that our activities are authorised, necessary and proportionate." ·

For further concise, bala


Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/technology/60074/spies-undermining-efforts-to-monitor-dark-web#ixzz3DlAKYMbC

I have met many Muslims of the Islamist faith

How, pray tell, is mass spying "dangerous for the US democracy and diplomacy" at this time?!

I, personally, am glad NSA is doing everything in its power to apprehend terrorists. Sometimes one has to lose some of their basic rights if the cause is worth it in the long run.

I mean 'Islamist' in the political sense: people who adhere to the political ideology called Islamism, ie who believe in jihad, caliphates and sh!t...

The NSA should be used to stop school killings and other crimes instead. Of course it will never be able to do that either but at least that would be worth trying.

A grandfather shot dead his daughter and her six children before taking his own life at a home in Bell, Florida, police have said.

The children range in age from three months to 10 years old, said Gilchrist County Sheriff Robert Schultz.

The authorities have identified the gunman as Don Charles Spirit, 51.

Schultz said a colleague responded to reports of a shooting on Thursday afternoon and on arrival made contact with Spirit before he killed himself.
"I haven't seen anything like this at all," said Schultz.

"This county, this community is going to be devastated from this. It is a small county, we are all family here.

"We're asking for prayers for this community and the families involved."

After Spirit took his own life, police found the other seven bodies in the house, although there were other people there who were still alive.

Spirit, who was known to police previously, was the only suspect, said Schultz.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, the grandfather was once behind bars for a gun charge, and was released in February 2006.

Bell is a town of about 350 people located 30 miles west of Gainesville.

Multiple shootings in the US have happened in schools, colleges, military institutions, shopping malls and homes. Each time innocent victims die, but this rural community has been shaken by the multiple killing, says the BBC's Tom Esslemont in Washington.

It is likely to reopen a painful debate about gun ownership, but is unlikely to change deeply entrenched polarised views, our correspondent adds.

When NATO needs to be strong because of Putin or ISIS, Obama has nothing better to do than spying on Merkel

BERLIN—President Barack Obama sought to reassure the German public on Saturday, pledging Chancellor Angela Merkel won't be a target of U.S. spying any longer while he is president.

Speaking a day after he promised to overhaul U.S. spy practices, the president said, "I don't want to harm that relationship by a surveillance mechanism that somehow would impede the kind of communication and trust that we have" during an interview with a German public broadcaster ZDF.

"As long as I'm president of the United States, the chancellor of Germany won't have to worry about this," he added.

Mr. Obama on Friday presented a new directive curbing U.S. government data collection. The changes follow sensitive leaks about U.S. espionage by former government contractor Edward Snowden.

In October, U.S. officials said an internal review revealed that Ms. Merkel and some 35 world leaders were monitored by the U.S. National Security Agency. A senior administration official said the U.S. has ended monitoring of dozens of foreign leaders.

Ms. Merkel has said the NSA's actions have tested the relationship between the two countries.

Mr. Obama's plan will end the government's mass collection of American phone data and offer new protections for non-U.S. citizens. The directive also bars spying on the heads of state of close U.S. allies.

However, a member of Ms. Merkel's government, German Justice Minister Heiko Maas, said the changes don't go far enough.

"Only once we have signed a legally binding agreement that protects all citizens can lost trust be won back," Mr. Maas told Sunday paper Bild am Sonntag.

Ms. Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Friday the German government welcomes Mr. Obama's speech, but he added, "The German government still thinks that German law must be respected on German soil, also and in particular by our close partners and allies."

Germany will continue talks about the "new and clear" basis for the cooperation between the intelligence services based on Mr. Obama's speech, said Mr. Seibert.

Germany has lobbied hard for a "no-spy" agreement with the U.S., German officials said, adding they want to include tough data-privacy measures in a trans-Atlantic trade pact between the U.S. and Europe.

Mr. Obama said on German TV that the U.S. is better equipped than most countries to monitor the flow of data around the world—and, as a consequence, has a greater responsibility to respect privacy concerns.

"Our capabilities are significantly greater than many other countries'," he said, adding "In some ways we underwrite a lot of the security needs and defenses of countries around the world."

"Because we have these greater capabilities, it means that we have greater responsibilities when it comes to privacy protection," Mr. Obama said.

But he said there is "no point" in having an intelligence service "if you are restricted to the things that you can read in the New York Times or DER SPIEGEL."

I mean 'Islamist' in the political sense: people who adhere to the political ideology called Islamism, ie who believe in jihad, caliphates and sh!t... Do you know many jihadists and ex-jihadists, Marla?

Muslim extremist