Googly, Googly… revisited… Facebooky… Facebooky…

How is anyone surprised by the “Big Reveal”, in every entendre imaginable, from Facebook that ALL OF YOUR INFORMATION WAS USED IN A WAY THAT YOU DON’T LIKE… AND THEY TOOK YOUR FRIENDS INFO TOO… BECAUSE YOU LET THEM.

How is the news?

We’ve been talking about this for over 5 YEARS!  It’s now 032118…

And, I’m always fashionably late to the party!

Where have you been?

(Update 091113: Yesterday, Google lost a similar decision to the one below.  It was on Appeal before the Ninth Circuit.  The Folks at EPIC are happy… but doesn’t the this story make more sense and a seem little less conspiratorial now that we know the NSA has been collecting all of our data and doing so with the aid of our allies?  Originally Posted 072712)

“In April, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission fined Google, saying the company “deliberately impeded and delayed” its investigation into Street View.

It’s unclear what, if any, penalties would be imposed on Google by Britain’s ICO or regulators in any of the 10 other jurisdictions in which the company had wrongly retained Street View data.

“We need to take a look at the data… There’s all sorts of questions we need to ask,” an ICO spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because office rules prohibit him from being named in print.”

The above quote and where I decided to begin and end it may seem a little confusing, but there is a point…

Today we find out that Google has not destroyed/deleted all of the street view info it was caught collecting in Britain. Keep in mind, when I say “street view info” that includes wi-fi networks and names, e-mail addresses and various and sundry other items of information having nothing to do with a street, or the view from it.

Here’s the fun part however… Britain’s regulators, the IOC, are very “upset”. There has been aplenty “tough” language directed at Google for this blatant breach. Yes… they are terribly, terribly upset don’t you know.

While Google has apologized, it is clearly not enough for the IOC.  In all fairness it’s not enough for me either but here’s the punch line; the IOC is demanding to see the information for “forensic analysis”.  Seriously… You Brit’s are Brilliant!  “Yes, yes, I will need to see all the pornography you have so I can determine if it is actually pornography.  I will also need plenty of time to review it… alone…”

So why did I take the above quote from where I did?

Without question Google was harvesting the same information here in the U.S. that it was in Britain.  No doubt about it.  And the U.S. is watching closely what is going on across the pond… very closely.  But why?

If the IOC is successful in gaining access to the Google information for “forensic analysis” because Google has been very, very bad… then U.S. regulators will not be far behind the Google spanking bandwagon.  What red-blooded, privacy cherishing, citizen wouldn’t want Google to be punished for collecting a bunch of info it shouldn’t have?

Well… this one.  If punishing Google requires the government seeing all of the intel, I would prefer Google to get away with it and we can deal with them in the market place.   Think about this for a second, who would you rather have possessing your secrets, a private company answerable to the legal system or a government answerable to no-one?

The monster under my bed has always scared me the most by whispering “don’t worry…  I’m from the government and I’m here to help…”.  Now he’s muttering “googly… googly..” and my parents still don’t believe me.

Your freedom is directly correlated to your ability to live your life anonymously.  If you care.

Apparently, like the rest of the planet, I may just elect to drink myself to sleep.  Unlike the rest of the planet I will only do it late at night… straight from the bottle… in front of a full length mirror… crying…

NSA disguised itself as Google to spy, say reports  (link added 091213)

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Suddenly the Leftist Liberals at Apple care what the Founders would think?!

The Irony here is almost profound…

Apparently the Apple Folks are ‘appalled’ by what the Fed’s (the very product of their elitist worldview, behavior and voting habits) are doing to them.

Rich!

Next thing you know they’ll be complaining about Obamacare… and Confiscatory Tax Rates… and Poor Public Education because of Unions…  Minimum Wage… Regulations… to go along with their brand new revulsion brought on by Government Overreach.

Funny how those who promote it get upset when it’s applied to them.

Hilarious.

What’s not so funny?

These are the people who don’t believe it could happen until it does happen… which only empowers those who wish to make it happen.

Bernie Hill

A Difference without a Distinction.

“There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism — by vote.  It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.”

– A. Rand

It’s Fine to Spy on the Little People…

… just not the People in Power.

The Politicians are ANGRY!

How DARE the NSA Spy on THEM!

But… wait… what?

Are You Little People confused?

Of course you are… or at least, you should be.

Your confusion stems from our wandering so very far away from our Founders intent.

The reason for this confusion is we were founded in such a way where the Individual is always supreme over the Government.  And the Government is not only LIMITED in it’s power, it’s powers are intentionally Separated.  Limit and Conflict were BUILT INTO THE SYSTEM to PROTECT THE INDIVIDUAL.  It’s quite simple really.

Which brings us to the fact that The Newly Found Political Fury over Sweeping Mass Collection of data by Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies should be directed at the Intrusion upon, and Violation of, Individual Rights of ALL Citizens… Not Politicians specifically.

Frankly, I have less of an issue with Politicians spying on each other than I do Force (Government) spying on the Citizenry.

Let me make this as Clear as possible…

The U.S. Government can and should be Spying on other Countries.  It’s their Job.

Other Countries will be attempting to Spy on us, the U.S.  – It’s not a matter of being ‘OK’ with it, it’s their job… as it is ours to deny them that ability.

What is Not ‘OK’?

The U.S. Government Spying on Individual Citizens without a specifically crafted warrant to do so.  (The only argument worth having here; “Are Politicians considered Individual Citizens?”  It could also be useful to remind the NSA that their Love interests also fit into the ‘Citizen’ category… and some of the things they are doing is considered stalking at a minimum.)

Of course they are…

But the current framing of the ‘Offended’ is that they are ‘special’.  And while I might agree that they are special, I would offer that they are most often the kind of special that requires a helmet when walking outside.

In the end, the reason you should be more concerned about the U.S. Government Spying on you and not China, Korea, Israel or Google, is because none of the latter have yet found a way to show up at your door and throw you in jail.  (Although Google is probably working on it.)

The Politicians should be reminded of their place in society… which was always intended to be servants to those who are not in power.

This will be interesting to watch as most genuine Conservatives do not like being Spied upon, and most Democrats have spent huge amounts of time and money convincing their Useful Voters that they too believe in a Right to Privacy.

Can anyone spell Dissonance?

 

 

Private Server

Another fine suggestion For the Hillary 2016 Campaign, from your friends at the makeaneffort methadone clinic.  (with apologies to the beautiful and brilliantly talented Ms. Tina Turner)

All the emails come to this place
And the emails are all the same
You don’t look at their classification
And you don’t ask their names

You don’t think of them as important
You don’t think of them at all
You keep your mind on the presidency
Keeping your eyes on the polls

I’m your private server, a server for money
I’ll do what you want me to do
I’m your private server, a server for money
And any old email will do

I want to make a million dollars
I want to live in the White House
Have a husband and some children

Yeah, I guess I want immunity too
All the emails come to the place
And the emails are all the same
You don’t look at their classification
And you don’t ask their names

I’m your private server, a server for money
I’ll do what you want me to do
I’m your private server, a server for money
And any old email will do

Deutch marks or dollars
Chinese Yuan will do nicely, thank you
Let me loosen up your collar
Tell me, do you want to hear me do that negro accent again?

E-mail is Forever…

A Hillary Campaign theme suggestion from the always helpful folks at Makeaneffort. (with apologies to Ms. Shirley Bassey)

Email is forever
They are all I need to please me
They can stimulate and tease me
They won’t leave in the night, I’ve no fear that they might desert me

Emails are forever
Print it out and then caress it
Touch it, stroke it and undress it
I can see every part, nothing hides in the heart to hurt me

I don’t need love
For what good will love do me?
Email never lies to me
For when love’s gone they’ll luster on

Email is forever
Sparkling round my little finger
Unlike men, the email lingers
Men are mere mortals who are not worth going to your grave for

I don’t need love
For what good will love do me?
Email never lies to me
For when love’s gone they’ll luster on

Email is forever, forever, forever
Email is forever, forever, forever
Forever and ever

On the heals of a random hacker delivering over 30K of Hillary’s emails to the FBI… we felt like we needed to lend a helping hand.

You’re welcome.

(She could just stick with Diamonds are Forever… given her penchant for expensive vacations.)

Good news: We might have found copies of Hillary’s emails! Bad news: Foreign governments have them?

It’s what Spies Do….

What Does a Police State look like?

So What does an Oppressive Police State look like?

History is replete with examples… the problem is they were all sold to the public as integral to security, and their initial behavior dismissed as necessary, until well after the fact and by then it was too late.

Keep in Mind,

You still go to work… you still send your kids to school… you still have a place to live… you still make dinner…

But, in the back of your mind you know everything is different.  Everything.  And the only thought you might have is “How did it get this way?”  “What Happened?”  “I Don’t Understand.”  Followed by, “It happened so slowly.”  Finally ending with “Why did we let this happen?”

If you need “hard evidence” of what I’m talking about I’ll stay within my area and recommend tracing the origins of Soviet Security Services From the Cheka, Smersh and KGB to the “newer” incarnations of the SVR and FSB. Feel free to whip out your Googler now… I’ll wait.

If you’re not in the mood for a history lesson dealing with Anglo’s oppressing and killing each other, then check out the Tonton Macoute… they’re fun.

But keep in mind, these “needed policemen” were not sold to the population as an important part of keeping the country safe by interrogating, intimidating and killing you efficiently.

All of them started somewhere.

And that somewhere was right in front of the very people they went on to oppress.  With the majority of their support.  (This is always left out of the brief historical blurbs… read a little deeper and you’ll see remarkable parallel’s we seemed doomed to relive.)

Here’s what we Know:

We know we are being watched by our government.  We know our journalists are being spied on in real-time.  The 100 journalists at AP whose phones were tapped (let alone what else was done to them that has yet come to light) should be enough to seriously freak all of us out.  We know the Government is experimenting with getting us to accept all kinds of new methods of Force.  Do you think they will stop at forcing you to buy health insurance once you accept it is within their power to do so?  When has restraint ever been exercised by any Government anywhere on Earth let alone ours?  Once you give them the power of force there will always be human beings looking for new ways to wield it.  It’s our nature… it is undeniable… it is historically demonstrable.  It cannot be dismissed by anyone who is not one of those wishing for it.

But we seem to be OK with the direction we’re headed… is that the appropriate reaction?

Now the World is rising up against our spying on Them.

But what should concern us more?  Should we be concerned about our Government listening in on cell phone traffic coming out of Estonia or cell phone traffic coming from You, an American Citizen, whose done nothing wrong?

I would offer that the latter is far more serious.  Think about it this way, the Estonian… Chinese… Ethiopian police forces cannot show up at your door and do bad things to you.

While you’re still holding out that “The Black Helicopter Crowd”, and historians like me, are crazy,

this little story comes to light…

Fed’s Confiscate Investigative Journalist’s Files using an unrelated Warrant for a Crime that had not been committed.

Remember, just because you’re Paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to Get You.

Most of us do not have the background to recognize how very bad things find their beginning.  However, A few of us do.  Find those folks and listen to them.

While I would never suggest you trust me… Allow me to share with you the knowledge that you really, really, really Do Not want to live in a Place where this type of oppression is accepted.  By the time you no longer want to accept it, it’s too late.

I know you’re probably reading this thinking “I have nothing to worry about because I’ve done nothing wrong.”.  Let me also share with you the fact that none of the above mentioned, well-intentioned, “security services” ever let your “not doing anything wrong” get in their way.  The Journalist in the above article was just doing her job.

Once enough of us completely disregard the Constitution on the United States which was written explicitly to protect the Individual from Government and the Mob rule of the Majority… once we accept and allow them the power of force to do what they are now doing… once what is happening now is accepted as necessary and “for our own security and well-being”… we are only steps away from becoming another foot note in the history references I’m sending you to research in the above paragraphs.

Come on kids… you are not stupid, contrary to what they may think.

The Black Helicopter Crowd.

Tin Foil Hats,
The Bilderberg’s,
The Tri-Lateral Commission,
Skull and Bones,
Meetings at The Bohemian Grove,
The IRS targeting Government Opposition,
A Federal Military Organization specifically created to Operate on American Soil,
Our Government Listening to Every Phone Call, reading Every E-mail, Monitoring your Utility bills, Monitoring your Credit Card Purchases, Using the GPS on your phone to track you, Reviewing your Travel plans and records, watching you Live through the Camera on your Computer, listening to you through the Microphone…  the creation of a database of every American Citizen to include their photo. biometrics and voice analysis.

It’s beginning to become difficult separating the CRAZY from the REALITY.

What is going on in our Country?

Why are there so many of us, especially those who see their jobs to protect our Liberties, find no problem with any of the above?

This course of events has been underway for decades.  Our situation is not the responsibility of just one person or party…

It’s our fault for allowing it to happen over time… we have no one to blame but ourselves.

One must ask, if the advocates of such Government behavior directed at removing our Privacy, thus Liberty and Freedom, is being conducted in order to protect us from something… What is it?  What Fear must relentlessly occupy their minds that any of this will Cure?

What danger faces us that is so Profound that American Citizens MUST give up every right the U.S. Constitution says is necessary for us to live free?

This is how residents of Middle Eastern countries live every day… under a constant veil of suspicion of all things.  They fear everything, all the time.  They trust nothing, because they can’t.  Once you understand that, it becomes easy to understand why some of them genuinely believe the things they believe.  The plotting, scheming and lying is the only “truth” they know to exist.

Is this our future?

Is this Country headed in a direction that makes sense?

Your Freedom is Directly Correlated to Your Ability to Live Your Life Anonymously.

How much, if any, of that Anonymity do you still have?