NSA - the good evil Big Brother...

[HarmanKardon]

NSA checked a telephone call of El-Quaida - obviously there exist concrete plans for terror attacks again on European high speed trains.

I started in the last weeks to reconsider my harsh refusal of spy programs. I think we need them as we need toilet paper. Perhaps they are even more important.

[Oerets]

Still should have independent oversight review.

I'm sure we would all be awake at night if every detail were to be known of there actions. Some things are best kept quiet.




Barney

[HarmanKardon]

So you refer in a way to the latest NSA email scandal news I suppose.

[icenine]

Originally Posted by Oerets

Still should have independent oversight review.

I'm sure we would all be awake at night if every detail were to be known of there actions. Some things are best kept quiet.




Barney

Impossible. Who watches the watchmen? Who will be the independent oversight review of the independent oversight review?

[icenine]

Originally Posted by Oerets

Still should have independent oversight review.

I'm sure we would all be awake at night if every detail were to be known of there actions. Some things are best kept quiet.




Barney

Ah but as that great old comic book from the 1980s once asked, "Who Watches the Watchmen?"

[BlueStreak]

Glad to hear we may have helped avert disaster in Europe. And I agree completely, espionage is indispensable in todays world. Unfortunately, my country is full of clueless idiots who want to handle national security like it's 1780.

Dave

[HarmanKardon]

A lot of clueless idiots amazingly even among the so called intellectuals here in the Fatherland...

They always use the argument that we had so much surveillence in the Third Reich and also in the communist Germany. That is certainly right but our age actually needs appropriate measures anyway to protect us whether we like them or not.

[whell]

Apples and oranges here, guys. No one disputes the NSA's critical role in intelligence gathering on non-US citizens. But US citizens are supposed to be protected by the Constitution...from crap like this:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...08-21-15-07-51

This is an example of what galls me the most about this whole mess:

"Three senior U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday that national security officials realized the extent of the NSA's inadvertent (emphasis added) collection of Americans' data from fiber optic cables in September 2011. One of the officials said the problem became apparent during internal discussions between the NSA and Justice Department officials about the program's technical operation.

They call it "inadvertent". But would someone tell me how you go about splicing into fiber optic cables and start pulling in data, and somehow expect NOT to pull in data from US citizens? To call it "inadvertent" is just lying about what they're doing. They HAD TO KNOW up front that they'd pull in data that they had no authorization under the law to collect.

[bobabode]

Originally Posted by whell

Apples and oranges here, guys. No one disputes the NSA's critical role in intelligence gathering on non-US citizens. But US citizens are supposed to be protected by the Constitution...from crap like this:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...08-21-15-07-51

This is an example of what galls me the most about this whole mess:

"Three senior U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday that national security officials realized the extent of the NSA's inadvertent (emphasis added) collection of Americans' data from fiber optic cables in September 2011. One of the officials said the problem became apparent during internal discussions between the NSA and Justice Department officials about the program's technical operation.

They call it "inadvertent". But would someone tell me how you go about splicing into fiber optic cables and start pulling in data, and somehow expect NOT to pull in data from US citizens? To call it "inadvertent" is just lying about what they're doing. They HAD TO KNOW up front that they'd pull in data that they had no authorization under the law to collect.

Thread already started here. http://www.politicalchat.org/showthread.php?t=6149 What galls me is folks running around trying to hamstring our intelligence services who are doing a pretty good job of protecting us against a re-occurence of what happened in Washington D.C. and New York on 9/11, apparently just because they hate the current President.

[HarmanKardon]

Originally Posted by bobabode

Thread already started here. http://www.politicalchat.org/showthread.php?t=6149 What galls me is folks running around trying to hamstring our intelligence services who are doing a pretty good job of protecting us against a re-occurence of what happened in Washington D.C. and New York on 9/11, apparently just because they hate the current President.

Very soon after 9/11 US and German secret services started to work close together. There would have been a lot more of understanding and ACCEPTANCE for their activities in the German public if the Government would not have had secretive ways about the topic after the Snowden avalanche started to slide in June...

No details of course, just some general facts. That would have avoided misunderstandings and a bunch of clueless discussions.