Nsa Contractor Identifies Himself As Source

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been deleted.

[wealth]

• Now look at this of what happens when you can't erase your data after some time.
• Edward Snowden worked for a Japanese anime company when he was 18 years old that was run by friends in Maryland
• On the company's website, he wrote of his skills with video games and his popularity among women
• Revelations about his youth come after he gave an interview to the South China Morning Post Wednesday in which he claimed that the NSA has hacked the country's universities, businesses and politicians
• New York Congressman Peter King for the arrest of Guardian journalist Glen Greenwald, as well as Snowden
• Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2340565/Edward-Snowden-I-like-girlish-figure-How-NSA-leaker-Snowden-bragged-physique-online-ability-attract-nubile-young-girls.html#ixzz2W4Yp9TDB

  Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[lomatopo]

Thomas Drake

What Edward Snowden has done is an amazingly brave and courageous act of civil disobedience.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jun/12/snowden-surveillance-subverting-constitution

[lomatopo]

Various government appartchiks, along with the implicated commercial interests, seem to be taking the position that :

a.) What Mr. Snowden “leaked” is not being done,

b.) What Mr. Snowden leaked is technically not possible,

c.) Anything that is being done is “legal”.

So it seems like all Mr. Snowden has done is mislead the public?

According to White House press secretary Jay Carney, President Obama is open to having a discussion about government surveillance, though he would've preferred it not be in response to the leaking of information.

Carney pointed to the president's late May speech on national security and counterterrorism as evidence that Obama did want to discuss surveillance, though that speech did not get into details about tactics like phone-tapping and the monitoring of internet traffic.

[wealth]

General Keith B Alexander, the director of the National Security Agency, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday, following a leak by Edward Snowden which exposed the extent by which intelligence services can access phone and internet personal data. The NSA director admits he has concerns over Snowden's recruitment, but also says he welcomes a public debate over cyber security

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jun/12/nsa-director-snowden-senate-hearing-video

He's right from his point of view, but what about the monies changing hand for proper jobs? What and how made it to the point of extensive spying all around the globe?

What has he to say about the Boston issue? Warned by the Russians, investigated by the FBI, then they observed and recorded details without further actions. Only afterwards it came through what exactly they were talking on the phone.

[wealth]

sadly it will lead to the next step of the super surveillance saga.

Google bought Motorola not because of the phony quality of the phones, but for the secret advanced development of nano chips for ID, called "Tatoo" and the "Pill" for to access the internet and store all data in it or through it. Right now there's a scheduled secret meeting after there was one in the UK before. RFID are to clumsy, lol

Scary stuff.

[lomatopo]

The Patriot Act has been upheld by the Supreme Court

This fairly bold statement would not appear to be even remotely truthful or accurate. I can only find one specific case where the Supreme Court has ruled on, related to the Patriot Act, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, which was related to balancing security and free speech. Free speech lost.

The FISA court is a real court with real judges, a specialized court that deals exclusively in national security, so one great difference is that neither you nor I can go sit in on the court's business, nor can we hear or read its decisions, and rightfully so.

The FISC has declined 11 of the more than 33,900 surveillance requests made by the government in 33 years, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. That's a rate of .03 percent, which raises questions about just how much judicial oversight is actually being provided.

[lomatopo]

Snowden in Hong Kong: The Legal Complications of ‘One Country, Two Systems’

By Charlie Campbell / Hong KongJune 12, 20130

An arrest warrant for Edward Snowden is very likely on the way, bringing what looks to be a complex legal tussle to the courts of Hong Kong. The city of about 7 million is a Special Administrative Region, or SAR, of China, but boasts separate courts and a good deal of legal autonomy. Nevertheless, Washington and Hong Kong maintain an extradition treaty, and a U.S. Justice Department official revealed on Tuesday that charges — possibly treason or aiding the enemy — are “under discussion.”

http://world.time.com/2013/06/12/snowden-in-hong-kong-the-legal-complications-of-one-country-two-systems/

[lomatopo]

After Mr. Snowden claimed that the U.S. hacks "hundreds of Chinese targets", an unhappy Beijing responded...

Beijing Reacts to Snowden Claims U.S. Hacked ‘Hundreds’ of Chinese Targets

By Hannah BeechJune 13, 2013

“This is not the first time that U.S. government agencies’ wrongdoings have aroused widespread public concern,” opined the China Daily in an editorial. In a separate news article, the official state newspaper wrote that “analysts” believed the bombshells dropped in the Snowden affair are “certain to stain Washington’s overseas image and test developing Sino-U.S. ties.”

http://world.time.com/2013/06/13/beijing-reacts-to-snowden-claims-u-s-hacked-hundreds-of-chinese-targets/

[wealth]

THE former CIA employee who leaked top-secret information about US surveillance programs said in Hong Kong yesterday that he is not attempting to hide from justice in the Chinese city but hopes to use it as a base to reveal wrongdoing.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/World/2013/06/13/Whistleblower%2Bsays%2Bhe%2Bwill%2Breveal%2Bcriminality/

US whistleblower Edward Snowden said the US government had been hacking into computers in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland for years during an inverview with the South China Morning Post. [Photo: CFP/CRI Online]

http://english.cri.cn/6909/2013/06/13/2941s769912.htm

US hacking China for years: Report

http://www.ecns.cn/2013/06-13/68194.shtml

... and more

[Credo]

And just as soon as they can find someone to read Chinese, they will do what?

He says he knows, but he lacks a lot of specifics.

[Publicus]

Below are several links that discuss the various aspects of the many posts made today by posters who are on the far right of the political spectrum, distant from the vast majority of Americans who are in the political center-middle.

The links to the various articles discuss the fact that NSA surveillance has stopped "dozens" of terrorist attacks against the United States that would have taken many lives, resulted in untold property damage and would have radically changed the nature of daily and longer term life in the U.S.A.

The Reuters/Ipsos survey out today is also presented. It's results however are inadequate as it interviewed a paltry 645 Americans, which means the survey has a margin of error of almost 5%, thus rendering the survey virtually meaningless and useless.

The confidence level of the Pew Center survey is examined and found to be strong.

Finally, the whole larger matter of our privacy in the Age of Cyberspace is examined by a cyber security expert who today was part of a group discussion on television which discussed how our personal information is in the database of almost anyone who wants to know of us as individuals. The views are expressed in an opinion piece at the high tech website Wired.

NSA director says surveillance helped stop 'dozens' of attacks

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/us-usa-security-idUSBRE95910O20130612

More Americans see man who leaked NSA secrets as 'patriot' than traitor: Poll

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/us-usa-security-poll-idUSBRE95B1AF20130612

In the Reuters/Ipsos survey, linked immediately above, 23 percent of those surveyed said former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is a traitor while 31 percent said he is a patriot. The great plurality of Americans - the center-middle - 46 percent, said they did not know which he might be (and didn't really care).

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was, of all things, an online survey of only 645 Americans conducted on Tuesday and Wednesday. It has a pathetic credibility interval of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points for each result presented. Technically, however, the overall margin of error could be as great as 4.7%. In other words, the confidence level of this survey is low to very low. (Why bother?!)

The Pew survey results I posted to this thread found that roughly a quarter (27%) of Americans say they are following news about the government collecting Verizon phone records very closely. This is a relatively modest level of public interest. Only another 21% say they are following this fairly closely, while about half - the political center-middle - say they are following not too (17%) or not at all (35%) closely. Pew conducted half of its questioning on land line phones and half on cell phones. Thus the confidence factor of the Pew Survey is 95%, or very high.

Almost everyone at TVF who are on the far right have absolutely ignored the damage to national and Western security that Snowden has precipitated. They have given no attention or consideration to the compromised vital national security content discussed in in the article that follows:

Government reviews security damage from NSA disclosures

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/11/us-usa-security-idUSBRE95910O20130611

And another aspect of cyberspace is also being completely ignored. The following link is to an article in the high tech online magazine Wired that discusses the larger cybersecurity problem from the standpoint of you and I as individuals, which is another aspect the far right extremists have ignored. Where is an Edward Snowden in this matter, which is where we actually need the more protective and positively concerned Edward Snowdens?

When It Comes to Security, We’re Back to Feudalism

http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/11/feudal-security/

Edited June 13, 2013 by Publicus

[Publicus]

THE former CIA employee who leaked top-secret information about US surveillance programs said in Hong Kong yesterday that he is not attempting to hide from justice in the Chinese city but hopes to use it as a base to reveal wrongdoing.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/World/2013/06/13/Whistleblower%2Bsays%2Bhe%2Bwill%2Breveal%2Bcriminality/

US whistleblower Edward Snowden said the US government had been hacking into computers in Hong Kong and on the Chinese mainland for years during an inverview with the South China Morning Post. [Photo: CFP/CRI Online]

http://english.cri.cn/6909/2013/06/13/2941s769912.htm

US hacking China for years: Report

http://www.ecns.cn/2013/06-13/68194.shtml

... and more

The CCP-PRC is a 21st century fascist dictatorship that has conducted virtually unlimited cyberspying against the U.S. and other Western democracies for the past ten years. Those who express concern for the well being or the interests of the CCP-PRC leave me unaffected except to say the more we learn about the aggressive and fascist dictatorship there, that teaches its population of sheeple to hate the U.S. and democracy, the better for all of us and the world in general.

[lomatopo]

NSA flaks, including National Security Agency (NSA) Director Keith Alexander, are going to great lengths to convince citizens that Mr. Snowden's contention that he "could wiretap any American" is false, technically not feasible and the President has assured us that "no one is listening to your phone calls".

In 2008 it was widely reported that the NSA was listening in on telephone calls between U.S. military personnel and their families in the U.S. Maybe the NSA somehow lost the ability to listen in on telehone calls in the last five years?

David Murfee Faulk, a former U.S. Navy Arab linguist, said in the news report that he and his colleagues were listening to the conversations of military officers in Iraq who were talking with their spouses or girlfriends in the United States.

According to Faulk, they would often share the contents of some of the more salacious calls stored on their computers, listening to what he called "phone sex" and "pillow talk."

Both Kinne and Faulk worked at the NSA listening facility at Fort Gordon, Georgia. They told ABC that when linguists complained to supervisors about eavesdropping on personal conversations, they were ordered to continue transcribing the calls.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/09/spying.on.americans/

[Publicus]

Extradition lawyers in Hong Kong are advising Snowden to get out of Hong Kong now while he can. One lawyer advised Snowden, who is shopping around for extradition lawyers, "it's better to be safe in North Korea than sorry."

American who leaked NSA secrets is a free man in Hong Kong - for now

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/us-usa-security-hongkong-idUSBRE95B07B20130612

What kind of American "patriot" should find that the safest place for him to be is in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, i.e., North Korea, or even Russia which has strongly hinted Snowden could get political asylum there?

Edited June 13, 2013 by Publicus

[impulse]

Extradition lawyers in Hong Kong are advising Snowden to get out of Hong Kong now while he can. One lawyer advised Snowden, who is shopping around for extradition lawyers, "it's better to be safe in North Korea than sorry."

American who leaked NSA secrets is a free man in Hong Kong - for now

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/us-usa-security-hongkong-idUSBRE95B07B20130612

What kind of American "patriot" should find that the safest place for him to be is in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, i.e., North Korea, or even Russia which has strongly hinted Snowden could get political asylum there?

One that doesn't want to be held by the people that brought us waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, farmed out torture, and Guantanamo

Edited June 13, 2013 by impulse

[lomatopo]

In 2008 Congress passed The FISA Amendment Act of 2008*, which, after significant lobbying by Verizon, Sprint, AT&T et al., provided retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies that had broken the law by providing access to the NSA without warrants.

Perhaps Mr. Snowden could also get immunity, assuming he could cough up twenty million dollars to lobbyists, and to congressional candidates.

NSA Surveillance: Telecom Companies Spend Millions Lobbying Congress To Protect Their Interests: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/nsa-surveillance-telecom-lobbying_n_3422816.html

* Provisions of the FISA Amendment Act of 2008

Prohibits the individual states from investigating, sanctioning of, or requiring disclosure by complicit telecoms or other persons.

Permits the government not to keep records of searches, and destroy existing records (it requires them to keep the records for a period of 10 years).

Protects telecommunications companies from lawsuits for "'past or future cooperation' with federal law enforcement authorities and will assist the intelligence community in determining the plans of terrorists".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FISA_Amendments_Act_of_2008

Edited June 13, 2013 by lomatopo

[impulse]

Snowden in Hong Kong: The Legal Complications of ‘One Country, Two Systems’

By Charlie Campbell / Hong KongJune 12, 20130

An arrest warrant for Edward Snowden is very likely on the way, bringing what looks to be a complex legal tussle to the courts of Hong Kong. The city of about 7 million is a Special Administrative Region, or SAR, of China, but boasts separate courts and a good deal of legal autonomy. Nevertheless, Washington and Hong Kong maintain an extradition treaty, and a U.S. Justice Department official revealed on Tuesday that charges — possibly treason or aiding the enemy — are “under discussion."

It's really a lot simpler, unless you have proactive protection from your host government.

The US goes to the local government and declares you a person of interest, a cheat, a fraud, a drug runner, a child molester, or a traitor, etc. The local government doesn't extradite you based on any warrant. They can simply declare you an undesirable and deport you. Oh, they may find irregularities in your visa, or on your arrival card (didn't stay in the hotel you listed as your HK address, and then didn't report your whereabouts within 24 hours, huh?) And it's their prerogative what airplane they put you on.

Whether there's an extradition treaty in place or not, the guy's at risk unless he gets to a friendly country. Ironically, the very pressure from the US government makes him a tempting espionage target of any country willing to protect him- in return for certain "consideration".

[Steely Dan]

I think as soon as technology makes something possible it will be done, if the vested interests that desire it are powerful enough. Safeguards such as a constitution can be subverted too. The argument that terrorist attacks have been prevented by surveillance is superficially more plausible, but the Boston bombers were known to the authorities and not stopped, furthermore universal surveillance does not seem to apply to 'trusted' foreign nationals, such as the Saudis. My gut feeling is that intelligent profiling may render better results than universal monitoring, but profiling seems to be contentious to liberals, whilst universal breach of privacy evidently does not. FWIW I think we are entering a global phase of overt state control, partly due to their ideology and partly due to the current world political landscape. The following article touches on these issues.

http://www.ianwelsh.net/the-logic-of-the-surveillance-state/

I don’t have a lot to say about Prism, it’s nothing that I find surprising at all. I would have been surprised if they weren’t doing this. That does not, of course, mean that they should be doing it. Basically, assume you’re being watched at all times. That does not mean a human being is watching you, but assume that an algorithim is watching your behaviour, and will flag you if your pattern of contacts seems suspicious. Once you are tagged, assume that everything you’ve done online, and most of what you’ve done in the real world if you’re in most major metropolitan centers, can be back traced. As pattern recognition becomes better, this will become even easier to do, and, indeed, automatic. The online and the offline will be linked together.

[Loptr]

• Now look at this of what happens when you can't erase your data after some time.
• Edward Snowden worked for a Japanese anime company when he was 18 years old that was run by friends in Maryland
• On the company's website, he wrote of his skills with video games and his popularity among women
• Revelations about his youth come after he gave an interview to the South China Morning Post Wednesday in which he claimed that the NSA has hacked the country's universities, businesses and politicians
• New York Congressman Peter King for the arrest of Guardian journalist Glen Greenwald, as well as Snowden
• Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2340565/Edward-Snowden-I-like-girlish-figure-How-NSA-leaker-Snowden-bragged-physique-online-ability-attract-nubile-young-girls.html#ixzz2W4Yp9TDB

  Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Alas, the US government once again fails to realize that their reach stops at the borders. You CANNOT indict a journalist for publishing material supplied to them by a third party. Julian Assange is yet another victim of this world-gone-crazy where those that tell the truth and expose corruption in government are prosecuted, while those who commit the crimes are rewarded. I'm not sure when the world's common sense rotated 180 degrees, but it feels like we're living in a bizarro world where right is wrong and the truth is a lie.

[Publicus]

NSA flaks, including National Security Agency (NSA) Director Keith Alexander, are going to great lengths to convince citizens that Mr. Snowden's contention that he "could wiretap any American" is false, technically not feasible and the President has assured us that "no one is listening to your phone calls".

In 2008 it was widely reported that the NSA was listening in on telephone calls between U.S. military personnel and their families in the U.S. Maybe the NSA somehow lost the ability to listen in on telehone calls in the last five years?

David Murfee Faulk, a former U.S. Navy Arab linguist, said in the news report that he and his colleagues were listening to the conversations of military officers in Iraq who were talking with their spouses or girlfriends in the United States.

According to Faulk, they would often share the contents of some of the more salacious calls stored on their computers, listening to what he called "phone sex" and "pillow talk."

Both Kinne and Faulk worked at the NSA listening facility at Fort Gordon, Georgia. They told ABC that when linguists complained to supervisors about eavesdropping on personal conversations, they were ordered to continue transcribing the calls.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/09/spying.on.americans/

The list of Americans who get caught up is sex-espionage cases is very long. As we well know, the same is true of any other country. Back in 1953 British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, had to resign after it was learned, and unknown to him, he'd been sleeping with a Russian KGB spy who extracted state secrets during "pillow talk." This game is as old as civilization itself.

[lomatopo]

NSA flaks, including National Security Agency (NSA) Director Keith Alexander, are going to great lengths to convince citizens that Mr. Snowden's contention that he "could wiretap any American" is false, technically not feasible and the President has assured us that "no one is listening to your phone calls".

In 2008 it was widely reported that the NSA was listening in on telephone calls between U.S. military personnel and their families in the U.S. Maybe the NSA somehow lost the ability to listen in on telehone calls in the last five years?

David Murfee Faulk, a former U.S. Navy Arab linguist, said in the news report that he and his colleagues were listening to the conversations of military officers in Iraq who were talking with their spouses or girlfriends in the United States.

According to Faulk, they would often share the contents of some of the more salacious calls stored on their computers, listening to what he called "phone sex" and "pillow talk."

Both Kinne and Faulk worked at the NSA listening facility at Fort Gordon, Georgia. They told ABC that when linguists complained to supervisors about eavesdropping on personal conversations, they were ordered to continue transcribing the calls.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/10/09/spying.on.americans/

The list of Americans who get caught up is sex-espionage cases is very long. As we well know, the same is true of any other country. Back in 1953 British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, had to resign after it was learned, and unknown to him, he'd been sleeping with a Russian KGB spy who extracted state secrets during "pillow talk." This game is as old as civilization itself.

I guess the point of my post was that the NSA can listen in on real-time telephone conversations - without a warrant or probable cause, as Mr. Snowden claimed even as the NSA dismisses his claims as false, and even though they may not wish anyone to believe that this is technically feasible, or that any Americans might find it acceptable?

That said, I assume you feel it is absolutely acceptable for the NSA to listen in on real-time telephone conversations between our American Hero/Patriots serving the military overseas, and their wives/loved ones in the U.S. because one of them is a KGB agent? That is a bold claim, sir.

Edited June 13, 2013 by lomatopo

[Publicus]

In 2008 Congress passed The FISA Amendment Act of 2008*, which, after significant lobbying by Verizon, Sprint, AT&T et al., provided retroactive immunity for the telecommunications companies that had broken the law by providing access to the NSA without warrants.

Perhaps Mr. Snowden could also get immunity, assuming he could cough up twenty million dollars to lobbyists, and to congressional candidates.

NSA Surveillance: Telecom Companies Spend Millions Lobbying Congress To Protect Their Interests: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/nsa-surveillance-telecom-lobbying_n_3422816.html

* Provisions of the FISA Amendment Act of 2008

Prohibits the individual states from investigating, sanctioning of, or requiring disclosure by complicit telecoms or other persons.

Permits the government not to keep records of searches, and destroy existing records (it requires them to keep the records for a period of 10 years).

Protects telecommunications companies from lawsuits for "'past or future cooperation' with federal law enforcement authorities and will assist the intelligence community in determining the plans of terrorists".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FISA_Amendments_Act_of_2008

Corporations collecting data on us is addressed in the link I'd provided above, When It Comes to Security, We’re Back to Feudalism.

They're all guilty as in pointed out in your post. Facebook, Reddit etc etc etc not to mention the corporations that specialize in consumer products know more about us than our ex-wives.

Unfortunately, this is not the topic of the thread, although it is directly related as the laws allow whistleblowers in the private sector, who are not employed in national security, to come forward.

Unfortunately, however, we accept big corporations collecting data on us daily without much or any thought. Not much whistleblowing or general concern about this massive collection of big data on all of us.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Publicus

[Publicus]

Extradition lawyers in Hong Kong are advising Snowden to get out of Hong Kong now while he can. One lawyer advised Snowden, who is shopping around for extradition lawyers, "it's better to be safe in North Korea than sorry."

American who leaked NSA secrets is a free man in Hong Kong - for now

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/us-usa-security-hongkong-idUSBRE95B07B20130612

What kind of American "patriot" should find that the safest place for him to be is in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, i.e., North Korea, or even Russia which has strongly hinted Snowden could get political asylum there?

One that doesn't want to be held by the people that brought us waterboarding, extraordinary rendition, farmed out torture, and Guantanamo

I closed my brief post with an interrogatory because I'd wanted to leave a question and to make it an open ended question. I of course had anticipated the obvious answer, the response that is glib, facile, mundane, perhaps even malicious. However, I'd hoped someone could make a better post than the easy and obvious broadside that I read above.

Unfortunately, no one points to the Constitution of the United States as a document we created and which we hold sacred and have defended with our lives. No one points to the freedoms and liberties we have, or to the economic system that enables such great wealth creation. No one says the United States is a global leader in human rights. Given our history, no one points to the first black man elected and re-elected President of the United States.

Edward Snowden knowingly and willfully violated the Espionage Act of 1917 and a lot of other national security laws. Although Snowden is yet to be charged, we know he will be charged with a multiplicity of serious crimes against the national security of the United States. So he's now a fugitive from justice

One could go on in this vein.

Instead of a quality response comes the most predictable and unkind, inconsiderate response possible. It's a shame because no country has a perfect record or history - not if one is realistic about one's own country.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Publicus

[wealth]

Americans Disapprove of Government Surveillance Programs Americans split on whether leaker did the right or wrong thing

by Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- More Americans disapprove (53%) than approve (37%) of the federal government agency program that as part of its efforts to investigate terrorism obtained records from U.S. telephone and Internet companies to "compile telephone call logs and Internet communications."

Gallup is the only one I'd trust. for this time. Explanation is well done on the site. http://www.gallup.com/poll/163043/americans-disapprove-government-surveillance-programs.aspx

[wealth]

Prism Revelation: EU Weakened Data Protection at US Request

Top European officials are demanding more information about the controversial US Internet surveillance program known as Prism. But new information has revealed that the EU weakened privacy regulations in early 2012 following intense US lobbying.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/eu-weakened-data-protection-laws-ahead-of-prism-spy-program-a-905520.html

[Publicus]

Americans Disapprove of Government Surveillance Programs Americans split on whether leaker did the right or wrong thing

by Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- More Americans disapprove (53%) than approve (37%) of the federal government agency program that as part of its efforts to investigate terrorism obtained records from U.S. telephone and Internet companies to "compile telephone call logs and Internet communications."

Gallup is the only one I'd trust. for this time. Explanation is well done on the site. http://www.gallup.com/poll/163043/americans-disapprove-government-surveillance-programs.aspx

Gallup re-examines polling model

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/4/gallup-re-examines-polling-model/

Gallup last month announced it is reexamining its entire system and methods of polling after having suffered through the 2012 election to include placing Mitt Romney in the lead the day before the election. Gallup has consistently had what pollsters call "outlier" polls last year and into this year, i.e., polls that have results starkly different from the majority of professional polling organizations.

Gallup’s surveys were a point of continuing controversy during the 2012 vote, with the Obama campaign and many private polling analysts questioning the company’s take on the race. Gallup chief pollster Frank Newport said Tuesday the firm will continue to investigate its methods and consider changes.

Gallup and the report it has issued are a recognition of the damage done to the poll’s brand. Gallup’s polling drew intense criticism in the wake of last year's election - its partnership with USA Today was dissolved.

At least Gallup recognizes its failures and is taking steps to correct them. Pollster Scott Rasmussen, on the other hand, continues along his happy way of producing polls that are always quoted on Fox News and which keep both Republicans and the tea party people happy.

[Publicus]

Prism Revelation: EU Weakened Data Protection at US Request

Top European officials are demanding more information about the controversial US Internet surveillance program known as Prism. But new information has revealed that the EU weakened privacy regulations in early 2012 following intense US lobbying.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/eu-weakened-data-protection-laws-ahead-of-prism-spy-program-a-905520.html

"The Devil made us do it."

[Publicus]

Americans Disapprove of Government Surveillance Programs Americans split on whether leaker did the right or wrong thing

by Frank Newport

PRINCETON, NJ -- More Americans disapprove (53%) than approve (37%) of the federal government agency program that as part of its efforts to investigate terrorism obtained records from U.S. telephone and Internet companies to "compile telephone call logs and Internet communications."

Gallup is the only one I'd trust. for this time. Explanation is well done on the site. http://www.gallup.com/poll/163043/americans-disapprove-government-surveillance-programs.aspx

Yeah, 21% of Americans disapprove of the government's actions, but say there could be circumstances in which it would be right for the government to carry out such a program, yielding a combined total of 58% of all Americans who either approve or could theoretically approve under certain circumstances. (Emphasis added.)

The combined 58% in the Gallup survey who either approve or say there might be circumstances in which such a program would be right is similar to the acceptable percentage in the Pew/Post wording. (Emphasis added.)

It sounds like Gallup is pretty thrilled and tickled pink to find itself in the same ballpark as a widely respected pollster, the Pew Center, which does global polling as well as national polling in the U.S. and abroad. Gallup had to make a big reach to get up the level of Pew, but Gallup got themselves there by hook or by crook.

Is this the part of the explanation that you think was "well done" and which makes you say, "Gallup is the only one I'd trust, for this time."?

[wealth]

Prism Revelation: EU Weakened Data Protection at US Request

Top European officials are demanding more information about the controversial US Internet surveillance program known as Prism. But new information has revealed that the EU weakened privacy regulations in early 2012 following intense US lobbying.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/eu-weakened-data-protection-laws-ahead-of-prism-spy-program-a-905520.html

"The Devil made us do it."

... and a black Porsche 911 could be a nice gift for memories of how it all began.