XKeyscore - heard of it?
 

XKeyscore: NSA tool collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet' | World news | theguardian.com

is it really this easy to track us if anyone wants to? can anyone get this software or is it exclusive to the nsa?

On CNN tonight
 

There was report on CNN (Piers Morgan show) about this tonight. Kind of scary. Although if the NSA wants to monitor my e-mails and internet usage, they would get bored very fast.

I guess nothing is sacred anymore - especially our privacy. Sad.

The NSA has better things to do with their time and assets than monitor ordinary citizens. You only get attention if you are a bad person.

guess that depends on the definition of 'bad'! ;)

Bad, as in looking up how to make bombs on the internet or visiting jihad websites. NSA can check everything I do online and I could care less. If you have nothing to hide, why would anyone care? The attacks stopped by NSA using monitoring programs override my concerns that the may see an email to my friends.

Yeah, but due to this nsa tracking, a "joint terrorism task force" descended on a Long Island couple's home because they looked up backpacks and pressure cookers on the internet.

"From the Atlantic Wire Thursday morning, a terrifying tale about a couple on Long Island who got a visit from a six-member “joint terrorism task force” after they entered those magic words into a search engine." Updated: Feds raid home after couple searches for 'pressure cooker' and 'backpack' on Internet « Watchdog.org

I have been looking up pressure cookers for over a year. Good thing I didn't need a backpack.

Or I guess you could be labeled as "bad" if you're on the opposite side of the powers that be - like James Rosen for instance - he must have been "bad". Oh yeah, his parents too.

No system is 100% perfect. There will be occasional errors but how would you feel if that task force had uncovered a bomb plot that was plotted to explode in a venue that members of your family planned to attend. I will gladly let NSA read any email or monitor any phone call to keep every one as safe as possible. Unless you are involved in defending the USA from attacks, you have no idea what evil there is in the world that is actively plotting to attack us every single day. The NSA and other government agencies should be applauded for their success in keep us all safe.

I'm not actually against what the nsa is doing... to a point. I do think they could take a little more time to verify things before they go storming into someone's house scaring the h*** out of them 'cause she was tying to learn how to cook lentils and he wanted a backpack.

According to the Suffolk County police, it was a former fellow employee of the blogger's husband who reported this incident to the police, not the NSA. The man told police he noticed searches for "pressure cooker bombs" on her husband's computer.


Michele Catalano: Pressure cooker search was not due to NSA surveillance.

My bad. Sorry.:(

I wish the FTC would talk to the NSA and get a handle on robo calls. with the information they have along with the computer power it would be very easy to track down the numbers that are generating the robo calls. The one big complaint about 911 was that agencies were not talking to one another, well here is a good chance to put that theory to work.

Ohio residents are getting at least 4 robo phone calls a day on lane line and cell phones and this has been going on for months. Calls start at 8:00 am and go until 9:00 pm. Local newspapers have written stories about it and it still goes on. The is a company wanting you to change natural gas service. I have a friend who lives in a totally electric home and he still gets 4 calls a day.

VG

Agree with you on this. A few months ago I switched electric service suppliers (in the Chicago area we can choose which company supplies the electricity for our homes). A couple of weeks later I received 5 calls in one day from the same phone number which showed up on my Caller ID. I happened to be home one weekday when I received another call from this number. It was my former electric provider trying to find out why I switched providers. I told them when they lowered their rates I would be glad to switch back to them. The reply I received was "sorry about that", then the person hung up on me. Fie on robo calls. :grumpy: