Even civil rights defenders like myself acknowledge that there might be instances when the NSA needs to monitor a person's communications, but that in no way justifies mass data collection. Section 215 is the critical foundation upon which the 4th Amendment is under assault. <\/p>\n
Obama's plan to push the burden of domestic spying upon private companies is also a loser for reason other than the fact that this in no way stops the mass violations of the 4th Amendment. It merely privatizes it. The NSA is already working with private companies to spy on us. <\/p>\n
And that only counts external hackers. Barclays Bank just got busted for illegally selling customer data. <\/p>\n
The fact is that you are more likely to have had your personal information stolen in the last five years than to have not. In fact, the supply of stolen credit cards has literally flooded the black market. <\/p>\n
I remember a gentleman tell me back in the 90's how software companies had the wrong incentives when it came to security. Basically, they made more sales for adding features, but security patches only factored into the cost of making the product. So security is considered a liability, not an asset. <\/p>\n
Like the issue of government spying, the issue of the lack of security on the internet is also reaching critical mass. It won't be long before the majority of people realize that the internet is a very different place than the image we'll been sold, and that the drawbacks are often greater than the advantages. <\/p>\n
3:05 PM PT: The FISA court has approved Obama's modest NSA reforms. The actual court ruling remains secret. <\/p>\n
3:08 PM PT: The uproad over the NSA spying has endangered the TTIP trade agreement. Thank you Snowden. <\/p>\n
3:16 PM PT: Consider the effectiveness of the NSA spying program. <\/p>\n
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