It's not just governments, it's common knowledge that sites like Amazon keep track of all things you buy, and Google keeps a record on all searches done on it. It's the same thing they use for predicting your searches, or Amazon advertising similar things to what you have already searched for. I'm surprised there isn't a bigger outcry about these things, and then I remember people don't seem to really care. That is more worrying.
I'd like someone to point out the dangers of Amazon knowing I bought an external hard drive last week and this week they send me an email asking if I'd like to buy a carry case for it. Long before the internet Tesco, and I'm sure every US supermarket have been doing this with clubcards. I remember buying wine amongst other things and a week later I receive a letter with a coupon for wine. Where's the harm? I think with last weeks revelations that facebook have shadow accounts for their 500 million users now that's a worry. They actually trawl the web looking for info on you. A simple slip exposed 6 million of these shadow accounts online for all to see.
The system that is used to track what you buy and your interests can be easily used for other things. Just say'en. If you know how that system works as I do you'll know Amazon has been doing it for years, and that it's mostly unaccountable because it's now given the guise of 'marketing'. Such a system is an automatic way of gathering info your personality.
back to OP - Edward Snowden I mentioned yesterday how pissed off they are here in France with these latest revelations re: US spying on EU offices of France, Germany and Britain amongst others - now all party leaders are pushing Hollande to offer Snowden asylum. They want him free in Paris asap to thank him for alerting them to these illegal activities. http://www.france24.com/en/20130701-snowden-nsa-france-asylum-melanchon-greens-le-pen-hollande?ns_campaign=editorial&ns_source=FB&ns_mchannel=reseaux_sociaux&ns_fee=0&ns_linkname=20130701_snowden_nsa_france_asylum_melanchon_greens
It's handy to know who thinks what and what sort of group they are affiliated by things. It's not the actual knowing what you buy, that's just for marketing, but it's about the ability to build a profile of people's personality - and social identities. That could come in real handy if a government, say, wants to manufacture a consensus by social engineering. I know that might sound crazy or like conspiracy theory bullshit, but it's actually very easy to do and already within the power of any modern government. I'd be surprised if they don't do that to some extent already.
I understand that, Amazon's or Tesco's data on me is nothing - that added to everybody else's data could be huge but that is info that I volunteer. Facebook's shadow profiling is pure evil.
I don't think that sounds crazy at all. I'm always very leery of language use in commercials. People think I'm crazy when I point out the overuse of definite articles, often to the point of blatant grammatical incorrectness, in many commercials. The subtle nudge to the zeitgeist that this isn't just any old finance deal, it's THE deal that you DO want. When U.S. television and film removed cigarettes from the screen (big and small, though they have made their way back to the big screen), is that not a form of generating a consensus? Cigarettes are bad, mm-K. Or we want you to believe that we're benevolently informing you that cigarettes are bad mm-K, though we will continue to fund the mega-industry that creates them. I can easily see how such information could be used to edge out new foreign technology in favor of domestic. Anyone remember Betamax players or DAT tapes or Lazer-disk players? I still remember moving to Florida from Hawaii and laughing at my friend's giant clunky VHS player with its huge, cheap-feeling tapes. That same friend laughed right back at my Betamax player to the tune of, "Good luck finding anything for that 'round these parts!" This kind of data collection would easily spot trends in purchases, sending up a red flag to domestic producers and advertisers who I am sure would pay atrocious sums for such info.
Totally. And apparently the US army is creating fake Facebook profiles for propaganda purposes. That's not just evil, it's actually Orwellian. Apparently part of a war of of online propaganda, but fighting fire with fire is just plain dumb. Agreed. I also find intentionally vague statements like 'Support our Troops' instantly suspicious. What does this mean exactly? Support them because they are on a battlefield and facing hardships, or support the reason why they are there?
another member here sent me a link to a youtube video called Psywars, well worth a watch just how evil they are.
I don't know. I don't think its good that we jump on any and all news stories that fit our own agenda and claim them to be true, even if they're simply allegations. The Facebook 'shadowing' is an allegation, by one person and it's unproven. I mean look, I know spying and secrecy and intrigue is cool and makes good fiction, but sometimes I think we make a lot out of nothing and tend to stretch the truth to make something more egregious than it actually is. ...and if by 'propaganda', you mean, 'Hey brother, you don't have to be a suicide bomber.', then yeah, that's what they're doing.
The security research company who identified the bug, Packet Storm Security, said that Facebook has been compiling information on many of its users, and even on people who don’t have Facebook accounts from http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/right-click/facebook-shadow-profiles-probably-one-don-t-even-184513398.html just google "facebook shadow profiles" Anyway this thread keeps going off JJ's OP - French politicians from all parties are piling pressure on Monsieur Hollande to offer Snowden asylum - wouldn't that be a major kick in the nuts for Obama?
Hey guys. I've long avoided any political discussions on here because they get so emmotional (for everyone) and because I'd waste too much time on here, rather than writing. But this topic is just too juicy to pass up. So here we go! It seems there has been ALOT of off point discussions so I'm hoping everyone can get back on track without injecting false information. It's hard enough to decide how you feel on a subject without those with a political agenda making it more difficult through deceit. For this purpose let's discuss the FACTS as we know them. It's a very complicated issue which requires alot of backround reading. Here's what I know: 1. Snowden is the NSA tech who leaked top secret information about the NSA's mass surveillance programs 2. Snowden leaked a FIST (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court) court order, which was for Verizon to turn over their phone log records to NSA. 3. Snowden leaked information about PRISM, a surveillance program that collects mass data through agreements with major companies (this is the surveillance of web searches, emails, etc) 4. Snowden leaked information about U.S. Surveillance of chinese communications 5. Snowden leaked information about U.S. bugging of EU embassies. Now, there are other things leaked by Snowden, but this seems to cover the important violations for which the major media is covering. I think the facts are good place to start, and I hope everyone agrees. If anyone finds an error with the facts I have presented please voice your concern and correct them. Also, state your source. My information is from wikipedia. Some may complain about this but it's a good first step toward getting the facts and I find Wikipedia to be on par with the news agencies from which most other users are basing their opinion. I look forward to what everyone has to say!
My point is there has been alot of throwing around of "facts" that are not so. So instead of throwing around false information and conjecture we start at the beginning, present citation, and proceed to discussion from those sources. Or we could go back to "ahh American is lame, totally lame, everyone is laughing. Here's an analogy of what I think America looks like right now. haha" which has been forbidden by a moderator. Not to mention it's totally off topic and gets us nowhere.
Usually very hot, but right now a cold front has moved in with an unusual summer thunderstorm. So it's much more bearable. How's the weather back in civilization? Hardly on topic though Erebh of France (are we lords?) I gather from reading your posts that you're a fierce opponent of this NSA spying program (despite not being an American citizen. Not that lends you to not have an opinion. EU embassies were spied on as well). Or am I wrong?
Zing! That's the main point. People are making a big fuss about the 'evil government' based on leaked information they haven't even read, and ignoring the fact that it's being done out in the open by practically everyone already.
Exactly. The same people who do this will also send emails, emails that carry the IP address of the sender, even if you use a throw away email address. Or they will use Facebook, putting a huge amount of personal data voluntarily that can be used to exactly the same end. Even those who are conscious of such things, even just the possibility, do all this without even thinking about it. It's not thought about, because people, for some reason, just don't seem to care.
Not you're not wrong but not just the embassies, apparently they have all of my facebook posts etc, and those of Selbinn and those of Lemex and guess what - yours too!
I honestly feel sorry for anyone who doesn't know this to be honest. Every time you send an email or even post on a forum just like this one you leave an IP trace. If a forum security isn't very good all you need is to right click your mouse, go into 'View Page Source' and then you'll be able to see everyone's IP address that has commented on that page. After that all you need to do is google that IP address and you can pinpoint almost exactly on the map where each message was sent from.
