Stop Freaking Out about the NSA's PRISM program (H/T to Arnold Woodworth)

Stop Freaking Out About the NSA

The government’s phone surveillance isn’t Orwellian. It’s limited and supervised.

Is government surveillance worth worrying about? Sure. But even broad surveillance, per se, isn’t outrageous. What’s important is that the surveillance be warranted by real threats, appropriately limited, and supervised by competing branches of government. In this case, those standards have been met.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/frame_game/2013/06/stop_the_nsa_surveillance_hysteria_the_government_s_scrutiny_of_verizon.html

Damage Control Time: National Intelligence Releases PRISM "Facts"

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-06-08/damage-control-time-national-intelligence-releases-prism-facts

The Unknown Patriot Who Exposed the Government's Verizon Spy Program

In praise of whistle-blowers whose risky disclosures of official wrongdoing make the nation stronger rather than weaker

Some leaks are pernicious -- but certainly not this one.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/the-unknown-patriot-who-exposed-the-governments-verizon-spy-program/276593/

Meet Edward Snowden, the NSA Whistleblower

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/meet-edward-snowden-the-nsa-whistleblower/276688/

Simple math shows why the NSA’s Facebook spying is a fool’s errand

analysts might be confronted with 100,000 false positives for every real terrorist.

http://qz.com/92207/simple-math-shows-why-the-nsas-facebook-spying-is-a-fools-errand/

What We Don't Know About Spying on Citizens: Scarier Than What We Know

The NSA's surveillance of cell-phone calls show how badly we need to protect the whistle-blowers who provide transparency and accountability.

Remember in 2003, when Congress defunded the decidedly creepy Total Information Awareness program? It didn't die; it just changed names and split into many smaller programs.

We know that corporations are doing an enormous amount of spying on behalf of the government: all parts.

We know all of this not because the government is honest and forthcoming, but mostly through three backchannels.

our government regularly classifies things not because they need to be secret, but because their release would be embarrassing.

Knowing how the government spies on us is important. Not only because so much of it is illegal -- or, to be as charitable as possible, based on novel interpretations of the law -- but because we have a right to know. Democracy requires an informed citizenry in order to function properly.

whistle-blowing is vital, even more broadly than in government spying. It's necessary for good government, and to protect us from abuse of power.

Whistle-blowing is the moral response to immoral activity by those in power.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/06/what-we-dont-know-about-spying-on-citizens-scarier-than-what-we-know/276607/

NSA data-mining digs into networks beyond Verizon

The National Security Agency's monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency's activities.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/nsa-data-mining-digs-into-networks-beyond-verizon-2013-06-07

Zuckerberg, Page use similar language to deny Facebook, Google participate in PRISM

AW comment: I believe Zukerberg's claim that the NSA and FBI never demanded data from Facebook. Why?

They didn't have to demand anything. Remember those few times in the past when changes

were made to Facebook and all privacy settings were automatically turned off?

You don't think the NSA missed out on those opportunities, do you?

http://blogs.marketwatch.com/thetell/2013/06/07/zuckerberg-page-use-similar-language-to-deny-google-facebook-participate-in-prism/

Government Phone Surveillance for Dummies

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/06/government-phone-surveillance-for-dummies/276629/