What do you know - it turns out France (and Britain) and probably every other country out there that has the capability, does similar things to the NSA. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/04/france-spying_n_3546226.html France Intelligence Agency Spies On Phone Calls, Emails, Social Media Activity: Report PARIS, July 4 (Reuters) - France's external intelligence agency spies on the French public's phone calls, emails and social media activity in France and abroad, the daily Le Monde said on Thursday. It said the DGSE intercepted signals from computers and telephones in France, and between France and other countries, although not the content of phone calls, to create a map of "who is talking to whom". It said the activity was illegal. "All of our communications are spied on," wrote Le Monde, which based its report on unnamed intelligence sources as well as remarks made publicly by intelligence officials. "Emails, text messages, telephone records, access to Facebook and Twitter are then stored for years," it said. The activities described are similar to those carried out by the U.S. National Security Agency, as described in documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The documents revealed that the NSA has access to vast amounts of Internet data such as emails, chat rooms and video from large companies such as Facebook and Google, under a programme known as Prism. They also showed that the U.S. government had gathered so-called metadata - such as the time, duration and numbers called - on all telephone calls carried by service providers such as Verizon. France's DGSE was not immediately available for comment. Le Monde said the French national security commission whose job it is to authorise targeted spying, and the parliamentary intelligence committee, had challenged the paper's report and said it worked in accordance with the law. It said the only body that collected communications information was a government agency controlled by the prime minister's office that monitors for security breaches. Le Monde's report comes amid a storm over media allegations that Washington regularly spies on European citizens and embassies. The allegations, made in the German magazine Der Spiegel, sparked concern from data protection watchdogs and irked European governments just as major transatlantic trade talks are about to start. Le Monde said France's DGSE was more interested in finding out who was speaking to whom than in combing through the content of private communications. It said the DGSE stored a mass of such metadata in the basement of its Paris headquarters. France's seven other intelligence services, including domestic secret services and customs and money-laundering watchdogs, have access to the data and can tap into it freely as a means to spot people whose communications seem suspicious, whom they can then track with more intrusive techniques such as phone-tapping, Le Monde wrote. The Guardian newspaper reported last month that Britain had a similar spying programme on international phone and Internet traffic and was sharing vast quantities of personal information with the American NSA. (Reporting by Natalie Huet; Editing by Catherine Bremer and Kevin Liffey)
not surprised at all. Should get Hollande some egg on his face. This is a global issue. Given developments in mobile and the Internet of Things, the problem will get worse, and not better. Governments will be able to track what you use, when you use it, and where you use it. There needs to be a transparant discussion of the balencing required for security purposes. I am glad Snowdon has started it.
Agreed - this is one good thing that will come from there. There is a need for a national (and international) debate about this topic and about striking the right balance that the people can support.
I personally think that distinction belongs to Merkel, but to each their own. 'Stupid German banks in Düsseldorf' To get back to the topic, ATW, you seem to have shown a negative inclination towards what the NSA does. Given German privacy laws, and the history of Germany (which is rife with abuse of privacy), what are your views on the topic?
I already said on the other thread that I tend to agree with you on this topic. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=240477 First reply.
You are welcome. I am good at spotting idiots. Hollande is not the only example of that. I am also good at spotting Canadian idiots. Just ask MacBeth.
You're also apparantly very good at derailing threads and lobbing personal attacks. are we still on that thread of thinking I'm MacBeth? Because...I'm MacBeth. muhahaaha, i come here to haunt you to your internet grave ATW---i guess. REPENT. Anyways, this thread deserves better, so you're going have to excuse me if I put you on ignore for this thread, pending just having you entirely on ignore if you give up on arguments of substance.
whatever communciation means/technology has ruled the day has been able to be able to be tracked. from j edgar hoover till now and before