Privacy In America

I wasn't sure exactly where to post this, but this area seemed most fitting.

In my local newspaper, The Carmi Times, Friday, March 31st, 2017, they ran an article entitled "Illinois moves to implement internet privacy safeguards." The opening paragraph of the story states:
"SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Democratic lawmakers in Illinois are considering implementing their own internet safeguards at the state level after Republicans in Washington voted to roll back Obama-era internet privacy protections that were to take effect later this year." Later on in the article it says, "....the proposal treats basic information such as names, addresses and phone numbers as highly sensitive." (Their highlight.)

I thought that every telephone call we make and every e-mail we send was already intercepted in some way, shape or means by one or more government agency? Just what "privacy" are these Illinois Democrats referring to? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought every call was listened in on and if certain catchwords were said, it would be escalated higher up the chain of the listening agency. But doesn't that mean that if the government is listening for certain words, every call must be listened to so as to not miss anything by potential terrorists? And I've long heard that e-mails were not secure. If this is indeed the case, American citizens don't actually have the "rights of privacy" we thought we did, right? So, what's all the hullaballoo the Republicans and Democrats keep making? Who do they think they're fooling?

Its effing BS Man..We "us"Dem,and Repubs should be against this..Any freedom loving being wants there Privacy.

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

The difference is that without some kind of protections in place your ISP's will be selling all that information to various other companies.

It's one thing when the FBI or some Agency has that data, not that I like that either. But it's totally different when it's all going to be sold to various private companies all over the world for whatever reason.

Think about all the hacks that take place now in private organizations. How easy will it be to have everyone's info when multiple companies have huge lists of everyone's info around and it's being bought and sold daily everywhere.

There's nill to none privacy. Businesses being able to sell personal account ISP data to whomever wants can be even more(not to say it's not already) concerning than the alphabet agencies-and fusion centers- having it.
On top of that Net Neutrality is at stake.

With the debacle currently playing out over "incidental" collection of surveillance info and unmasking, does anyone else wonder if this isn't just the feds' way of opening a back door to our info? As far as I know, there's nothing stopping them from just buying all that info on the open market... no probable cause and no search warrants needed.

Screw the spirit of the law when you can twist and contort the letter of the law.

Privacy is highly scarce in America....they can track us, manipulate us and sell our data

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

It clearly shows our representatives don't uphold their oath "to support and defend" the constitution. There really should be a public outcry about all the privacy rights that have been taken away from American citizens. If all Americans continue to allow legislation like this to be shoved down our throats, lawmakers will continue to chip away at our privacy rights.

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

It doesn't really work the way you're thinking, but that's not really here or there.

Most of these privacy bills have to do with consumer privacy. Basically they're saying that corporations shouldn't be able to snoop and buy/sell your information but the government should.

It's a difficult problem to solve. Encryption can prevent people from reading your information right now, but encryption also flags your data to be stored for the time when the encryption can be broken. Hiding in plain sight and relying on the issue of them acquiring too much data to sift through is the best way to protect yourself from the government, but encryption is your best way to protect yourself from the corporations.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

It clearly shows our representatives don't uphold their oath "to support and defend" the constitution. There really should be a public outcry about all the privacy rights that have been taken away from American citizens. If all Americans continue to allow legislation like this to be shoved down our throats, lawmakers will continue to chip away at our privacy rights.

It's tough to have a public outcry on an issue that for the most part neither our elected officials or ordinary people understand,