Google asks to publish more US Gov't information

Google asks to publish more US gov't information

Source [Associated Press]

So the tech companies caught up in this PRISM business want permission to float their own lies ... err ... uhhh ... tell their own side of the story.

Google is asking the Obama administration for permission to disclose more details about the U.S. government's demands for email and other personal information transmitted online in an effort to distance itself from an Internet dragnet.

...

All the companies and services have denied giving the U.S. government unfettered access to user data. The companies say they only turn over user data under legally binding orders, and try to regularly resist orders considered to be too broad.

Because this is what's at stake:

Minimizing the appearance of their involvement in PRISM is important to the technology companies. The companies don't want Web surfers to become paranoid about sharing personal information on their services or, worse yet, avoiding their websites altogether. Attracting big audiences helps the companies sell more advertising. Those ads command higher prices and run more frequently when the companies are able to decipher personal data and determine which parts of the audience are most likely to be interested in certain products.

The stakes are particularly high for Google, which sold $44 billion in digital advertising last year alone.

Here's my take on it: I have no doubt Facebook, MS, and Google executives are on first-name bases, in fact probably go skinny-dipping in the Dark Side swimmin' hole, with the spooks and spymasters of NSA, CIA, CFR, etc., etc.

They have every reason to have us buy into the public, "polite" side of FISA orders, valiant fights against government tyranny, David-against-Goliath triumphs in the name of privacy and liberty, and so on and so on. Pay no attention and never mind that big fat pipe out the back door that appears to be a gigantic s***-pump into the NSA.

I'll believe them when and IF they give me damned good reason to believe them, and not before....

[Gotta go for a few hours. Will be back for responses later....]

What the U.S. government already asks for in the form of national security letters that can not be published and are kept secret is astonishing. There is no oversight and it's all disguised in the form of keeping you and I safe from terrorism, it's an oppressive, authoritarian and tyrannical way to force private companies to turn over data.

If Google and the rest of the ISPs were to hand over ALL of the information of government intrusion, there would probably be widespread panic on just how much is being looked at and how many average Americans are affected.

reply to post by Ex_CT2


First they play along and give the agencies acces to their servers and now that it has gotten out they act like they want more transparency.

Why didn´t they say something before this got out and before they cooperated?

so

people dont mind that private firms like google
collect and distribute information about us

but when the government gets involved to expose what info they have

were meant to get upset?

hmmm...just a perspective

Because they want to keep us on the ropes in a rope-a-dope fashion...maybe everyone on facebook and twitter and other big authoritarian sellout social media sites, should boycott and not use them for 30 day's and see if they are happy not to give up our information to the people that want to keep us all safe under their watchful concerned eyes...and ears! Can we live without them? Can they live without us...doubt it...at least the latter option we've done before and WE CAN DO IT AGAIN!

Originally posted by thePharaoh
so

people dont mind that private firms like google
collect and distribute information about us

but when the government gets involved to expose what info they have

were meant to get upset?

hmmm...just a perspective

Yes, yes: That tired old argument. Frankly I hate it that anyone collects and uses my own information against my wishes. But trying to sell me something I don't want is one thing. Secretly gathering every scrap of info that can be found on me on the notion that I might have gotten up to something that requires deep-crunching analysis to find the pattern--or worse, that I might require detention because my pattern indicates that I might get up to something in the future... I trust you see where I'm going with this.

And all that's disregarding the fact that Government has been repeatedly told, in no uncertain terms, to lay off the secret spying on Americans because it violates the Constitution and statute law.

So yeah. Call me cuckoo....

Oh this makes me ill. I can imagine googling, James Gilliland ufo videos and getting the first page filled with Goverment positions on ufo's being weather balloons....! Not the target words! It already feels like this when I search for things, page after page missing the google words, and yet the data base exists, it could get worse.

reply to post by Ex_CT2


I've never trusted email. Old fashioned i guess in that regard. If I want to write a letter I send it with a stamp. I only use email for short messages. It's too late for google and Facebook has always been monitored. That one is a no brainer.

I wonder if it makes a difference if someone searches for something using the upper bar in their screen or not. When I want to search for something I have to wait for a moment because it wants me to search for it in google (will boot me out of upper search bar if i dont wait), and into the google one below. Who controls that upper right bar. It's not google on my MacBook.

Originally posted by Unity_99
Oh this makes me ill. I can imagine googling, James Gilliland ufo videos and getting the first page filled with Goverment positions on ufo's being weather balloons....! Not the target words! It already feels like this when I search for things, page after page missing the google words, and yet the data base exists, it could get worse.

There's been something going on with Google for awhile. I've seen it mentioned in a number of blogs and magazine articles. Here, for instance

It was done gradually over many years, but Google now provides organic search results that often look relevant on the surface, but either lead to made-for-AdSense content pages or somewhat sketchy companies who are great at article spinning and comment spamming.

Since their poor results are being talked about with more fervor outside of the search marketing industry, it's possible that they have indeed crossed the line. Numerous mainstream publications and highly regarded bloggers have taken notice and written about the putrid results. While Google is used to negative press, the current wave of stories hits them at their core -- or at least what most people believe to be their core -- their search results.

The main thing you have to know about Google is that your search results are not as important as their profit. Every computer that Google discovers (through their search engine, or Gmail, or Youtube, or whatever) is assigned a number, and a hard-to-get-rid-of Flash Cookie is put on that machine. Even if you erase the cookie, the next time Google sees that machine, it recognizes it and tucks you back into your place in Google's database for further information "massaging." (Yes: It's known as "massaging" information. I guess you're supposed to feel all better about giving away every known tidbit about yourself if there's a nice massage involved....)

Originally posted by Dianec
reply to post by Ex_CT2

 

I've never trusted email. Old fashioned i guess in that regard. If I want to write a letter I send it with a stamp. I only use email for short messages. It's too late for google and Facebook has always been monitored. That one is a no brainer.

I wonder if it makes a difference if someone searches for something using the upper bar in their screen or not. When I want to search for something I have to wait for a moment because it wants me to search for it in google (will boot me out of upper search bar if i dont wait), and into the google one below. Who controls that upper right bar. It's not google on my MacBook.

The search in the top bar is variable. In other words, that search engine can be any one of the dozens out there--not necessarily Google--and it's up to you to choose which search provider is placed there. Of course you don't have to have Google as your homepage, either. In any case, almost all the "mainstream" landing pages (homepages) like AOL, MSN, Google, Yahoo, etc., will grab your cursor from the search bar or the url bar and force it into their own search box. Most people just accept it and do their search from the box they're thrown into.

But no--there's no difference between your Google searchbar up top and the Google search box on the page. The Google landing page, like the ones I mentioned above, are programmed to grab your cursor and throw it into the main-page search box. They don't know what search provider you're using, and don't care--even if it's themselves. They're programmed to try to force you to use their search box as soon as you hit their page.

And about the email versus snail-mail. I don't blame you. What this world is suffering from more than anything is massively too damn much "progress." I hate it and sincerely wish it would all slow down. Or, preferably, stop altogether. But it won't....