Phone calls and internet activity being monitored

[bacpacker]

Mods, please allow me a little leeway here. I do not believe this to be Tin-Foil any longer. Since the republicans started the ball rolling with the Patriot Act and the democrats joined in to push it thru the congress and now members of both parties are on both sides of this issue, I don't feel like it's political either.

As I'm sure most of you are aware of, the news has hit that the gov has been getting ALL the records from Verizon, AT&T, and other phone carriers. Most likely all the carriers. There has also been plenty of mention of a lot of the major internet providers turning over tons of info to the gov as well. Tonight I even saw a tracker running across the TV Screen that the British have had access to many of the same records, ON AMERICANS. There are many reports on various news agencies. Here are some links to review. I have several so I will not include highlights with them.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/06/freedomworks-nsa-idUSnPNDC27895+1e0+PRN20130606

http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/06/07/british-agency-had-access-nsa-data-report-says/mxQFL7cL4kIXD3D3vl8TnN/story.html

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/17/domesticspying.lawsuit/index.html

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/nsa-whistleblower/

And here is one from what I consider to be rather questionable sources.

http://www.cfr.org/intelligence/nsa-eavesdropping/p9763

We've known about this since the early 2000's when the Patriot Act was passed. Lots of people were all layers of pissed off, others thought this would keep us safe. It didn't matter that we were giving up a great deal of our liberty in total contrast to our constitution. My question is this, what do we do now?

[NWPilgrim]

There are a few things we can do:

A) vote and try to remove these tyrants. Only problem is so many from both "sides" are complicit.

B) Overwhelm the monitoring. Go hyperactive with calls and emails and use a large list of keywords in an otherwise nonsense message. Give them so much noise to signal that it is harder to zero in on anything meaningful. Encrypt everything so encryption becomes less of an indicator of significant traffic.

C) Go silent. Use electronic comms only for employer purposes but nothing personal.

Other ideas?

[carolinasurvivalist]

I'm just glad it's public knowledge now. Vindication though not needed is welcomed at times.

[mitunnelrat]

B) Overwhelm the monitoring. Go hyperactive with calls and emails and use a large list of keywords in an otherwise nonsense message. Give them so much noise to signal that it is harder to zero in on anything meaningful. Encrypt everything so encryption becomes less of an indicator of significant traffic.

From Bing:
se·di·tion [ sə dÃ*sh'n ] 1.rebellion or incitement: actions or words intended to provoke or incite rebellion against government authority, or actual rebellion against government authority
Emphasis in bold is mine. Discussing this any further is not only illegal, but entirely against the forum rules. Let's kill this as an option right now, please.

C) Go silent. Use electronic comms only for employer purposes but nothing personal.
Too late, and I also believe your option "A" to be ineffective for the same argument I'm about to pose here for "C". It isn't the government that's implemented many of these programs, but our service providers. Sure, there are exceptions in "some" of the tracking programs and such, but for the most part its likely to be 3rd party information they're acquiring, and its not just our or foreign governments who can access it. I just watched a news program on this not too long ago.

We knowingly buy cell phones with GPS programs, from providers who've made no secret they have data logs. Google has made no secret they've saved everything we use them for. Our TV providers know when you turn your TV on, how long you watch, and what. Cars have black boxes and GPS being built in. Social media requests all kinds of personal info like your phone number, location, and work history. It all makes for a dismal set of affairs - if you're a criminal.

I'm not. They can track my location, emails, texts, and calls if they want to. They'll see that I go to work every day, on the ocassional beer run, and they'll get a good bit of nonsense like I sent last night, where I said I'd scream like a girl if a snake ever reared out of my toilet. Or today, when I made a gardening crack and said I pushed my hoe around, which resulted in one hell of a row :D

I think the best option we have is to go about our daily lives as law abiding citizens, but practice "safe secs". Be mindful of what you communicate if you feel you have something to protect. That caution goes against anybody interested in us, and isn't exclusive to government monitoring. My personal facebook page is constantly asking me to "finish" my profile. They don't like that I don't have my school, work, location, or phone number listed with them. Oh well, too bad for them. PERSEC, OPSEC, COMMSEC, and INFOSEC all apply. I don't have time now, but I can post what I've found on definitions for these later if anyone needs it.

I have a feeling data mining is way too extensive to stop or change now, no matter how much the thought of it sucks.

Hopefully I stayed coherent here, I had more I could have said but I seem to be having trouble keeping my thoughts in line as I type. Maybe I should have skipped that beer run ;)

[bacpacker]

Well put MIT.

[The Stig]

I would agree that the best ways to fight back against this are:

1) If you don't like the companies being involved in this boycott them. Make a huge stink about it and simply don't purchase their products. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will get these companies to stop participating than $$$.

2) As MIT said, don't share info you don't want someone else to know.

3) While we don't discuss politics here, get involved and burn up the phone/email lines to your representatives

[realist]

For those of you with computers at work you should already be on line that your computer records are open to scrutiny. With this in mind I have always assumed my records at sometime may be looked at by a supervisor. This is not a bad way of behaving while on the internet. If you would not say it to your grandmother then it probably should not be said.

Social networks are reviewed by potential employers to see what you post, so if you are stupid and post inappropriate things then it may come back to bite you. There are some areas of the US this is now prohibited but there are or may be some exceptions.

Drive through any town and you will be on somebody's camera. In higher population areas there are ways to recreate your route. This has been around for years in larger cities.

Then there is the credit information out there people can steal for ID theft. If nothing else the companies can track your usage. 5% discount at the grocery store, guess what you start getting ads from the store on your on some of the things you have just bought.

There is an old saying three can keep a secret if two are dead....... Since this is not an option you should just be smart with the information you spread around. Who knows maybe this will bring on a resurgence of an old thing called the mail. Do you really need to have that information right now?

I really do not see how this can be stopped. It is kinda like trying to get your legislature to give you a refund when they have a surplus budget, its not going to happen. Do I like it no. Will it continue, yes it will. What do you do? Live with it,act appropriately and try to get legislature to control it.

[Stg1swret]

If you are worried about internet searches , use Duckduckgo as your search engine. They don't store anything. As far as comms go, snail mail or face to face comms is about the only way to stay secure today. Any and every thing electronic is monitored.

[Gunfixr]

If you're trying to decide what to do now, it's too late.
IMHO, voting has been failing to make any difference, and I don't see that changing.
While folks are pissed, it isn't really generating the mass outrage it would take to effect a policy change, so it will continue on, unabated.
Ideally, back when this started, you would've made OPSEC changes then.
Therefore, nothing changes. You either tightened up, or haven't done anything noteworthy and are still freely walking about.
Carry on.

On another note, it's a shame, really. What with Boston, and now this, the 4th Amendment is essentially dead. Numerous scandals cover the White House. All that's on the news is Kim Kardashian's baby.
Looks to me like the sheep are about ready for shearing.
Hope you folks have prioritized preps, and are as ready as you can be.

[Possom]

I no longer fear our government, nor will I change my behavior due to their monitoring. If they find my lifestyle and opinions grievous to their cause they are welcome to come discuss it with me in person. Living in fear is no life at all. It is time for men to be men and stand up for themselves. The sheepdogs have been sleeping for too long.

[MegaCPC]

People will gladly monitor themselves.

http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb146/megacpc/selfmonitoring_zpsdb2d0c2e.jpg (http://s210.photobucket.com/user/megacpc/media/selfmonitoring_zpsdb2d0c2e.jpg.html)