Don’t know when this ends, but:
On January 17, President Obama spoke at the Justice Department about changes in the technology that we use for national security purposes, and what these technologies mean for our privacy broadly. He called on the administration to conduct a 90-day review of big data and privacy: how these areas affect the way we live, and the way we work — and how data is being used by universities, the private sector, and the government.
This is a complicated issue that affects every American — and we want to hear your feedback. Learn more about this review, and if you like, share your thoughts.
This review gives me little hope. At the end of the day the Obama administration turned a blind eye on this issue and when caught with its pant down suddenly starts to be concerned. It’s all a PR stunt.
Sadly, most of us will agree, Don.
More of Obama’s all show and no go.
I won’t be wasting my time doing any such thing. Obama is just trolling for some feel good publicity.
Obama is now proposing that following presidents shall violate the constitution slightly less than himself.
The Libtards have been happy that, during the last 6 years, the increase in unconstitutional activity was done by a well-dressed articulated minority leading their party, instead of one of those Repug whites.
“People are only complaining about those activities because they are racists. Repugs did it all the time” “Did you prefer that Romney guy to have won?”
It’s a great joke to propose a law to have future presidents break the law less than himself.
I apologize in advance if I might have insulted anyone of any cultural group by calling them a Republican or a Democrat. Neither of those 2 words (Democrat or Republican) should be used in public.
Bugger the Bankers
@ “But remember, Congress is on record that a CLN is not required;
“There is no obligation for an individual to obtain a CLN.”
Thank you for this link Calgary 411 – especially relevant for those of us who have already renounced and are waiting – a long time – for the CLN to arrive. Now we can get on with the final filing.
Mark Twain – the Constitution is a load of crap anyway. When law becomes more about what is “Constitutional” vs. “Unconstitutional”, rather than what it right, just, fair or best for society as a whole, it is defunct.
I have posted my comments. I talked about the wrongs of the Bank Secrecy Act (FBAR requirements) and FATCA. I talked about how infringements upon my privacy, with no impending tax implications, were the reasons I felt forced down the path of relinquishing my citizenship. I also mentioned how the U.S. Embassy essentially forced me down the path of revoking my citizenship, due to a very trite matter of having used my U.S. passport since gaining U.K. citizenship, and how I felt this demonstrated corruption in the Embassy and Dept. of State, mainly to generate income from my $450 revocation fee.
@BlackPoplar – I must disagree with you.
This has a direct effect on the whole FATCA and Surveillance State thing ….. IMHO:
Without a sound Constitution and strict adherence to the letter and original intent of same no country can have freedom from Tyranny. Tyrants love to act in their own interest and bugger the people. The People have to limit what their leaders (and their bureaucrats) can do (and what information those leaders can obtain about the people). The US Constitution is an excellent one in so many ways … yet it seems that the US Political leadership and Bureaucracy are honoring it in the breach in recent decades. What might seem “fair” and “just” can only appear to be so whilst there are resources to provide same. Every benefit granted to people has a cost …. somewhere down the road that cost will demand to be paid. Even Freedom itself has to be constantly defended … else within a generation (more or less) it will disappear. The old USSR used to rewrite the history books to suit itself … The West now seem to be redefining Freedom to the point where it is becoming unrecognizable. The old concept of New Speak is alive and well. Who was it that insisted that (paraphrased) “Words mean what I wish them to mean” ?
Peace
@ChearsBigEars – that you for that inspiring video link …. I found myself singing along, noted the Bob Marley T Shirt and have forwarded the link around the world.
Obama’s agenda –
Control all possible data – it’s that simple.
The byproduct of this 1984ish thinking is control of communications, the US dollar supply, and ultimately people’s lives when you have the ability to trawl back years of data and nail people legally. That’s the real concern.
Also perhaps the IGA should be looked at from this point of view ‘In February 2014, the Canadian government stole the financial freedoms of 1,000,000 fellow Canadians.” It’s really that simple.
What really sickens me is the way the media are touting Obama’s initiative to curb mass telephone surveillance. Most of them fail to mention that that only pertains to Americans. Frankly, I don’t care what goes on in their country, it’s the privacy of non-Americans which concerns me.
@nervousinvestor
Unfortunately, written doctrine and constitutions have both the strength and the weakness of being inflexible. They increase reliance on their ‘interpreters’ or on interpretation more generally. The Bible is to priests, and the Koran is to imams, what the Constitution is to lawyers. However, priests and imams can live very humble lives. How many humble lawyers do you know? These texts are written at a point in time, and can become dated and inapplicable. They take too long to change when they have lost their meaning or get in the way of real justice.
IRS cutbacks will force FATCA data to be stored:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-24/irs-budget-crunch-limiting-use-of-foreign-government-data.html
@bubblebustin, from ridiculous to sublime. The US shouldn’t even be requiring this information, and they won’t be doing anything with it in any case. Idiots with a capital Eye.
Idiots with baseball bats.
Obama and his government operate on two guiding principals:
1. There is no societal problem that can’t be fixed by more tax, more government, and more regulation.
2. They are obsessed by the idea that somewhere on the planet there may well be somebody or some organization that is doing something that the US government doesn’t know about.
Love you all.
EYEdiots with baseball bats !!!!!!! How apropos bubblebustin! Got your capital EYE there Petros !
Hey BlackPoplar – ain’t no such creature as a humble lawyer ! LOL what a concept !
Running but love the conversation – just had to comment.
BTW I see that Presie O has, with a straight face, just promised the Europeans that it is the “right thing to do” to “grant” to non Americans (like Dutch and Germans and so on) the same privacy rights as Americans (in the homeland ?) are entitled to by law (Constitution ?). How generous after working to sideline our Constitutions and Charters of Rights and Freedoms which are supposed to give us that protection already! Humph ! The protection Presie O is offering is protecting our privacy from US intrusion as engineered by his own administration. ROFLMAO. Bye for now.
There was a VERY GOOD discussion yesterday, on KCRW’s To the Point, by Warren Olney. (One of my favorite PRI programs)
It was about the Dragnet style surveillance of the NSA, and its impacts on Business and Privacy.
Bottomline, it is really starting to hurt U.S. business as countries around the world are shutting them out of contracts, and they having to build data centers outside U.S. borders, because more and more governments and people do NOT want their data stored in the U.S. A. Of course, missing in the discussion was FATCA, that other dragnet style data collection regime, and so an opportunity to educate?
I have tweeted all the participants…. Have a listen to the show, and weigh in… Discussion starts at minute 8
NSA Surveillance: Bad for Business and Personal Privacy (1:08PM)
Facebook, Microsoft, Google and other American tech giants are complaining to President Obama about threats to their bottom lines. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took his complaint to the White House on Friday, saying the President’s not doing enough to reassure foreign clients or guarantee civil liberties. Foreign clients, including governments, are afraid they’re being spied on by the National Security Agency — fears costing the industry 25 percent of its revenue, or some $180 billion a year. Now the NSA’s revealed that US companies knew what was happening even when they denied it. It takes draconian steps for individual Americans to protect their privacy. Is the value of NSA’s intelligence gathering worth the economic and personal cost?
Guests:
Claire Cain Miller: New York Times, @clairecm
Joseph Lorenzo Hall: Center for Democracy and Technology, @JoeBeOne
Jack Lerner: University of Southern California, @jacklerner
Julia Angwin: ProPublica, @JuliaAngwin
“Now the NSA’s revealed that US companies knew what was happening even when they denied it.”
Not only did the US companies know, they also charged the NSA lots of $$$ for supporting them. Bill Gates and Larry Ellison, for example, have publicly stated their support for the NSAs mass surveillance. The only logical response for customers, whether they be individual or corporate, is to avoid all IT products and services from the USA wherever possible.
Brazil recently selected the Saab Gripen fighter airplane for its air force (and possibly navy) over the Boeing F/A 18 Super Hornet and Dassault Rafaele. The initial contract for 36 Gripens is valued at $4.5 billion (not including long-term maintenance and support estimated at another $1.5 billion). See this excerpt explaining why the US-made Super Hornet was ejected from the competition:
“What really hammered the Super Hornet, however, was the public revelation that the American NSA had been spying on Brazil’s government and Presidential Office. A 2013 negotiation that was supposedly tipping toward the Super Hornet died, and almost took the entire F-X2 competition with it. Instead, the Super Hornet was the only casualty, creating a binary decision between Saab and Dassault.”
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/brazil-embarking-upon-f-x2-fighter-program-04179/
The reader’s comment headlined “Tack sa mycket, Herr Snowden!” is Swedish for: “Thank you very much, Mr Snowden”.
Correction: A previous article was headlined “Tack sa mycket, Herr Snowden!” is Swedish for: “Thank you very much, Mr Snowden” (and not a reader’s comment).
Obama is only asking for these submissions so he can turn around and say he was “concerned” following that he will use the submissions to say he has verified that most Americans like how he is doing things with some minor adjustments and even those adjustments will never come.
It’s a dog and pony show and has zero actual impact other than to serve as spin while he carries on doing exactly as before and worse yet uses the “opportunity” you had for input to bolster the corrupt decisions being made by his government. I wouldn’t spend a second saying anything to the spin master. He knows the harm some of this is doing and simply could care less but, he does care how it “appears” and that is all he cares about. Shaping public opinion whether it is built on truth or not, as long as it looks good he is okay with it.
I couldn’t possibly be more used to seeing through this POTUS moves than I am already and I am nauseated by the crafter of empty words and empty gestures.