PRISM - The Mirror That Betrays You

PRISM - The Mirror That Betrays You

Hello again ATS!

For years they called many of us "paranoid" and "crazy"... but we persisted. And now the cat is totally out of the bag. It is now common knowledge that the NSA, FBI, and, by implication, every other Government agency one can list, has been spying on us. Not just spying... but wholesale, across the board arbitrary domestic spying on every single one of us.

Though many of us have been aware of this spying for the better part of a decade - we, as a community, are still left looking at the vast scope of the reality of it and are struggling to get our heads around just what it all means...

What are the implications of such a widely cast and finely woven net?

For those who aren't up to speed on the issue of PRISM ( Official name SIGAD US-984XN - here are the basics:

PRISM is a clandestine national security electronic surveillance program operated by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) since 2007. PRISM is a government code name for a data-collection effort known officially by the SIGAD US-984XN.

On September 11, 2007, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the Protect America Act of 2007, allowing the NSA to start a massive domestic surveillance program. The program is operated under the supervision of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).[citation needed] Its existence was leaked five years later by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who claimed the extent of mass data collection was far greater than the public knew, and included "dangerous" and "criminal" activities in law. The disclosures were published by The Guardian and The Washington Post on June 6, 2013.

A document included in the leak indicated that PRISM was "the number one source of raw intelligence used for NSA analytic reports."The leaked information came to light one day after the revelation that the FISC had been ordering a subsidiary of telecommunications company Verizon Communications to turn over to the NSA logs tracking all of its customers' telephone calls on an ongoing daily basis.

U.S. government officials have disputed some aspects of the Guardian and Washington Post stories and have defended the program by asserting it cannot be used on domestic targets without a warrant, that it has helped to prevent acts of terrorism, and that it receives independent oversight from the federal government's executive, judicial and legislative branches. On June 19, 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama, during a visit to Germany, stated that the NSA's data gathering practices constitute "a circumscribed, narrow system directed at us being able to protect our people"...

Shortly after publication of the reports by The Guardian and The Washington Post, the United States Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, on June 7 released a statement confirming that for nearly six years the government of the United States had been using large Internet services companies such as Google and Facebook to collect information on foreigners outside the United States as a defense against national security threats. The statement read in part, "The Guardian and The Washington Post articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They contain numerous inaccuracies." He went on to say, "Section 702 is a provision of FISA that is designed to facilitate the acquisition of foreign intelligence information concerning non-U.S. persons located outside the United States. It cannot be used to intentionally target any U.S. citizen, any other U.S. person, or anyone located within the United States." Clapper concluded his statement by stating, "The unauthorized disclosure of information about this important and entirely legal program is reprehensible and risks important protections for the security of Americans." On March 12, 2013, Clapper had told the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that the NSA does "not wittingly" collect any type of data on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans. Clapper later admitted the statement was false.

Source

Some of the PRISM slides:

















Source

Many more overviews and details can be found here, here. here. here, and here.

Heck... just type "PRISM" into any search engine and you'll get pages upon pages upon pages of hits. Just know... they are watching you watching them watching you watching them....

Just for fun and information - an outdated PDF about Echelon that provides a lot of clues still relevant today

What's It All About Alfie???

Now that the domestic spying cat is out of the proverbial bag and no longer a bone of contention - we are left to try and understand what it all means. How might our online habits be used against us. This is where things get interesting and the real evil begins to shine through.

You see it's not just your browsing habits that are in their collected data set... It's everything. The online information is just one piece of a very complex process and puzzle. That puzzle includes ( but is not limited to ) your phone and cell phone use ( text messages, calls, SMS messages, the GPS in your phone ( giving those in power a literal biography of everywhere you go, how long you stay, and what you do ), your banking records, your credit card and debit card records, your employment history, your public records ( birth certificates, marriage licenses, drivers licenses, criminal history, traffic stop history, car registrations, mortgage records, etc ), what you check out from your local library, what you watch on cable or netflix, who you are related to, who you socialize with.. it's all there and it is all collated and cross referenced. Everything you do leaves a footprint somewhere... and now not only does the technology exist to exploit that fact - the political atmosphere to abuse that power also exists.

Like it or not - just about everything that you do is currently being used to to profile, categorize, qualify, label, diagnose, and identify you. Some applications of this are relatively harmless. These sorts of things tell Google what hits to show on your searches, and in what order. They also tell advertisers what ads you'd rather see or are more succeptible to. But the potentials here are nearly limitless and the potential for abuses are flatly more frightening than I think any of us can get our minds around.

Most of us have seen shows where teams of FBI profilers spend an hour building a profile and behavioral model of some criminal... slowly but surely... until they finally get their man. Guess what? Right now computers in Utah ( and elsewhere - all over the globe ) are doing exactly that to you, as you read these words, right now. And they have been for only God knows how long. In fact just reading these words is adding to your profile. What you read before this, what you read after it, what links you click while reading this, how long you read this, if you reply, what you say in that reply ( if you make one ), what time you logged on today, what time you will log off tonight, how many times you accessed the Internet today... all this and so much more - all feeding the matrices used to analyze and categorize us all.

You reading this is even effecting my profile - because knowing the types of people who we attract and can influence ( both positively and negatively ) is valuable information... should one of US one day scream that the Emperor has no clothes? Well knowing who might trust our cries and who might ignore us is empowering strategic data to possess.

To be honest I have spent the past several hours trying to think of a fairly common data set that couldn't be used against us in this manner... and I cannot fathom a single one. Even staring at my power bill makes me realize that it betrays me by letting the system know too much about me... when I'm home, when I'm awake, whether I prefer heat or cold... maybe even things like how full my refrigerator is on any given day of the month, how often I boot my computer, how much TV I watch and so forth. All of this could realistically be extrapolated from nothing more than monitoring and analyzing electricity usage trends.

Even those who will brag that they are "off the grid" seem to lose sight of things IMO. First off... if you're reading or posting to a website... you are not "off the grid". Even if you are behind ten proxies, pirating WiFi on a prepaid phone? You're still leaving a data based bread crumb trail - and, sorry... but chances are that no matter how secure you've gone out of your way to be - you've forgotten to close a loop somewhere. That bread crumb trail almost surely will lead straight back to you. That throwaway cell phone using the piggy backed WiFi? Well your other cell phone, the one in your other pocket... IT has betrayed you and connected you to the throwaway - because the GPS puts them in the same general area... and the Bluetooth from the phones puts them in the same exact vicinity.

A fictional and fairly simplified example of just how hard it is to hide. In this day and age - even the totally dedicated person who has forsaken all technology, moved to the heart of a heavily wooded area, and lives in a log cabin??? Well the drones are watching his heat signatures and building a data set about him. Escape is, as far as I can see - impossible.

Turns out that things like The Minority Report and Orwells predictions of thoughtcrime might have been a bit more on the money than many of us wanted to accept or believe. We are currently living in a situation where such things are already showing their faces - and are absolutely possible.

Right now computers are being used to create a profile that will tell the Government if you're likely to be rebellious or not.. whether or not you'd fight if attacked... whether or not you'll just take it should they want to impose a few new laws upon the People... if you are a risk to them and their power or if you are not. While we have yet to see widespread abuse of this ability - the potential does exist right now for it to happen.

Scared yet? I know I am.

Knowledge Is Power - Information Is Concentrated Knowledge

The above title might seem contrary for a minute - but I think it is accurate. Knowing something is empowering. We learn because of information. The larger an information pool - the more there is to learn. Therefore wholesale harvesting of information is a means of obtaining superior knowledge.

I spent a couple of hours, days ago, writing the following as a rough draft for my ideas on this subject. I'll share that information here - as it gives an informed laypersons initial views of just how our digital footprints might be used in the process of profiling each and every one of us - just off the top of my head ideas about how our casual behaviors offer information to those who are watching:

Social Networking ( Facebook, Twitter, IRC, etc )

While there are a percentage of folks in our community who take pride in bragging that they don't engage in social networking - the truth is that even ATS could qualify as a social networking site. In fact my local library used to block ATS because their nannyware categorized it exactly so. Internet chat, in all its forms, also qualifes as social networking. In short, I think that almost all of us engage in social networking online - in one form or another... even the die hards who make it a point not to.

The information we reveal conversationally and without thought in these venues is a gold mine for behavioral modelling. Unguarded and casual conversation is our most vulnerable state - and many forms of interrogation are designed specifically to illicit that condition. Ask any cop and they'll tell you that the vast majority of criminals convict themselves by simply talking. On the digital level, over time, the potential for behavioral modelling is exponentially more dangerous. Even casual and infrequent posters will eventually provide enough information to allow for a derived data set to be built.

Professional Sites ( LinkedIn, Monster, etc )

Many of the people who are alert enough to never post personal information to any websites they engage in will fall short here because, well because money and work. Even some of the most "private" folks online has fully fleshed out professional profiles replete with megadoses of personal information.

One of the secrets involved with this also has to deal with behavior modelling. You might say that the Government already has your work history on file - and this is true. The catch is that we all fudge our resume's. We all tweak them... some a little... some a lot. It is those "personal touches" than can speak volumes about our psychology when assessed by a qualified behaviorist - or the right computer matrices. What we distort, how we distort it and to what level that distortion takes is a primary aspect of all personality inventories. Thus this information is invaluable to Big Brother.

Not to mention that a total distortion or fabrication in this area could potentially be incriminating or life destroying by itself.

News Sites ( MSN, Yahoo, Rueters, Associated Press, etc )

Where we get our information from, in this day and age, just by itself is nearly enough information to base a rough personality profile from. This is something that most of us on ATS already know and something that many of us already utilize as a tool to help us get an idea of who we are debating against or agreeing with. If a person sources the same news outlets that we, ourselves, tend to read - we can assume that their world views and politics are probably similar to ours. The fact that nearly all news outlets today have polarized to either the far right or the far left makes such observations simple.

Now imagine that not only can you see where a person gets their news - but also what specific stories they tend to gravitate to. That information, over time and by itself is enough to base an entire personality profile from. Not only that... but the potential for behavior modelling and prediction is more intense than most of us realize. Do you read 20 articles a day about revolution? Well you know it... and so does the Government. Chances are, they'll read a lot more into it than you probably do.


Political Sites ( Breitbart, NRA, HufPo, etc )

This one is pretty obvious. Back in the good old days a politician would have to hire a team to put together an "enemies" list. Now it's as simple as getting the log in records for whatever political aggregation or opinion site the opposite party uses.


Interest Based Sites ( ATS, Reddit, the iStore etc )

Another cog in the behavior modelling and personality profiling wheel. What we like and enjoy is powerful information for an enemy to have. Our likes can be used to manipulate us. Inversely what we like and enjoy can also inform as to what we loathe and fear... even more powerful motivators.

Shopping Sites ( Amazon, eBay, WalMart.com, etc )

Although this entry appears in the middle of this list, I could probably have harvested not just a dedicated thread... but a series of them from this single aspect. However, since this OP is relating directly to the generation of profiles and predictive behavioral models, this information is somewhat less important here than in other topics.

We live in a consumer society. We are consumers. Our money is literally the pulse of society. We spend, the heart is beating. We stop spending and the body dies. That is the stark and blunt truth of it. You do not matter at all to the world - only your ability to purchase or sell does. Whenever a Government decides to play dirty little games - they don't care about body counts or international outrage... they care about commerce. As long as the pulse continues beating and doesn't falter? Anything goes.

It is a very real statement for me to say that the vote you get is for show. The vote you make with your debit card is the only one that anyone ever cares about. It is the only one that matters.

In this world money is power and life. With it, we survive. Without it we rot and die. In an abstract sense - money is our God. You might well pay lip service to any number of Gods as a personal choice. But give me access to your banking and spending history - and I can tell you what you really and actively worship. This offends, I understand. But it is a harsh truth. Our spending betrays our deepest and most obsessive aspects. Our spending records are us at our most naked.

The implications involved in our spending habits are mind numbingly perverse and powerful. "Marketing" isn't just about figuring out what ads to toss up in your browser or what coupons to send to your email inbox. The way your spend betrays just about every secret you have - even those you keep from yourself. Not only that, but the way you spend is one of the most effective predictive indicators available. Going underground and off of the grid? Your past spending habits, by themselves, would likely be enough information to base a short list of potential places you would go. From that? Well old habits die hard. You likely have at least one "tell"... a certain item or activity you have a weakness for. Even if you switch totally to cash - those tells could be enough to pinpoint your location - in nearly real time.

Search Engines ( Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc )

What can be said? Your search history is potentially the most inclusive source of abstract behavioral information about you that is available. It gives an overview of everything about your personality. An overview of everything is right there in a concise list. From this data set a lot of things can be extrapolated and applied to a profile. Even things you would not assume... such as your fears, dislikes, predispositions, and even the things you feel guilt over. All in one tidy little package.

Hobby Sites ( What interests you? Computers, gardening, TV shows, movies, guns? Any and all apply )

What we enjoy and choose to do on our own time for pleasure is powerful information as a tool for manipulation. It also provides a great deal of information about us on a psychological level. Therefore we must understand that what we do to absent-mindedly pass our time probably matters to those who watch us far more than we would be comfortable thinking about.

Medical Sites ( WebMD, Drugs.com, etc )

There is some very insidious information to be gathered from our history of medically related searches. Many people will Google things that they won't even tell their doctor about. Another concern is that most people will Google any medications that they are prescribed. Thus even if our medical records are somehow miraculously off limits to the Feds? Our search and browsing histories will likely betray that information - or large aspects of it - anyway.

Such information can also inadvertently provide information to the Feds about our loved ones. An example... if you Google several searches about opiate addiction and show no history of having been treated lately - other information might show that you have a friend or loved one who is being treated for chronic pain... and you've inadvertently now told Big Brother that this loved one might have a nasty little problem - potentially risking their freedom... but definitely giving fuel for that could be used to manipulate or marginalize them.

Piracy Sites ( Torrents, streaming video, game cracks or even some mods, music, movies, oh my )

Important on a few levels. First off - it's low hanging fruit for the authorities. If you're a target, then getting you into their system might be as easy as checking your hard drive for a few songs that you didn't pay for or a history of linking to sites that host copyrighted materials. That empower them to threaten you with prosecution and provides leverage toward making "deals" about other things.

Behaviorally speaking - having nothing questionable in your history or on your hard drive also is very, very telling. It lets the authorities know that you have a predisposition toward cooperating and following their lead. This makes you a potential litmus test for any future issues. No matter what level of obedience you show regarding these issues: you become a control in the data set.

Unmentionable Sites ( Sites with sexual, morbid, or questionable content. )

Like much of the above... the things we do when nobody is looking can be very, very telling from a behavioral profiling standpoint. Deeply rooted and well hidden psychological issues will out themselves when we feel like we are safe and alone. Very powerful information when compiling a profile upon an individual. Also very potent information to have if blackmailing or manipulating behavior.

*************

While I am positive that there are many, many more categories and sub-categories that this could be broken down - and probably a nearly infinite number of ways to analyze and cross reference the data... I think this does, at least, show the ways that our casual and passing behaviors can and I believe are used to pigeonhole and define us.

Conclusions

This thread is not meant to be a defining catch-all or expose of any kind. This is the beginning of a journey and nothing more. It is the opening salvo in a new battle for me. In the coming days, weeks, and months it is my intention to get deep into research about profiling, matrices, data sets, data collection and collation, and to truly understand just how intensive this all might be. With legislation ( secret and public ) passing into law with speed and ferocity nearly without precedent - I think that it truly does behoove us all to try and understand the weapons being used by those who would seek to shackle or harm us. Some of those weapons are obvious and easy to see... while others are far more difficult to focus upon and have much more nightmarish implications.

I began this post with the opening scene of a TV show called Person of Interest - a show about a computer system that theoretically can do all of the things I described above... create predictive models based upon the vast sea of information available in this day and age. We're a community that loves contemplating the notion of disclosure and truths leaked to either help us... or maybe just taunt us. The premise of this show seems rather far fetched to most people. But to me? It is my humble belief that the system presented on this show is probably not anywhere near as evolved and invasive as the real systems are.

The good news is that there is a comfort to be had here. Massive data collection does have an Achilles heel. The very fact that it is wholesale means that hiding in plain sight will probably protect most of us. In fact ( as I've discussed on several other previous occasions ) my approach is to not hide at all. I have friends who go to fairly great lengths to try and preserve their anonymity. It has been my personal view, for quite awhile now that just the act of trying to hide ones footprints will create more of a red flag than just going about ones business openly would. It has been my experience that the people acting overly controlled and going out of their way to look unremarkable are often the ones who need watching. The loud and unconcerned types rarely are up to anything of note. At least that's my theory and approach. Obviously we're all entitled to our own interpretations and choices of how we carry ourselves publicly, privately, and online. Whatever the individual case - the important thing to remember is that not only are they watching and profiling you... but they are doing it obstensibly to hundreds of millions and possibly billions of others as well. Thus standing out probably still takes an effort or a whole lot of stupidity.

On the other hand... How long is it before we live in a world where a knock on the door is followed by a trip to a small, cement room - all to be interrogated or even charged based upon what the computer systems had to predict or say about us? How long before we see reeducation camps in the Western world?

Even more troubling... what if camps are totally unnecessary? What if our daily lives are the camps and the diet of media and culture we're being fed is being dictated by those computer matrices and is designed to alter our ways of thinking... to brainwash us into capitulation?

Welcome my son... Welcome to the machine.



Thanks ATS! I'd love to read your thoughts and opinions about this subject! Please feel free to add whatever you wish. Just remember.... They are reading it too.

They had us at internet.That is the sole reason it was created.Then came social networking.

It was game over then.

Silly fools,when you were giving the access to access all your friends,you gave them to privilege to access you and your friends.

Kind of like your girlfriend giving you a phone,then looking at all you are doing while you are sleeping.

We were given a gift,then fell asleep.

Heff,

A very brilliantly written post. Well thought out and a lotof dots connected. I'm impressed by the work put into this one.

I do agree with the thought about basically allowing yourself to hide in plain sight. Simplest way to not attract attention to yourself.

S&F!!
Nothing to really add. You pretty much nailed it!! The question though is, how the heck do you stop the machine? It almost feels like it is too late to really do anything about it. Maybe we are The Walking Dead...we just haven't consciously accepted it yet......

reply to post by Hefficide


very aware of this program, it was leaked earlier this Year, and made public, and as me and many others are saying, the public is just shrugging it off.. Simply because there is nothing we can do besides call our representatives asking why they are doing this.. You are basically rebroadcasting what many others around the net are, How these covert Government black ops on its public creates ways for them to control.. It will probably just take another 911, or big crisis, for the majority the low information population, the ones dependent as hell on this SYSTEM, that believe in the illusion to give everything to this regime.. I have concluded the American citizen our generation and the ones after mine, hell perhaps even the one before mine, are neutered docile hairless apes, who just care about themselves, and by the time they look up and scratch their head wondering how they unfairly got thrown in jail, or end up going to jail because of something someone thinks you posted on the internet categorized him or her as a terrorist etc.etc. this is reminiscent to HOW the Nazis polarized the German people in the 30's the nazis used POLARIZATION They need one big crisis, to finish off the job. This Federal government is doing a good job Polarizing the hell out of the majority of its population..

reply to post by Starwise


I don't think there is a way to stop it. Having said that - my intuition is that such things cannot survive long - paradigms change. For better or for worse things globally are coming to a head and the status-quo, IMO, cannot last long. Maybe it all falls apart and burns down around us... maybe we evolve past this stupidity. I honestly don't know which is more likely - only that I strongly feel one or the other is inevitable.

reply to post by Bicent76


I don't think people are shrugging it off...I just think people are numb! Too much infiltrating the mind while trying to raise kids, pay your bills and work 40 hrs a week. Its like a having PTSD. Sometimes the only coping mechanism is to retreat or be in shock. That is what I think many people are in...SHOCK.

reply to post by Hefficide


First?



You Nailed it.


Second?

I miss your awesome Threads! DO NOT be a stranger. ATS needs you.


Third?

What more can one say? This is a global effort in spying, and it wont stop. I don't think "We the People" have any power to stop it, short of Revolution.




Aerial image of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Photo: Ministry of Defence/Wikipedia

Some 850,000 NSA employees and U.S. private contractors with top secret clearance have access to GCHQ databases and as of May last year, at least 750 analysts from the U.K. and NSA were tasked specifically with sifting through the data, using more than 70,000 search terms related to security, terrorist activity and organized crime. Search terms focus on subjects, phone numbers and email addresses of interest. The tapping was conducted in cooperation with commercial companies that own and operate the cables, the paper noted.

U.K. Spy Agency Secretly Taps Over 200 Fiber-Optic Cables, Shares Data With the NSA

Really. Who is of Interest?


S&F

Originally posted by Starwise
reply to post by Bicent76

 

I don't think people are shrugging it off...I just think people are numb! Too much infiltrating the mind while trying to raise kids, pay your bills and work 40 hrs a week. Its like a having PTSD. Sometimes the only coping mechanism is to retreat or be in shock. That is what I think many people are in...SHOCK.

I typically do not respond to direct quotes much these days, don't like to derail, or act trollish, but Let me make myself clear.. When people hear the news and the news anchor presents a report the government is tapping their phones, monitoring their internet actions, digesting this information to present a minority report type of world in the near future and the people have no response to it, because if all the people had a response it would be a much bigger story then it is now.. Is not shock, numb yea perhaps or docile yet its shrugged off, if your trying to say the population cannot process this information and is just in shock, and its a handicap then the Government is allot smarter then all of us... However you want to interpret this story, their does not appear to be any outcry from the people and it is looking pretty damn polarized around here, and as I said it not going to take much more to speed the polarization up...

sorry for responding... OP

reply to post by sonnny1


I know how to make a potato gun,so I guess I could be a possible treat.

And it wasn't the internet that taught me that.

Thank God for the friends I have that don't know what the internet is or what a smart phone is.

They know how to process a deer.They don't know how to process data.

I help them with the modern world,they help me before the modern world.

Originally posted by Bicent76

Originally posted by Starwise
reply to post by Bicent76

 

I don't think people are shrugging it off...I just think people are numb! Too much infiltrating the mind while trying to raise kids, pay your bills and work 40 hrs a week. Its like a having PTSD. Sometimes the only coping mechanism is to retreat or be in shock. That is what I think many people are in...SHOCK.

I typically do not respond to direct quotes much these days, don't like to derail, or act trollish, but Let me make myself clear.. When people hear the news and the news anchor presents a report the government is tapping their phones, monitoring their internet actions, digesting this information to present a minority report type of world in the near future and the people have no response to it, because if all the people had a response it would be a much bigger story then it is now.. Is not shock, numb yea perhaps or docile yet its shrugged off, if your trying to say the population cannot process this information and is just in shock, and its a handicap then the Government is allot smarter then all of us...

However you want to interpret this story, their does not appear to be any outcry from the people and it is looking pretty damn polarized around here, and as I said it not going to take much more to speed the polarization up...

I agree actually.


Unfortunately, people don't care.

WHY?

Because it doesn't effect them, in their daily lives.


Now, it would if in the middle of the night boots were heard outside their apartment door, a heavy thud, and a visit from the NSA for maybe posting something on a site like ATS for example.


But by then the damage is already done. Leaving the door open to every possible lock you have, getting taken for everything you own and saying I don't know what I could have done to prevent this, is laughable.

Even worse is when you do have every door locked, but someone is watching your every move. I don't know anyone that would love a criminal to have access like that.


I think this is Criminal on so many levels.

reply to post by kdog1982



I know a few skills that could help me survive off "most" of the grid.

As Heff said, and eloquently pointed out, there is no escaping.

You would literally have to live out in the Wild, and even then Satellites, or Drones can track your every move, if they are actively searching.

That isn't paranoia.

That is a fact, that many don't even care about. That's the sad truth.

Sad times indeed.

reply to post by sonnny1


What scares me more is the profiling aspect that I don't see many people latching onto yet. These expansive, highly evolved, and detailed data sets can be used to profile us down to minutia.

The technology for doing that is in all likelihood still new enough to be in its infancy... but the implications are unfathomably profound. To be able to sit down at a computer, type in a name... and then get a detailed psych analysis complete with relevant predictive modelling attribution?

This type of manipulation and analysis of individuals is pretty ancient - but it used to be extremely labor intensive and time consuming... a team of experts were required to build these sorts of profiles. Now it is entirely probable that it's being done wholesale.... with results for just about any of us available on demand.

This power is every bit as profound, sociologically speaking as was centralized population groups, the advent of governance, the development of law, religion... It's the wheel remade - and the ways it can be used and abused are desperately frightening.

IE at this point being "watched" is the least of our worries... being categorized and predicted? THOSE are the implications that I think the masses have yet to understand. I think the general populace shrugs and says "I'm a good person. I pay taxes and obey the law... let them watch." without understanding that we've crossed the Rubicon into an entirely new world here.

Originally posted by Hefficide
reply to post by sonnny1

 

What scares me more is the profiling aspect that I don't see many people latching onto yet. These expansive, highly evolved, and detailed data sets can be used to profile us down to minutia.

The technology for doing that is in all likelihood still new enough to be in its infancy... but the implications are unfathomably profound. To be able to sit down at a computer, type in a name... and then get a detailed psych analysis complete with relevant predictive modelling attribution?

This type of manipulation and analysis of individuals is pretty ancient - but it used to be extremely labor intensive and time consuming... a team of experts were required to build these sorts of profiles. Now it is entirely probable that it's being done wholesale.... with results for just about any of us available on demand.

This power is every bit as profound, sociologically speaking as was centralized population groups, the advent of governance, the development of law, religion... It's the wheel remade - and the ways it can be used and abused are desperately frightening.

IE at this point being "watched" is the least of our worries... being categorized and predicted? THOSE are the implications that I think the masses have yet to understand. I think the general populace shrugs and says "I'm a good person. I pay taxes and obey the law... let them watch." without understanding that we've crossed the Rubicon into an entirely new world here.

Yep on the same page, what they are doing is studying behavior, and compiling the info and categorizing us into threat non-threat, etc. etc. something along those lines.. That is what is obvious, yet it will carry on with our lineage as well... Something along those lines and who knows perhaps it would get so extreme at one point where free thinking or anything like this would be a threat and we or people like us 50-100 years from now would just be eliminated or our genetics dna may not even make it that far because we are being studied and they are making arrangements to eliminate our kind.. Or our kids etc. I cannot put it into words eloquently but if we appear threatening in anyway we can be a potential terrorist etc. perhaps at one time in the future.. I am sure we are all categorized already..

Originally posted by Hefficide


IE at this point being "watched" is the least of our worries... being categorized and predicted? THOSE are the implications that I think the masses have yet to understand. I think the general populace shrugs and says "I'm a good person. I pay taxes and obey the law... let them watch." without understanding that we've crossed the Rubicon into an entirely new world here.

I worry on ALL of the aspects, concerning ANY Government agency having the "access" to do it.

From Watching, to profiling, to becoming pre-crime "experts".

How gullible can we really be, with our so called freedoms. It drives me bat-crap crazy to hear folks say those things.

I have nothing to hide.


Such a Cop-out on reality.


"Whats going to happen Next" should have them shaking in their boots.

Heff...wow!

I've been mulling all of this over ever since it broke and as the revelations keep coming, more and more bits and pieces assemble themselves and different patterns emerge.

The way you've brought all of these seemingly different parts together and expounded upon them helps to elucidate many of my disjointed thoughts.

Speculations?

All of this date about all of us is fed into these huge databases, and a simulation of our society is created within; an artificial construct of our world. And I'm talking about everything everything; all that you've listed in your thread here plus weather records, seismic data, market data, information from all of the space probes etc. you name it, if its recorded, analyzed or otherwise measured, it's included.

In short, they've built the Matrix

They can then design a desired outcome, say a society like is portrayed in Equilibrium or any other dystopian imagining and then let the computer create the plan.

It will lay out step by step instructions on how to get to the desired outcome including which laws to pass, the wording of the laws, which wars to start and where to add other pressures, what sorts of additives to place in food, what kinds of education is encouraged or not, what kinds of stories are covered in the mews in which areas, the direction debatss about different topics and how they are protrayed either for or against, every last nuance of what is needed.




Nah...couldn't be, could it?