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Apple and Other Tech Companies Sign Letter Backing Bills for Transparency in Government Surveillance

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple, along with over 30 other technology corporations, investors, nonprofit groups and trade entities, have signed a letter urging the U.S. Congress to pass the Surveillance Order Reporting Act of 2013 and the Surveillance Transparency Act of 2013, announced The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) (via The Verge).

Specifically, the letter [PDF link] calls for the signing of both pieces of legislation, which requests that the government deliver increased transparency and requires the government to provide technology companies the right to publish statistics about demands for user data.

The concerns about government use of user data collecting began ramping up in June, when a U.S. government program named PRISM was revealed to be giving the U.S. National Security Agency direct access to user data on corporate servers across a wide spectrum of Internet companies including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple.
The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), on behalf of a broad coalition of Internet companies and advocates for free speech and privacy rights, today delivered a letter to the leaders of the US Senate and House Judiciary Committees supporting two bills that substantially increase transparency around government surveillance of the Internet. Many of the same companies, such as Apple and Twitter, along with groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union, joined with CDT earlier this summer to send a letter to Congress pressing for the introduction of such legislation.
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The news comes after Apple vowed to team up with tech companies to ask for greater NSA transparency in July and after it released a statement on customer privacy and law enforcement requests for user data in June. Apple CEO Tim Cook, along with other tech executives, also met with U.S. President Barack Obama last month to discuss the issue of government surveillance.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the comment thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All MacRumors forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple and Other Tech Companies Sign Letter Backing Bills for Transparency in Government Surveillance
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/01/apple-and-other-tech-companies-sign-letter-recommending-legislation-for-transparency-in-government-surveillance/
NY Guitarist

NY Guitarist

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2011
1,585
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I still am confused as to how this spying isn't unconstitutional in the U.S.?

Isn't blanket spying without specific probable cause tantamount to an illegal search?
 
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Skika

macrumors 68030
Mar 11, 2009
2,999
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Some people have just convinced themselves that there is all kinds of spying going on around them 24/7.

No bill will ever make them change their mind about things.
 
blue22

blue22

macrumors 6502a
Oct 15, 2010
505
18
it's a start, but just in case...

In the meantime, let's not "overshare" details of our personal lives on the various social networks most of us are voluntarily participating in. ;)
 
NY Guitarist

NY Guitarist

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2011
1,585
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Skika said:
Some people have just convinced themselves that there is all kinds of spying going on around them 24/7.

No bill will ever make them change their mind about things.
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Completely irrelevant to, IMO, the questionable legality of wholesale spying without due process.
 
B

brendu

Cancelled
Apr 23, 2009
2,472
2,703
NY Guitarist said:
I still am confused as to how this spying isn't unconstitutional in the U.S.?

Isn't it blanket spying without specific probable cause tantamount to an illegal search?
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Our government pisses all over the constitution. It doesn't matter anymore to them.
 
ThunderSkunk

ThunderSkunk

macrumors 68040
Dec 31, 2007
3,814
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Milwaukee Area
That's cute. I'm sure they'll find a nice place to file that, alongside all the other esteemed opinions of everyone else they don't answer to.
 
W

Woyzeck

macrumors 6502
Nov 2, 2012
441
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I'm sure that they will place the petition in a piece of furniture that looks like the new Mac Pro.
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,558
6,058
maccompatible said:
Maybe congress will look at this whenever they decide how to stop the government shut down..
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Even if the government starts back up, I expect the national government will crumble within a year or so.

I should probably buy myself a gun so my family isn't defenseless when that day comes...
 
M

mabhatter

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2009
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The NSA already has plenty of transparency into the tech industry and its customers... Why does the NSA need more?
 
S

SeattleMoose

macrumors 68000
Jul 17, 2009
1,960
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Der Wald
The NSA ALWAYS has the last word....."For Reasons of National Security".

They can get away with murder while being shielded from all requests for accountability.

A very sad situation because now they are effectively about the constitution and the law.
 
Rocketman

Rocketman

macrumors 603
Dec 2, 2001
6,191
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Claremont, The intellectual capitol of the world.
So long as citizens cede their Constitutionally protected sovereignty to the government with deeds and the way they vote, the government will cheerfully take it. So long as citizens and judges tolerate the standard of justice in administrative courts that oversee all regulators, of "presumed correct", rather than "preponderance of the evidence" or some such, Regulators will trample all over persons and rights with impunity.

Rocketman
 
quagmire

quagmire

macrumors 604
Apr 19, 2004
6,905
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This is just a business move to simply put it.... They didn't have an issue with it when it was all still a secret. But, when it could effect their profits due to public outrage, then they are all screaming for transparency....
 
MacDav

MacDav

macrumors 65816
Mar 24, 2004
1,031
0
These companies have a vested stake in transparency, namely the customers lack of trust affects their bottom line. The Government on the other hand has the IRS to keep them flush with your donated money whether they spy on you or not. Governments (the people in power) always want more power and more control and they don't really care whether you like them spying or not. At this point in time almost everything they do could be found unconstitutional in some way or another... But, we all have more important things to think about, right?
How bad could it really get, after all this is America...Land of the Free...Lets go down to the mall and buy some cool stuff. Everything will be okay...right? :)
 
ArtOfWarfare

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,558
6,058
NY Guitarist said:
Good luck to you and your family who will be subjected to your dystopian belief system.

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Meaning what exactly...?
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If our government is one of tyranny and it is necessary, it means to put the second amendment to use. The second amendment has nothing to do with state militia or hunting and everything to do with allowing the citizens to keep their government in check, by force if necessary.

It's not necessary yet, to be clear. Should we be put under martial law or something similar, it may be. I don't think the government is functional enough to do anything like that, even if they wanted to.
 
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