Tim Cook and Other Tech Executives Meet with President Obama to Discuss Government Surveillance

For all it's faults adults still have the right to vote in America. They still have the right to run for office in there towns, states etc.

You may say it is insurmountable for someone to chance anything. The reality is that it is though change must come from the people saying to their government that want chance or change their government. That is what it is to be a democracy.

(the reality is people are too obsessed with their daily lives, or trying to make ends met that to dedicate time to change things.

From today:
http://www.techhive.com/article/204...veillance-programs-promises-transparency.html

During a Friday afternoon press conference, the President promised reforms and transparency, but he also defended the surveillance programs that he said “provided valuable intelligence” and were “worth preserving.”

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waa1futs said:

It's not like you don't already know the body of what is being discussed. Just a few slimy details are left out.

Basically assume the absolute worst is happening, then accept the fact that there is nothing you can do about it.

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It's amazing what kind of decisions can be agreed upon behind closed doors, then thrust upon the public.

Obama: 'let us have access to your servers and data, and we won't send the IRS to audit you, saving you billions'

Eric & Tim say together: 'deal'

Jsameds said:

In a perfect world all our data would be private. Trouble is, we don't live in a perfect world.

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That's called sophism. Not my cup of tea.

I have to say that I am very proud of my fellow Americans. It seems the more they learn about the surveillance, the more they are against it. It really appears that lack of information and understanding of the incredibly broad scope of the surveillance were the main reasons they were not previously against this.

The tide is really starting to turn, though. The Amash/Conyers amendment very nearly passed despite massive lobbying by the WH and party "leadership". For most members of congress to buck party leadership, they need to get an earful from the people back home. Apparently quite a few got that earful!

If you're against the dragnet surveillance, NOW is the time to call your congressional representatives and put the pressure on to do something meaningful about this. They're supposed to be back in their districts/states right now, so it might even be better to go in person if they're having a public meeting in your area. When they see that you took the time to be there in person to tell them how much you don't like dragnet surveillance, they KNOW it's a big deal for you. Justin Amash is going to make another push for this in the House, and he needs all the help he can get. At the same time, Ron Wyden, Mark Udall, and Rand Paul need all the help they can get in the Senate.

So go make some noise! And tell your friends to join you!

Fishticks said:

You don't even have to make such irresponsible answers.

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In what way is my answer irresponsible? Just curious

Battlefield Fan said:

Reading your other post I see you're just trying to push their buttons and play devils advocate. Not gonna dignify you with a response to your questions.

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Seems like you don't have an answer as I suspected.

The right to privacy issue is a topic worth talking about, I just don't think some people have reasonable expectation as to what transparency is when you belong to a large organization. s

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jonnysods said:

It's amazing what kind of decisions can be agreed upon behind closed doors, then thrust upon the public.

Obama: 'let us have access to your servers and data, and we won't send the IRS to audit you, saving you billions'

Eric & Tim say together: 'deal'

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Wow...you don't know what was said, so you assume the worst.

If you want to be part of the discussion, then become a US citizen and run for office or run a multi-billion dollar company.

KdParker said:

If you want to be part of the discussion, then become a US citizen and run for office or run a multi-billion dollar company.

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That's how you think the country should be run? By multi-billion dollar businesses and career politicians?

This evil upon us

"Now, Politico is reporting that a meeting between President Barack Obama and technology executives including Apple CEO Tim Cook took place earlier this week to discuss the subject of government surveillance. The meeting was reportedly confidential and was the second meeting this week in which top government officials held discussions with representatives from the technology industry to examine mainstream privacy issues."
— per MacRumors


That this is only disclosed after the fact—and not a very PUBLIC discussion—says all one needs to know.

Apple, quite unfortunately, along with any American corporation (at minimum) is NOT to be trusted with one's privacy. Or, indeed, in abiding by the proper rule of law as defined by the U.S. Constitution.

In contrast, consider the integrity of Ladar Levison in deciding to close his 10 year old company, Lavabit, rather than accede to an ultimately unlawful order and allow spying on his customers:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/09/lavabit-shutdown-snowden-silicon-valley

ravenvii said:

That's how you think the country should be run? By multi-billion dollar businesses and career politicians?

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Not how it should be run... but how it already IS run with no way of changing it

newyorksole said:

Didn't think I'd be quoted so many times lol.

A lot of you are very knowledgable, and knowledge is power!

However, is your knowledge giving you a piece of mind? What exactly are you guys doing to stop the government's evil ways?

It's great to be informed of all of these goings on, but what are you going to do to get the government to reveal all their secrets?

How are you going to make them be more transparent with the people?

Knowledge is one thing. Action is another.

We're all under control in some way or another. We abide by the laws, follow rules etc etc.

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You greatly underestimate the power of an idea. They start new paradigms and revolutions. Words are action. For now, they are the best action I see. I'd prefer a peaceful revolution if possible and as long as speech and privacy are protected, such a thing is possible.

This meeting was all about money. Cloud computing is a $30 billion business that may grow to $700 billion in a few years. However, this market is tanking in the US now because how can any company on US soil ensure the integrity confidentiality of the data that they host?

BenTrovato said:

Gov't released the ban on iPhones and iPads earlier... they scratch Apple's back, Apple bends over and gives them our data. Kind of stupid how the world is the way it is now with all this surveillance.

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Very good point unfortunately.

It is delusional thinking that talking to your congressman or senator is going to speak up against surveillance since they probably all are in on it. They would sweep everything under the rug unless they themelves are suddenly being spied up on they than are going to speak up about it. These spying laws shouldn't even exist. So all you fools that say you feel okay about being spied upon and you have nothing to hide because you are not doing anything wrong should get there heads examined.
"So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause." ―Padmé Amidala

ValSalva said:

How can Apple really resist the government and the wealthy interests who pull the strings of government? The United States is a police state now. Maybe it always has been but recently the hostility and fear has been escalated.

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Why would you think Apple would WANT to resist? Corporations and government together have an interest in surveilling and collecting data on the population - corporations for profit, government for power and control. They support each other and cooperate for mutual benefit.

Corporate "requests for transparency" and "commitments to customer privacy" are simply marketing tactics, while executives and government officials meet behind closed doors to discuss how they can expand their reach and better hide their unconstitutional and illegal activities.

The tech execs need to grow a pair and fight back.

Sick lawyers and lobbyists at the problem until it goes away.

For Google at least their cloud business is in jeopardy - the entire world might say goodbye to that now.

What if Google doesn't cooperate? They aren't going to shut down Google or Apple.

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scoobydoo99 said:

Why would you think Apple would WANT to resist? Corporations and government together have an interest in surveilling and collecting data on the population - corporations for profit, government for power and control. They support each other and cooperate for mutual benefit.

Corporate "requests for transparency" and "commitments to customer privacy" are simply marketing tactics, while executives and government officials meet behind closed doors to discuss how they can expand their reach and better hide their unconstitutional and illegal activities.

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That's too cynical a view. Apple actually really has an interest in keeping customer data confidential - it's good for the customers, and so it's also good for Apple.

Even more true for Google and Amazon and their cloud platforms. While Google doesn't want privacy nearly as much as Apple - after all their business is to sell their users to advertisers - they still must have an interest in keeping their cloud servers free from government surveillance.

waa1futs said:

Not how it should be run... but how it already IS run with no way of changing it

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The French found a way to change it, it's called a Revolutionary Tribunal... It's not the cleanest way to get rid of the political scums but the end result was Declaration of Human Rights.

I hope Tim Cook can talk some sense, into the government. At least he's got more sense.

I don't see any of this going away soon, like SOPA-PIPA act.

newyorksole said:

I still don't understand why some people are so concerned. There are millions of people in America. If you're not doing anything illegal or harmful, why are you so worked up about "being watched"?

You know how many secrets and technology the government must have? You'll never know.

I'm not saying to not care about it, but there's NOTHING you can do.

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The scary part is that it's the NSA, the lest transparent organization of the government, a secret organization no public surveillance can EVER POSSIBLY establish. It's never a problem if only the president himself has the power to get direct access, since he himself is under microscope watch by the public.

People who user social networking sites obviously have no problem with privacy..

Just look at what happened when Facebook leaked all data without notifying the customer...

We have nothing to worry about...

What does the government want from an average American anyway?
LOL!
You can hardly read, write or do arithmetic. You can't do simple inferences and you eat nothing but a bunch of goddamn, genetically modified processed foods.

KdParker said:

Seems like you don't have an answer as I suspected.

The right to privacy issue is a topic worth talking about, I just don't think some people have reasonable expectation as to what transparency is when you belong to a large organization. s

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Wow...you don't know what was said, so you assume the worst.

If you want to be part of the discussion, then become a US citizen and run for office or run a multi-billion dollar company.

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/10/us-usa-surveillance-obama-idUSBRE9780UY20130810

I thought you said he was being transparent???

Battlefield Fan said:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/10/us-usa-surveillance-obama-idUSBRE9780UY20130810

I thought you said he was being transparent???

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Seems transpatent to me.

I dont see why this NSA thing is a big deal. They dont care about what porn you look up or the sext messages you sent, why do you? But then again, Im not a very private person :X

KdParker said:

Seems transpatent to me.

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Making a senseless statement and actually doing something are completely different.