They aren't mining data to get the "terrorists". They are mining data to get the DATA.

[sibelian]

Why?

It makes their lives easier.

They like having the information up front so they don't have to ask you for it. That's it.

The question is, where does that leave you?

It's true that at the moment they have no real interest in you. They are not "coming for you". At least, not yet. It depends on who "they" turn out to be in the future. The future isn't going to go away and it's going to be long. Did any of you anticipate the bullshit distortions to world politics that Bush proved was possible with just a small amount of ignorance, thwarting, deception, goal-post shifting, spin and outright lies?

The idea that there is a "baseline" of common decency underlying political procedures that somehow guarantees your future safety no matter who holds the cards is reaching for explanations of the world that make you feel comfortable.

The simple fact of the matter is you DON'T KNOW who will have access to this personal information in the future.

[randome]

1. FISA relates to 'foreign' investigations.

Absent evidence to the contrary, I don't see the point of getting worried about what might happen should someone decide to break the law and get my personal info.

Anyone at anytime can break the law. It doesn't keep most of us up at night unless we have a reason to think that's being done.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[sibelian]

5. Yes, but we don't willingly leave our doors unlocked at night either...

The LIKELIHOOD of any individual being robbed if we do leave our doors unlocked is very small because we are far more numerous than the burglars. But we lock them anyway, because we can.

Also (and this is a point that I'm sure you've considered and I can't undertsand why you've discarded it) locking the doors actually reduces the number of burglars.

See where I'm going with this? Political ideas develop around the tools that support them.

Why NOT frame that eco-activist so we can delegitimise his public criticisms of that bio company that we've got that sweet deal with? Because it would be unjust? Pah! No. Because it's TOO DIFFICULT.

But if we have a sweet pile of info on him that we can distort and a couple of handy tame lawyers... money for us, bro. Money for us.

I think you might suspect that I oppose this whole game via an ideological stance, and that's certainly part of it, but my main motiviation is practical, the whole data mining process is inescapably going to attract the kind of people to it's cogwheel positions that are going to use it for themselves. I can't see how it's going to anything other than encourage abuse.

[marmar]

2. The hyper surveillance state has nothing to do with catching terrorists.......

...... That people continue to feast at that banquet of bullshit floors me.

[Daniel537]

3. Well, about 70% of Americans supported the Iraq War

So the stupidity of the average American stopped surprising me a long time ago.

[Autumn]

4. What I do know is that in 2016 Obama will no longer be President

and chances are even that we could have a republican president. That's where it leaves me. I don't like this shit that's going on.

[Newest Reality]

6. I Love Big Brother!

In his great wisdom, he protects us. His all seeing eye watches out for us and reads our thoughts and communications by his right to know. His decisions are the law and they are just and for our greater benefit. His ubiquitous ear hears our conversations so that we can be protected, most of all, from ourselves. He is everywhere and nowhere, embracing the globe in his loving arms.

He will take the great burden of freedom out of our weary existence and so, slavery will be the ultimate freedom, yet we are too blind to see that yet. He brings us eternal peace through endless war.

He reaches out with his multitude of corporate arms and their government representation. We are provided with a plethora of goods and services that exceed what was available at any time in history. Is it too much to ask that we devote ourselves unselfishly and adjust our thinking and behavior to accord with his will?

Our thought crimes will eventually be seen to be futile, counterproductive and ignorant. No matter what it takes, we can find salvation in flexible truth, simple thoughts and by practicing unquestioning deference to his authority, as our children an their children will eventually do.

Start by decreasing your vocabulary and limiting yourself to simple, basic words. Spend as much time at the sacred alter of TV as you can and absorb Big Brother's benevolent and sagely transmissions. Your weakness will be your strength and your pragmatic ignorance will be revealed as his bliss.

It is either that, or Room 101 where your wonderful conversion will begin. Thankfully, you can be abducted and disappear to that marvelous indoctrination without due process, which really stood in the way of his love. Facing your greatest fears and some good counseling by way of the joy of torture will have you celebrating with shots of Victory Gin and shouting sincere praise for Homeland Security which has always been with us.

[Recursion]

7. What data are "they" getting?

I don't pretend to know, though I know FISA makes more data more broadly available to intelligence and law enforcement than I would like.

That said, analyzing communication patterns among foreign correspondents seems to be exactly what the NSA is chartered to do, so I would be disappointed if NSA weren't doing that.

[xchrom]

8. Du rec. Nt

[JaneyVee]

9. In the video, Snowden alluded to the fact that this metadata isn't stored permanently.

Of course we don't know how long it is stored for either.