Re:Internet companies should not be monitoring terrorists or...
by zimbatm on Wednesday November 26, 2014 @09:42AM
(#8662467)
It's the same. In you're making a big enough transaction your bank is going to get flagged and look into your banking activity. How is that not a breach of privacy too ?
Privacy is a continuum.
Re:Internet companies should not be monitoring terrorists or...
by dghf on Wednesday November 26, 2014 @09:52AM
(#8662506)
It is a breach of privacy, and it has some unpleasant side-effects:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/us/law-lets-irs-seize-acco...
Accompanying HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8509500
Re:Internet companies should not be monitoring terrorists or...
by LLWM on Wednesday November 26, 2014 @10:52AM
(#8662841)
It's so obviously wrong, in fact, that suggesting this is the level of stupidity things would actually be implemented with is a bit of a strawman. A false positive rate of 99.99% isn't useful to anybody. You'd also monitor their netflix history to see if they're just reading up on something they saw on Dexter or Breaking Bad last night, you'd look at searches around the same time period to guess the intent more accurately, you'd have a general psychological profile built up to determine whether they're actually unstable, and you'd have purchase records that would help establish a baseline for how likely it is that they could actually pose a threat to anyone. And that's just what a layman thought of in two minutes. DHS has actual professionals working on this as their job.
Re:Internet companies should not be monitoring terrorists or...
by moe on Wednesday November 26, 2014 @11:20AM
(#8663004)
You'd also monitor their netflix history [...] guess the intent [...] have a general psychological profile [...] have purchase records
DHS has actual professionals working on this
And what could possibly go wrong with that kind of power in the hands of "DHS professionals"...
Is that the world you want to live in?
Besides, then things like encryption become questionable. If the ISP can't screen your data, what's to stop them from kicking you off their network? Who knows what illegal things you're doing if they can't validate it themselves.
Not to mention that end-user companies don't have all of the keys either. If a screenplay writer googles "how to murder wife" and "how to get away with murder" and "disposal of body", what is google to do? Notify authorities? This is surely the wrong course of action.