General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Snowden and Greenwald Beginning to Self-Destruct; ‘The Nation’ and ‘Mother Jones’ Raise Questions [View all]intaglio
(8,170 posts)Google, Verizon, Apple, Microsoft and other big player computer companies. Most, if not all, of the metadata is also held by companies involved in antivirus and anti-spambot software.
But this is not the scandal ...
In all of these cases these companies cannot function without this information and, guess what? Many governments have access to such data.
But this is not the scandal ...
There is an exact parallel with metadata in the maintenance of records regarding telephone numbers, utility meters and even your address. These too are all records that can be accessed by the companies and the Federal Government. These records can also be used to look for evidence of criminal or even anti-government activity.
But this is not the scandal ...
The real scandal is not even that for 50 years, that's correct 50 f'n years, first the overseas phone calls, then the faxes and later the data communications of all natures sent by US and persons of other nationalities have been analyzed and, in many cases recorded. This is done by the security services in the UK, Australia, Japan and, probably, Spain. This has been largely funded by the US without Congressional oversight. Of course if incriminating information about certain US citizens activities is passed to US authorities who can then use this "actionable intelligence".
The real scandal is that despite the open secrets of all of the above the mainstream media is reporting this as a scandal to damage an effective US President who happens to be from the Democratic party.
The real scandal is that you and other kneejerk revolutionaries are being played like a violin by those who are seeking to damage your President.
The real scandal is the ignorance of the mechanisms of modern technology which enable everyone to use modern phone networks and the internet.
The real scandal is you and others like you who stalk off and to play with your marbles elsewhere.