ACLU: Google collab with US spy agency is dangerous

Summary: Google has way too much data about US citizens and the NSA has a history of spying on US citizens...

I think the ACLU is right. Google has way too much info about US citizens...and the NSA has a history of spying on US citizens. That can't be a good combination.

The NSA--a component of the Department of Defense--is an intelligence collection agency with few effective checks against abuse and no public oversight of its activities. In the last decade, the NSA's vast dragnet of suspicionless surveillance has targeted everyday Americans, in violation of the law and the Constitution.

...The specific terms of the proposed deal are very unsettling. Google announced that they're asking the NSA to find "vulnerabilities."

What assurances do we have that a spy organization like the NSA would fix the holes they find and won't instead use them to tap into our personal data? Cybersecurity for the American people should not be handed over to a military spy agency that has a history of secretly exploiting vulnerabilities, not fixing them.

The ACLU asks that people send a message to Google that strongly opposes a deal with the NSA.

What is interesting about this proposed alliance is that the two sides are still negotiating the terms. This must indicate that Google has not been happy about terms that the NSA has specified.

Good point here from ACLU:
If companies like Google think they need the government’s help to secure their networks, then a civilian agency needs to step up to the task. Cybersecurity for the American people should not be handed over to a military spy agency, one that is insulated from public oversight and has a history of secretly exploiting vulnerabilities, rather than fixing them.
And...
The NSA sucks up the equivalent of the contents of the Library of Congress every six to eight hours, every single day. In the last decade, the NSA’s dragnet, suspicionless surveillance has targeted everyday Americans, in violation of the law and the Constitution.
Google + NSA doesn't look good...

Send a message to Google that strongly opposes a deal with the NSA.

Please see:

» Tell Google Not to Enter Into an Agreement With the NSA

» Cybersecurity is Not Your Gig, NSA!


Topics: Security, Google

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9 comments
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  • I have to agree with the ACLU

    The NSA has a checkered past when it comes to spying on Americans who they shouldn't be spying on...... I'd be very very leery of allowing Google to do this, to the point where I would think of suing to prevent this if it does happen.
    Lerianis10
    • Don't forget to use

      Google docs, Wave, Buzz, sites, blogs, and gmail. Please centralize your data for us.

      Your friends (for now)
      -NSA
      crazydanr@...
  • RE: ACLU says GOOG collab with US spy agency is dangerous

    ACLU telling us what the rest of the world already knows. This is exactly why I don't trust Google with any of my data, they just hand it over willingly to the government, they sell it to non-government entities, and I don't get any compensation for my data. Start paying me and I'll start using Google's services.
    Loverock Davidson
    • For once I agree!

      But consider that the issue is not solely related to Google; Yahoo, Bing and all the other major search engines store data on users that is routinely turned over to authorities and monetized for marketing purposes.

      This doesn't excuse Google, it just points out the illusory nature of "privacy" on the Internet.
      terry flores
  • RE: ACLU says GOOG collab with US spy agency is dangerous

    I sincerely hope that the whole China hacking debacle is not being used as a pretext to connect U.S. intelligence agencies to Google data.
    wpankey01
  • They already are

    What makes you think the NSA isn't already using Google data for it's own purpose. This is probably a way for Google to justify the NSA's involvement with them....
    Tinman57
  • Now you know.

    This is the sort of "anything goes" attitude that has kept me clear of Google and whatever I could identify that was related to Google. It's been lonely out here over the past year while America "googled" together without a care and without a collective brain.

    So thanks for a timely blog. Only the ACLU seems to understand how far we've wandered down the path to authoritarianism.
    nikacat
  • Problem is with today, not with the agency itself

    NSA was built to crack codes, cryptographic maths based. Which ties in really well with I.T. Security, it's just that America, and the world in general, do things so badly that the one agency starts doing everything.

    Was like that at my highschool. Had a person with a degree in chemistry teaching English. And he wasn't too bad, but that wasn't what he was trained to do. He was a chemistry nerd, not an English teacher.

    Then there's others issue here.. Namely, Americans have way too many rights for the agencies to do anything. Not allowed to spy on American citizens, means if I'm an American citizen and I'm hacking .mil, then the police, defense force, intelligence agencies, etc, can't actually legally trace my connection. Otherwise it violates my privacy. I used to think a judge would throw that out, but I'm not so sure anymore. There was a dude with child porn on his computer caught on the border, he'd encrypted his harddrive, and the case, last I saw, was thrown out. They couldn't do anything. Would violate one of his inumerable rights..

    Your system doesn't work, it favours criminals and criminal behaviour since you can do anything.

    NSA needs to go back to cryptography and I.T. Sec, another agency needs to be allowed to spy on natives, and you need to trust your government.

    NSA are the ones that have hack-the-box competitions.. I want to work for them, they're good at what they're meant to do. They can secure Google, and while I love the idea of working for myself later on, civilians have nowhere near as advanced techniques as a government agency dedicated to that topic. No matter how much we try to convince ourselves.
    Cyberjester
  • RE"ACLU: Google collab with US spy agency is dangerous

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