How Cozy Are Google and the NSA?

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/69282.html

 

Well, I hate to give nothing but bad news, but, this post is going to be full of that.

1. There is nothing that the NSA couldn't already do without teaming up with Google. Both organizations love data, and want more of it. The NSA for security reasons (I'm leaving conspiracy and the wiretapping incident out of this), Google for pure money. Neither are made stronger by joining up, it just makes the NSA's job of data collection easier.

2. Expect more large corporations to seek out assistance from the NSA after this. Agree or disagree, the truth is cyberwar is real and it is occurring now and has been for some time.

3. We may hate it, but, it's a step that had to be taken. Yes, that's right, Google needed to do this. So do many others. As I said earlier, cyberwar is here. AV's, antimalware, those days are gone for these large entities. It works for us citizens because we aren't a target..yet. Right now all we have to deal with is organized crime rings, script kiddies and spammers. That's a TOTALLY different world from being hammered on every hour of every day by government-sponsored intelligence/espionage operations.

4. It puts Google in an extremely bad light. Google needs them, but, due to their own actions, they have earned a rough reputation already with regards to privacy. This situation not only has tin foil hats firmly planted on heads, but said hats are also glowing red and attached bells ringing furiously. I'm not sure how Google will weather this one with the public and media.

By the way, the "Freedom of Information Act" requests? The EFF and others can crusade and stomp all they like, but they aren't going to get the "juicy details". The Freedom of Information Act does not entitle us to everything, and it would be security suicide to do so. They just aren't going to release sensitive information.

 

It's just convenient for both. And just inconvenient for us.

Post 9/11 ... the internet is a warzone.

 

The internet has been a war zone for a long time. It's just not as covert as it used to be. We've known about botnet armies for years, some powerful enough to take down nations. Remember Blue Frog? The only real changes are that we now have nations and governments engaging in activities that used to be the territory of hackers, and thanks to the attacks on high profile targets, it's in the public light.

Users need to adjust their security policies to reflect the reality that the net is and long has been a war zone and that none of it can be completely trusted.

 

Well, I believe in the occidental democracy and in ours free political systems. And I know that Internet is a warzone. But I'm European, not American, NSA is not an UE agency, and I dont' like to see a partnership between Google and NSA. May be that European politics are sometimes different from American, in matter of privacy and internet control too.

Then, naturally, I'm not a baby and I know that Echelon exists, and I don't know how many other secret agencies...The mine is only a theoretical view.