Big brother is at it again, and again

It seems your friendly neighborhood eye in the sky [the NSA] has made it into the news not once but twice in the past month or so.

Recently New Scientist Tech had an article about how the Pentagon's National Security Agency is setting its sights on social networking websites. Now to others already in the security field, this is a "well duuuh" moment. The best piece of advice I ever heard someone give to a friend who had recently discovered the "internet" was "don't put anything on the internet you don't want everyone in the world to know." Truer words were never spoken. Now I am not saying secure data is impossible over the internet. I mean if that was the case, guys like me would be out of a job,lol. But... for your average user of social networking sites, it's a fair assumption that it's out in the open and more then likely, people are putting information about themselves, their wild weekends, etc without realizing the full scope of their actions. As I said, if you are already in the security or privacy mindset it's a "well duuuhh" statement. To most users, they just don't think that way. I am hoping with blogs like mine and others like myself that we can help educate average users and hopefully put them more in a mindset where they think before they post. Whether it be the government, a hacker, or maybe that creepy guy from the bar you refused to give your number to, do you really want them having access to everything you post on your myspace page? Most people put that information up assuming that the only one who would be interested in that info would be other friends or [insert average 16 year old girl myspace user] *giggle* that cute boy from home room with the dreamy eyes. You get the idea. I think it's up to all of us to help educate these people and remind them to think twice before posting personal information on these sites. Read over the article, it's a good read.

New Scientist Tech also had another article. Last month, people were amazed (well some people *snicker*) when it was revealed that the NSA has been collecting records of domestic and business phone calls since shortly after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. I will not go into detail too much on this one. The article sums it up nicely, plus it starts walking that line between keeping this blog technical and not discussing topics relating to any particular political view. This is more of a "discuss with friends" or a topic to let marinate in your head a bit and draw your own conclusions. I will mention that the NSA has been collecting this info WITHOUT (WIRETAP) WARRANTS, a step deemed necessary after 9/11 by some. In fact, some in the current administration seem to think that this should become more of a standard as they feel current wiretap laws are insufficient in this post 9/11 America. Where do we draw the line? Decide for yourself.