Congress is asking the wrong questions. I think if they really want to
know what's going on they would give Snowden immunity and bring him back
and get him to tell Congress what's really going on. But short of that,
here's what I would be asking if I were on the committee.
1. We now know you are getting information for the cell phone
companies and major IT companies ike Microsoft, Apple, and Google.
Are you also getting information from the banks? And if you are, are
you accumulating a database of credit card purchases?
2. Do you have the ability to include NSA code into operating system
updates that would create a back door for the NSA to collect
keystrokes, activate the microphone or cameras, read the file
system, or modify the operating systems of Windows and mac computers
or Windows, iPhones and Android phones?
3. If you have an NSA back door into our computers and cell phones,
what do you have in place to prevent China, Russia, Iran, North
Korea, Anonymous, or Al Quada from discovering the back door?
4. If the NSA databases were hacked by China, Russia, Iran, North
Korea, Anonymous, or Al Quada, what would the security implications be?
5. Since Edward Snowden had the access he had, what is the security
implications for an evil Snowden who was selling this information on
the black market rather that trying to protect America (rightly or
wrongly) from itself?
6. With an operation this large did you have any reasonable expectation
it would remain secret? If not Snowden wasn't it just a matter of
time before we found out for someone else?
7. Wouldn't it be better to give Snowden immunity and bring him back
here rather than risk that he be captured by an enemy and forced to
reveal what he knows to an enemy?
8. Because the NSA has extracted this data and is keeping it outside
the source companies, doesn't that increase the security risks and
exposure of sensitive information?
9. Isn't our position that there are 2 kinds of people in the world,
Americans and foreigners, and insult to 96% of the world's
population? Does this not cause them to respect us less and have no
respect for our privacy when we have no respect for theirs?
10. Does our spying set a world wide precedent whereby other countries
will have the green light to spy on us because we spy on them?
Doesn't this put the whole world at risk?
11. Assuming it was inevitable that this spying would eventually become
public, doesn't it put America in greater danger by alienating the
rest of the world because we are spying on them? Isn't this just the
same argument as the torture argument, that we increase the number
of enemies more than we prevent attacks? Isn't this just going to be
another terrorist recruiting tool?
12. When you tell us that you are lying to us for our own good then why
should we believe anything you say?
13. Don't laws that undermine and nullify the constitution, even if it's
for our own safety, make us a nation that is no longer under the
rule of law? That secret courts and secret warrants making secret
law make us no longer America?
14. The secret NSA court orders require companies to lie to the public
about what information they are giving to the NSA. If these
companies tell the truth they are punished. What the government
requires its citizens to lie and punishes the truth, how is that not
an Orwellian society?
15. What America lies to the world and we have secret courts that
require citizens and corporations to lie, doesn't that weaken
America as a world power? Doesn't that send a message to the world
that we are not to be trusted?
16. Doesn't the appearance that we are taking the same kind of steps
that one would take towards becoming an Orwellian society create at
least an apparent threat to the world and undermine our
international relations?
17. With this kind of information is there not an opportunity for
criminals, companies, or our enemies to blackmail our elected
officials? For example, Senator Vitter is tracked using his smart
phone GPS to 5 hotels. One could search for all smart phones in his
vicinity to determine what women were with him at the same time and
cross reference them based on how often these women frequent hotels
in these areas to determine if he is seeing prostitutes again. And
that this won't be revealed as long as he supports some cause --
such as NSA spying? How do we know this isn't already happening?
18. Doesn't the NSA already effectively have a gun owner's database? For
example, if someone joins the NRA with their credit card online,
buys ammo at Walmart with a debit card, and has his smart phone with
GPS in his pocket while going to a gun club or firing range, don't
we know that are a gun owner? And because of their GPS phone, don't
we also know where they are so we can pick them up at any time?
19. If we see government misconduct, like we find a CIA torture camp,
and we want to report it to th press, doesn't the fact that the NSA
has the news media's phones and email tapped discourage whistle
blowers from reporting things that need to get out into the press to
protect democracy? Doesn't this threaten free speech?
20. Since this kind of technology can be used to create an Orwellian
society, what safeguards do you have to make sure that doesn't
happen? Have you considered this possibility and fully explored the
ramifications?
21. Taking all of the above questions into consideration, how do you
repair the trust we should have in our government and how to we
assure the "foreigners" that we are going to respect their rights as
citizens of the planet?
YES -- please copy these questions and post them all over the internet.
Feel free to add to the list.
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