Thanks, Marc. Sending this straight to Rand Paul's office. On Jun 18, 2013 6:21 PM, "Marc Perkel" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > 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. > >