Any one of these private contractors has the opportunity to go after individual citizens.

[mia]

This post started me thinking about the possibility that some of these individual intelligence contractors may be dishonest. Blackmail and stalking are the first things that come to mind.

6 things you should know about privatized intelligence contracting

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022987202



More than half a million private contractors can access the country’s secrets. A large degree of surprise also was related to the fact that Snowden had access to many of the documents he obtained so soon after beginning to work for Booz Allen. Once obtained, a clearance is a relatively hard thing to lose, so long as you remain employed by a company that does work requiring you to hold one. These clearances also only need to be renewed every five years while active. According to a 2013 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a total of 483,263 contractors held Top Secret clearances in 2012, the highest level one can obtain, with another 582,524 holding them at the Confidential and Secret levels.


Glad that only 4% of the population are conscienceless sociopaths .

[darkangel218]

1. I would like.to keep my privacy, thank you very much.

I don't bother anyone, mind my own bussines. Leave me the fuck alone.

:/

It's not like you give me free ice cream and beer for spying on me

[leveymg]

2. They, and the companies, all have a vested interest in keeping the federal funds flowing - terra,

terra, terra, forever . . .

[kentuck]

3. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link...

It appears there might be several weak links within the NSA?

[HereSince1628]

4. But security is not a chain...it's not as simple as a spider web...it's more like a woven fabric

that forms a fine filter.

In the old days, compartmentalization usually meant the damage from any single broken thread was limited.

I'm sure it was slow and tedious for the analysts to request and receive information, but the efficiency of access that modern computer technology has given contemporary players appears to have the downside of greatly reduced compartmentalization.

[dkf]

7. They don't know why Snowden was able to access the Verizon doc.

That shows their security measures don't work.

[mia]

5. Wonder if there is a relationship

between weak links and "data brokers".

[CrispyQ]

6. When I see the pettiness that abounds within families, among frineds, between neighbors

& coworkers, this is probably my biggest fear about this program, not that the government is going to snoop my records, but that someone who doesn't like me or has a grudge against me will. So your neighbor, whom you've had disputes with for years over something stupid like a tree, has a brother who works as a contractor & next thing you know, everyone in the community knows that you watch porn everyday. And yeah, you're not doing anything wrong, but I'll bet this is something you don't tell everyone & would prefer to keep private.

It's a slippery, slippery slope & we are already more than half way down it. Technology is moving faster than the assholes called Congress. I won't even go into how their interests are in contradiction to ours.

Privacy is a thing of the past.

[KurtNYC]

8. I think privacy has become a privilege reserved for those who play for the PTB

I imagine, for example, someone running against Peter King (R) and how King's campaign would have access to all their phone calls, emails, credit card transactions and movement history. Even a squeaky clean opponent could be destroyed by a manufactured scandal if necessary.

But an equal, perhaps more immediate abuse of this power is the use of information gained from wiretapping to trade stocks. An analyst/agent could go through communications between for example Pfizer and the labs testing new drugs and know before other traders about any news that would move the stock price in a significant way. It seems likely that some are trading on the most inside of inside information. The potential profits are likely irrestible and as the integrity of financial 'gambling' (the stock market) is undermined, the entire economy stands to suffer. Pension and retirement fund manager stand no chance against traders who have access to ALL information.

Who would sit down to a game of poker against someone who can see through all the cards ?

[CrispyQ]

9. That is a good way to put it: privacy has become a privilege reserved for those who play for the PTB

You make excellent points! Like our electoral process isn't compromised enough already.

[mia]

10. "Who would sit down to a game of poker against someone who can see through all the cards ?"

Thank you for pointing this out.