PRISM - Who else is disgusted by this?

[cryptoanarchist]

I would be if this was anything new.

Communications in the USSA have been monitored since the invention of the telegraph.

[bernard75]

(Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist government thumbed its nose at Washington on Thursday by renouncing U.S. trade benefits and offering to pay for human rights training in America in response to pressure over asylum for former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The angry response threatens a showdown between the two nations over Snowden, and may burnish President Rafael Correa's credentials to be the continent's principal challenger of U.S. power after the death of Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"Ecuador will not accept pressures or threats from anyone, and it does not traffic in its values or allow them to be subjugated to mercantile interests," government spokesman Fernando Alvarado said at a news conference.

In a cheeky jab at the U.S. spying program that Snowden unveiled through leaks to the media, the South American nation offered $23 million per year to finance human rights training.

[Spendulus]

(Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist government thumbed its nose at Washington on Thursday by renouncing U.S. trade benefits and offering to pay for human rights training in America in response to pressure over asylum for former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The angry response threatens a showdown between the two nations over Snowden, and may burnish President Rafael Correa's credentials to be the continent's principal challenger of U.S. power after the death of Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"Ecuador will not accept pressures or threats from anyone, and it does not traffic in its values or allow them to be subjugated to mercantile interests," government spokesman Fernando Alvarado said at a news conference.

In a cheeky jab at the U.S. spying program that Snowden unveiled through leaks to the media, the South American nation offered $23 million per year to finance human rights training.

I like Snowden going to Ecuador as opposed to a major historical, if not current, enemy such as China or Russia.

Lot of people screamed and showed a lot of anger at little things Bush did, most of them are strikingly silent today.  Well, Snowden, like him or not, wasn't silent.

[craslovell]

I would be if this was anything new.

Communications in the USSA have been monitored since the invention of the telegraph.

This is true but it's being taken to a new level now.

[craslovell]

(Reuters) - Ecuador's leftist government thumbed its nose at Washington on Thursday by renouncing U.S. trade benefits and offering to pay for human rights training in America in response to pressure over asylum for former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The angry response threatens a showdown between the two nations over Snowden, and may burnish President Rafael Correa's credentials to be the continent's principal challenger of U.S. power after the death of Venezuelan socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"Ecuador will not accept pressures or threats from anyone, and it does not traffic in its values or allow them to be subjugated to mercantile interests," government spokesman Fernando Alvarado said at a news conference.

In a cheeky jab at the U.S. spying program that Snowden unveiled through leaks to the media, the South American nation offered $23 million per year to finance human rights training.

Yay a country that cares 

Or at least appears to.

[bernard75]

Nobody saw the irony of Ecuador offering development aid to the USA?

[hawkeye]

I like Snowden going to Ecuador as opposed to a major historical, if not current, enemy such as China or Russia.

Lot of people screamed and showed a lot of anger at little things Bush did, most of them are strikingly silent today.  Well, Snowden, like him or not, wasn't silent.

China, the enemy that finances the US govt and it's war machine. 

[Spendulus]

...
China, the enemy that finances the US govt and it's war machine. 

Nothing BUT complex and nuanced on both sides of that equation.  But we could all agree that the trend over say the last 50 years looks pretty darn good.

[naphto]

It's violating everyone's rights. They can see anything they want. There's not much we can do to protect ourselves right now. If you push enough of their buttons you'll inevitably get an unwanted knock at your door

What did you think?
That US gov was spying noone?

[bernard75]

"We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers
destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy
freedom, the press destroys information, religions destroy morals and
our banks destroy the economy"

- Chris Hedges

[cryto4rig]

Disgusted yes, is anyone actually surprised?

[craslovell]

It's violating everyone's rights. They can see anything they want. There's not much we can do to protect ourselves right now. If you push enough of their buttons you'll inevitably get an unwanted knock at your door

What did you think?
That US gov was spying noone?

Clearly they've always been shady. This is just taking it to an entirely new level.

[craslovell]

"We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers
destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy
freedom, the press destroys information, religions destroy morals and
our banks destroy the economy"

- Chris Hedges

Sounds about right to me.

[gollum]

“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake.
We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power.
What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing.
All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites.
The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives.
They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just around the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal.

We are not like that. We know what no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”
― George Orwell, 1984

Information is power. People censoring themselfes because of the risk of being spied on is power. The power elite has never been this powerful and Im afriad the point of no return is passed. We are so dependent on technology nowdays that technology is used to enslave the mind of humanity rather than liberating us. We are in this digital mind prison for many years to come. Maybe "singularity" will liberate us, or maybe it will enslave our minds even further.

We might even be presented with an option by the future power elite: Join the Matrix where you can be as free as you want to be, you can do whatever you want without any rules or any punishment, but there is a price: your physical body and your physical awareness will be kept hostage for your entire life. You can escape the real world and let us rule the physical world while you are asleep dreaming in the Matrix world for ever and ever.

Addendum: We may already be living in a simulated matrix world, but this world is a nightmare instead of a cute dream. Adding another matrix world in this world creates something like the dream-in-dream-in-dream... concept of the movie Inception. We may escape reality deeper and deeper without ever really feeling satisfied...

[Vandroiy]

I'm surprised there aren't more US citizens on the streets. Even to someone who condones surveillance, the fact that the US government is hunting and criminalizing Snowden shows clearly where it stands.

Really, I thought Americans were civilized. This is not a behavior I would expect from them.

The correct response of the US population would be to march on their government and get out a formal apology to both Americans and unnecessarily targeted people abroad. Snowden should be officially honored for speaking the truth, in the peoples' interest, against massive coercion attempts.

[hamiltino]

After all the things in history government has done, i am not in any way surprised by this. The only thing that's keeping our heads over the water is the fact that the government can't keep up with technology innovation.

[bernard75]

The correct response of the US population would be to march on their government and get out a formal apology to ... unnecessarily targeted people abroad.

Dont be naive, the USA has bombed, sabotaged and overthrown countless countries back to the stone age in the last 70 years with an overwhelming approval of their population. They surly dont mind a little harmless spying for their nations benefit.

[Lethn]

The Egyptians know how to get this shit done, everyone in our countries is too passive about this sort of thing, if people in my country took to the streets demanding the politicians resign I'd be right there with them, it's a shame people in Egypt care more than we do.

[Kinetic915]

I am just surprised how easy it is for them to get away with this.  Half the public even defends the NSA.... because of course, the smartest, largest terror operations use a facebook/skype/gmail/mainstream solution, gotta update your status before blowing up a building.....

Its really sad to see about 90 percent of the population truly do not give a shit. 

[Kinetic915]

The correct response of the US population would be to march on their government and get out a formal apology to ... unnecessarily targeted people abroad.

Dont be naive, the USA has bombed, sabotaged and overthrown countless countries back to the stone age in the last 70 years with an overwhelming approval of their population. They surly dont mind a little harmless spying for their nations benefit.

True.  Look what they are trying to do with snowden as well.