Government requests directed to Google and YouTube

[Mr. P]

WOW who da thought the USA would have so many request in this day and age? I mean we have the finest administration ever, right?



Like other technology and communications companies, we regularly receive requests from government agencies around the world to remove content from our services, or provide information about users of our services and products.

http://www.google.com/governmentrequests/

[revelarts]

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/bootieslaya/obushma.jpg

Not much difference in policys from the previous administration on that front.

The Eschelon Program that moniters all phone calls
The AT&T main California phone/web switching site has a splitter cable taking all Phone and internet data strait to the NSA.
Microsoft has backdoors to get into your computer at almost anytime and works "closely" with the gov't.

Gov't gots to keep an eye on the people but gov't must keep a lot of info secret from the people... for the greater good.

Google, same song 8th verse

[Mr. P]

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i190/bootieslaya/obushma.jpg

Not much difference in policys from the previous administration on that front.

The Eschelon Program that moniters all phone calls
The AT&T main California phone/web switching site has a splitter cable taking all Phone and internet data strait to the NSA.
Microsoft has backdoors to get into your computer at almost anytime and works "closely" with the gov't.

Gov't gots to keep an eye on the people but gov't must keep a lot of info secret from the people... for the greater good.

Google, same song 8th verse

No, it's not the same at all.

First: It's about Government not an administration per se.
Second: It's NOT about intelligence gathering but CENSORSHIP.

I hope as this project develops they'll list specific subject requests so we can see just what the Government doesn't want us to know or read. Of course ALL defense issues that are classified as "classified" or higher should be removed.

BTW..No ONE has access to my puter through any backdoor.

[revelarts]

No, it's not the same at all.

First: It's about Government not an administration per se.
...
Your right gov't do this kinda stuff no maters who's the admin head.

Second: It's NOT about intelligence gathering but CENSORSHIP.
...

Sure I didn't focus on the censorship part of your quote that's a huge Item too.
I sorta fixed ton the 2nd part about "or provide information about users of our services and products."



I hope as this project develops they'll list specific subject requests so we can see just what the Government doesn't want us to know or read. Of course ALL defense issues that are classified as "classified" or higher should be removed.

I'm with you on the 1st part but not so sure about the 2nd, there are a few whistle blower sights that have helped expose "bad apples" in the DOD. even if nothing much was done about the wrong doing. There have been several old classified docs that are reveal today that would have ruined some careers but saved Americans from some crook DoD officails influence. Classification can ,some say has, become an easy way to hide gov't dirt and spys.



BTW..No ONE has access to my puter through any backdoor.


You may be right... I can't say for sure on that

[revelarts]

Facebook is in the game reaching out to the intelligence folks, not sure about censorship, but facebook reps say they want the agencies to know what tools are available.


I haven't joined facebook yet I don't think I'm going to cross that line if I can help it.

http://social.venturebeat.com/2010/04/22/facebook-lobbying/


Facebook steps up lobbying, deepens ties with intelligence agencies, FTC
April 22, 2010 | Kim-Mai Cutler
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Facebook has been gradually boosting its profile in Washington D.C. over the past year and is on the hunt for a second senior lobbyist to add to its office of four. Disclosures released a few days ago show that, on top of lobbying the usual suspects Internet companies reach out to like the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. senators and representatives, the fast-growing social network has also been busy deepening ties to government intelligence and homeland security agencies.

Facebook spent $41,390 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2010. That’s on top of the $207,878 it spent last year — the first year Facebook began releasing such disclosures. Although these numbers are tiny compared to the $4.3 million Google spent on lobbying last year, expect them to grow with the company’s influence and ambitions.

What’s interesting about Facebook’s lobbying in D.C. is what it spends money on despite its small size. It was the only consumer Internet company out of Google, Amazon, eBay, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple to reach out to intelligence agencies last year, according to lobbying disclosure forms. It has lobbied the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — an umbrella office founded in the wake of Sept. 11 that synthesizes intelligence from 17 agencies including the CIA and advises the President — for the last three quarters on privacy and federal cyber-security policy. It has reached out to the Defense Intelligence Agency too.

Andrew Noyes, the company’s manager of public policy communications, says most of Facebook’s work in D.C. consists of basic education — helping legislators and agencies understand how to use the social network for campaigning, reaching out to their constituencies and in their regular line of work. The U.S. Navy used Facebook to alert Hawaiians of a possible tsunami from the Chilean earthquake earlier this year, while the company says 35 government agencies are using social media for governance.

He said the meetings with intelligence agencies were similar. “We disclose this because it’s the right thing to do,” he said. (To be fair, Google and Microsoft also lobbied the Department of Defense last year although they did not reach out to intelligence agencies.)

At the very top of Facebook’s agenda in D.C. is privacy, he said. There’s much at stake. The ease of data collection and sharing on the web is on a collision course with privacy. The suite of projects the company unveiled yesterday at its f8 conference in San Francisco may spark further privacy concerns about the mass of data it will now be tracking on users as they traverse the web. To head off concerns that it is too cavalier with pushing users to be more public, Facebook made a savvy move when it brought longtime privacy advocate Tim Sparapani from the American Civil Liberties Union on-board last year.

Even though the company says its role in D.C. is about awareness for now, developing these relationships will help Facebook get ahead of and influence legislation that may curb its ad targeting abilities. For the last year, Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) has pledged that he would draft a web privacy bill, but little has come of it so far. Facebook’s competitor Google has already become a punching bag for privacy advocates; ten governments including France, Germany and the U.K. issued a letter to the search giant on Monday asking it to do more to protect consumer privacy, while legislators have asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into Google Buzz.