The US government threatened Yahoo! with a $250,000 a day fine for not complying with PRISM
Most of the controversy surrounding the NSA spying scandal has to do with the gathering of metadata from virtually every call made by Americans, but the NSA is not content with just that data.
The NSA has also been using a program called Xkeyscore to gather online information–from emails to Facebook–on whomever it deems to be a threat. (And judging by the groups which the IRS has been targeting we can make a safe assumption who the Federal Government feels is a threat.)
But that is still not all the NSA has been up to: the agency has also been using PRISM to gather information from tech companies on American citizens and their online habits as well. Without a search warrant to boot!
Many complied with this program willingly but Yahoo! did not, they challenged the Constitutionality of the program. Yahoo! eventually lost but now we are learning how far the Federal Government was willing to go in order to gain access to the online habits of American citizens.
According to this article, the Federal Government threatened to fine Yahoo! $250,000 if they failed to comply with this spying program. Hats off to Yahoo! for at least trying:
“The released documents underscore how we had to fight every step of the way to challenge the U.S. Government’s surveillance efforts,” said company General Counsel Ron Bell in the post.
In case you did not know it already; Big Brother is watching and has been for quite awhile for this began under the Bush regime and has continued and expanded under the Obama regime. An attempt to not let the September 11th crisis go to waste…
America's Watchtower 
Reblogged this on Freedom Is Just Another Word… and commented:
Tyranny!
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Thank you.
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Judge Andrew Napolitano use to start his Fox segments with: Does the government work for you or do you work for the government. Maybe a better question is: Does your government work for you or does it work against you?
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And we know the answer to that question…
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How can we let Yahoo know we support their stand? Oblama keeps going to Sillycon Valley to collect campaign money, it they all stood up to him, things would surely change.
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Are the afraid to stand up to him, or do they think he will not go after them if they give him campaign money? I don’t know but it would be nice if more than Yahoo! had taken the government on.
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Yahoo seems to be very much in the progressive’s camp – considering the slant of news they present. Along w/ connecting email accounts w/ a ‘back up phone #’ in case one forgets their password – data collecting – plus the contacts they have, address & phone #’s for quick access. You’d think that they’re in compliance w/ the NSA script and requirements quite well. What started out being a ‘service’ to people has turned into data mining. Maybe Yahoo’s being used as an ‘example’ – which really shows the Totalitarianism tactics being used. Like you said Steve it’s been going on during the Bush era, thanks to 911 and the not so patriot ‘Patriot Act.’ I didn’t realize it back then, but see it a bit more clearly now, how that morning event set the stage (or excuse) to steamrolled the life out of many freedoms and privacy.
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Yeah, linking my phone number to my account is something I refuse to do. Like you I did not realize back then what was going on but I understand it now. Perhaps it is too late to stop it but we have to keep trying.
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Why would we think for a moment that we have any privacy? That has been long gone for years. I would be willing to bet that the Government knows everything they need to know about us already. Nothing we put on the websites or talk about on the phone is private anymore, kind of like the old party lines! Whatever you say or post had better be what you would want everyone to know about you.
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I agree, I do not doubt the government already has a huge database on everybody. There is no right to privacy anymore unless of course we are talking about abortion.
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Yep, baby abortions are basically the same mindset as sacrifices to the pagan gods, giving life for ‘blessings’ ‘crops’ ‘material and personal gain’ ‘the god of self and pleasure’.
A bit off subject, but ties into the same ‘agenda’ pit: “Sock Puppets For War”
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Thanks for sharing!
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We can be sure bloggers are on their list.. That is if you are of a certain stripe.
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It is only a matter of time before they come for the bloggers. They will start with the big ones but eventually it will trickle down to us.
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