

NZ police affidavits show use of PRISM for surveillance - frank_boyd
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/354407,nz-police-affidavits-show-use-of-prism-for-surveillance.aspx

======
eliasmacpherson
It's currently being discussed over at slashdot.org too:

[http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/08/23/0153227/nz-police-
go...](http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/08/23/0153227/nz-police-got-prism-
data-before-raid-on-dotcom)

------
clicks
I've been talking about the Dotcom issues with a number of people for a while
now, and I (or we) have come to the conclusion that there was one surprisingly
simple reason that action was taken to bring him down: the promo video. It
featured like 20 superstars who're all really big. From the perspective of big
media it was something dangerously close to legitimizing piracy on an
unprecedented scale in the eyes of the public as means to get music, movies,
etc. If the video was never released no big raid would have taken place (it
was more symbolic than anything, anyway -- Dotcom made the big flashy promo
video, something equally dramatic needed to be done to dethrone its legitimacy
-- something that your aunt tells your mother ("oh, your son uses Megaupload?!
You know that Kim Dotcom -- the guy who made it, he was on the news -- he was
arrested you know that right?"). I think gov't was convinced to take action by
big media probably with an appeal like "hey, they don't buy our stuff, that
means no tax dollar for you".

------
jacquesm
We have Keith Alexander visiting NL on a damage control tour as a speaker on
the closed 'Masters in Security' symposium in September this year.

They should organize that thing in Brazil instead of here.

This guy and his minions have breached the privacy laws of the EU in ways that
defy the imagination and yet he's coming here to speak. I guess if he were
detained there would always be the invade the Hague option.

This is not just limited to the Anglosphere.

------
lifeisstillgood
It's the tipping point - worldwide, comprehensive surveillance used not to
defeat the "enemies of civilisation " but enforce copyright law.

The folks who set it up may sit back now and think, it's ok, we are still in
charge, we won't let it get out of hand.

But as Bane says "Do you feel in charge?"

------
frank_boyd
It seems reasonable to expect the same conditions for the other 4 "Five Eyes"
countries [0], too:

\- Australia

\- Canada

\- United Kingdom

\- United States of America

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement)

~~~
eliasmacpherson
So if PRISM was used to gather evidence is Kim Dotcom a threat to US National
Security? The copyright lobby in DC must have some serious sway. Dotcom is
hardly Osama Bin Laden. Maybe all foreign nationals are fair game, makes US
one way extradition treaties all the worse.

~~~
saraid216
Off their website, "The NSA/CSS core missions are to protect U.S. national
security systems and to produce foreign signals intelligence information."

So yes. Foreign nationals are all fair game. One of their two _explicit_ goals
is to be able to listen to everyone and everything that does not fall under US
privacy law.

~~~
marvin
Seems kinda hostile to treat all foreigners as "rights-free persons". The
United States was built on immigration. I can't believe that the people in
charge don't see how destructive this attitude is for the global
neighborhood's relationship to the US.

~~~
lukifer
It's surreal how quickly "we don't have an obligation to protect the rights of
non-citizens" gets twisted into "we're allowed to abuse the rights of non-
citizens".

