Posted on 06/19/2013 10:02:49 AM PDT by Stayfree
If the NSA is not spying on all our telecommunications, then why do they need such a huge data storage facility on top of what they already have??? I think we know the answer and it is not pretty!
Because they never, ever, throw anything away. Just ‘cause they didn’t read it (right...) doesn’t mean it won’t be valuable later. When the get that warrant (right....) to read someone’s mail or check their phone calls, they’ll want ALL of them.
The NSA mission statement may restrict their activities to international espionage, yet there will be the inescapable interface with domestic activities. I think they spy on Americans. Perhaps you’re correct, but I doubt it. The more information that comes out “if it’s not misinformation” would indicate they are part of it.
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I’m not realy disagreeing with you.
If Al Qaeda Número Uno places a call to you then I expect that your future phone calls and E-mails will be collected by NSA. That is how, I believe, that Americans end up in the NSA database. But the assumption that Obama just calls up the head of NSA and gives them instructions to dig up some dirt up Ted Cruz or whoever is just some Freeper Fantasy. There is no evidence of that sort of thing happening despite Snowden’s inference that there is. It could happen. I don’t think it does.
Friday night dances?
Thanks for the information, it was useful. I’m just like everyone else, things are going way too fast and I’m worried. From the information I read daily, I know we are in big trouble, and see little to assuage that fear.
There are 290,000,000 “potential terrorists” in the United States: everyone who voted against Obama, considered voting against Obama, or failed to vote for Obama; everyone who ones or approves of owning a firearm; all Christians, everyone who thinks Christians should have rights, and all Jews; everyone who might have edged out or turned down an NSA employee in a singles bar; and anyone who might grow up to be in one of those categories. It takes a lot of space to store everything that can be collected on those targeted threats, but how else could our leaders find the nugget of gold to put those “potential terrorists” in their place?
TO RECORD AND STORE EVERYTHING !!!!
What’s with the dryer in the rack?
>> When you can now get an exabyte in a 2 foot by 3 foot by 8 feet high floor space rack enclosure
I still have an Exabyte that only takes 1RU. Are you possibly referring to an Ampex?
I am referring to high speed FLASH storage.
Recently, he addressed a storage question of interest to NSA, namely, how much would it cost to archive a year's worth of phone calls (the actual calls, not just the metadata). You can review his back of the envelope calculation here.
His estimate seems reasonable. A year and half ago, I bought a 2 TB external drive for $200 at the Apple Store. You'd need 500 such drives to store a petabyte. Kahle prices a petabyte at at $100K, which agrees on the nose. Kahle estimates the annual phone traffic at 272 petabytes, costing $27.2m for storage. His bottom line is $29m and change.
Of course, that leaves out a lot of miscellaneous overhead costs you incur if you are NSA (e.g., Q-Group salaries to chase Snowden). But, nevertheless, the total is pocket change for the NSA's $10+b budget.
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