[dirtboy]

I would argue google and yahoo know more about us than the NSA.

Google and Yahoo do not carry the power of the state to audit, harass and prosecute.

[volunbeer]

Google and Yahoo do not carry the power of the state to audit, harass and prosecute.

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Agree. However, they are bound by law to provide the data they collect about me and you to the government if asked. It can be a blanket NSA order (with the permission of congress to be legal) or a subpoena or court order.

Result is the same - the government does not collect the data, but they can and do access it.

The biggest question to me is not what NSA has been doing - it is who approved it on the oversight committee. Few folks seem to understand this. Congress has the legal authority to provide oversight and approve such programs - not the President.

If congressmen were angry about this it would tell me the executive branch overstepped it’s bounds. If congress were upset at the leaker it tells me they knew about this and condoned it.

[jiggyboy]

It seems more and more these days that Google and Yahoo are simply private-sector de facto subcontractors for the US espionage organizations. The government got lucky that Google, Yahoo, et al built the machinery on their own without government directive or government money. Now that they exist, they have to jump when the government tells them to.