World's leading authors: state surveillance of personal data is theft

[drjenkins]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...eading-authors

More than 500 of the world's leading authors, including five Nobel prize winners, have condemned the scale of state surveillance revealed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden and warned that spy agencies are undermining democracy and must be curbed by a new international charter.

Perhaps we should copyright our personal data and charge snoops with copyright viloation?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by drjenkins

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...eading-authors

Perhaps we should copyright our personal data and charge snoops with copyright viloation?

Governments are above the law

[frahse]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Governments are above the law

Next they are going to be saying that Governments can't "steal" our money -tax us.

Simpletons!

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Governments are above the law

I thought they were the law?

[AnemicOak]

[sirmaru]

I just heard on FOX Radio yesterday that many police agencies already collect private data with attachments at cell towers. They have to be approved by judges. Some judges have approved the requests and some have not.

Its already been revealed by the Snowden leaks that the NSA collects lots of private data from a wide variety of sources. Special FISA courts have to approve those collections.

I just read yesterday that a video game, "World of Warcraft," also has NSA collecting data from the game players.

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I just heard on FOX Radio yesterday that many police agencies already collect private data with attachments at cell towers. They have to be approved by judges. Some judges have approved the requests and some have not.

Its already been revealed by the Snowden leaks that the NSA collects lots of private data from a wide variety of sources. Special FISA courts have to approve those collections.

I just read yesterday that a video game, "World of Warcraft," also has NSA collecting data from the game players.

Yup, they scan Xbox Live too (a paid service BTW so you're paying $60 per year for the privilege ). Hopefully nobody's kids have an NSA-Box on their Christmas list.

The documents detail that the NSA has mass data collection capabilities through the Xbox Live console online network. The network boasts more than 48 million individuals from all over the world. The documents even show that the NSA has been attempting to recruit tech savvy users as informants through the gaming network.

http://benswann.com/guess-which-hot-...-hacking-into/

Originally Posted by drjenkins

Perhaps we should copyright our personal data and charge snoops with copyright viloation?

In a lot of cases, your personal data will already be protected by copyright.

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

In a lot of cases, your personal data will already be protected by copyright.

Wha...?

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Its already been revealed by the Snowden leaks that the NSA collects lots of private data from a wide variety of sources. Special FISA courts have to approve those collections.

Is there any known case where the FISA court has refused? Or is that a secret that hasn't been shared?

[Ninjalawyer]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

Is there any known case where the FISA court has refused? Or is that a secret that hasn't been shared?

For your interest, here's a 2011 opinion from the FISA that stated that some of the surveillance conducted by the NSA was unconstitutional. It appears that even a court that has been called a rubber stamp was upset by being repeatedly misled by the NSA.

https://www.eff.org/document/october...constitutional

A summary on the opinion is available from the NYTimes here.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

I just read yesterday that a video game, "World of Warcraft," also has NSA collecting data from the game players.

I think they just wanted an excuse to play with video games at work so their bosses wouldn't get mad at them.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

In a lot of cases, your personal data will already be protected by copyright.

Can you give an example of personal data that would be protected by copyright? In order to gain copyright protection, it's generally the case that an element of creativity has to be involved. Simple factual data falls outside the scope of copyright law.

[DiapDealer]

Thank goodness they brought in the heavy-hitters to analyze the (il)legalitiy/constitutionality of this state-sponsored nonsense!

With world-renowned authors on top of it, I have no doubt everything will be cleaned up lickety-split.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Can you give an example of personal data that would be protected by copyright? In order to gain copyright protection, it's generally the case that an element of creativity has to be involved. Simple factual data falls outside the scope of copyright law.

If you're talking about the "metadata" that the NSA has been accused of hoarding, I suspect that you are correct. That would be particularly true since they would be collecting and compiling the data (i.e. the facts).

The content is a different matter altogether. The clearest examples would be an author emailing a draft to an editor or a graphics designer emailing sample artwork. However, letters are also covered by copyright.