I really couldn't care if NSA spied on me, saw what I browse on the internet, looked through my webcam etc.

We're always gettin watched by something or someone nowadays

Nothing I can do about it

I really sit quite comfortably in the middle of the two extremes on this issue.

On the one hand you have those who think that there should be no line drawn for government invasion of privacy in order to counter terrorist threats and on the other you have those who think that their iPhone and the iPhones of suspected terrorists should be impenetrable fortresses, the contents of which are only to be viewed by the owner.

Both of these extremes seem utterly ridiculous to me, and the latter is even bordering on cult-like, a cult of privacy.

I also don't believe many of the conspiracy theories surrounding these types of things. Even the most mundane ones which seem to be accepted by the majority of the general public. Take, for instance, the idea that the NSA can listen to your phone calls while they are happening. This one even made it into The Simpsons movie.
I have never seen any compelling evidence to suggest that this is the case, and the former head of the NSA and CIA has said that he was baffled by newspaper headlines spreading this misinformation about the '215 programme' because all they could do was go to phone companies and collect the metadata of calls. That means when a call took place, where it took place, and where the person on the receiving end was.

So if someone was under surveillance somewhere in the Middle East or North Africa under suspicion of terrorism and they had a phone, the CIA could go into this database of metadata and see if that phone made any calls to America, and where in America, and it helped them build up a watch list.

This is perfectly reasonable to me because I know that I'm not calling or being called by any terrorists in the Middle East and if I were without my knowledge and I was investigated I would absolutely understand why it was happening.

The balance between privacy and security is a line which is and should always be shifting to acclimate to the security concerns in the world. It did this during WW2, it shifted after world war 2, it shifted again after 9/11, and the response shouldn't be one of complete shut down to the point where even the phone of a known terrorist shouldn't be unlocked by Tim Cook because personal privacy is that important. At the point where personal privacy poses a real threat to life is where the line between privacy and security should be drawn.

If government inability to unlock an iPhone is the last straw then that pits Tim Cook as the last line of defense for privacy in the world against all major governments and populations who have an interest in stopping terror attacks, it is a fight that he would not win.

I don't particularly care if my metadata is in a database somewhere, and I'm not Googling how to make shrapnel bombs, so I have nothing to worry about.

MrWednesday wrote I really sit quite comfortably in the middle of the two extremes on this issue.

On the one hand you have those who think that there should be no line drawn for government invasion of privacy in order to counter terrorist threats and on the other you have those who think that their iPhone and the iPhones of suspected terrorists should be impenetrable fortresses, the contents of which are only to be viewed by the owner.

Both of these extremes seem utterly ridiculous to me, and the latter is even bordering on cult-like, a cult of privacy.

I also don't believe many of the conspiracy theories surrounding these types of things. Even the most mundane ones which seem to be accepted by the majority of the general public. Take, for instance, the idea that the NSA can listen to your phone calls while they are happening. This one even made it into The Simpsons movie.
I have never seen any compelling evidence to suggest that this is the case, and the former head of the NSA and CIA has said that he was baffled by newspaper headlines spreading this misinformation about the '215 programme' because all they could do was go to phone companies and collect the metadata of calls. That means when a call took place, where it took place, and where the person on the receiving end was.

So if someone was under surveillance somewhere in the Middle East or North Africa under suspicion of terrorism and they had a phone, the CIA could go into this database of metadata and see if that phone made any calls to America, and where in America, and it helped them build up a watch list.

This is perfectly reasonable to me because I know that I'm not calling or being called by any terrorists in the Middle East and if I were without my knowledge and I was investigated I would absolutely understand why it was happening.

The balance between privacy and security is a line which is and should always be shifting to acclimate to the security concerns in the world. It did this during WW2, it shifted after world war 2, it shifted again after 9/11, and the response shouldn't be one of complete shut down to the point where even the phone of a known terrorist shouldn't be unlocked by Tim Cook because personal privacy is that important. At the point where personal privacy poses a real threat to life is where the line between privacy and security should be drawn.

If government inability to unlock an iPhone is the last straw then that pits Tim Cook as the last line of defense for privacy in the world against all major governments and populations who have an interest in stopping terror attacks, it is a fight that he would not win.

I don't particularly care if my metadata is in a database somewhere, and I'm not Googling how to make shrapnel bombs, so I have nothing to worry about.

Your comments are always so fire

Well even if I got concerned about it, there is nothing in my power to change it, so why stress over something beyond your control

iOSx wrote Well even if I got concerned about it, there is nothing in my power to change it, so why stress over something beyond your control

Exactly. I would never say that you should stress over this. Sole purpose of posting this was because I actually thought that the power that the government has to do this is pretty cool TBH.

I'm good. I cover my camera up on my phone or PC.
But how is this a conspiracy if it's true?