When Vladimir Putin Is Envious Of Your Surveillance State, You've Gone Too Far

from the that's-quite-a-statement dept

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a big press conference on Thursday, and spent some time talking about President Obama, Ed Snowden and the various US surveillance programs that have been revealed. Putin appeared to be quite supportive of the surveillance programs, saying that he believes that the US's surveillance programs are a "necessity" and "mainly directed at fighting terrorism," so there's not a real problem with them. He even defended collecting data on everyone "because you have to monitor not only a specific terrorist suspect, but rather his whole network of relationships." That Vladimir Putin would appreciate vast spying power is hardly a surprise. But this claim is raising some eyebrows:
"How do I feel about Obama after Snowden's revelations? I envy him because he can do this without incurring any consequences."
Did you catch that? Putin, the former head of the KGB, and very well known for using Russian intelligence services to his strong advantage is envious that President Obama has all this surveillance capabilities at his fingertips and that all of this can be revealed "without incurring any consequences." It seems like there should be a general rule of thumb: when Vladimir Putin is envious of your surveillance state, you've gone too far.
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Filed Under: barack obama, nsa, surveillance, surveillance state, vladimir putin


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  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 6:32am

    he can do this without incurring any consequences

    Obama: YES, WE CAN.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 8:20am

    We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality tv...

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 9:46am

      Re:

      In Russia serious tv is reality tv and news are for entertainment. It is disturbingly close to western tv culture!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    out_of_the_blue, 20 Dec 2013 @ 8:27am

    Why does "theconversation.edu.au" need a security certificate here, Mike?

    Yes, that's relevant because you and those 'strines have gone too far in your own way. Exactly what spying does planting a "security certificate" on my computer enable? Did you know about this up front, Mike, and do you now approve of planting a certificate on computer of every visitor to the site?

    Teh internets is showing more every day how it's a SPY GRID. The Stasi would be envious of even Techdirt's ability to SNOOP on everyone.

    The NSA is kind of minor compared to commercial snoops, #1 being Google.

    If you're serious about trying to stymy spies, kids, use the Firefox extension Noscript -- and be sure to remove Google's paid for whitelisting -- plus a hosts file to block known parasites and web bugs, at the least. But as this "security certificate" bit shows, those don't prevent all snooping: they're constantly working on new ways to not only snoop but correlate with all other sources.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Londo Mollari (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 8:33am

      Re: Why does "theconversation.edu.au" need a security certificate here, Mike?

      Why don't you do us all a favor, Blue, and limit your contributions in these discussions to silence? Google was never mentioned in the article, yet you insist on bringing it up. I do not understand this strange fetish you have with them. And you have failed to demonstrate how Techdirt does any sort of spying, which it does not. You know, Blue, you could give Mr. Garibaldi lessons in paranoia, and believe me, that is saying something.

      There are times when I am uncertain which is worse: our out-of-control spy agencies or the politicians who serve and enable them. Shadows in another form, either way, and equally dangerous. We must stop them somehow, before they take us over the edge of the abyss with them.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        lucidrenegade (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 3:40pm

        Re: Re: Why does "theconversation.edu.au" need a security certificate here, Mike?

        Why don't you people just report and move on? He/She/It just gets off on the attention, so just don't give them any.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • icon
          Anonymous Howard (profile), 21 Dec 2013 @ 2:52am

          Re: Re: Re: Why does "theconversation.edu.au" need a security certificate here, Mike?

          You have no idea how long I been telling this to peeps without any success.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 9:08am

      Re: Why does "theconversation.edu.au" need a security certificate here, Mike?

      It's hilarious that you live in constant fear of the things you willingly choose to use every single day.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      jupiterkansas (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 9:15am

      Re: Why does "theconversation.edu.au" need a security certificate here, Mike?

      "If you don't like Amazon, you don't have to use it." - blue

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    DannyB (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 8:30am

    Putin may be spreading disinformation

    Putin may be saying this in order to cause more American outrage in the hope of dismantling he NSA's spy network by causing an over-reaction.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Charles (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 8:37am

      Re: Putin may be spreading disinformation

      If so, I hope it works.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 9:55am

      Re: Putin may be spreading disinformation

      After reading "...because he can do this without incurring any consequences." I thought something similar - it seemed like a provocative jibe.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        That One Guy (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 4:14pm

        Re: Re: Putin may be spreading disinformation

        Well it's true isn't it? Even with all the crap coming out about the breaking of laws, shredding the constitution, and all the other stuff that's been done, who exactly, out of those involved, from the top on down, has received more than an angry letter/talking to about it?

        Heck, you've even had judges ordering some of those involved to do something, and the ones on the receiving end of the order just laugh it off and ignore it, so 'provocative jibe' or not, it's completely accurate.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      That One Guy (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 4:05pm

      Re: Putin may be spreading disinformation

      And the downside to this would be...?

      Funny(though not in the 'haha' sense)thing about the NSA is, with all the crap they've been caught doing, at this point pretty much nothing would seem to be too unbelievable for them to have done.

      'They're tracking people from satellites!' used to be tinfoil hat territory, but now it's '...and the latest leak shows that the NSA can not only track a cellphone in real time, they can turn on the video and audio recording capabilities of it, even if you turned it off'.

      With all the NSA has done, there is no 'too low', 'they'd never do something like that', there's just 'they might not have done X, but we don't have sufficient evidence to say either way yet'.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Brazilian Guy, 21 Dec 2013 @ 7:47am

        Re: Re: Putin may be spreading disinformation

        After the Nerds and Geeks became mainstream, now its time for the Conspiracy Theorists? Theres a niche for then between the Zombie Survivalists, the Anonymous masks and the hipsters. I can see it clearly now:

        "People used to laugh at my tinfoil hat, but now i sell them in the amazon"

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 8:58am

    Even soviet russia had more freedom than the US does now.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 9:46am

      Re:

      It doesn't yet have the tax base required to carry out USA style surveillance of its population.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 8:59am

    Just as moral as...

    "There is nothing to be particularly pleased about, nor is there anything to be particularly upset about. First of all, spying has always existed and it is one of the oldest professions, along with some others that I will not name here."

    Is he equating spying to what I think he is?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Gwiz (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 9:08am

      Re: Just as moral as...

      Is he equating spying to what I think he is?

      Probably. You can get screwed by either.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 10:05am

      Re: Just as moral as...

      "The great nations have always behaved like gangsters, the small nations like prostitutes." ~ Stanley Kubrick

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 9:14am

    My history may be a little rusty, but did Obama get held up as an ideal for Communism? Hay, calling him a totalitarian wasn't good enough, maybe there's enough of the "red scare" left.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 11:24am

      Re:

      Except the right wing seems to be pretty much on board with surveillance state stuff and they were the ones calling him a "communist". Which is pretty stupid since they mean to say socialist but failed at basic reading tests and can't tell difference.

      They cry and complain about how Federal Healthcare is some sort of violation of an amendment and when pushed say "uuuh... I guess the 10th??" Whereas we have these fourth amendment trampling going on and where are the cries now? No where? In fact they talk about how it's just fine and dandy? Like seriously, they got what they want. Something they could actually attempt to impeach the president on AND THEY SIT AROUND AND JUST COMPLAIN ABOUT HOW SOME DUCK WITH A BEARD SHOULD BE ABLE TO SAY WHAT HE WANTS!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 10:19am

    Yo, Momma.

    The only thing missing from that insult was your momma.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 20 Dec 2013 @ 11:13am

    it should also mean that those at fault, who gave the orders, regardless of who they are, should be held criminally responsible!!
    democracy is being killed off bit by bit, and all to the advantage of businesses, just like Orwell said. it's just a little bit behind his schedule. the really worrying thing is the industry that is trying to bring about democracy's downfall. surely there could have been a better choice than a fucking industry that exists on make believe, couldn't there? what a joke!! fuck up the whole world, all for the sake of forcing someone to watch a crap movie and make them pay to do so at that!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    John85851 (profile), 20 Dec 2013 @ 2:57pm

    No consquences for the leader

    Maybe I'm reading the quote wrong, but it sounds like Putin isn't so much envious of the NSA as he about Obama not suffering because of the leaks. The NSA spied on everyone, we all know it happened, yet not one single Republican is talking about even impeaching Obama because of it. (Yet they talk of impeachment for lesser things.)

    Every foreign leader should be envious of how our leaders can do so much to erode our freedoms with no consequences.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    edinjapan (profile), 21 Dec 2013 @ 6:31am

    Welkom to the USSA

    Putin is envious that the United States of America (soon to be the United Socialist States of Amerika) has become the most intrusive force on the planet? Poor guy... Could it be that he can't get away with everything he wants because too many people remember the excesses of the old Soviet Union?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 21 Dec 2013 @ 11:58am

    Tyrants and their toys

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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