considering the news of the week, Romney's loss is even more gratifying

[grasswire]

I keep picturing him with our data in hand. What devilish use would he make of it all?

[villager]

1. Which is precisely the point about the dangers of letting such data mining grow, unchecked

Eventually, inevitably, someone will make "devilish" use of it....

[VanillaRhapsody]

2. Think bigger....

the govt data mining is nothing compared to the data mining of multinational corporations on an Internet that is not the sole ownership of the U.S. so therefore they do not consider the Constitution to be of any consequence to their activities....

THAT is what you better worry about.

They are superceding all laws and government because they hold allegiance to none!

[villager]

4. I was responding to the "Romney specifics" of the OP, but obviously, yes

...corporate fiefdoms are busy superseding whatever's left in the way of "countries," "governments," etc...

Often with the cooperation of those "leaders" who are in "government," of course...

[VanillaRhapsody]

10. They don't need cooperation....that's the point...

The govt doesn't have anything to do with them at this point....the Internet is lawless and they are taking advantage of that.

[villager]

11. Well, not "lawless" in the old "anarchy-for-citizens" sense, obviously

...since it's still too easily controlled in countries like China, Iran, et al.

Here, it's all about consumer profiling, of course, but it's that nexus between government intrusion and corporate collation that amplify the effects of each.

[VanillaRhapsody]

12. Way to go sugar coating it with corporate collation...

You are still not thinking long term what that leads to...

These Corps see govt's as quaint notions....Laws are for the little people and now even Govt's are the "little people".

[villager]

13. You are oddly angry and condescending, even though I'm agreeing with you

But governments can still perform mischief and we ignore them completely at our peril.

And the collusion of governments and corporations is even worse.

[VanillaRhapsody]

14. but in this case...the govts are not in charge.

[Cooley Hurd]

3. Recommended - the awesome (and frightening) power of the fed should NEVER be entrusted...

...to a man of Romney's (lack-of) character.

[reformist2]

5. He'd be figuring out how to maximize profits, natch.

As bad as he was and is, I don't see him as the blackmailing type, though I could be wrong of course.

[grasswire]

7. that was my thought -- the super monetization of intel

He would immediately be figuring out ways to capitalize on using what's gathered.

[tblue]

6. Hold that thought

because it is going to happen, if not by President Romney, then by the next President corrupted by this ginormous power handed to him/her without even asking for it.

And it's not just the President. It's everybody gathering, storing, and having access to that info. Do you think for a minute they can't use it to make a prosecutable case against anybody they want to? Anybody they consider a threat? (Think Occupy and ACORN.) You know, don't you that the fisa "court" is appointed by Chief Justice John Roberts, right? We have not dodged a bullet. We are in the sights and we are sitting ducks. And some of us are fooled enough to welcome it.

[treestar]

8. Find some way for his buddies to make money

And jump to make sure his own calls weren't on there. Still refusing to produce his tax returns. You people have enough information about the Romneys!

[markiv]

9. i think this week showed how little difference it would have made

you speak as though there could never be a future republican president

or is that your proposition? to blackmail the american public, that you've created something that could never be trusted to a republican president, so everyone must now always vote for democrats?

wow - heckova sales pitch there, brownie!