Cisco chief urges Obama to curb NSA surveillance activity
Source: Reuters
Cisco Systems Inc's chief executive officer has written a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to curtail government surveillance after evidence circulated showing the National Security Agency had intercepted Cisco equipment, a company spokesman said on Sunday.
In a letter dated May 15, John Chambers, chief executive officer and chairman of the networking equipment giant, warned of an erosion of confidence in the U.S. technology industry and called for new "standards of conduct" in how the NSA conducts its surveillance.
"We simply cannot operate this way, our customers trust us to be able to deliver to their doorsteps products that meet the highest standards of integrity and security," Chambers said in the letter.
... In the letter, Chambers states that "if these allegations are true, these actions will undermine confidence in our industry and in the ability of technology companies to deliver products globally."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/18/us-cisco-systems-nsa-idUSBREA4H0C720140518
= new reply since forum marked as read
cameras AND microphones to be implanted into your television set to watch you in your private time
http://yourtubenews.ning.com/forum/topics/is-your-tv-watching-you-samsung-s-latest-sets-with-built-in-camer,
the Surveillance State is here to stay !!!
And now, since 9/11, with no pesky "Due Process" or Evidentiary laws to get in the Fed's way of disappearing "malcontents" !!!
Thanks, 9/11
The USPS should, theoretically, be bound by the Constitution and the 4th and 5th amendments in particular.
Private carriers are, as you correctly state, not bound by the Constitution and the first 10 amendments known as the "Bill of Rights." However, I think we, as consumers, have to put pressure on them just as much as we put pressure on Google, Apple, MS, and others to not be a tool of the government. That was my point. I guess I misfired in getting it across. Not to mention, we "contract" with these private entities with the understanding they will provide us with goods and services that are mutually approved by both parties to the contract. Perhaps, somewhere deep in the fine print for that router/software, there is a clause that allows these private companies to turn over our data to the government without our knowledge. I'm betting it's there but not able to be recognized by any normal human consumer who isn't an attorney with a specialty in that sort of thing.
ON EDIT:
Now that I think about it though. If the NSA, which is certainly part of our government, is intercepting packages with the willful cooperation of the private companies then the the private companies are being complicit in subverting our Constitutional rights. This should be illegal and if any domestic, US entity (human person or corp "person"
could prove the government harmed them by altering their router or other device with the complicity of the private entities the private entities should be liable for damages.
The way orders for these expensive devices are tracked and monitored makes me believe that the private corps that are building them and shipping them don't know this is going on. Not to mention. The firmware upgrades and the hardware are all pretty much trade secrets and highly guarded by their owners. I cannot believe that the NSA is so good they can put chips or firmware on these devices without some degree of complicity by the private companies.
If I were a non-profit that doesn't hew to the government/corporate line I'd be wanting to inspect my routers to see if there is anything there that shouldn't be.
they are as paranoid of the people that surround them as much as the sworn enemies on the other side.
Knowing you are a bad way only makes it more so 
