Court Rules NSA Doesn't Have To Confirm Or Deny Secret Relationship With Google 119
Sparrowvsrevolution writes "A DC appeals court has ruled that the National Security Agency doesn't need to either confirm or deny its secret relationship with Google in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and follow-up lawsuit filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The NSA cited a FOIA exemption that covers any documents whose exposure might hinder the NSA's national security mission, and responded to EPIC with a 'no comment.' Beyond merely rejecting the FOIA request, the court has agreed with the NSA that it has the right to simply not respond to the request, as even a rejection of the request might reveal details of a suspected relationship with Google that it has sought to keep secret. Google was reported to have partnered with the NSA to bolster its defenses against hackers after its breach by Chinese cyberspies in early 2010. But to the dismay of privacy advocates who fear the NSA's surveillance measures coupled with Google's trove of data, the company has never explained the details of that partnership."
Re:Organized pro-Google trolling campaign on Slash (Score:4, Insightful)
Very interesting, so you've taken a post someone wrote about you, Bonch, and then you've changed all the names to make it look like it is pro-google shilling going on while in actuality it is you doing anti-google shilling.
You are a funny funny person, go kill yourself.
"It's been known" [Re:NSA 3 Google] (Score:5, Insightful)
It's been known for a long time that Google has been secretly working with NSA.
Citation needed.
Bizarro land... (Score:4, Insightful)
As I said on the Wired article, what should Google, a US company, have done when what are likely state or state-backed Chinese hackers thoroughly compromise one of their services?
*Not* turn to "U.S. authorities”? Do nothing? It's certainly bizarre when a US company under attack by another nation-state would be expected to *not* involve our own government.
Guess what: our intelligence activities and capabilities are secret, not because we want to "hide them from the public", but because they necessarily remain secret for the precise reasons the courts ruled the way they did in this case: so that our ADVERSARIES don't understand our sources, methods, capabilities, and responses.
I know most people here believe the NSA is evil, instead of looking across the Pacific to a country that can scarcely wait to displace the US as a global power, while keeping a firm stranglehold on its citizens. I imagine there will be many tired references to the Utah Data Center in the comments section here, too, from people who completely misunderstand the law, and NSA's purpose and missions.
Re:NSA 3 Google (Score:1, Insightful)
It's almost as if he could see the article before it was actually posted...
But to do that he'd have to be... a SUBSCRIBER!
Re:Bizarro land... (Score:4, Insightful)
A company maintaining a huge amount of information on a nation's citizens has its security compromised... perhaps they should go to that nation's security administration, or something like that, for help in preventing a recurrence.
Double standards. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is the NSA watching me? I've done nothing wrong!
If you are doing nothing wrong you have nothign to hide!
Can I see what information you arecollecting then?
We don't need to respond to FOIA requests.