Shane Harris' new book, @War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex. Reveals Significant Cyber-security Information Sharing Between Tech Companies And NSA. After all the recent revelations about the spying activities employed by the security services it's not that surprising to find out about this but it certainly should raise concerns about these companies dominance (especially google's) and the collaborations that have enabled it to do so. That's nice and cozy.
Personally i think Google should be the least of our worries, it's not that companies maybe collaborating with governments, it's that governments presume they have a legitimate right to invade our privacy without justifiable cause.
There is now so much collaboration between tech companies, security services and governments, that it makes a mockery of our so called 'Privacy laws' which exist in name only, if the government, GCHQ, etc, announced today that 'We will no longer be spying on people and intercepting/monitoring their private comms and data, should we believe them, after all they had denied and played down the degree of spying they have been doing for many years until it was exposed. We know that regardless of what we are told by the government, they will do what they want even if they cannot fully justify it because 'What the hell can we do about it?'
I suspect your inside leg measurement is better known at the airport. The web is not the first place where national security has a close relationship with commercial companies. The internet is not a private place. If you don't want it known to others, don't put it on the web.
There is a difference between putting it on the internet for everyone to see, and using the internet to transfer or store what should be private information. It seems the NSA and GCHQ have ridden rough shod over people right to privacy in recent years in the name of security, and politicians seem happy to let this happen either because they don't fully understand how the Internet works, or worse they know what they are doing breaches people right to privacy and are hoping the public don't understand or care. I tend to agree with the Open Right Group when they say it's time for a public debate on privacy, security and surveillance, and that the major political parties should state what their position is on surveillance.
[citation needed] I think it's fashionable to accuse any company that grows beyond a certain size of being controlling or having sinister motives. Google have roundly declined countless opportunities to become the kind of exploitative, monopolistic evil corporation we all feared it might, and generally behave really well. The sum of their sins has been tracking targeted advertising and unifying services, which people somehow equate with "trying to take over the world". Rather than, say, "trying to make money and provide useful services".
