and get to work cracking this.

We have a secret government that is out of control. Even if Congress defunded and eliminated the NSA and all the other spy agencies I have no doubt they would continue to operate without skipping a beat. They are a secret government unto themselves. They will threaten, steal and kill to keep their power.

take their word for it ?

is usually for your own good... and when they pass... it passes

So they'll have a monopoly...

Of course the general public is so laser-focused on the NSA and Obama, Google has been able to make moves under everyone's noses...I've posted stories about it pretty regularly, but clearly no one has given a shit -- Which is why I've been wondering where the minds and brains of recently converted "privacy" advocates have been all this time...

doesn't want that data in order to put us in jail, put us on no-fly lists, etc. When the NSA stops that kind of thing and decides to develop cool apps instead let me know.

and that they are arguably the biggest behind-the-scenes force in killing net neutrality is disturbing to me, at least...

The fact that it evidently isn't to you because they "develop cool apps" says it all...

If you took that last line as not tongue in cheek, then you are a little too intense. The point is the NSA does its collection for agencies with law enforcement powers, making their snooping quite a bit more alarming than Google's. It's the difference between letting a vacuum salesman in your house versus a no-knock raid. For whatever reason you're more concerned with the salesman.

The Big Guys are in this for the money. Your kids new xbox lets Bill Gates download everything that your child looks at on his TV and game system. That is knowledge Microshit can use. Apple, Amazon, Google, Nintendo---they all know a million times more about you that the NSA. You just don't care, because you think someone trying to sell you something can't hurt you. The oil companies sold you the invasion of Iraq. They can hurt you.

Privacy is an illusion. All you can do is gather enough information yourself to become a threat in your own right. Who do they fear? Wiki-leaks. Why? Because wiki-leaks knows. So, stop kidding yourself that you can keep your own secrets and start learning everyone else's secrets. Your secrets are probably pretty tame compared to theirs. What do you do? Masturbate to high heeled shoes? They finance armies of child soldiers in the Congo for blood diamonds. They launder Mexican drug money through their casinos to give to US candidates. They rig elections in the US. Their secrets could get them thrown into jail for a very, very long time.

Because the NSA is a government run "low bid" operation full of "back doors" being used by people in the private sector to make money.

While Google is in it for the money. And you have to produce results in the private sector.