I couldn't give a s**t about what GCHQ collects, tbh

I don't see what is depressing about GCHQ doing its job.

So there is a datacentre somewhere in the depths of Benhall that has some stills from a load of webcam users, with a very small handful of overworked GCHQ staff searching it for content relating to Abdul the Bomb Maker. The vast majority of it just sits there unused, metaphorically gathering dust until its deletion date, and it's all protected by the highest levels of electronic security that Britain can afford/create.

Meanwhile, there are datacentres in god-knows-where operated by god-knows-who that hold all the purchase history and credit card details from the likes of Amazon, iTunes, eBay, Canary Store, whoever. And its all protected by the cheapest third party security suppliers said company can get away with using.

On that basis I can't bring myself to give a rat's arse about what GCHQ does or does not do with its data.

Perhaps it's because my old man worked for GCHQ, so I have a better idea than most of what they get up to, what they don't get up to, and most importantly how underresourced and overworked everyone is to the extent that the idea that Stinky Simon has the time to be perving over some poor girl's boobs, or is logging what Wrothers had for lunch, is laughable.

Or perhaps its because my day job is IT/data protection law negotiating contracts involving household names for the commercial exploitation of personal data relating to hundreds of thousands of UK citizens, and I know that there are no limits to what private companies will collect, process, exploit, and monetise about individuals, and just what safeguards typically surround it all. Those targetted ads at the top of the Wroth, whilst amusing in what they turn up, are just the tip of the iceberg.

The likes of Google and Amazon have the potential to know far more about Joe Bloggs's private life and peccadilloes than GCHQ or NSA. And they actually care and use the data they collect, and they sell on what data they can't use to a third party who can. Most importantly, they are a damn sight more likely to lose that data.

It sells newspapers to run stories about GCHQ spying on Yahoo, Youtube and whoever, but the really depressing thing is that people dont stop to think (or give a s**t) about what Yahoo and Youtube are actually doing with that very same data themselves, or what the real price they have paid for a Hudl-bought-with-Clubcard-points actually is.

When it's between GCHQ/NSA and a profit-driven private company, I know who poses the bigger threat to my privacy. And Amazon sure as hell isn't going to be thwarting any terrorist plots in the UK any time soon (GCHQ's tally must be 9, surely).

Posted By: CWC, Feb 27, 16:44:35