<story><title>Facebook, Microsoft, Apple Make Year-End Lobbying Push to Curb NSA Spying</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-14/companies-call-on-senate-to-pass-bill-curbing-nsa-powers.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>xnull2guest</author><text>Since when do these companies get such a big say in &lt;i&gt;our&lt;/i&gt; Democracy? Since when is &amp;quot;Facebook, Microsoft, Apple Make Year-End Lobbying Push to Curb NSA Spying&amp;quot; a headline and not &amp;quot;American people rally the vote to stop sweeping surveillance&amp;quot;?&lt;p&gt;Personally, I think it&amp;#x27;s mostly a show to bolster consumer confidence (rant purposefully left out).  But let&amp;#x27;s say it&amp;#x27;s not. Why should a handful of private individuals be more important for the direction of legislature than democratic consensus AND what&amp;#x27;s written into law &lt;i&gt;by the Constitution&lt;/i&gt;.&lt;p&gt;A fluffy feel good piece about how the elite are on your side. Bullshit through and through.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not upset that (publicly) these corporations are against  surveillance, I&amp;#x27;m upset that it matters.&lt;p&gt;Yes we live in a Representative Democratic Republic. But I don&amp;#x27;t remember voting for the board of directors.</text></comment>
<story><title>Facebook, Microsoft, Apple Make Year-End Lobbying Push to Curb NSA Spying</title><url>http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-14/companies-call-on-senate-to-pass-bill-curbing-nsa-powers.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>cowpig</author><text>I find this article interesting in that it describes a direct clash of motives between two major systematic problems in American government at present: corporate capture of politics, and the runaway NSA.&lt;p&gt;What needs to happen is for both of these forces to be curbed, before they find a compromise that I don&amp;#x27;t expect to be in the best interest of the people.</text></comment>