The Cost of Spying

[WhiskeyGirl]

For years, I've listened to liberals and others complain about the cost of all of Bush's wars.  How much do Obama's wars cost?  I don't hear a lot of complaining.

How much does all of this spying cost?  I've been hearing a lot of numbers being bounced around...and who is paying for it?

"NSA spying may cost cloud companies $35 billion"

The recent revelations that the NSA is closely tracking the electronic footprints of foreign citizens could cut as much as $35 billion off the top lines of U.S. cloud computing companies over the next three years. It might also put the nation’s leadership position in the fast growing sector at stake.

read more here - http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2013/08/08/nsa-spying-may-cost-cloud-companies-35-billion/

IIRC, the cost to secure the southern border is about $20 billion.  Why hasn't the border been secured?  Taxpayers have already paid for security and it hasn't been secured.  Same with E-Verify.  We've already paid.  Why isn't it working?  Keepig illegal aliens, gangs, criminals, and terrorists, out?

[WhiskeyGirl]

"NSA’s Prism Could Cost IT Service Market $180 Billion"

Fears over the National Security Agency’s Prism spy project could cost cloud, hosting and outsourcing providers $180 billion in lost business, according to a Forrester Research analyst.

read more here - http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/08/16/nsas-prism-could-cost-it-service-market-180-billion/

[WhiskeyGirl]

If you choose to believe that either or both of these sets of estimates are relatively accurate, the NSA should have no problem storing all that data or absorbing the cost. The NSA, which reportedly has an annual budget of $10 billion, is finishing up a new data warehouse in Bluffdale, Utah (just south of Salt Lake City) that cost $1.7 billion, has 1 million square feet of space and can reportedly store one yottabyte (that’s 1 billion petabytes) of data. In other words, as Kahle put it, when it comes to the prospect of gathering and storing all these data on Americans, “money and technology would not hold back such a project– it would be held back if someone did not have the opportunity or will.”

read more here - http://www.itworld.com/security/361713/prices-low-nsa-can-t-afford-not-spy-us

I wonder what kind of system our enemies have and who is paying for it? 

Where does all that aid money really go?

[WhiskeyGirl]

"Gov’t Spying May Not Come Cheap: How Much Snooping Costs Taxpayers"

AT&T, for example, imposes a $325 “activation fee” for each wiretap and $10 a day to maintain it. Smaller carriers Cricket and U.S. Cellular charge only about $250 per wiretap. But snoop on a Verizon customer? That costs the government $775 for the first month and $500 each month after that, according to industry disclosures made last year to Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass.

read more here - http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/07/10/govt-spying-may-not-come-cheap-how-much-snooping-costs-taxpayers/

Are we safer?  Sound like corporate welfare.  How much does it cost to spy on an Obamaphone?

$775 and $500 a month?  Really?

What is wrong with this picture?

If you took out the taxpayer reimbursements, how much profit would these phone companies really be making?