I'm sure the nerds here will find ample opportunities to tear this movie apart, but keep in mind that the "average American" (a) doesn't know much about Snowden, other than "he stole secrets and hid in commie Russia, so he must've been working for them", and (b) just believes what the government says. To counter the powerful voice of the government, you need an equally powerful voice like Hollywood. Maybe this movie will make the average American think more about the issue, and it might even cause some to change their views about Snowden. If it does, this movie has served its purpose, and kudos to Stone.
Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
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Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#32This raises an interesting question: how did Snowden get the documents out of the NSA? I don't recall reading much about how this was accomplished. Has that been discussed/reported anywhere?
Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#33Interesting, I hadn't realized this was a cube already in existence. Neat! I've broken a few rubix cubes in my day and so many of them have hallow squares so I'm not surprised you could hide stuff in one. Hell if you customize one you can probably get it to hold a huge amount of data.
> Hell if you customize one you can probably get it to hold a huge amount of data.
Even without customising it, 200GB on a single microSD card is no small amount of data.
Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#34This raises an interesting question: how did Snowden get the documents out of the NSA? I don't recall reading much about how this was accomplished. Has that been discussed/reported anywhere?
Wasn't he working from home from Hawaii as a contractor with a remote login and could easily transfer data from NSA systems at his leisure? Isn't this whole framing of a Jason Bourne-esque exfiltration of the data just a myth?
Aside from Snowden you don't have to elaborately hide an SD card in a Rubik's cube. Just strick it in a condom and shove it.
From what I've read security against this sort of exfiltration is focused on disabling USB ports and the like. Not trying to detect something the size of an SD card leaving the building. They're not doing a full cavity search or giving you an MRI each time you enter/exit.
Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#35This raises an interesting question: how did Snowden get the documents out of the NSA? I don't recall reading much about how this was accomplished. Has that been discussed/reported anywhere?
Snowden wasn't 'on-site', AFAIK he had remote access as a private contractor.
One of Snowden's main revelations was how little oversight there was.
He was motivated to come forward by the abuses he saw the NSA database put to, rather than its mere existence.
Snowden has reported his colleagues reguarly exfiltrated 'dirty pictures' from the NSA database. Snowden says 'nudies' were a 'commodity' traded around his colleagues.
If one can trivially sneak out dirty pics without oversight then...
Of course if Snowden could do it for the best of reasons, it is hard to believe moles and foriegn agents don't have similar access.
Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
A movie similar to Primer would have been so cool
Where Snowden goes back in time and reveals American military and intelligence secrets to preempt its transformation into a global surveillance and military superpower?
I think he meant in terms of technical accuracy. Primer is one of those rare movies that got time travel right.
Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#37First time the actual character is more handsome than the actor ;)
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Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Imitation Game was bad?
It gets a fair amount of hate on HN for taking narrative liberties with Turing's actual life story. I won't deny that it does, and anyone who's genuinely interested in Alan Turing would do better to read about him and his work. But the movie is a dramatization, not a documentary. Because of that, it got the general, non-CS-major public to care about Alan Turing. I'd say that's a pretty decent accomplishment. I actual…
I don't know much abt Turing but watching the movie, i can see the dramatized in Cumberbatch's acting and the plot, and Knightley.. I agree w this comment that "if you like to see Cumberbatch and Knightly acting, you will enjoy it". Cumberbatch is too Cumberbatch and the plot is too Hollywood and stereotyped
Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#39If you X-rayed the cube with the card on top or bottom, I wonder if the card would be distinguishable? I imagine that, if the cube was on one of the sides, it'd be practically impossible to see.
Re: Snowden’s Rubik’s Cube
#40If you X-rayed the cube with the card on top or bottom, I wonder if the card would be distinguishable? I imagine that, if the cube was on one of the sides, it'd be practically impossible to see.
Seeing how the cube is mostly plastic and SD cards have metal contacts, it should be very visible.