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Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

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Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#121
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if we're lucky, twitter will do what they did with the hashtag and other things when they realised their users needs were 'inventing' new features. The 1/n 2/n n/n tweets is a huge indicator of a feature need. Of course, that's going to dilute their original value proposition of short direct messages.

Twitter started out as an SMS repeater. SMS has for ages, thanks to Nokia, had the capability of merging multiple messages into a single large one. Twitter could just make use of this and save themselves a whole lot of grief.

Let's be serious. No one reads twitter over sms anymore. This isn't at all the reason twitter continues to limit to 140 characters.

(Before some smartass replies "I do read over sms", well even without sms merging, twitter could still split a tweet into multiple sms. 99.9999% of their userbase wouldn't care.)

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes Russia pointing this out to make us lose trust in the U.S.? I think the U.S. has done this all on their own. Snowden was just the latest whistleblower showing the world they can't be trusted. There were others before him, but it got swept under the rug. We all know the U.S. election system is flawed to a point of being broken and thus democracy as we like to believe it's supposed to work doesn't even exist.…

> We all know rolls eyes , adjust your tinfoil hat. Look, even if you believe that dark, unseen forces control the world using the US as a conduit - it would appear that the world has been the better for it. Given a choice of world management between Russian and US in this regard, the choice is pretty straightforward. People who complain about Europe, the US and the general Western alliances management of the world a…

.. and there's the other half of the false dichotomy: if you're not with "us", you're against us.

It's interesting that you choose to use the word "management" here - we in other countries are not left to make our own decisions, they're "managed".

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TAO is composed of much more than hackers, and hackers are in other groups besides TAO. No, I don't have link-able sources.

Seems like it would a be a fun multidisciplinary place to work, but wouldn't wanna jump through all the hoops and tend to weight any quest for "secret" knowledge with such that the limit approaches zero.

> it would a be a fun multidisciplinary place to work

They apparently don't shy from morally questionable ways to accomplish their goals. So if you are into it.. Snowden actually wasn't and that was one of the reasons why he decided to quit CIA and eventually become a whistleblower.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We all know rolls eyes , adjust your tinfoil hat. Look, even if you believe that dark, unseen forces control the world using the US as a conduit - it would appear that the world has been the better for it. Given a choice of world management between Russian and US in this regard, the choice is pretty straightforward. People who complain about Europe, the US and the general Western alliances management of the world a…

I think many people of vietnam, cambodia, laos, indonesia, angola, nicaragua, grenada, most of the middle east, afghanistan, pakistan [1] and so on would strongly disagree. Potentially lesser evil out of 2 evils ain't no good choice. [1] http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/interventions.html

Most of these countries (or regions) never took up capitalism, free markets, and liberalism. Being partners on either side of a proxy war obviously didn't help.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes Russia pointing this out to make us lose trust in the U.S.? I think the U.S. has done this all on their own. Snowden was just the latest whistleblower showing the world they can't be trusted. There were others before him, but it got swept under the rug. We all know the U.S. election system is flawed to a point of being broken and thus democracy as we like to believe it's supposed to work doesn't even exist.…

>> If you hadn't already lost faith in the U.S. election system years ago, then you've got your head in the sand. The only check on this is the separation of powers, and even then, career politicians, special interests, and tons of money have way too much influence. Add in the fact that the press were supposed to be the check on government and now they're firmly in bed with the political parties. All you get is the i…

Career politicians, special interests and tons of money got comprehensively spanked in the Republic Primary process. Trump is an even worse choice - but he demonstrated that it is possible to beat the machine. Sanders came very close to doing exactly the same thing. The US system is significantly more favourable to insurgents than many.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alright bud. I don't have a facebook, twitter, instagram, or any of that other stuff, so I'm not sure how to refute your claim of anonymous. I can say that anonymous hostile replies sure don't do much to further the conversation. What do they say, something about pots and kettles?

A year ago you said you don't work for the NSA or DoD but know one person who does: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9297990 Are you seriously expecting us to believe that your friend is telling you how the NSA is internally structured and how sensitive foreign operation intelligence programs work? Plus in another comment of yours you claimed to know how General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle worked behind the scenes b…

> Plus in another comment of yours you claimed to know how General Atomics MQ-1C Gray Eagle

He spelled it "Grey Eagle". It's unlikely one can actually speak "professionally" about a program when they can't spell it correctly.

If you're part of the program, you're seeing/typing/writing the name "Gray Eagle" day in/day out.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If HN and Reddit are any indication, if you post a link to a blog post, people will respond without reading it. People don't like switching domains, especially if they are browsing from an app. (Myself included)

Also blogs often mean fancy HTML etc, something that rarely produce a good reading experience on mobile devices.

In my experience, twitter is one of the worst offenders here, with an exorbitant amount of HTML, Javascript and pop-ups just to prevent me from reading 140 characters.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#128
post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We all know rolls eyes , adjust your tinfoil hat. Look, even if you believe that dark, unseen forces control the world using the US as a conduit - it would appear that the world has been the better for it. Given a choice of world management between Russian and US in this regard, the choice is pretty straightforward. People who complain about Europe, the US and the general Western alliances management of the world a…

.. and there's the other half of the false dichotomy: if you're not with "us", you're against us. It's interesting that you choose to use the word "management" here - we in other countries are not left to make our own decisions, they're "managed".

If, you believe what you say. If you believe Russia releasing hacks and influencing US elections -- how is that any different than what the US does?

If you believe all that, you have to consider the results of Putin's Russia: Oligarchy & Nationalization, direct imperialism (Ukraine), the support of extremists/facists in foreign countries...

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#129
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like it would a be a fun multidisciplinary place to work, but wouldn't wanna jump through all the hoops and tend to weight any quest for "secret" knowledge with such that the limit approaches zero.

> it would a be a fun multidisciplinary place to work They apparently don't shy from morally questionable ways to accomplish their goals. So if you are into it.. Snowden actually wasn't and that was one of the reasons why he decided to quit CIA and eventually become a whistleblower.

> but wouldn't wanna jump through all the hoops and tend to weight any quest for "secret" knowledge with such that the limit approaches zero.

There was this part, i also tend to think there are more technically interesting problems than circle jerking over the latest js framework for engaging with skinner boxes that more people get the so wonderful opportunity to make decent money for.

>* Snowden actually wasn't and that was one of the reasons why he decided to quit CIA and eventually become a whistleblower.*

I also dont see snowden as a hero like most paint him to be, binney, drake et al. and many others came before (whose opinions get often ignored compared to the latest lord savior). The fact that he tends to get the most paid press offerings and stamp of approval from the media™ tends to make me think lower of him, as with his dubious "service" in the first place… shrugs… his life, not mine.

Re: Snowden: Hack of an NSA server is not unprecedented, publication of the take is

#130
post #110
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people insist on calling the US a democracy ? It is a Constitutional Republic with the only democratic process being the representatives you elect .... represent you ... sometimes... if they feel like it.... unless they have been bribe^H^H^H^H lobbied to do otherwise.

Because it is a democracy. When you democratically elect representatives, it's a democracy. If you elect incompetent, or corrupt, or evil representatives, it's still a democracy.

While I see what you are saying, the OP to your post has it correct. You can say a republic is a bastardized form of democracy, but the reverse is not true. You can look at one of the few true democracies that has ever existed as an example - ancient Greece. Every citizen[1] could vote and put forward changes to laws or even create new laws (obviously with a majority vote).

[1] A citizen was considered to be any person born of Greece, white and male.

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