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Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

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Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#221

Post by jewbacca »

phaus wrote: post #194
fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how that works, but I'd be surprised if there were not a sort-of abbreviated check?

There are things that can easily be detected and cause you to have issues with a clearance. For example, if you get arrested or have other significant legal issues, someone will probably find out. Also, if you stop paying your bills long enough to have severe credit issues, someone will likely find out about that too. For social media activity, someone would likely have to report you for anyone to take action. I for…

That was exactly Julian Assange's original thesis:

----

"The non linear effects of leaks on unjust systems of governance

[...]

The more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. This must result in minimization of efficient internal communications mechanisms (an increase in cognitive "secrecy tax") and consequent system-wide cognitive decline resulting in decreased ability to hold onto power as the environment demands adaption."

https://web.archive.org/web/20071020051936id_/http://iq.org:...

https://cryptome.org/0002/ja-conspiracies.pdf

Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#222

Post by m-j-fox »

mjcl wrote: post #207
m-j-fox wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pretty standard fare for a corporate firewall/proxy It is? So corporations install something that infects your laptop and updates the root certificate every time Chrome or Firefox updates? Sounds extreme to me. Something the NSA might be able to do, but hopefully not my company.

If you're running Windows, it's built into the OS using Group Policy. Very helpful when a company is running it's own internal CA/PKI.

Wow Windows. You've outdone yourself. Can I assume Linux and Mac are safe?

Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#223

Post by zaroth »

dlp211 wrote: post #218
throwaway-1209 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was, until this administration, somewhat rare for the press to _knowingly_ publish nothing but lies, and yet here we are. CNN (!) got caught on camera the other day stage managing a "Muslim protest" for the news. That's something that would cause a massive scandal just a year ago. These days everyone is so used to it no one even noticed.

No it didn't[1]. [1] http://www.snopes.com/cnn-muslim-protests-london/

This is another trend we are seeing -- so-called "fact checkers" claiming something is false because the most ardent reading of a specific claim, or maybe just a comment left by a troll in the same page -- isn't completely true.

"But nothing suggested that CNN “staged” the demonstrations to any extent greater than engaging protesters, directing their positions, and asking them questions as part of a news segment."

So it was staged, but not "really staged"?

This is like the fact-check where Trump precisely and accurately quoted a decrease in the national debt, but Politifact still checked it as "mostly false".

[1] - http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/feb/...

Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#224

Post by defined »

logfromblammo wrote: post #98
hdolt wrote: post #8

It's getting complicated managing 25 year olds at work these days. Lot of mistrust and entitlement issues I have never seen before. If you are a manager any suggestions about how to handle this stuff?

As an older worker, I'd say the mistrust issues of younger workers are entirely justified. If that is a problem, corporate management is hoist on its own petard. If you wanted Gen Y to trust you, you should have treated Gen X better--or at least hidden the mistreatment better. As for the entitlement, that's probably on their Boomer parents/grandparents. You could shove them down and kick them in the teeth until they…

> hoist on its own petard

Trivial fun OT fact: a petard is an archaic word to describe a bomb or similar explosive device, so it would make more sense to write "hoist by its own petard", i.e. blown into the air by its own bomb.

Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#226

Post by fnordfnordfnord »

fnordfnordfnord wrote: post #164

* Our leaker is a person with a Twitter timeline that makes you wonder how she maintained her Secret clearance. She retweets @Snowden, yet was hired at Pluribus in Feb. of this year, days after doing so. * The story is a huge black eye for the Intercept, makes it look like they are very inept. * The leak is not really substantial, mostly analyst notes about an ongoing thing that's been talked up in the press quite a…

I've just noticed that the Intercept journalist who burned Winner is the same one who burned Kiriakou some years ago.

Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#227

Post by mladenkovacevic »

hsod wrote: post #195
grandalf wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no supporting evidence for the assertion that it was "Russia" or about the nature of the "hacking groups". There is also no consideration of the possibility of false attribution of the above. Suppose I see that an enemy wears size 10.5 Adidas sneakers. If I buy an identical pair and leave muddy footprints with them near a crime scene, does the presence of the footprints implicate my adversary? In the case of…

> In the case of hacking, our assessment must include a notion of how easy it would be for a nation or group to be falsely implicated. > Separately, there must be a discussion of motive apart from specific evidence. But what we're seeing is a blurring together of various tiny pieces of data, analysis, guesswork, etc., into a narrative. Do you believe that the intelligence community has failed to consider these fairly…

And you've constructed a belief system that we better believe anything that comes out of the NSA about adversaries of the US because well, I feel the NSA is really competent and what else are we supposed to believe anyways.

My belief system isn't convincing me that Russians didn't hack the election system, or that they aren't capable of it. Just that this particular document is not the smoking gun.

Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#228

Post by mladenkovacevic »

matt4077 wrote: post #202
mladenkovacevic wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If somebody leaked internal FSB analysis docs claiming but offering no raw intelligence that Ukrainian government is full of US spies and Euromaidan was financed by Soros, would any mainstream media outlet take this kind of source as "evidence"?

The difference between these cases is that even considering everything that is wrong with US administration, it is just not comparable to the Russian. People (and institutions) have a track record, and there's no principle in logic that prevents me from using that record to evaluate their trustworthiness: What you call an ad hominem, I call bayesian reasoning. For example: It was, until this administration, extremely…

Can you describe how rare do you feel it was for US officials to straight up lie on or off the record? Also based on what data did you make this assessment?

I can recall of a number of occasions during the Bush and Obama era where high-level officials were caught lying, sometimes in public testimony. And I don't even have any data points for Russia because we don't get their official statements on our news so I don't even know how I'd compare. How did you get both sides of the story accurately enough where you feel so confident in your beliefs?

Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#229

Post by [deleted] »

user982 wrote: post #12
tanderson92 wrote: post #5

Have we learned nothing about the NSA's tactics? The Intercept publishes reporting that they would rather not have been printed, and the very day the DOJ unseals charges where they try to say they learned about the leak from a paper crease from what can be reasonably inferred to be The Intercept. Meanwhile the alleged leaker allegedly used her work computer to contact The Intercept (in contradiction with their recomm…

> It has all the appearances of the government trying to smear a news outlet and ensure no one leaks to them again. A scheme that would be less effective if not for The Intercept's demonstrably deficient opsec in protecting its source in this affair.

[deleted]

Re: Did the Intercept bungle the NSA leak?

#230

Post by braderhart »

dragonwriter wrote: post #188
throwaway-1209 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sound like someone who's never been on a jury. Jury gets very exact instructions from the judge before it makes a decision. In these instructions judge interprets the law in a way that the jury will understand. She doesn't tell them how to vote, but in a clear cut case like this one someone who has been selected for impartiality will almost certainly make an accusatory decision. Jury is not a get out of jail free…

> You sound like someone who's never been on a jury I've not only been on juries, but studied them. Nullification is a thing. It's quite rare and unlikely in the specific circumstance at issue, but that's already factored into the discussion in the grandparent post.

The one thing to consider though is was she told to look at the file, or was she snooping per se.
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