How the NSA tracks people [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#21

Post by bitexploder » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:26 PM UTC

Dirlewanger wrote: post #17

bitexploder wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all publicly available information. You don't give up your right to free speech when you gain access to sensitive information. He probably vetted this content very carefully and had several friends within the intelligence community review it for him to ensure he wasn't revealing anything undisclosed to the public already.

He's been termed as an NSA whistleblower though. How can one be a whistleblower on publicly available information?

He did it internally. He didn't leak very much publicly other than broad strokes about what was happening. He 'leaked' internally to the DoD IG. The response from the FBI/NSA was essentially to punish them and what amounts to a public witch hunt at the hands of the FBI. This response was what started the trend of much more public whistle blowing because it became clear if you went through the official routes you would be persecuted and your life made miserable, even if they could not land you in jail.

All of this under the banner of state secrets justifying these actions. Whereas in any corporation or visible branch of government the waste would have been a scandal. In the NSA the use of state secrets means power concentrates and individual employees have little recourse (Snowden, etc.).

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#22

Post by Best_Teaser » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:27 PM UTC

As much as I'm arguing in another thread that you shouldn't go too nuts with rampant paranoia, I'm still gonna get a GPS jammer and cell phone jammer and a pile of IR LEDs just to have.

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#23

Post by felon123 » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:31 PM UTC

What I don't understand is with such capabilities, why weren't Michelle carters texts flagged? Or the heather Mack texts/fb messages. Or the texts revolving around the death of Tim piazza at penn state? If the capability to save these people was there, why wasn't it exercised?

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#24

Post by Goodlooking » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:37 PM UTC

They're gathering information on a wide scale for a reason. That's all I know. And its not because of 'terrorists'.

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#25

Post by Bartweiss » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:42 PM UTC

_joel wrote: post #15

Simon_says wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't really make a point, so I don't know what you think you're countering. I just asked a question, and apparently the answer is that he doesn't disclose classified information.

> Surely he had security clearances and made an oath not to break them This is what I'm countering, perhaps something like this needs to be discussed as it's in the public interest.

I don't think OP was addressing morality, though, just raising the practical question of "isn't this a jailable action?"

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#26

Post by pksadiq » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:43 PM UTC

ge96 wrote: post #4

verytrivial wrote: post #2

(That sense of mild threat you feel right now that is preventing you from either watching the video or commenting here is entirely natural and nothing to worry about. Go about your day as normal.)

I often address the NSA by microphone, I doubt they pay attention to me though. I'm just like "Hey NSA, monitoring my "steps"" haha as I try to start a fire.

https://xkcd.com/525/ ? :)

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#27

Post by Bartweiss » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:43 PM UTC

verytrivial wrote: post #2

(That sense of mild threat you feel right now that is preventing you from either watching the video or commenting here is entirely natural and nothing to worry about. Go about your day as normal.)

I went to the comments instead of the link to take a look at whether there was a second source that didn't involve hitting a CCC page. Chilling effects indeed.

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#28

Post by bobsgame » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:44 PM UTC

His main point as I understood it seems to be that the problem is the direction of the organization demands that it continue to grow in that direction. More data means more power which demands more funding but also leads to less effectiveness at what they are actually supposed to be doing. It's really smart that he is confronting the problem by trying to create a legal framework that can steer the ship in a better direction. I really appreciate his work.

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#29

Post by wavefunction » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:50 PM UTC

verytrivial wrote: post #2

(That sense of mild threat you feel right now that is preventing you from either watching the video or commenting here is entirely natural and nothing to worry about. Go about your day as normal.)

The more people who visit ccc sites the better.

Re: How the NSA tracks people [video]

#30

Post by Chardok » Mon, Aug 07, 2017, 3:50 PM UTC

felon123 wrote: post #23

What I don't understand is with such capabilities, why weren't Michelle carters texts flagged? Or the heather Mack texts/fb messages. Or the texts revolving around the death of Tim piazza at penn state? If the capability to save these people was there, why wasn't it exercised?

He states it in the video: they are incredibly overwhelmed with data coming in and are just using "old search methods" such as word search that he deems ineffective.

My understanding is that this bulk data gathering is not as much as preventing attacks but further securing of power for the strange amalgamation that we would call the federal government.