Edward Snowden: Permanent Record • Hacker News Board

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#161

Post by xur17 » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:33 PM UTC

madkangas wrote: post #155

xur17 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there any way to buy the ebook directly (or at a bare minimum without drm)?

(Macmillan employee) To my knowledge, no and probably no. I'll inquire. I'm aware that it's available at Kobo in EPUB format but that includes Adobe DRM. https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/permanent-record-7

Thank you for the response.

Sad to hear that it's only available with drm. It's going to show up on torrent sites within days no matter what, so as always honest consumers are the ones that lose.

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#162

Post by MiroF » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:36 PM UTC

empath75 wrote: post #138

I think the administration badly, badly mishandled Snowden and Assange, and allowed Russia to coopt them by isolating and threatening them. If they had treated them as whistleblowers and journalists (even if they had nefarious motivations), they could have kept them in "the west" instead of driving them into the arms of Russia. I don't believe that Assange was a Russian agent at the beginning but he was surely one by…

To the contrary, I think the fact that you think both Snowden and Assange are Russian agents demonstrates that the administrations response was actually quite effective.

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#163

Post by stevenwoo » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:38 PM UTC

petargyurov wrote: post #79

philjohn wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet in the UK we have a notorious data miner in the heart of No 10 giving an edict for all data from government websites to be fed into a central location for targetting.

Sorry, what/who are you referring to?

Dominic Cummings, who openly discusses how he would use government's access to data about the public for his idea of the better ala his prior work with the Brexit referendum/movement. https://www.politico.eu/article/inside-the-mind-of-boris-joh...

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#164

Post by EpicEng » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:45 PM UTC

not_a_cop75 wrote: post #145

empath75 wrote: post #138

I think the administration badly, badly mishandled Snowden and Assange, and allowed Russia to coopt them by isolating and threatening them. If they had treated them as whistleblowers and journalists (even if they had nefarious motivations), they could have kept them in "the west" instead of driving them into the arms of Russia. I don't believe that Assange was a Russian agent at the beginning but he was surely one by…

An agent? No. But friendly towards those friendly to him? Who in the world doesn't do that? After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Seems like a difference without a distinction, and I'm not even sure it's correct. If he's acting in the interest of Russia, he's a Russian agent.

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#165

Post by baron_harkonnen » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:49 PM UTC

MiroF wrote: post #162

empath75 wrote: post #138

I think the administration badly, badly mishandled Snowden and Assange, and allowed Russia to coopt them by isolating and threatening them. If they had treated them as whistleblowers and journalists (even if they had nefarious motivations), they could have kept them in "the west" instead of driving them into the arms of Russia. I don't believe that Assange was a Russian agent at the beginning but he was surely one by…

To the contrary, I think the fact that you think both Snowden and Assange are Russian agents demonstrates that the administrations response was actually quite effective.

I was going to say exactly this. It's amazing how many Americans honestly think it's clear that Snowden is a "bad guy" because he's close to the Russians. Likewise Assange was pushed into a position that made him very unlikable to the US center-left (he could have probably played his hand a bit better). So mainstream American's are distrustful of both and pretty much everyone hates Assange.

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#166

Post by chiefalchemist » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:50 PM UTC

SlowRobotAhead wrote: post #158

empath75 wrote: post #138

I think the administration badly, badly mishandled Snowden and Assange, and allowed Russia to coopt them by isolating and threatening them. If they had treated them as whistleblowers and journalists (even if they had nefarious motivations), they could have kept them in "the west" instead of driving them into the arms of Russia. I don't believe that Assange was a Russian agent at the beginning but he was surely one by…

>I think the administration badly, badly mishandled [whistleblowers] Yes, but by design. Other than passing lip service towards transparency. The fact is Obama admin actively sought to silence them. I know this isn’t popular because HN won’t want to hear anything bad about Obama, but it’s a fact. In the seven years of Obama's presidency, the administration launched a record number of cases against those who revealed…

Yeah. Never post any facts about the BHO admin on HN or you'll be down-voted. It's amazing how many people have been sucked into the smooth and confident talk (and the complete lack then of media fueled outrage). Too many people's confirmation bais forces them to forget that actions speak louder than words.

If DJT did even half of the questionable things BHO did there would be blood in the streets. Point that out? Down vote!!!

God bless George Orwell. The guy nailed it.

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#167

Post by chiefalchemist » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:54 PM UTC

ptero wrote: post #109

jonahbenton wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that the case for both govt and private corporate surveillance? How widespread is the use of Alexa in your area?

The key difference is that you can decide not to buy corporate products you do not want, but have to comply with the laws. I am a lot less concerned about stupid things done by a majority for convenience (and I can choose whether to do participate or not) than about the law that forces the same stupidity down my throat. My 2c.

> " I am a lot less concerned..."

On one hand, I hear ya and agree.

But the reality is, the deck has been reshuffled such that while we're focused on that front door about rights are being sucked out the back by the likes of Big Tech, social norms, etc.

Yeah, the means differ. But in the end, the ends are the same.

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#168

Post by WhompingWindows » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:54 PM UTC

outside1234 wrote: post #151

kerkeslager wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So inform us. Present evidence for your opinion or keep your opinion to yourself.

You are kidding right? The whole cold war?

Unfounded claims, calling someone incredibly uninformed and ignorant, with zero evidence to back up these admonitions, shouldn't be posted here. If you have a claim to post, back it up with some kind of evidence or data. No one should have to be called "kidding" when they call out a lack of any kind of data.

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#169

Post by inscionent » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 3:56 PM UTC

Raudius wrote: post #101

inscionent wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is Downing Street, Boris Johnson and London's massive network of CCTV, but I'm not sure.

I think he means Dominic Cummings and his links to Cambridge Analytica during the Brexit campaign

Interesting. So hard to keep up.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/07/smash-and-g...

Re: Edward Snowden: Permanent Record

#170

Post by kerkeslager » Wed, Sep 11, 2019, 4:03 PM UTC

outside1234 wrote: post #151

kerkeslager wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So inform us. Present evidence for your opinion or keep your opinion to yourself.

You are kidding right? The whole cold war?

During the Cold War, the US government did a lot of things which were extraordinarily harmful to US Citizens and contributed nothing to fighting Soviet totalitarianism. Soviet totalitarianism was certainly a threat, but US repsonses to Soviet totalitarianism were often counterproductive. There's a strong argument to be made that the US government did more harm to US citizens during the Cold War than the Soviets ever did. I'd be open to hearing evidence that the NSA was an exception, but you certainly haven't presented any.

Simply trotting out old tired Russophobia doesn't prove that pervasive surveillance has been good for the American people, it just shows your own bias. You're turning a blind eye to the wrongs done by the US government, some of them much worse than pervasive surveillance.