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Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

theintercept.com

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Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#31

Post by tenebrisalietum »

LatteLazy wrote: post #25

Off topic but... If I ran an NSA secret spy hub, it wouldn't be called Titanpointe. It would be called something less ridiculous and more mundane like "John's Computer Services". I'd be embarrassed when a name like that kept appearing on documents or for brought up in meetings.

So what if the name leaks and some hapless computer-unsavvy person happens to call John's Computer Services to help him get rid of the 32 rows of IE toolbars on his Pentium IV-based PC running Windows Vista?

At least Titanpointe sounds like a government codename and something vaguely menacing that you shouldn't really mess with.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#32

Post by Lammy »

LatteLazy wrote: post #25

Off topic but... If I ran an NSA secret spy hub, it wouldn't be called Titanpointe. It would be called something less ridiculous and more mundane like "John's Computer Services". I'd be embarrassed when a name like that kept appearing on documents or for brought up in meetings.

But ALL-CAPS SCIENCE TERM is such a cool aesthetic, like STELLARWIND.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#33

Post by theshadowknows »

BitwiseFool wrote: post #28
bastardoperator wrote: post #26

I just assume every MMR in every data center/building is an NSA hub.

The NSA is actually it's own layer in the OSI model. They won't teach you about this in school, though, but there are even more than 7 layers.... /s

is the last layer turtles?

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#35

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #11

Describing it as “hidden” is a bit sensational. I don’t think I can walk past it in a group without someone throwing out this factoid. It’s also unapologetic about what it is—no fake windows or any of that garbage.

Maybe the real one is hidden, and Titanpointe is the expensive decoy.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#36

Post by Waterluvian »

bobthepanda wrote: post #18
airstrike wrote: post #17

I'm more appalled by the need to lousily tape this 72pt Calibri label on what is indubitably an intercom at the entrance of an "intelligence" agency: https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2016/11/st...

It's also an AT&T building. It's possible that under it is a Ma Bell logo or something ancient from the long, crazy corporate history of American telecoms.

Someone needs to go find out.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#37

Post by LegitShady »

airstrike wrote: post #17

I'm more appalled by the need to lousily tape this 72pt Calibri label on what is indubitably an intercom at the entrance of an "intelligence" agency: https://theintercept.imgix.net/wp-uploads/sites/1/2016/11/st...

All the intercoms are labelled 'trap'. The one in the image is a trap.

Re: Titanpointe: The NSA’s spy hub in New York, hidden in plain sight (2016)

#38

Post by zwegner »

yodon wrote: post #6
adolph wrote: post #2

33 Thomas Street (formerly the AT&T Long Lines Building) is a 550-foot-tall (170 m) windowless skyscraper in Tribeca, Lower Manhattan, New York City. It stands on the east side of Church Street, between Thomas Street and Worth Street. The building is an example of the Brutalist architectural style. It is a telephone exchange or wire center building which contained three major 4ESS switches used for interexchange (lon…

A fifty story windowless concrete building that's genuinely attractive. Not at all what I expected to discover on the Wikipedia page.

Ha, looking at the pictures, I thought "that looks just like the records building in the middle of season 3 of Mr. Robot", and it's the same building.

BTW this is unrelated to the thread, but Mr. Robot is an incredible show, and the middle of season 3 (where this building is featured) in particular is probably the greatest television I've ever seen. Episodes 5 and 6 are like a full two-episode climax to a story arc that had been building since season 2. I generally avoid any "hacker" type shows/movies for the cheesiness/cringiness of the hacker portrayals (and Mr. Robot does start off a bit cheesy), but I'm glad I made an exception here.

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