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NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

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Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#81
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, in my haste to post I only listed the ones that I thought of right away. I was quite disappointed to hear the Apple too, has succomb. Now I really have a reason to install Debian Wheezy on MBPr. ;p This is no way to live. Something must be done.

Does Debian (or any Linux distro for that matter) support HDPI displays without looking awful?

I use Debian on a chromebook pixel. It looks fantastic.

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#82

What really shocks me is why wouldn't a technologist/coder / etc - Whisteblow this sort of information. Why would they sit behind a computer, deploy/design such software, and not have some concern, and go public with this? This is not about the "NSA, CIA, or FBI" - it's about those other companies enabling those gov agencies to gather such information, why doesn't someone from those companies speak up that deploys th…

Most programmers are very much unlike you or I. Think about those legions of DoD/DoD contractor engineers that trust government implicitly and totally, and really don't give a shit about more "hacker"/"technologist" subjects.

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#83
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many times does some one have to say this? I'm sorry, but this sort of comment is getting pretty tiresome. Yes we all "knew". All of us "knew". Some of us have "known" for something like 15 years. (Which, BTW, is why I'm most sure why Obama is getting so much flack. Its a Clinton - Bush - Obama scandal.) But none of us, not one, actually did know anything at all. We suspected, or assumed. But we did not know. Not…

Am I the only one to think this is too good to be true? I mean, this can have the exact opposite effect, and become a big "don't trust what you read on the Internet, kids" . NSA doesn't even have to deny anything. Let the other interested parties wash their hands, and leave with a "told ya" smile. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but seems a very convenient prank. I know, Conspiracy theory^-1. We'll see.

"Told ya".

http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/06/google-facebook-apple-deny-...

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#84

I'm not sure why this is a big surprise to anyone. I'm a cynic, but if anyone asked me whether I think the NSA, CIA, or FBI are eavesdropping on personal communications, I would say, "of course they are." This is nothing new: ECHELON, Clipper/Skipjack, Carnivore, ...

Ironically, hackers have been monitoring unencrypted drone streams for years.

That, plus knowing what we know about big data projects, I have a suspicion this "system" has very limited functionality.

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#85
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bullshit, 'the Stasi"? Go talk to somebody who lived in East Germany. And they catch people all the time trying to get bomb materials, how did you think they were doing it, luck? (In the case of the car bomb in Times Square you're right, it was dumb luck, the timer malfunctioned.) If the average person didn't freak out and start yelling retarded things like 'Stasi!' I'd say fine, maybe my fucking Facebook is worth pe…

My partner grew up in East Germany and has told me of the Stasi and their activities. I note that the GP wrote 'we have a government surveillance program that literally surpasses the level of the Stasi' - emphasis mine, and I think this is a fair statement. Also, on a meta-point, every time I see someone start their post off with the word 'Bullshit' on HN - and I see it quite often, like it's some sort of HN meme - I…

How old's your partner, I've known two people who escaped from East Germany and one from Romania. I asked them all about what it was like living there & how they escaped because of course I'm an asshole American and all I got was the thousand yard stare. When the Berlin Wall fell there were hundreds of divorces because they found out their spouses were spying on them. Bugging people's homes was routine. If you said anything against the government you were shipped off or executed. In the case of the Romanian guy I've never seen that kind of look on a man's face. In all three cases I feel terrible for even asking, and I won't be doing it again. Datamining your worthless Facebook page does not compare to what they went through.

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#86
post #36

(note/edit: I've made an error of conflation between the recently reported massive phone record sweep-up and PRISM, which according to the WP, simply allows analysts to trace (essentially) the totality of someone's online interactions, though not everyone at once. So really, things don't seem that much different than last week when it was well known that the government has discretion to warrantlessly tap us. Still, $…

> this program only cost $20M a year? If that's the price of eternal security, I'd say we got a pretty goddamn good deal.

This line of thought is similar to another comment on HN stating that "we should be grateful to Google".

- Oh, they take only $20M? We should be grateful for that. Let them do whatever it takes to "protect our freedom".

I'm very surprised to see this kind of reasoning on the hacker's forum.

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#87
post #51

I wonder if the NSA and the politicians that enabled this realize the amount of economic damage this could do to the US by promoting the balkanization of the world's telecom networks and spreading mistrust for US tech and telecom companies. This seems very short sighted, if they care about that stuff at all.

I guarantee free markets care about this, but yeah. You knew that.

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CIA has stated that it wants to do this. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/03/petraeus-tv-remote/ Tech like the XBox One will make this pretty easy (as its microphone is always on and the Kinect cam is integrated).

I've always wondered how a government agency would reliably set up cameras in everyone's home 1984 style. I find it hilarious that we may just go down to Best Buy and install in our own homes.

There was of course that one amusing Onion article about some US intelligence agency making its own social network so that everyone would just voluntarily give up all their information.

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#89
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody wants to see a car bomb go off in Times Square, but the problem with this line of reasoning is that it requires an unrealistic amount of trust that the government won't take this power to extremes. It's just human nature that power tends to corrupt, and absolute power will corrupt absolutely -- especially if left unchecked. In the case of these revelations, how can something be kept in check if its mere existe…

I'm just happy someone found a productive use for Facebook. But right, it can't be kept in check because it will bleed out into other areas of law enforcement. Then we hit back. But I do think people's thermometers are good enough to know when something like this is warranted and when it's not. When you remember that we are at war, on our own soil, this is a very minor thing. But if one major attack happens though it…

Right. Their argument is invalid because if some hypothetical future even happens, you predict that their attitude would change.

Re: NSA slides explain the PRISM data-collection program

#90
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Debian (or any Linux distro for that matter) support HDPI displays without looking awful?

I use Debian on a chromebook pixel. It looks fantastic.

No fair, you had Linus guiding you. Debian on MBPr might be as challenging. I'm up for it.
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