Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey • Hacker News Board

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#111

Post by brown9-2 » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:13 PM UTC

grey-area wrote: post #31

kybernetikos wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can imagine systems that would be coercion proof, but I can't imagine any that would be coercion proof and also allow a dead mans switch, which I thought he had also claimed to have.

If reconstructing the secret requires a certain no of keys, but not all, and those people are distributed around the world, it's quite possible to be coercion proof as one party (because you can't decrypt on your own) and the secrets still accessible even if one party is compromised.

I think the latter part of this is only true if it is possible for the other parties to detect that he has been compromised.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#112

Post by antocv » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:13 PM UTC

I will just leave this here as an encouragement for anyone to write to their representatives, media, journalists and mention this in debates about this issue.

> remove from office and bring to justice those officials who have abused power, seriously and repeatedly violating the Constitution of the United States and the rights of millions of unsuspecting citizens.

This is what we should be focusing on and now Snowdens character, his this and that, I and many with me are tired of celebrity-culture and gossip around him.

Lets talk about the US officials, NSA higher-ups who must be removed from office, put on trail or investigation and lets get those companies Google, Facebook accountable.

Anyone know who the NSA high-ups are, names? We know companies CEOs, lets put them under the spotlight instead of Snowden, what did they know? When, how come they did not know, where they coerced or fooled into it? Do they deserve to continue being CEO when such grave mistakes happen under their watch?

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#113

Post by bobo1357 » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:14 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #99

bobo1357 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read Article III, Section 1. "The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court."

That's not what is says. Particularly, that period you put in isn't where the sentence ends, the full sentence is: "The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish ." Further, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court is defined in Art. III, Sec. 2: "In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public minist…

The Supreme Court has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all federal courts and over state court cases involving issues of federal law.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#114

Post by grey-area » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:14 PM UTC

ianterrell wrote: post #39

grey-area wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If reconstructing the secret requires a certain no of keys, but not all, and those people are distributed around the world, it's quite possible to be coercion proof as one party (because you can't decrypt on your own) and the secrets still accessible even if one party is compromised.

If that were the case, there would need to be at least two other parties who share his ideology specifically enough to decrypt the data only after he's presumed dead. They would also need to remain secret in order to not be targeted simultaneously. Not impossible requirements, but they seem unlikely. The question is: Can you automate it to remove the human element? Assuming Tor is perfect, could you create N co-consp…

If that were the case, there would need to be at least two other parties who share his ideology specifically enough to decrypt the data only after he's presumed dead.

Well apparently Senator Humphrey is on board with his ideology :)

I really don't think it'd be a problem for him to distribute keys to a few like-minded individuals before he left, or even when he was in hong kong, particularly if he has some shared key system set up so that any n keys can open the secrets. It sounds like he has certainly distributed an encrypted file of the docs to several people, so I wouldn't be surprised if he has likewise distributed the keys to open them.

However while the mechanics of his protecting this data are interesting on a technical level, they're also not the most important story here, and we don't really know enough (or at least I don't) to speculate without more facts...

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#115

Post by jivatmanx » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:14 PM UTC

twoodfin wrote: post #76

inzax wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really trust the supreme court these days? 7 men and women designed to decide the fate of our country? also, the supreme court has no say in this. Its the fisa court....

If I were going to decide whether or not I'd trust the Supreme Court, one of the first things I'd want to learn is how many justices sit on it.

Which is only convention, not by law, and in any case, just an arbitrary number.

FDR threatened to pack the court with lackeys if they didn't vote in favor of his programs.

Which raises the obvious question of, since that event, has the Supreme Court really even served as a check on executive power?

I suppose, at least, FDR would have had to answer to public opinion if he had actually carried out that threat. Unlike, say, if the secret FISA court were so threatened.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#116

Post by ianterrell » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:14 PM UTC

foobarbazqux wrote: post #107

bobo1357 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is quite the straw man. I meant free in a legal sense.

It's exactly the point though. You are free to break laws, or at least you are free to try. You are not nearly so free to break laws once you are in prison. I think what you're saying is that you cannot expect to break laws without there being consequences. Of course we agree about that. The point of civil disobedience is that you believe so strongly you are willing to pay the price. Perhaps you believe it is morally…

He's not actually saying anything. Don't feed the trolls.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#117

Post by outworlder » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:16 PM UTC

> " While it has not been reported in the media, one of my specializations was to teach our people at DIA how to keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments (i.e. China)."

Mr. Snowden has come a long way from "just a sysadmin". It appears people were trying to downplay the role he had in his line of duty.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#118

Post by jv22222 » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:17 PM UTC

tokenadult wrote: post #65

It's always interesting to me that as a new statement from Snowden to the press comes out, most comments on Hacker News take him totally at his word, and assume that his interpretation of events and policy is by far the interpretation most likely to be true. Because I was already past Snowden's current age and current experience level in living in other countries by the time Snowden was born, I see a lot of holes and…

It's the nature of a hacker to try stuff and "see what happens", that's what I think is going on here.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#119

Post by wavefunction » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:17 PM UTC

ambientwhsiper wrote: post #42

pvnick wrote: post #3

"Further, no intelligence service - not even our own - has the capacity to compromise the secrets I continue to protect. While it has not been reported in the media, one of my specializations was to teach our people at DIA how to keep such information from being compromised even in the highest threat counter-intelligence environments (i.e. China). You may rest easy knowing I cannot be coerced into revealing that info…

No worries, SP-117 is extremely effective. FSB or any other intelligence service have ways to make people talk. Such naïveté.

You're ignoring that he can't reveal what he doesn't know.

Re: Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

#120

Post by chc » Tue, Jul 16, 2013, 8:18 PM UTC

tokenadult wrote: post #46

eli wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he comes off as naive and more than a little pompous, but I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. Either way, if he really wants the focus back on the documents, he should probably write fewer letters about his beliefs, his security, and his personal situation.

I think he comes off as naive and more than a little pompous, but I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. This is my take too. If he had had more knowledge about the historical background of the other countries he has visited, and especially if he had STRONG knowledge of another language, he might view the position of the United States in these matters a bit differently, and might resolve the trade-offs about what t…

> I would take Snowden's claims more seriously in general if he were on United States soil preparing to face trial for his alleged wrongdoing, ready to bring forward any defenses he thinks he has to possible criminal charges.

So in order for you to take Snowden's claims seriously, he has to either claim that what he did is legal or willingly go to prison for the rest of his life? That seems pretty irrational.