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Email exchange between Edward Snowden and former GOP Senator Gordon Humphrey

m.guardian.co.uk

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

#121

Post by mtrimpe »

rodolphoarruda wrote: post #38

"...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)." Interesting. Is it from a technical/IT standpoint or more of a "social engineering" one? Or a bit of both? That's a genuine question because I really don't know how feasible this type of work could be when done from within the US.

There are ways to store a password in your subconscious [1] but they are relatively gimmicky.

The more logical interpretation is that he doesn't have the decryption keys and has given partial keys to multiple people, thus making his secrets safe from torturing just him.

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

#122

Post by lightbritefight »

brown9-2 wrote: post #74
dantheman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very simple way to achieve something like this is to generate a random password, print it out and give half to someone else. Then you need 2 people to access the file.

Perhaps there are scenarios I am not thinking of then but then in order to access the documents/information, he would need to be able to freely communicate with the other party. If he was to be detained somewhere without outside contact the world, then how can the info be disseminated to fulfill his threat?

A verbal agreement akin to a killswitch. No verifiable contact by august 5th? Info dump to pastebin. Resets every two weeks.

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

#123

Post by lostlogin »

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…

I don't think people here to just take what he says. I was quite surprised at the recent thread on his statement (via Wikileaks) which turned into a massive word and phrase analysis game whilst attempting to work out if it was actually a Snowden statement. If anything shows careful examination, a word by word analysis does.

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

#124

Post by ensignavenger »

bobo1357 wrote: post #54
pbreit wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replying to bobo: no. Anyone should be able to interpret the constitution as no person or group of people are infallible. It's obvious that SCOTUS opinions change over time, due to composition and prevailing attitudes.

So it's okay to pick and choose which texts to follow from our Constitution? The Constitution doesn't give Snowden the power to interpret it. It does however give that duty to our federal courts. Should we just ignore that part in our Constitution?

Where does the Constitution give sole authority for interpreting it to the Supreme Court? In fact, it does not even give that authority to the Supreme Court. Judicial review was not established directly in the COnstitution.

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

#125

Post by cschmidt »

acqq wrote: post #83
dantheman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very simple way to achieve something like this is to generate a random password, print it out and give half to someone else. Then you need 2 people to access the file.

Then better, he gives two halves to at least 4 people (2 copies of each half, to prevent "denial of opening" if one person is blocked) he keeps nothing. He personally doesn't need the data. Publicly interesting things are by journalists. The "don't try to kill me" data is at best when not by him at all. I posit there's nothing earth shaking on his own notebooks anymore.

I think that as well. If I knew I were going to go on the run and be in custody in unknown countries, I wouldn't want to be traveling with anything secret on my person. Get the data all distributed however you want before you go, and just have your laptop for communication. The press always says he has 4 government laptops. Why would you want to carry them around?

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

#126

Post by abstractbill »

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.

I'm not convinced we would be hearing anything from him at all - claims or otherwise - were he currently on US soil.

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

#127

Post by fragsworth »

jmathai wrote: post #80
dantheman wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very simple way to achieve something like this is to generate a random password, print it out and give half to someone else. Then you need 2 people to access the file.

It doesn't then take much torture to extract the other person's name. Then a little more torture for the other party to get the missing piece of the puzzle.

If those people are in different countries (e.g. one in the U.S. and one in China) then it is not possible to get them.

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

#128

Post by acqq »

cschmidt wrote: post #125
acqq wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then better, he gives two halves to at least 4 people (2 copies of each half, to prevent "denial of opening" if one person is blocked) he keeps nothing. He personally doesn't need the data. Publicly interesting things are by journalists. The "don't try to kill me" data is at best when not by him at all. I posit there's nothing earth shaking on his own notebooks anymore.

I think that as well. If I knew I were going to go on the run and be in custody in unknown countries, I wouldn't want to be traveling with anything secret on my person. Get the data all distributed however you want before you go, and just have your laptop for communication. The press always says he has 4 government laptops. Why would you want to carry them around?

If I remember, nobody authoritatively claimed that he took anything else physical but copied the secret data to the USB stick. If he had to use a stick then there were never notebooks with secret data that he could take.

Some article somewhere mentioned that he carries 4 notebooks, and then the press started fear mongering and compromiting him by insinuating that the notebooks are full of secrets and government property. Can anybody quote an official claim that the notebooks aren't his own?

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

#129

Post by SolarNet »

btbuildem wrote: post #14

"identify, remove from office and bring to justice those officials who have abused power" This, here, is the crux of the matter. Drag into the light the parasites that consume the living flesh of this society.

I hope people, and indeed the senator, realizes that the people he is talking about are senators and congressmen, not the president who did his duty and executed the 20 million dollar PRISM budget forced on him by congress.

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

#130

Post by aetherson »

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…

While I understand the sentiment that says, "I'd prefer it if Snowden were possessed of infinite strength, that he should be willing to suffer years of imprisonment while speaking truth to power," I don't understand the sentiment that says, "So I'll dismiss everything he says given that he doesn't have limitless moral courage."

I note that the same standard never seems to apply to the other side of the argument. You don't hear people say, "Well, naturally I'll dismiss everything that Obama says on the NSA scandal because he used cocaine and didn't even stand trial, much less go to prison, for it."

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