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Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”

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Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”

#1

Post by SingleFounderCo »

Dr. Joesph Bonner's quote:

I’d rather have it abolished than persist in its current form. I think there’s a question about whether it’s possible to reform the NSA into something that’s more reasonable…But my feeling based on what I’ve read is that I don’t want to live in a country with an organization like the NSA is right now.

Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”
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Re: Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”

#3

Post by ihsw »

How do you abolish something that the entirety of the federal and state governments rely upon? Intelligence resources are being pooled to the NSA, and cyber-intelligence reports are being sourced wholly from the NSA. They're the single most powerful intelligence agency in the US, and there's absolutely no sign of it slowing down.

If there's anything that Obama shall be remembered for, it's that under his administration there was an astronomical consolidation of power. The DHS has progressively been getting more and more involved in pulling the strings of all levels of law enforcement.

Re: Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”

#4

Post by pixie_ »

Is World War II so far away that everyone forgets how fucked up the entire world can become - and it doesn't take long for it all to go to hell either. The NSA has to get their shit together, but we still need real strategical/tactical intelligence inside and outside of the US. So when it does happen (and it will eventually happen) we're prepared not to lose our country, or even the world to the super nuclear powered genetically modified nazi cyborgs.

Re: Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”

#5

Post by jivatmanx »

pixie_ wrote: post #4

Is World War II so far away that everyone forgets how fucked up the entire world can become - and it doesn't take long for it all to go to hell either. The NSA has to get their shit together, but we still need real strategical/tactical intelligence inside and outside of the US. So when it does happen (and it will eventually happen) we're prepared not to lose our country, or even the world to the super nuclear powered…

In the 20 interwar years, both Communism and Fascism (Business plot, Leo Strauss, etc.) both had an enormous intellectual following, even in the U.S. In Europe, there was an overwhelming sentiment that Democracy was weak and outdated, which is why the Nazis and the USSR saw each-other as their primary threat, and had both fully anticipated and planned for a European war for years prior.

There's nothing like that out there today. Russian hatred for Islamism exceeds the U.S.'s, China is panicky about Xinjiang Province/Pakistan. China and Russia pretty much act purely on interests and have no ideology.

While there are few parallels to WWII, there are some with WWI. I hope that stark alliances don't form.

Re: Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”

#8

Post by yuhong »

ihsw wrote: post #3

How do you abolish something that the entirety of the federal and state governments rely upon? Intelligence resources are being pooled to the NSA, and cyber-intelligence reports are being sourced wholly from the NSA. They're the single most powerful intelligence agency in the US, and there's absolutely no sign of it slowing down. If there's anything that Obama shall be remembered for, it's that under his administrati…

Reading the context they did say reform is an alternative.

Re: Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”

#9

Post by proexploit »

znowi wrote: post #7

This guy has the balls. Kudos, Mr Bonneau. I'm curious if he will get a private reprimand from Google execs for unpleasant commentary on their partner :)

I honestly don't understand people's opinion around this. I'm not trying to refute your comment, just understand and see if I missed something. As far as I have read, Google complies with NSA letters (which seems to be required by law, although perhaps not a favorable one) and PRISM is said to give the NSA additional direct access (but I haven't seen any indication of this being proved or confirmed to be known to the companies involved). Has there been some information proving Google and other companies are actually working with the NSA or is it simply based on the idea that you think it might be likely and they'd deny it either way (if they confirm it, they work with the NSA and if they deny it, they work with the NSA).

I'm not suggesting blindly trusting any company or person but do we have actual knowledge in this subject I missed or simply opinions?

Re: Google Engineer Wins NSA Award, Then Says NSA Should Be “Abolished”

#10

Post by justin66 »

pixie_ wrote: post #4

Is World War II so far away that everyone forgets how fucked up the entire world can become - and it doesn't take long for it all to go to hell either. The NSA has to get their shit together, but we still need real strategical/tactical intelligence inside and outside of the US. So when it does happen (and it will eventually happen) we're prepared not to lose our country, or even the world to the super nuclear powered…

It'd be more to the point to remember that we survived the cold war, an era where good intelligence was even more necessary and the dangers to the country were bigger and more immediate, with tighter controls on what intelligence services could do.
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