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Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

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Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#41

Post by brador »

zybler wrote: post #30
hawkharris wrote: post #12

When one of my friends in college landed a math-related internship with the NSA years ago, I was very impressed and proud of her. If a friend were to land a similar job or internship now, my gut reaction would be vert different. As illustrated by this video, the agency's prestige among the public seems to have degraded considerably. I wonder how this has affected its ability to recruit bright young people.

You are obviously saying that because you are pissed. And deep down inside you are hoping that they won't be able to recruit bright young people. But the truth is, economy is a bitch, unemployment rate is high, if they actually pays well, I'm pretty sure bright people will still join them, whether they are young or old.

That's not how it works at the highest levels. Employment of capable hackers is sky high right now and everyones paying top dollar.

Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#42

Post by 300bps »

timmyelliot wrote: post #14
ethana wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt anyone working at the NSA is underpaid...if not overpaid.

You are joking, right? Government jobs seriously underpay. On the NSA careers website looks like "Computer Scientists" make between $42,209 to $97,333. I'm sure most of the pay is in the lower range. http://www.nsa.gov/careers/opportunities_4_u/professionals/i...

Government jobs seriously underpay.

This was true in the past, it hasn't been true for a very long time however. It used to be true that government jobs paid less in wages but more than made up for it in greater benefits. Now they are equal in wages and still have the cushy benefits.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/31/news/economy/federal_worker_...

http://www.cbo.gov/publication/42921

There are of course studies that contradict this, all of which conducted by unions representing government workers.

Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#43

Post by officemonkey »

httpagent wrote: post #34
downandout wrote: post #31

I'm a little bit curious why the operator wanted his contact info, and repeatedly asked for it, knowing full well that it was a ridiculous call. It makes me wonder if taxpayer dollars would have actually been spent investigating him.

I wondered the same thing - my conclusion is that it's an intimidation tactic.

More likely the poor operator couldn't answer his question, so she was going to pass the details up to a supervisor and have the supervisor deal with it.

Later when the supervisor got on the phone, she just hung up on him.

Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#44

Post by UVB-76 »

httpagent wrote: post #34
downandout wrote: post #31

I'm a little bit curious why the operator wanted his contact info, and repeatedly asked for it, knowing full well that it was a ridiculous call. It makes me wonder if taxpayer dollars would have actually been spent investigating him.

I wondered the same thing - my conclusion is that it's an intimidation tactic.

Alternatively, phone operators are instructed as a matter of course to record details about the phone calls they receive...

Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#45

Post by Altaer »

downandout wrote: post #31

I'm a little bit curious why the operator wanted his contact info, and repeatedly asked for it, knowing full well that it was a ridiculous call. It makes me wonder if taxpayer dollars would have actually been spent investigating him.

The DoD and I'm sure other organizations are instructed to try and get as much info from the person as possible if it's a suspicious phone call like this. People call up and use all sorts of techniques to get information from these organizations, which it seemed like what was trying to be done here.

Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#46

Post by derefr »

zybler wrote: post #30
hawkharris wrote: post #12

When one of my friends in college landed a math-related internship with the NSA years ago, I was very impressed and proud of her. If a friend were to land a similar job or internship now, my gut reaction would be vert different. As illustrated by this video, the agency's prestige among the public seems to have degraded considerably. I wonder how this has affected its ability to recruit bright young people.

You are obviously saying that because you are pissed. And deep down inside you are hoping that they won't be able to recruit bright young people. But the truth is, economy is a bitch, unemployment rate is high, if they actually pays well, I'm pretty sure bright people will still join them, whether they are young or old.

I feel horribly cynical for saying this, but: if you like playing the long game, this is actually a great time to join the NSA. Their ability to source talent is probably at an all-time low. One way or another, their reputation will probably rebound within a decade, and you'll have it all.

Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#48

Post by frank_boyd »

downandout wrote: post #31

I'm a little bit curious why the operator wanted his contact info, and repeatedly asked for it, knowing full well that it was a ridiculous call. It makes me wonder if taxpayer dollars would have actually been spent investigating him.

He called using SKYPE which belongs to Microsoft. We know of both companies to partner with the NSA.

So they have at least

- all chats and most certainly

- all calls converted to text

at their disposal.

So it looks like an intimidation attempt.

Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#49

Post by basicallydan »

I see what he's trying to do, but it seems to me like this amounts to no more than a childish prank, a joke which essentially just uses a receptionist or switchboard person as the butt.

If you really have an issue with what the NSA is doing, playing pranks like this isn't going to get results.

If you could get through the head of the NSA, or somebody who is more obviously in a decision-making position and them questions like this then you'd maybe be doing some good by grilling them like that.

I feel like this actually cheapens the issue a little.

Re: Calling the NSA: "I accidentally deleted an e-mail, can you help me recover it?"

#50

Post by bdg »

frank_boyd wrote: post #48
downandout wrote: post #31

I'm a little bit curious why the operator wanted his contact info, and repeatedly asked for it, knowing full well that it was a ridiculous call. It makes me wonder if taxpayer dollars would have actually been spent investigating him.

He called using SKYPE which belongs to Microsoft. We know of both companies to partner with the NSA. So they have at least - all chats and most certainly - all calls converted to text at their disposal. So it looks like an intimidation attempt.

Sometimes those of us so ingrained in the world of HackerNews forget what life of people in other fields of work is like.

I highly doubt this was a jedi-level intimidation tactic from the handbook they provide to the switchboard operator after training them to respond in sophisticated ways to people calling in.

Rather, I'm more convinced this was the train-of-thought: Someone's calling, the call is weird, lets get their name.

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