Live data from Hacker News

Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

plus.google.com

261–270 of 420 posts

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#261
post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's the core of the problem. By the nature of what they do, their successes are never clear. Not that this is a very robust intellectual defense, but the US is far from the only country to do this. Just two days ago the NYT had an article about Brazil spying on Americans within its borders: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/world/americas/brazil-ackn... If we shut down the NSA tomorrow we would be an an intern…

I understand the line "By the nature of what they do, their successes are never clear." but I would think that will all of the bad "publicity" the NSA is receiving they would at least pull one example out where they prevented an attack. They have only release vague numbers on the number of incidents prevented and when put under a microscope they weren't a very big part of the plots they claimed to have foiled. I unde…

An annual transparency report from the NSA? Good luck with that.

I doubt the NSA cares about negative publicity. Deep inside the NSA it's business as usual.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#262
post #89

I think it's pretty clear that we need both technical and legislative fixes to NSA surveillance. Just one of the two isn't enough: to get be even vaguely confident that surveillance ends, we need both. The technical fixes I can't speak to, but the legislative ones I've been thinking about for a while. In the last week, there have been two prominent bills announced to deal with surveillance: - Bill 1: The FISA Improve…

"But some really big names (ACLU, CDT)"

Just to point out, neither of these are actually big names to congress, or more importantly, particularly effective at getting things passed when push comes to shove.

If you want these things passed, never rely on advocacy orgs to do the work of the people.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#263
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but they don't have the "home field advantage" that the NSA does, whereby much of the core internet infrastructure is housed in the US. I forget the exact number, but something like 70% of the world's internet traffic transits the US. (they mention this constantly in NSA-related articles)

But how much of the core infrastructure is made by the Chinese?

An astute question, considering the strange wifi-chips-in-irons story.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#264
post #256

It's ironic that when the Chinese attack against Google occurred, we thought the Chinese government was the most hostile state actor threat to worry about, but it turned out to be the US and UK government.

I wonder why people aren't using calling the current unpleaseantness attacks (or war).

I want them charged with unlawful access to a computer system

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#265
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. It's fixable the moment the public realizes that it is within their power to fix.

Until you realize that the public doesn't have as much money as the lobbyists.

The labor, civil rights, and environmental movements were all hugely outspent and yet changed the country and the law. Complaining about asymmetric resources is IMO a cop out and an excuse.

Of course new movements are under resourced. If it was easy to make that kind of change, it would already be done!

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#266
Well, if you read the Terms of Service that Google (and to be fair - everyone else) makes people agree to - Google is free to sell your data to anyone they want. So I don't know which 'Google user' is expecting their data to be private anyway. Not to beat the 'you are the product' dead horse, but I wonder if they were to actually start selling user data would people be in uproar?

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legislative fixes aren't going to buy you a lot, though they'll buy you something. The fundamental problem is structural: there are a lot of things the NSA is totally allowed to do, especially when it acts as an agency of the executive outside of the U.S. Technologists tend to ignore national and jurisdictional borders because networks cross those borders, but the powers of the NSA are defined in terms of those borde…

U.S. law follows U.S. citizens around the world. For example if a U.S. citizen rob a bank in the U.S. and then flees to the UK, when the UK police catch him, he will be extradited and prosecuted in a U.S. court. He's not stuck into a UK jail without a trial. That's the minimum issue here--Google ships the data of U.S. citizens around the world, and the NSA knows it. They are trying to play a cute game by pretending t…

U.S. law does follow U.S. citizens around the world, but only in certain circumstances does it apply to conduct abroad. For example, there is a law against U.S. citizens engaging in underage sex tourism abroad. But such laws are the exception. If you, e.g., murder someone in England, the U.S. can't hold you accountable under American law.

Your example is a bad one, because in your example the law is broken by conduct in the U.S. In this case, the splicing of the leased lines happened outside of the U.S.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#269

It's ironic that when the Chinese attack against Google occurred, we thought the Chinese government was the most hostile state actor threat to worry about, but it turned out to be the US and UK government.

The use of equivalent technology does not imply equivalent outcomes or moral standing.

At a minimum the U.S. and UK spying needs to be balanced against the fact that U.S. and UK citizens invented the core technologies of the Internet, and gave them to the world for free.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#270
post #264
post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder why people aren't using calling the current unpleaseantness attacks (or war).

I want them charged with unlawful access to a computer system

Gosh that would be the perfect example of poetic justice.
Post reply on HN