Interesting that the HN algorithm that automatically flags NSA stories off the front page didn't penalize this one.
The NSA: An Inside View
111–120 of 323 posts
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#112Stockholm syndrome? This guy is essentially validating the actions of the NSA because he calls himself a patriot and even admits he doesn't care about other countries other than his own: The United States of America. As an Australian I find this kind of attitude disgusting and I think it highlights a massive problem within the agency itself. While I am somewhat more lucky than others being in a country that is part o…
As an American, I think it sucks that we are spying on everyone. I don't like being spied. I don't like you being spied on. My interpretation of the constitution would read that for any information to be collected on anyone would have to get a court order. The constitution limits the powers of the government, not the people. And "the people" in the majority of the contexts is EVERYONE, all of us, all people everywhere. It is only by convention that the Supreme Court allows this shit to continue. The "ok to spy on foreigners" thing is farce. It is not ok, and I don't even understand how it continues to get promulgated.
If it takes a 50k strong Federal Corp of Judges to look at every single case, so be it. At least we could decide.
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#113Hey, and I'm a German patriot.
If the US citizens like to be spied on by its own agencies, fine for me.
As a German citizen I'm not so happy that German citizens, politicians and companies are targets of spying of unprecedented scale and depth. As a consequence we (and others, too) will have to scale back the use of US hardware, software and services. Privacy, data security, confidentially etc. are not provided. A German company would be stupid to store data on servers reachable for US industrial espionage. It's really tough to avoid that - given that the US surveillance and spying is also done directly in Germany in a large scale.
Additionally we should also deny the US the capability to plan their targeted killings from Germany - for example from the US military central command for Africa - which is located in Germany. From there strikes with armed drones are planned and controlled. Unfortunately the German government does not seem to be willing and/or able to prevent that...
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#114Interesting to get a look at what it's like to be inside the bubble. It's compartmentalized enough that the individual actors can justify their actions by the assumed competence and benevolence of the others. > I didn't test it, but I'm sure there was automated analysis that prevented or flagged use of US selectors. The mental leap here is subtle, but substantial. Since I have been told I can't use US selectors , I a…
What's particularly interesting is that some of the recent disclosures don't seem to be visible inside the bubble. Take this assertion, for instance: "The NSA copy of my emails won't be viewed by police or FBI investigating me about marijuana use, for instance. Law enforcement might get a search warrant and retrieve a copy from Google, but not from the NSA." In fact, it's been known for months that the DEA receives i…
What's the legal term? I think it's "double construction"? Where the prosecution knows it's you from illegal means (wiretap/NSA spying) but by that knowledge can go back and construct the legal case in reverse.
It's been rumored that Dread Pirate Of SilkRoad case was figured out that way.
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#115Well this comment thread went about as I expected it to go...
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#116I stopped reading after the patriot paragraph. I don't like concepts that divide people and patriotism is inherently bad for the world. It brings only war and pain.
I love my country but I never met a patriot that could think straight.
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#117"I am an American patriot."
If anything scares me, its that. I know what he has written straight afterwards, but it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Its all very well the author trying to define the word to suit their own purpose, but Im afraid its not that easy to get others to accept it. Try using your own definition of the word "Nigr", and see how that flies.
"Patriotism to me simply means that I care about the US and its future."
Yeah, and that is the problem. What is meant buy the "US"? The land on a map? The political system? The people who are also "patriots" and claim to care about this "US", and its future, yet do evil? Do you care about them? Every one uses the word patriot to justify their actions, good or bad.
That the author misses this, but still insists on still using the word suggest a dangerous and blinkered ignorance. TBH, it stinks of years of gentle brain washing. I'll never forget how Bush Jr used the notion of patriotism to garner support.
Im sure the author think he is well meaning, but this honestly reads like loyal, patriotic PR.
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's particularly interesting is that some of the recent disclosures don't seem to be visible inside the bubble. Take this assertion, for instance: "The NSA copy of my emails won't be viewed by police or FBI investigating me about marijuana use, for instance. Law enforcement might get a search warrant and retrieve a copy from Google, but not from the NSA." In fact, it's been known for months that the DEA receives i…
What's the legal term? I think it's "double construction"? Where the prosecution knows it's you from illegal means (wiretap/NSA spying) but by that knowledge can go back and construct the legal case in reverse. It's been rumored that Dread Pirate Of SilkRoad case was figured out that way.
It is parallel construction
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#119Interesting to get a look at what it's like to be inside the bubble. It's compartmentalized enough that the individual actors can justify their actions by the assumed competence and benevolence of the others. > I didn't test it, but I'm sure there was automated analysis that prevented or flagged use of US selectors. The mental leap here is subtle, but substantial. Since I have been told I can't use US selectors , I a…
The most extraordinary thing about Snowden is not that he took the documents: it is that he sacrificed his whole life to make them public.
And this should make us scared. A guy like Snowden was extremely improbable, and yet he happened. So, what to think about the far more likely case of NSA employees taking extremely sensitive information and selling it privately? How many of those have there been already?
Re: The NSA: An Inside View
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/05/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE... >One current federal prosecutor learned how agents were using SOD tips after a drug agent misled him, the prosecutor told Reuters. In a Florida drug case he was handling, the prosecutor said, a DEA agent told him the investigation of a U.S. citizen began with a tip from an informant. When the prosecutor pressed for more information, he said, a DEA superv…
That sounds illegal. In same article: >Wiretap tips forwarded by the SOD usually come from foreign governments, U.S. intelligence agencies or court-authorized domestic phone recordings. Because warrantless eavesdropping on Americans is illegal, tips from intelligence agencies are generally not forwarded to the SOD until a caller's citizenship can be verified, according to one senior law enforcement official and one f…
Except it wasn't and isn't. And that is the problem. Generally should be always, but we now know it's not.
And then to add to the list. "Collect" should mean "obtain" and not "use", and "metadata" is actually a subset of, and not different from "data". And "transcripts" and "summaries" are actually a form "content". "US Citizen" mean's a person who lives in the US, not "51% likely based on this metric", and "direct access" does not depend on who owns the land in which the particular section of cable is buried. And the list goes on. These words mean something, and when 'always' slips to become 'generally' - we have a problem. And when the one doing the slipping is a titanic behemoth of the size of the NSA, with as little accountability as already exists, we have an even bigger problem.
When the words used to assure us are twisted and misused, then the assurance does little. Trust is hard to earn back. Especially when we intelligent owners (US citizens) of the mechanisms and powers are not given access to their actual processes, or even their legal justifications.