Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished • Hacker News Board

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#121

Post by phaer » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 1:59 PM UTC

alan_cx wrote: post #115

rmrfrmrf wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well IMO it's kind of silly to care about the government snooping through my data when huge corporations are the ones who actually own the fiber and can siphon all the traffic they want -- then sell it. You're basically choosing between the US government or a combination of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and Deutsche Telekom.

I've never been arrested by a corporation.

In the current political climate you might have to wait no longer than about a decade for that to happen. Several countries already started out-sourcing prison guards and/or other security relevant jobs to companies like G4S

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#122

Post by MisterWebz » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:14 PM UTC

SkynetSystems wrote: post #112

snowwrestler wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The NSA makes the lives of terrorists much harder than it would be otherwise. Terrorists undoubtedly welcome Snowden's revelations--both for revealing tactics, and for creating the possibility that the NSA will be constrained by public outrage. That doesn't imply that what Snowden did was wrong, though. We trade security for freedom in a thousand ways in American culture, and now we have a chance to debate that trade…

Yeah because "terrorists" who hate America use Facebook and Skype to discuss their terroristy plans and the good old NSA was only wiretapping all those services to protect us.

Don't be silly. They obviously use World of Warcraft.

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#123

Post by Grue3 » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:17 PM UTC

Hopefully he'll stop hogging the frontpage then. Just like nobody remembers Julian Assange anymore.

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#124

Post by Grue3 » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:22 PM UTC

woah wrote: post #19

tokenadult wrote: post #4

I wish Snowden would roll up his sleeves and start working on the same problem in Russia, where he now lives, and in China, where he stayed briefly on his way to Russia. His mission has hardly begun.

The whole argument about Russia being way worse than the US, and Snowden staying there is ridiculous. He isn't staying there as some sort of celebrity endorsement for the tourism program. He's staying there because it is the only place he was able to reach in time, as Russia is one of the few countries too big to be invaded by the US military.

He's there because he's a coward with no backbone. If he is so sure of his innocence, he'd be facing the court instead of propping up a government with terrible human rights record.

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#125

Post by ankitml » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:22 PM UTC

hooande wrote: post #87

But what has really changed? The NSA is under pressure from the public, less so from the intelligence and defense communities. If anything Snowden has caused those areas of government to close ranks even tighter. There's nothing a leader wants more than a highly visible enemy to unite his or her people. There are orders of magnitude more people who hate General Alexander now than there were two years ago. But his own…

* But what has really changed?*

I would say being aware of the problem and its scale is a massive achievement. Awareness of the nature and scale of problem is the first step towards solution.

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#126

Post by Grue3 » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:25 PM UTC

wmt wrote: post #84

codex wrote: post #82

The world, especially the intelligence world, is more than black and white. A myriad hues exist, some of them dark and dirty, some grey. Here is a portrait of a man who is color blind. Experiencing the world only through a computer, he lacks the judgement to jump to the right conclusions, and goes thermonuclear only to find that mainstream Americans don't share his disability. He wants to be another Assange, but in t…

You cannot seriously believe that an NSA contractor would be morally colourblind. He was expecting those shades of grey but instead found an agency more focused on spying it's citizens than Stasi.

>more focused on spying it's citizens than Stasi

How in the world is it possible to post something as ridiculous as this? Is this what you kids truly believe? Snowden might be colour blind, but you sure are tone deaf.

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#127

Post by jonsleet » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:28 PM UTC

RexRollman wrote: post #111

MysticFear wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Political change isn't fast. There is also a legal process underway as well. Both are very slow moving, but can bring a lot of changes.

Unless something happens to ramp up the fear again, like some kind of attack.

Yes, apparently that is the go-to sales pitch.

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#128

Post by marquis » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:30 PM UTC

"All I wanted was for the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed".

If these are his words to be remembered by, history will have kind thoughts for him.

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#129

Post by d0ugie » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:30 PM UTC

sitkack wrote: post #25

visakanv wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misinterpreted the comment. It's arguing that now would be the optimal time for terrorists to strike, validating the NSA.

And strengthening the NSA would directly cause the further fall of the USA. The cheapest way to to attack the USA as an institution is to attack the USA in way the gives the most radical factions power in the short term.

Farther, not further, when referring to distance, even if that distance is figurative.

Re: Edward Snowden, after months of NSA revelations, says his mission’s accomplished

#130

Post by bediger4000 » Tue, Dec 24, 2013, 2:35 PM UTC

wavefunction wrote: post #50

visakanv wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misinterpreted the comment. It's arguing that now would be the optimal time for terrorists to strike, validating the NSA.

I guess I'd be wondering how the NSA failed to prevent the attack, with all these NSA revelations coming out every few days. I already wonder why I'm still getting illegal telemarketers' calls, why the drug cartels still operate, why so much evil in this world continues with the omniscient NSA. j/k I don't really wonder...

Yeah, I had the same thought about "Rachel from Card Servives" robo-calls. Apparently those go through more-or-less illegally obtained cut-outs, but the NSA is in a unique position to go after those Card Services jerks.

Then I thought, hey, it's just like bus transit: the rich folks don't ride buses, so that kind of utility gets no money. The NSA, uh, people, don't get robo-calls, so they don't see the problem.