Live data from Hacker News

I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

github.com

41–50 of 56 posts

Re: I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

#41
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Broadly stated: independent sources cross-confirming each other is the best way to ensure reliability (an old scientific, police, historian, and journalist principle). Simply because we agree with a single source's statements and viewpoints doesn't guarantee the single source is right. However, a variety of people over the years (Drake & others) have also remarked on the over-the-top surveillance. It's also true that…

But the NSA has not admitted certain of Greenwald's accusations[1]. Greenwald's journalistic integrity has also been questioned before[2]. So, as I stated, makes you wonder what else he can be exaggerating or (intentionally?) not fact checking. I honestly can not see how someone could not be skeptical Greenwald. [1] http://thedailybanter.com/2013/06/nsa-story-falling-apart-un... [2] http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013…

Well, the big problem is that the default state of a secret spy agency is to deny everything and to classify everything. So their denial means very little. I would expect them to deny what they could. GG may, in fact be right in part but wrong on some details; he may be right in principle but wrong in fact; or he may be wrong, period. The preponderance of evidence of NSA behavior (going back to the 90s), the previous whistleblowers, and the admissions to date indicates that in principle, GG is correct. He may be wrong in detail or in facts, but his story is generally consistent, if more than expected.

Of course, it would be nice if Congress forcibly opened the archives and let the truth out into open air - then we could see clearly and make educated decisions! Until then, we have to rely on the somewhat foggy environment of leaks, whistleblowing, and journalists.

Re: I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

#42
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technology will be the solution, not politics. Cryptography is the only way out of this hell.

Exactly the opposite. The NSA already had firmware exploits for BIOSes, harddrives, mobile phones in 2008. They have won on the technological front - if they want to track your communications, they'll find a way. Only laws could rein them in. There's simple no computing platform that can be trusted to do your encryption on.

what about the loongson laptops? they run on their own proprietary silicon, designed and built in china. yep, this is where we're at in 2014...the technology designed in a communist country is more trustworthy than the stuff designed here.

Re: I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

#43
post #36

Playing an unfortunate devil's advocate, all this ludicrous surveillance state gadgetry seems to be less of an attempt to be the United Stasi of America and more of a ridiculous over the top reaction in fear of being accused of going soft on terror. I don't like it, and I don't agree with it, but I acknowledge that if a 2nd 9/11 level event were to occur after the government relented and imposed reasonable limitation…

Please read the transcript in its entirety. Specifically the latter parts about trade agreements and bi/multilateral negotiations. Placement of liability (w.r.t. the US common law) makes reform hard to envision yes, but that is just a minor concern in the bigger picture.

The surveillance state was never intended to stop terrorism, it is the true terrorism. This malice cannot be explained by incompetence.

Re: I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

#44
post #36

Playing an unfortunate devil's advocate, all this ludicrous surveillance state gadgetry seems to be less of an attempt to be the United Stasi of America and more of a ridiculous over the top reaction in fear of being accused of going soft on terror. I don't like it, and I don't agree with it, but I acknowledge that if a 2nd 9/11 level event were to occur after the government relented and imposed reasonable limitation…

> more of a ridiculous over the top reaction in fear of being accused of going soft on terror.

As you wrote yourself, terrorism is a minor issue in the US. Most of the fear is fueled (and some of it created) by the government, because it's so convenient for manipulating the population. Therefore the government itself cannot be driven by the fear of being accused of going soft in this matter, because if that was the case, it'd simply stop perpetuing this fear of terrorism.

I'm sorry, but there is no cheap way out for this goverment. It's fundamentally evil and corrupt, it uses terrorism to keep a certain elite in power and to channel taxpayers' money to the pockets of the military-industrial complex. That's the only logical explanation I've seen so far.

Re: I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

#45
post #3

Did you do this by hand or use a tool and then touch it up afterwards?

Thanks, I did it by hand. Emacs+Amarok. While I worked on this, I Googled for transcription software, but couldn't find any packages or readily available POSIX pipelines that I could use from Ubuntu, let alone web services that don't require a credit card. Maybe I didn't look very carefully. Took two days to complete, though. This is something that should be easily doable now, so here's my personal RFS: fix transcription software. A user should be able to either upload an audio file directly, use a Dropbox folder, or provide a link to an s/OGG/MP3/whatever, and get a text file in return. They can then listen to the audio while they make whatever edits that they need.

Re: I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

#47
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are only if people give up. Progress is a long road, at times. Not to directly compare the two, but look at the history of the civil rights movement in the US, from slavery, to Lincoln, to the 60ies and to the present day. That has been a fight carried out over generations, but things have gotten better.

It's interesting that privacy enabled many previous, successful movements like civil rights.

this is a great point when arguing with the "nothing to hide" people

Re: I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

#48
post #3

Did you do this by hand or use a tool and then touch it up afterwards?

Thanks, I did it by hand. Emacs+Amarok. While I worked on this, I Googled for transcription software, but couldn't find any packages or readily available POSIX pipelines that I could use from Ubuntu, let alone web services that don't require a credit card. Maybe I didn't look very carefully. Took two days to complete, though. This is something that should be easily doable now, so here's my personal RFS: fix transcrip…

Aaaah! Why should a remote application be involved? It sounds completely unneeded to limit this to a web browser running software controlled by others.

Just let the user select a media file and provide keyboard controlled playback controls plus a text editor. I think some software like this is available for subtitle editing.

Re: I Transcribed Glenn Greenwald's 30C3 Keynote

#49
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks, I did it by hand. Emacs+Amarok. While I worked on this, I Googled for transcription software, but couldn't find any packages or readily available POSIX pipelines that I could use from Ubuntu, let alone web services that don't require a credit card. Maybe I didn't look very carefully. Took two days to complete, though. This is something that should be easily doable now, so here's my personal RFS: fix transcrip…

Aaaah! Why should a remote application be involved? It sounds completely unneeded to limit this to a web browser running software controlled by others. Just let the user select a media file and provide keyboard controlled playback controls plus a text editor. I think some software like this is available for subtitle editing.

You must be really sensitive to horrible design choices. Sorry about that one.
Post reply on HN