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Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

schneier.com

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Re: Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

#61

Post by swordswinger12 »

davidw wrote: post #18
SEJeff wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the level, they often have TEMPEST shielding aka faraday cages to prevent leakage of electromagnetic signals from computers and whatnot. (google Van Eck Phreaking for some ideas on why heh)

Or you could read Cryptonimicon, which is a lot slower, but more fun: http://www.amazon.com/Cryptonomicon-Neal-Stephenson/dp/00605... Startups and science fiction... that book is a favorite of mine.

And cryptocurrency, too! If you're reading this comment, get off HN and pick up a copy!

Re: Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

#62

Post by jdmichal »

fit2rule wrote: post #45
yarou wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, here's an experiment for you. Why don't you broadcast every single detail of your life, every minute of it, even the parts you don't want others to see? If you don't, you must be hiding something and be committing crimes against humanity. This is how your argument reads.

You've cut out an important bit: I am not governing anyone, nor do I hold the right to murder other human beings without repercussion.

We don't know that. All we know is that you're keeping secrets.

Re: Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

#63

Post by higherpurpose »

rprospero wrote: post #17
higherpurpose wrote: post #2

The Intelligence committees and the FISA Court need to be overhauled, to start with. Clearly there's not enough/proper oversight of the agency. I don't know how they do it now, but the Intelligence committees should also brief the rest of Congress at least twice a year, and I think they should be allowed by explicit laws to declassify anything they want in that briefing. No approval from the White House or anyone els…

The thing is that they already have the framework to do this. A senator is immune from prosecution for anything state on the floor of the senate. If Wyden is on the senate floor, he could read off the nuclear launch codes and there's not a damn thing that the executive can do about it. Furthermore, the senate has closed sessions. They had one just a couple of years ago for the START treaty. A senator could take the f…

I know about that, but I'm not sure that they are sure they could do something like that and get away with it. Couldn't they be accused of treason or something, and have their immunity revoked?

That's why I'm saying that it should be explicitly mentioned in the law that a Senator can do this in Congress, during that Senate briefing. It shouldn't be some vague power that states Senators can do a lot of stuff without fear of repercussion.

Re: Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

#64

Post by valarauca1 »

rprospero wrote: post #17
higherpurpose wrote: post #2

The Intelligence committees and the FISA Court need to be overhauled, to start with. Clearly there's not enough/proper oversight of the agency. I don't know how they do it now, but the Intelligence committees should also brief the rest of Congress at least twice a year, and I think they should be allowed by explicit laws to declassify anything they want in that briefing. No approval from the White House or anyone els…

The thing is that they already have the framework to do this. A senator is immune from prosecution for anything state on the floor of the senate. If Wyden is on the senate floor, he could read off the nuclear launch codes and there's not a damn thing that the executive can do about it. Furthermore, the senate has closed sessions. They had one just a couple of years ago for the START treaty. A senator could take the f…

Actually I'd bet good money if a senator basically starting reading the details of NSA drag net plan on the senate floor they'd be prosecuted by some court for aiding terrorism, or not being American enough.

Re: Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

#65

Post by ihsw »

Helianthus wrote: post #7

It's good to know that we do have some legislators on (essentially) our side, even if their hands are, presently, tied.

I'd recommend you watch the NSA congressional hearings starting from June. The first one is notable in that there is quite clearly some discontent.

Here is a start: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/CybersecurityThreats

Re: Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

#66

Post by logn »

bargl wrote: post #15

On his blog Schneier comments that this meeting was kept small on purpose. I wanted to see who was present at this meeting so I looked up some of their information. Not hard to find, but here you go. I plan on emailing each of them and thanking them for consulting someone the tech industry considers a Security SME. Rep. Logfren (Democratic) http://lofgren.house.gov/biography/ Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

(If you use Facebook) I recommend following Rep. Amash as he explains every one of his votes in a status update. It's a great way to stay informed, and he actually approaches his decisions with sensible reasoning you'll enjoy (regardless of your political leanings).

Re: Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

#67

Post by gizmo686 »

tokenadult wrote: post #54

Schneier links to a Wikipedia article about Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities (SCIFs) and explains that he wanted to speak to the members of Congress in such a facility, but could not do so because he is denied access to such facilities as someone without the appropriate security clearances. And that puzzled me, and prompted me to read the Wikipedia article after reading Schneier's blog post submitted he…

I only have a passing knowledge of how data security is handled by the government, but I suspect that the fact that they are discussing classified material which Schneier should not have access to may make using an SCIF more bureaucratically challenging.

Re: Today I Briefed Congress on the NSA

#70

Post by sp332 »

phaus wrote: post #57
Zelphyr wrote: post #53

"...Congress has such a difficult time getting information out of the NSA that they have to ask me." THIS PEOPLE! THIS is why the Snowden revelations are such a big deal! We have a rogue branch government with arguably little to no oversight!

They might not know what the NSA is up to, but they sure as hell created the mechanisms that led to that predicament.

Congress required the NSA to clear some things with a court. The NSA lied to the court; that's not Congress's fault.
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