11–20 of 84 posts
Oddly enough, this time it's the tech companies arguing the opposite (that disclosing specific metadata only is OK and not hazardous).
Weird world we live in, sometimes...
And now the tech companies can give up their vaunted crusade for user's rights. "Oops! We tried!" Plausible deniability and so forth.
I honestly didn't expect much from this. The part that scares me about all of this is this: if the government can't read our emails, listen to our phone calls, or see our web traffic but they have the ability to... what stops them from outsourcing the work to another country, where there is no constitutional restraint. we outsource everything else, why not our domestic spying?
How about they stop requesting and start spilling the beans? Or at least ensure that the relevant evidence winds up in the relevant laps of the relevant journalists. The White House can selectively leak whatever it feels is beneficial to them with impunity. I find it hard to believe that there isn't a single person in any of these companies that hasn't already taken action. Just wait and see I suppose.
Sure, individual employees might leak the information, but they would being taking a great personal risk by doing so. Ed Snowden was not the only person who was aware of these programs and had a problem with them; yet he was the only one ready to give up his livelihood to leak the information.
I honestly didn't expect much from this. The part that scares me about all of this is this: if the government can't read our emails, listen to our phone calls, or see our web traffic but they have the ability to... what stops them from outsourcing the work to another country, where there is no constitutional restraint. we outsource everything else, why not our domestic spying?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-p...
So this week I've been reading Battle of Wits: The Complete Story of Codebreaking in World War II by Stephen Budiansky. The US intelligence community has a long history of going right to the communication source and obtaining raw data from public companies. In the 1920's Herbert Yardley's "American Black Chamber" worked with Western Union and other cable companies who turned over interesting cablegrams and radiograms…
And now the tech companies can give up their vaunted crusade for user's rights. "Oops! We tried!" Plausible deniability and so forth.
You can't expect me to actually go to jail for what I believe in, can you? Clearly, I can do more from the outside asking for permission! And I get to keep all my money too.
1. Most people probably are not huge fans of this, but don't consider it a big enough deal to go to jail over it. I'm in that category (double disclaimer: not speaking in any official capacity for my company).
2. Even if someone DID think it a big enough deal, it's not easy to be a martyr. If it were, then presumably you would have already found yourself a job at one of these companies then spilled the beans. Considering you're commenting on HN, not languishing in prison, I can only guess that you find the prospect of such martyrdom much less appealing than your comment seems to indicate.
In the end the only thing that matter is what the Supreme Court says. The issue is getting this to them with standing.