I bet Palantir also has Pakistan as a client.
Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
11–20 of 29 posts
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
We could have more political stories on HN, fewer of them knocked off the front page by flagging, as they are today, if it wasn't for the people who took every such story as an opportunity to inject substance-free snark into the site. Unfortunately, there's no real way to make that happen, so instead, we'll keep doing what we do now: patrolling the front page and killing stories that present too many opportunities fo…
Every story is an opportunity to snark. You should ban the account that made the comment not suppress the controversial information. The information that FinFisher supports/profits/enables oppressive governments should not be hidden just because you don't like the comments.
No "information is being hidden". There's a whole internet's worth of venues on which to discuss stories like this. They aren't worth the cost to the site, and so they get flagged off the site.
It's also true that all stories are an opportunity for snark. But it's not true that all kinds of snark are equally toxic. The kinds of snark that fill up threads like this are particularly bad.
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#13I bet Palantir also has Pakistan as a client.
This comment is even worse than the one I commented below. It uses a story that has nothing to do with Palantir as an opportunity to bash Palantir. But thank you; you've helped me make my point. Of 4 root comments on this story, 3 of them are now awful. And people wonder why we flag political stories.
For what it's worth: I didn't flag that other comment, but I sure as shit flagged this one. It's objectively foul. I felt a little bad making a stink about that other comment, because their comment history wasn't at all bad. I do not feel that way about this comment.
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#14I bet Palantir also has Pakistan as a client.
This comment is even worse than the one I commented below. It uses a story that has nothing to do with Palantir as an opportunity to bash Palantir. But thank you; you've helped me make my point. Of 4 root comments on this story, 3 of them are now awful. And people wonder why we flag political stories. For what it's worth: I didn't flag that other comment, but I sure as shit flagged this one. It's objectively foul. I…
I flagged yours for your foul language.
And, please give us one example where you think Palantir shouldn't be bashed.
Palantir is basically Blackwater with computers instead of guns.
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#15Why is it that "professional" spyware seems to be written by a middle school student with access to Visual Basic? I mean if you're going to spy on other people, at least make it look good. These guys need a new design department
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
This comment is even worse than the one I commented below. It uses a story that has nothing to do with Palantir as an opportunity to bash Palantir. But thank you; you've helped me make my point. Of 4 root comments on this story, 3 of them are now awful. And people wonder why we flag political stories. For what it's worth: I didn't flag that other comment, but I sure as shit flagged this one. It's objectively foul. I…
I flagged yours for your foul language. And, please give us one example where you think Palantir shouldn't be bashed. Palantir is basically Blackwater with computers instead of guns.
"Palantir is basically Blackwater without the guns". We could turn this into a fun game: we could make a little survey and see if people "agree", "strongly agree", "disagree", &c with that statement. Then we can bet on whether those people have the first clue about what Palantir's software actually does. You know, besides killing Occupy protesters with their array of orbital lasers.
It's right there in the name! That's how you know they're evil!
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#17Later it will be revealed the user posting support tickets is actually a CIA operative... Its going to get juicy!
We could have more political stories on HN, fewer of them knocked off the front page by flagging, as they are today, if it wasn't for the people who took every such story as an opportunity to inject substance-free snark into the site. Unfortunately, there's no real way to make that happen, so instead, we'll keep doing what we do now: patrolling the front page and killing stories that present too many opportunities fo…
"Snarky?"... "My account should be banned?" The CIA involvement in Pakistan is widely known and is in the mainstream media. All the spy novels, documentaries and movies in the past decade are around the secret war going on in Pakistan.
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
We could have more political stories on HN, fewer of them knocked off the front page by flagging, as they are today, if it wasn't for the people who took every such story as an opportunity to inject substance-free snark into the site. Unfortunately, there's no real way to make that happen, so instead, we'll keep doing what we do now: patrolling the front page and killing stories that present too many opportunities fo…
"Snarky?"... "My account should be banned?" The CIA involvement in Pakistan is widely known and is in the mainstream media. All the spy novels, documentaries and movies in the past decade are around the secret war going on in Pakistan.
The CIA is so tight with the ISI that Osama bin Laden lived in a huge house blocks away from the Pakistani equivalent of West Point. Or, wait...
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#19It is surprising that some entity in Pakistan is a customer of FinFisher. There are only two internet cables out of the country, both monitored by the state (which for example allows the continued blocking of YouTube. Therefore, if you have the IP address of someone it is trivial for anyone in the state/government to setup a system to access their unencrypted communication. Indeed the government has tried to buy such systems in the past (I can dig up the RFP if anyone asks).
This points to someone in the intelligence not wanting the other entities in the country to know exactly what they are doing.
Re: Pakistan is a FinFisher customer, leak confirms
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
We could have more political stories on HN, fewer of them knocked off the front page by flagging, as they are today, if it wasn't for the people who took every such story as an opportunity to inject substance-free snark into the site. Unfortunately, there's no real way to make that happen, so instead, we'll keep doing what we do now: patrolling the front page and killing stories that present too many opportunities fo…
"Snarky?"... "My account should be banned?" The CIA involvement in Pakistan is widely known and is in the mainstream media. All the spy novels, documentaries and movies in the past decade are around the secret war going on in Pakistan.
I really hope "spy novels" is not what you'd consider actual evidence. As you say, it's not exactly a secret that the U.S. and Pakistan have been working together (since the 1970s at least, natch).
What is not widely known is just how fragmented and unbelievably complex that U.S.-Pakistani relationship actually is, not to mention the relationships of various groups within Pakistan, which is why the idea that "oh, the CIA just runs Pakistan" is so devoid in substance. Pakistan doesn't even run Pakistan, let alone any CIA puppet-masters.