Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

guardian.co.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 304 posts

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#131

Post by clicks »

[deleted] wrote: post #129
mindcrime wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, I don't know about anybody else, but for the first time I can think of, I'm seriously concerned about the consequences of posting support for somebody like this online. I don't know how things will play out years down the road and who will do what with this information. I don't know about you, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. As far as I'm concerned, Edward Snowden is an American hero and deserves…

[deleted]

> Hiring dropouts is extremely untypical.

It isn't that untypical. Microsoft, Google, and (to a lesser extent) Facebook have famously hired many high school dropouts.

> Why was Booz Allen paying him (again, as a dropout) $200k for a sysadmin job? Were they?

Because competent sysadmins are hard to find. I'm not at all surprised by this, heck, I got offered $100k for a sysadmin job despite (by my own estimation) not being a very competent sysadmin.

> Why did he choose Hong Kong?

He mentioned the reasons in the interview. But, consider also that he's been working for intelligence agencies for quite some years and thus probably has a better idea of the realities of 'freedom of speech' and surveillance technologies than a lot of us outside it.

edit: it's too bad you deleted your comment -- probably because of the downvotes? I wish you hadn't -- disagreements need to take place for meaningful discussion to happen. Also it breaks the conversation and makes it harder to follow.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#133

Post by rdtsc »

jamesaguilar wrote: post #39
spodek wrote: post #9

" Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA's surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. "What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to democracy", he said. " Thoughtful people brave enough to blow whistles seem to be the greatest check on what looks like a secret, unaccountable, illegal centralization of power based on lies from the top of the gov…

I think it's almost certain the guy will have some problems not long in the future. One question that comes to mind is how a supposed intelligence organization allowed someone who subscribes to EFF thinking even come to know about this surveillance. Shouldn't the NSA be doing some kind of screening to make sure the people they hire don't have ideals diametrically opposed to their practices?

You see, there is an overlap amongst the qualities that would make one support EFF and also work for CIA -- and that is patriotism and devotion to their country.

CIA for example looks for devoted and patriotic people more than they look for capable people. They figure they can teach whatever is needed as a special internal course but they can't teach patriotism. So for example they love to hire ex Marines, they are considered patriotic.

Now patriotism is a double edged sword. It works well if the government and agencies are honest and transparent. Patriotic people working in such systems might accept a lower pay but they know they are helping their country. When that start to go south and they start seeing shady things going on they have a choice:

1) Rationalize participating in un-patriotic things (illegal search for ex)

2) Fight against it by leaving the agency or

3) Fight against it by going public and exposing it

Most people probably end up choosing 1). Few choose 2) and only select individuals choose 3).

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#134

Post by forgottenpaswrd »

spodek wrote: post #9

" Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA's surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. "What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to democracy", he said. " Thoughtful people brave enough to blow whistles seem to be the greatest check on what looks like a secret, unaccountable, illegal centralization of power based on lies from the top of the gov…

"By the way, I don't know about anybody else, but for the first time I can think of, I'm seriously concerned about the consequences of posting support for somebody like this online. I don't know how things will play out years down the road and who will do what with this information."

Welcome to the land of the freedom in witch people is afraid of speaking their mind!

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#135

Post by TillE »

[deleted] wrote: post #129
mindcrime wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, I don't know about anybody else, but for the first time I can think of, I'm seriously concerned about the consequences of posting support for somebody like this online. I don't know how things will play out years down the road and who will do what with this information. I don't know about you, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. As far as I'm concerned, Edward Snowden is an American hero and deserves…

[deleted]

You might want to actually read the article and watch the video before asking questions that have already been answered.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#136

Post by corin_ »

icelancer wrote: post #73
msvan wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's not gonna get the Nobel Peace Prize. Liu Xiaobo can get the prize because pissing off China is not controversial, but the Norwegians wouldn't do the same to the US.

I'm referring to the winner from 2009.

Not sure why you weren't specific in your first comment, and then when it became clear you had been confusing, you still didn't bother to name him in your second comment. Apologies if you didn't intend it this way, but just seems like you're being purposefully awkward.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#137

Post by doktrin »

spodek wrote: post #9

" Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA's surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. "What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to democracy", he said. " Thoughtful people brave enough to blow whistles seem to be the greatest check on what looks like a secret, unaccountable, illegal centralization of power based on lies from the top of the gov…

> By the way, I don't know about anybody else, but for the first time I can think of, I'm seriously concerned about the consequences of posting support for somebody like this online.

It's telling, and terrifying, that this is a rational and common concern. Put plainly, it means we fear for the dissolution of our free society (yes, I believe we still live in one).

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#138

Post by rdl »

I'm kind of surprised he's 29. Generally, whistleblowers tend to be very young (and idealistic), or middle aged/old (with money problems, or facing political setbacks, or feeling they have nothing to lose).

I personally am against granting TS clearances to anyone under ~30 and S to anyone under ~25 due to the difficulty in doing background investigations on people of young age (illegal to bring in stuff before 18, and it's really hard to get useful information on pre-workforce people, both lots of false positives and false negatives).

I would have suspected someone like Binney (older, political setbacks) or someone much younger (PFC Manning).

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#139

Post by msvan »

[deleted] wrote: post #129
mindcrime wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, I don't know about anybody else, but for the first time I can think of, I'm seriously concerned about the consequences of posting support for somebody like this online. I don't know how things will play out years down the road and who will do what with this information. I don't know about you, but that's a chance I'm willing to take. As far as I'm concerned, Edward Snowden is an American hero and deserves…

[deleted]

I guess, about the salary, that there's a multiplying factor when your job involves high-clearance national secrets. If the threat of persecution is not enough to dissuade you from leaking, then maybe a sweet $200k job on Hawaii is.

Re: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

#140

Post by mtgx »

mortehu wrote: post #50
lawdawg wrote: post #24

Bravo Edward, and yet very little is said about PRISM at all. When will we finally get to the bottom of what PRISM actually is? When will the public get access to the entire set of slides? How much exactly did Edward know about PRISM, or did he just stumble onto these slides and assume the worst? So many questions, so few answers. Hopefully the coming weeks sheds more light onto this.

> When will we finally get to the bottom of what PRISM actually is? Is there any particular reason why you don't believe the fact sheet from the Director of National Intelligence[1] or Marc Ambinder[2]? According to these sources (selected excerpts): > PRISM is not an undisclosed collection or data mining program. > PRISM is a kick-ass GUI that allows an analyst to look at, collate, monitor, and cross-check different…

No, I do not believe him. He's lied before and committed perjury. Why should I believe him now?
Post reply on HN