Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably the actual classified artifact is an NSA policy document that details the NSA's own interpretation of the law and thus forms part of its governance.
No, it’s a secret FISA court decision that the public can’t see but a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee can, but he can’t tell us what he’s seen. But he can ask questions to get the surveillance state to pull another Clapper-esque whopper and get away with it.
The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
151–160 of 179 posts
Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but my line of thinking is not 'do i trust the government' it's 'do I have faith in all future forms of government who will have access to this data' This is how I view privacy as well. You never know who will be in power and who will access that information in the future with ill intent. This line of thinking kept me away from the Mpls ICE protests. All of the people that protested had their face, phone, and licen…
I’m not even afraid of being persecuted by the current administration, it’s the possibility of a much worse administration in the future that gave me pause. Unfortunately, your (entirely understandable) position is exactly what will enable such an administration to come to power. What you are doing in 2026 is what you would have done in 1936.
Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
Does anyone ever actually use that line? Most people will argue that the trade off in privacy is worth it for security. That is, if you frame your argument such that you believe people don’t understand the trade off it allows you to not engage with the fact they just disagree with your conclusion.
Have you ever sat on a jury in a criminal case? A frighteningly high percentage of people will swallow every lie a cop tells, even when thoroughly discredited in cross-examination. There's no shortage of people to guard the concentration camps.
Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#154“ Senator Ron Wyden says that when a secret interpretation of Section 702 is eventually declassified, the American public “will be stunned” to learn what the NSA has been doing” This is not the same thing as saying people will be stunned by how long it took to discuss/investigate the matter, which is what Wyden actually said…
Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#155So glad to see my Oregon senator regularly on the money.
I can name 3 ethical politicians, Ron Wyden, John Huntsman and Bob Graham. It's a painfully short list, considering my longish life.
My "ethical" list has several dozen politicians, but it is definitely short. And their names don't seem to last very long into each career...
Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#156Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#157Everyone who's not terribly worried about privacy always uses the line 'if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about', but my line of thinking is not 'do i trust the government' it's 'do I have faith in all future forms of government who will have access to this data' Given how fast and lose I've seen the DODGE folks play with the data they have, absolutely not . I still shudder over the fact t…
Re the current US government I'd be more worried about their cruelty as illustrated by ICE, DOGE etc.
Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#158The whole concept of 'secret interpretations of law' is anathema to me. Secret information makes sense, there are lots of reasons a government might legitimately want to maintain a veil of obscurity. Secret interpretations of law are a manifestation of tyranny. I like Ron Wyden but he should just employ his Congressional privilege here and read it out.
So as he gets older, the cost/benefit changes, but I believe that's why he hasn't, is that his calculus involves him being the only one this reliable on screaming about what's going on behind closed doors.
Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
It wasn't a list of Jews, it was a list of everyone from which Jews could be easily identified. The distinction is important in this context, since the purpose of collecting and keeping the data wasn't specifically to have a list of Jews handy. This is relevant to data collected by companies and governments today. Consider a list of children with their parent names and the parents' preferred pronouns. You don't have…
> The distinction is important in this context, since the purpose of collecting and keeping the data wasn't specifically to have a list of Jews handy. How does that make the distinction important? The lesson to draw is "you shouldn't keep a list of Jews, whether you think you're doing it for good reasons or not". The list is a list regardless of whether you think calling it a list is fair in some abstract sense. > Yo…
If you go to your kindergarten and tell them to stop keeping a list of gays they will look at you weird and most likely dismiss you as a nutjob. Because they don't have a list of gays, they just have a list of kids with their parents' names and pronouns.
That's why I think it's important to keep the distinction rather than conflate the two like you want to.
Re: The Wyden Siren Goes Off Again: We’ll Be “Stunned” By What the NSA Is Doing
#160Everyone who's not terribly worried about privacy always uses the line 'if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about', but my line of thinking is not 'do i trust the government' it's 'do I have faith in all future forms of government who will have access to this data' Given how fast and lose I've seen the DODGE folks play with the data they have, absolutely not . I still shudder over the fact t…
(I am from the EU, lived in US and China and am rich because of both, would not live in either ever again)