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Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance

guardian.co.uk

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

#241

Post by StavrosK »

adventured wrote: post #179
Spearchucker wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I'm concerned, Edward Snowden is an American hero... He's a hero. Putting the word American in there is very, well, American. The NSA has done a lot worse by foreigners than Americans.

I think it's clear he meant that he is a hero to/for Americans, without anything further being implied in the positive or negative. There's absolutely nothing unique about inserting the nationality of a hero that relates to Americans. I see it done regularly by citizens of other countries. In my observation, national pride is nearly universal.

> In my observation, national pride is nearly universal.

In my observation, it might be universal, but its degree varies greatly, with americans on the high end of the scale.

Nobody would say "a Greek hero".

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

#243

Post by milfot »

saalweachter wrote: post #182
[deleted] wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

As Harry Potter in _Methods of Rationality_ observed, non-violent resistance only worked against the British because (at the time; not to say the British haven't had some bloody years) the had no stomach for butchering helpless men. Against the Nazis, however, it would be useless, because their capacity for violence was much higher. So the question you have to ask yourself, before non-violently resisting, is whether…

The British committed acts of genocide in virtually every colony. Just because they were not as efficient as the Germans, don't think they were not every bit as depraved.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/secret-massacre-slaughter-...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/05/kenyan-mau-mau-p...

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

#244

Post by jdp23 »

mortehu wrote: post #175
jdp23 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't believe the DNI because of his testimony to Congress in February claiming that the National Security Agency does not “wittingly” collect data on millions of Americans. We now know they've been collecting data for tens of millions of Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint/Nextel customers since 2006. More recently he also claimed that PRISM wasn't a previous-disclosed data collection program. It hadn't been previously disc…

> More recently he also claimed that PRISM wasn't a previous-disclosed data collection program. It hadn't been previously disclosed before; and it is collecting data. The grammar here is slightly confusing. Do you believe PRISM is collecting data in a previously undisclosed way? If so, why?

PRISM had not been previously disclosed. PRISM is collecting data.

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

#245

Post by youngerdryas »

mindcrime wrote: post #174
youngerdryas wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how we achieve real change, by real heroes like mindcrime standing up and saying blow me. They are sure to fall.

We all do what we can.

Admitting weakness is a virtue in some religions.

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

#246

Post by evanmoran »

saalweachter wrote: post #182
[deleted] wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

As Harry Potter in _Methods of Rationality_ observed, non-violent resistance only worked against the British because (at the time; not to say the British haven't had some bloody years) the had no stomach for butchering helpless men. Against the Nazis, however, it would be useless, because their capacity for violence was much higher. So the question you have to ask yourself, before non-violently resisting, is whether…

This is the first proof by fan fiction I've ever seen. Well played. The Methods of Rationality are in fact awesome, so I guess it is worth considering. Take that copyright and (potentially) reality!

For those wondering what we are talking about: http://hpmor.com/

(p.s. Fawkes and Azkaban. Damn that shit got real.)

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

#247

Post by blakeeb »

themgt wrote: post #126

White House Petition to Pardon Edward Snowden: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snow...

To anyone with doubts about going on-record about your support for Edward Snowden: This is precisely why you MUST sign it. Your nervousness in expressing an opinion different from your government's will only compound if a true surveillance state matures.

Let's stand up quickly for this hero before it's too late.

Your nervousness is NOTHING compared to what he felt while deciding whether or not to release this. Share his burden.

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

#248

Post by rossjudson »

Nrsolis wrote: post #121
jamesaguilar wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Uh, I think you're confusing "ideals" with "lawful behavior". You can be a supporter of the EFF and believe that the work the NSA is doing is necessary and good for the country. I worked on Lawful Interception systems and I had no problem with their use as long as a COMPETENT COURT was the one regulating it.

This seems to be the critical component, to me. The intercepts must go through a competent court, which must create some form of public record that will eventually be released. There have to be enough judges to handle the load. And if the load is huge, for these intercepts we need to look at why that is, and ensure it's not just fishing.

On the other hand, maybe big data fishing is the most effective method.

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

#249

Post by wavefunction »

laumars wrote: post #209
acqq wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re 2 read again: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-n... "His understanding of the internet and his talent for computer programming enabled him to rise fairly quickly for someone who lacked even a high school diploma. " High school.

Indeed, but he later gained that diploma via extra credits from community college - which he latter dropped out of. Which is why I stated him being a college drop out rather than a high school drop out. Or does your education system not work this way? ie once you've dropped out of high school, you're permanently branded a "drop out" even if you later complete your high school diploma? My country's high schools operat…

Our community college systems are often a hybrid of three things for their students: a place to get their GED which is sort of a "generic high-school diploma," an Associate's Degree which is a 2 year degree that can be thought of as a certification in certain fields, or as a transitionary phase before the student transfers into a traditional 4 year college (this last sort of education is also sometimes offered at "junior colleges").

A high-school diploma or GED is generally acquired by the age of 18 in the US, and a GED is often the result of a student "dropping out" of high-school for whatever reason and then continuing their education at that point or at a later time.

A college is generally a small post-secondary educational institution either dedicated to a specific subject matter or a general liberal arts education. A university consists of at least two colleges.

And then we have "for-profit" post-secondary institutions like ITT Tech or University of Phoenix that are run as corporations and often target "non-traditional" students such as working students, parents, and older students. Confusing, I know.

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

#250

Post by smsm42 »

* Secondly, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 gave him hope that there would be real reforms, rendering disclosures unnecessary.*

This is so sad. People really do believe what windbag politicians tell them on TV and what paid talking heads on the same TV tell about them. It's not like every single politician being elected promises to right all wrongs and fix all evils. I can't even begin to get why seemingly intelligent people thought this particular time is any different from hundreds of times before.

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