Stellar Wind (code name) • Hacker News Board

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#51

Post by eksith » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:27 PM UTC

rollo_tommasi wrote: post #26

JPKab wrote: post #19

My brother worked for years in the intelligence community. One of the common stereotypes within the IC regards the fact that Mormons are heavily overrepresented, for various reasons that involve foreign language skills from mission trips, a reputation for respecting authority, abstinence from drugs/alcohol, family connections, ease of gaining security clearances, etc. The stereotype in the IC regarding Mormons is the…

It also has a bearing on the sorry state of U.S. human intelligence, since Mormons make terrible interlocutors with foreign informants.

That's quite sweeping, don't you think?

Besides, I presume the CIA factors that into their recruitment. Clearly, they don't need ineffectual communication with foreign assets so they would control agents who do just that. I imagine if Mormons are employed en masse, it would be for translations of already recorded data.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#52

Post by youngerdryas » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:27 PM UTC

kunai wrote: post #45

rayiner wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is truly a scary thought is if the vast, mindless mass of people... This is why privacy advocates (and libertarians more generally), can't get more popular traction: the incredibly derisive and arrogant tone with which they address their fellow citizens, and their flippant, dismissive attitude towards democracy. Why should I listen to the opinions of someone who calls my parents, most of my friends, my in-laws…

Mindless with respect to political issues, is quite appropriate, I think. When my mom or my dad or my grandma says, "I have nothing to hide" (and they do, whenever I call them about some privacy concern), my respect for them with regards to political issues, drastically drops. Perhaps "mindless" is harsh, but they certainly aren't being insightful or politically educated. I'm not trying to launch ad hominem attacks o…

Hyperventilating nerd rage is not helpful, but it will get you a lot of upvotes.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#53

Post by X-Istence » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:29 PM UTC

Pxtl wrote: post #40

bgilroy26 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, with one big caveat. All international slights are weighed against the cost of losing the offending country as a trade partner. This is how most peace is maintained these days.

I assume this is how China can functionally be running an active and violent war of hacking with no repercussions.

As if the US doesn't do the same thing ...

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#54

Post by Gigablah » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:30 PM UTC

Pxtl wrote: post #40

bgilroy26 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right, with one big caveat. All international slights are weighed against the cost of losing the offending country as a trade partner. This is how most peace is maintained these days.

I assume this is how China can functionally be running an active and violent war of hacking with no repercussions.

Violent? How so?

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#55

Post by mrchucklepants » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:34 PM UTC

JPKab wrote: post #48

mrchucklepants wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many of us Mormons who are deeply against this facility being built anywhere, let alone here in our own backyard.

Of course! Not trying to say its all Mormons, I'm simply commenting on the various explanations for Mormons being heavily overrepresented in the IC, and linking it to the facility being built in Utah.

No worries...I didn't infer that from your comment. Just sharing my own disgust with the NSA.

Sadly, too many here in Utah support in the name of "bringing more jobs to Utah." They are willing to sell their liberty for a few extra jobs.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#56

Post by rayiner » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:37 PM UTC

kunai wrote: post #45

rayiner wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is truly a scary thought is if the vast, mindless mass of people... This is why privacy advocates (and libertarians more generally), can't get more popular traction: the incredibly derisive and arrogant tone with which they address their fellow citizens, and their flippant, dismissive attitude towards democracy. Why should I listen to the opinions of someone who calls my parents, most of my friends, my in-laws…

Mindless with respect to political issues, is quite appropriate, I think. When my mom or my dad or my grandma says, "I have nothing to hide" (and they do, whenever I call them about some privacy concern), my respect for them with regards to political issues, drastically drops. Perhaps "mindless" is harsh, but they certainly aren't being insightful or politically educated. I'm not trying to launch ad hominem attacks o…

My parents are extremely politically educated, as is my wife. My dad has traveled the world extensively (80+ different countries) and seen nearly every kind of government under the sun. He was very involved politically when Bangladesh was seeking its independence. My wife, for her part, lived in east Germany after high school and observed the political situation in a city where many people still remembered life under communist rule. Yet, none of them care about your pet issue.

Fact is not everyone sees life in terms of slippery slope fallacies. The status quo is really pretty good, and it's perfectly rational to think there are more pressing political concerns than the NSA knowing how often you call your mom. My dad has his pet issue (he's anti-war), and my wife has her's (she's an adherent feminist). People aren't mindless or irrational because they don't share your political beliefs or your priorities with respect to political issues.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#57

Post by brightghost » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:42 PM UTC

clarkston wrote: post #29

Introducing the World's First Private Cloud Appliance. http://www.starkitsystems.com/

...isn't this at least the world's third or fourth private cloud appliance?

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#58

Post by waffle_ss » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:50 PM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #39

kunai wrote: post #28

What is truly a scary thought is if the vast, mindless mass of people easily swayed by consumerism, advertisement and buzz, talk about this for about two weeks and then forget the whole thing, screaming "We have NOTHING to hide!" as a logically flawed and incredibly poor excuse. The entire premise that democracy would work is flawed. Take Turkey. A ravaged, torn, depressed state, brought back to life by a fucking dic…

> What is truly a scary thought is if the vast, mindless mass of people... This is why privacy advocates (and libertarians more generally), can't get more popular traction: the incredibly derisive and arrogant tone with which they address their fellow citizens, and their flippant, dismissive attitude towards democracy. Why should I listen to the opinions of someone who calls my parents, most of my friends, my in-laws…

I think you're generalizing and/or hanging out in the wrong places. For instance, on Reddit's [libertarian sub-reddit][1] I've found "sheeple" comments get downvoted pretty quickly.

edit: I'd also add that I've never felt this elitism from libertarian figureheads either. I can clearly recall Milton Friedman saying that libertarianism should never be forced on people, and if it isn't taken up freely then it wasn't meant to be.

[1]: http://www.reddit.com/r/libertarian

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#59

Post by darxius » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:55 PM UTC

I wonder if this means we'll see the rise of huge botnets and networks calling each other and using flagged words just to saturate the data the NSA is picking up.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#60

Post by cdwhite » Thu, Jun 06, 2013, 4:56 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #42

kunai wrote: post #28

What is truly a scary thought is if the vast, mindless mass of people easily swayed by consumerism, advertisement and buzz, talk about this for about two weeks and then forget the whole thing, screaming "We have NOTHING to hide!" as a logically flawed and incredibly poor excuse. The entire premise that democracy would work is flawed. Take Turkey. A ravaged, torn, depressed state, brought back to life by a fucking dic…

[deleted]

Kemal. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v30/n17/perry-anderson/kemalism. I feel that "dictator", while technically accurate, doesn't have quite the right connotation---his rule didn't have the same totalitarian nature that those of Stalin, Hitler, Hussein, Castro, the Kims, etc. do/did to varying extents. (Or maybe I'm being oversensitive to questions of connotation.)