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

If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

slate.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 84 posts

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#51

Post by coopdog »

mpyne wrote: post #37
ritchiea wrote: post #30

All of the comments taking umbrage that the article isn't celebrating Snowden's character are missing the point. While it is entirely possible that he was qualified or even overqualified for the position he had at Booz Allen Hamilton, nothing in his resume suggests that which raises the question who else has access to sensitive data and secrets? The answer could be that Snowden was an exceptional individual and that'…

As I understand it security clearance screening is done by blacklisting, not whitelisting. That's what would make sense for a nation with due process, but it does lead to increased risk of leaks from people with no obvious red flags that come up during the background check or in-person interviews.

There are different levels. Up to a point they take everything you declare as true in conjunction with some basic checks. At the highest levels they assume everything you say is false, until investigated and proven true.

I still think the article makes a good point though, you just don't know who the hell has access to your data unless you keep it on your own servers or host the data in a country with extremely transparent privacy and law enforcement governance.

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#52

Post by mieses »

krakensden wrote: post #29
jongraehl wrote: post #15

The author is full of stupid snark. Clearly Snowden is an exceptional individual; learning that he used to be a janitor, or whatever, shouldn't cause us to throw away all the evidence we have about him and double-take "they promoted a janitor ?". Perhaps the quality of his work matched his obviously high character, regardless of his initial lack of formal credential. This is IT we're talking about - classes are a jok…

Note the author- essentially everything he writes is like this.

Not surprising at all coming from Slate and this author.

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#53

Post by untog »

SeanDav wrote: post #7

So now lack of a degree means you cannot be trusted with sensitive data - wtf? I understand the guy is emphasizing these things to make his point but still, wtf. What about his morals? What about his courage? I would most definitely trust my data to a guy that was and is prepared to go to jail for his beliefs that my data should be treated with respect and within the law.

What about his morals? What about his courage?

I don't think the NSA would be using the same words you are.

The more legitimate point is that he was a contractor- just how much clearance do contractors get? That seems like the bigger worry to me.

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#54

Post by nsp »

mpyne wrote: post #41
ksherlock wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't have anything to hide... oh, why was the government doing it secretly?

"Oh, hey Ahman, hold up real quick, the government just announced that they're tapping my phone. We'll talk again later".

I'm pretty sure if you were involved with terrorist groups, you became aware of this sort of thing well before it made the front page of the New York Times. The idea that keeping it out of the press prevents the targets from knowing is naive.

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#55

Post by rdl »

mpyne wrote: post #50
rdl wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even "better", there are things which are highly correlated with "likely to be a security problem" which are NOT allowed to be included, or which get adjudicated away. Generally IMO the security clearance process is not up to the task in a world with more than one threat. It worked ok against USSR when we largely could use full spectrum of information AND could assume most people without black marks were anti-USSR (d…

Yeah, though I can't give specifics we had an admin issue where I worked that got briefed to the level of a "Presidental appointee confirmed by the Senate" that was related to screening requirements (or rather, the lack thereof).

I'm assuming both criminal/terrorist organizations (well, and hacker groups, etc.) and tech startups actually surpass USG for a lot of personnel screening, mainly because they're small. If you only hire people you've personally known for a long time, that goes a long way. Hiring 20 trusted people is a lot easier than hiring 20k.

(Obviously USG does a better job in certain areas; generally I'd say most military facilities do a decent job on most physical security.)

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#56

Post by mpyne »

nsp wrote: post #54
mpyne wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Oh, hey Ahman, hold up real quick, the government just announced that they're tapping my phone. We'll talk again later".

I'm pretty sure if you were involved with terrorist groups, you became aware of this sort of thing well before it made the front page of the New York Times. The idea that keeping it out of the press prevents the targets from knowing is naive.

Just sayin', at the operational level it pretty much always has to be a secret, at least while the monitoring is going on.

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#57

Post by known_unknowns »

ritchiea wrote: post #30

All of the comments taking umbrage that the article isn't celebrating Snowden's character are missing the point. While it is entirely possible that he was qualified or even overqualified for the position he had at Booz Allen Hamilton, nothing in his resume suggests that which raises the question who else has access to sensitive data and secrets? The answer could be that Snowden was an exceptional individual and that'…

The security clearance process basically looks for reasonable, honest Americans free of foreign influence.

If government actors are abusing their power to such an extent that reasonable, honest Americans free of foreign influence feel morally obligated to blow the whistle, then there are going to be more leaks.

It's not a flaw in the system; It's a safeguard against corruption and abuse of the system.

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#59

Post by randomfool »

He comes off as a fairly intelligent person in the interview.

The tech community should be the most understanding when it comes to overlooked people who kick ass on the job. Too many tech companies today are focusing on university names, this isn't the way it always was.

Is being nice to Edward Snowden considered aiding a terrorist? The NSA probably just fired off a warrant for the rest of my communications.

Re: If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

#60

Post by arthulia »

obstacle1 wrote: post #35
gkoberger wrote: post #25

I don't think Slate is trying to crucify Edward Snowden. I think it was more "If a high school dropout with basic computer skills can win this contract, imagine what a talented hacker with malicious intentions could do", and just happened to attack Snowden a bit too much.

Even Slate admits, though, that they have no idea what level his computer skills are at or how good a fit he was for the job: >Yes, he could be a computing savant anyway—many well-known techies dropped out of school They're basically bemoaning his lack of official credentials.

I think the real thing to take home here is that they trusted him and he broke that trust. Who else are they trusting that they shouldn't be?
Post reply on HN