Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ • Hacker News Board

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#51

Post by hughdbrown » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 3:17 PM UTC

r0h1n wrote: post #37

>>“But giving any name at all was making people — you know, the undercover agents — feel very uncomfortable. It just didn’t work for this location.” >> There are no frequent-customer award cards, because officials fear the data stored on the cards could be mined by marketers and fall into the wrong hands, outing secret agents. What? CIA agents don't like a real-name policy or their coffee consumption being mined by m…

So here's an idea: why doesn't Starbucks create and distribute the names? A sticker goes on the cup and the secret agent gets the corresponding name on a piece of paper. Like, they print paper with two parts: one part is the sticker that goes on the cup and the other goes to the customer.

Or maybe do it inside-out: print the cups with some phrase on them and have paper that peels off with the same phrase to give to the customer. And do it across all the Starbucks stores. I'd like this: the number of times I have to explain "Hugh" [1] or get a cup that says Q or Hue or Hu is modestly annoying.

[1] That conversation goes like this, at least in my imagination: Me: Like Hugh Grant or Hugh Laurie or Hugh Hefner or Hugh Jackman or Hugh Brown. Barista: Who is Hugh Brown? Me: I am Hugh Brown and you are making my coffee.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#52

Post by prostoalex » Sun, Sep 28, 2014, 7:09 PM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #19

Meh... am I supposed to hate the CIA and the rest of the military-industrial-espionage complex any less because of a cheery article about their Starbucks store? If anything, I now think less of Starbucks as a company, for knowing that they agreed to such a setup. I mean, yeah, maybe I'm being overly sensitive and care too much about torture, detention camps, pervasive surveillance, blatant disregard of the Constituti…

The article doesn't mention whether this is a corporate or licensed store. Frequently Starbucks stores at airports, Albertson's, hotels and other locations are just brand licenses.

For a while you could tell those immediately by their lack of Starbucks mobile terminals to accept mobile payments, but that changed recently.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#53

Post by mindcrime » Mon, Sep 29, 2014, 2:18 AM UTC

bane wrote: post #28

mindcrime wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True, but in theory - to some extent - Congress has some oversight of the CIA and (again, in theory) the will of The People can influence the CIA's budget and authority, etc. All in all, I'd guess that CIA leadership would prefer people see them as benevolent guardians of peace and democracy as much as possible. But I could be wrong. Maybe they are effectively untouchable, know it, and don't give a flap what people l…

More disturbing, perhaps the CIA is reflective of the majority will of the people? (questions to keep you up at night)

True. Now I'm going to have nightmares tonight since you raised that specter. sigh

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#54

Post by vonnik » Mon, Sep 29, 2014, 4:19 PM UTC

mindcrime wrote: post #21

bane wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tradeoff may be that you might get to work on some of the hardest problems known. At least harder than your average chat or photo sharing app.

to work on some of the hardest problems known Like "how do we keep our torture camps secret?" and "what happens if we given random people LSD or other psychoactive drugs?" I'll pass, thanks.

That's a one-sided view. The three-letter agencies may have done horrible things, but they are also leading the fight against even worse regimes, like Russia. There is no moral purity, and insulating oneself from the gray areas of geopolitics is a cop out.

Re: Inside the Starbucks at CIA HQ

#55

Post by redblacktree » Wed, Oct 01, 2014, 5:45 PM UTC

qewrffewqwfqew wrote: post #20

Not a spook, but it bugs me also when I'm asked to give my name to identify an order. I have an unusual name that people find difficult to pronounce and spell. Meanwhile, there are five Matts behind me who have each ordered different things. All six of us have to keep visual attention on the service area so we can identify our stuff when it comes out, because I won't know whose name they're trying to call and latte-M…

qewrffewqwfqew does seem to be difficult to pronounce and spell.