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Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

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Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#81

Post by count »

scotty79 wrote: post #57
rdtsc wrote: post #12

Usual disclaimer applies for those with a clearance: by accessing classified documents on your home computers you could get yourself in serious trouble (in theory). In light of this particular situation I don't know if anyone has ever been punished but you should be careful.

Is it still classified if it's public? Doesn't a thing stop being secret automatically when it leaks out? If it does not then I wonder why they even called it "classified" or "secret". They should call it "blargh" and avoid the confusion.

2nd point first: Even if a piece of data is in the public, there is no guarantee of provenance for the data without an official statement. How do you know wikileaks or someone else hasn't inserted specific, falsified records into the document trove? It may or may not be classified or secret data. Anybody can slap 'secret' on a document.

By not saying anything (neither confirm nor deny), folks with a clearance have to assume it's classified, and they have signed many NDAs and other bits of paper agreeing to not seek access to classified data without the 'need to know'.

Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#82

Post by vidarh »

rimantas wrote: post #44
espeed wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bradley Manning Admits to Being Wikileaks Source ( http://mashable.com/2013/02/28/bradley-manning-reveals-how-a... )

He was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize. Can someone explain the logic behind this? In Nobel's will it is said: > one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best > work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction > of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace > congresses If Manning/Wikileaks did anything of this nature, I missed it a big way :(

Look up who has the power to nominate:

• Members of national assemblies and governments of states

• Members of international courts

• University rectors; professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology; directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes

• Persons who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

• Board members of organizations that have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

• Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; (proposals by members of the Committee to be submitted no later than at the first meeting of the Committee after February 1)

• Former advisers to the Norwegian Nobel Committee

Finding someone in one of those categories who is willing to nominate any given person isn't very hard. Especially someone like Manning who has substantial sympathy from a lot of people and where it's down to finding someone in one of these categories willing to nominate him either as a sign of support or as a big "fuck you" to the US.

Being nominated doesn't really say much.

Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#83

Post by count »

xradionut wrote: post #17
joering2 wrote: post #4

Am I the only one genuinely afraid of clicking any of cables with keyword SECRET ?

Due to past obligations and future opportunities, I can't/won't touch any of these documents directly.

ITT: Folks with clearances on HN outing themselves....;)

Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#85

Post by rdtsc »

Udo wrote: post #69
tikwidd wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and yet, still used

They're using the idea of the polygraph, the actual measurements could mean anything. It's the "conversation" during and after the test that counts. Of course it's also a great medium to screw someone over, but that's a whole other thing.

Yap it is just an interrogation. However, knowing about how the polygraph is ineffective and letting the administrator know will often result in 'FAILURE'. They will specifically ask questions related to polygraph terminology (lingo, abbreviations) to see if you are familiar.

It effectively lets through psychopaths, very good liar or those that know how polygraphs work and presumably practiced passing it.

Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#86

Post by rdtsc »

iand wrote: post #37
rdtsc wrote: post #12

Usual disclaimer applies for those with a clearance: by accessing classified documents on your home computers you could get yourself in serious trouble (in theory). In light of this particular situation I don't know if anyone has ever been punished but you should be careful.

Perhaps only if you are a citizen and residing in the country that classfied them. Pretty sure it wouldn't be an offence to read documents classified by Zimbabwe in the USA, or vice versa.

Not sure. In USA it is only an issue if you have clearance or plan on getting it. Otherwise, as far as I am concerned (and I am not a lawyer) there is nothing they can do.

I have heard them trying to bully people into signing NDA and other such things if they have been accidentally exposed to classified info. But don't have any first hand knowledge how often that happens and how effective it is.

Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#87

Post by guard-of-terra »

robryan wrote: post #43
eLobato wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny you mention this when a lot of these cables show how the US government was pressuring the Spanish government to join NATO and more recently to legislate in favor of the American media lobby. Obviously it's both parties fault, but I don't particularly like when my country and the people who are supposed to be my representatives are constantly subject to American wishes. They are definitely polite, but their…

They are operating in their own interests. I would expect Spain to also being doing this, obviously some countries hold more sway than others.

The problem is that USA is too big. They succeed in in their pressure. Every time smaller countries think "we'll bend this time, it's not very important and we need USA to be friendly" and this ends up USA trying to shape the world on a grand scale.

It doesn't help the world and it doesn't really help USA that much.

Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#88

Post by fusiongyro »

singular wrote: post #41
rdtsc wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a clearance you should absolutely not be clicking on it (if you are also paranoid and don't want to possibly fail your polygraph test -- "have you accessed or downloaded classified documents on your personal computer...?" er...oops). Otherwise if you don't hold a clearance, I don't think they can do anything to you (however, I am not a lawyer so don't take this as a legal advice etc etc...)

Actually don't worry too much about the polygraph, it's complete pseudoscience. http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Polygraph

It is complete pseudoscience. In the Penn and Teller's BS episode about it they have a guy who teaches people how to get whatever result they want by controlling their anal sphincter. Apparently it's not complicated.

It is, however, still a part of getting or maintaining clearance. A friend of mine wound up changing jobs simply because he failed the polygraph twice and didn't want to bother going in for a third.

Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#89

Post by mcphilip »

jasonkolb wrote: post #10

I love how they thoughtfully go ahead and provide a headline-ready name for the data set now. "Cablegate." At this point the Watergate should just assign rooms scandal names ending in -Gate instead of room numbers.

"Cablegate" has been used for at least the last 2.5 years. It's unclear after a good 15 minutes of googling who first started calling the leaked cables Cablegate, but here's an example from pbs back in Nov, 2010:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/11/digging-into-wik...

Re: Wikileaks release "PlusD": Database of 1.7 million diplomatic cables

#90

Post by olefoo »

huskyr wrote: post #56
olefoo wrote: post #26

I am mildly disappointed that there is not a torrent seed of the whole dataset... It might be interesting to see what sort of correlates could be inferred by a crowdsourced analysis.

It's not the whole dataset, but the cables from 2003-2010 are downloadable here: http://cryptome.org/z/z.7z

Thanks.
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