Interview with NSA Whistleblower

[SK in CV]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=SK in CV]I do drink single malt from a brandy snifter though.[/quote]

Tell me you’re throwing some ice cubes and Diet Dr. Pepper in with that shit![/quote]

Hell no. One of my very few religious beliefs. Ice is satan to good scotch. Anything but neat is blasphemous.

[Allan from Fallbrook]

[quote=SK in CV][quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=SK in CV]I do drink single malt from a brandy snifter though.[/quote]

Tell me you’re throwing some ice cubes and Diet Dr. Pepper in with that shit![/quote]

Hell no. One of my very few religious beliefs. Ice is satan to good scotch. Anything but neat is blasphemous.[/quote]

SK: Absolutely agree. Single malt and small batch bourbon are among my few remaining vices.

A couple of fingers of Talisker or Balvenie, along with a good cigar, is a great reminder that it is truly the small pleasures that matter.

[CA renter]

[quote=Jazzman] Maybe this will give rise to a new technology.[/quote]

Ideally, yes, but there’s no guarantee that it would remain “private.” I’m willing to bet that it would be hacked by the govt or other entities within a year.

[Jazzman]

[quote=CA renter][quote=Jazzman] Maybe this will give rise to a new technology.[/quote]

Ideally, yes, but there’s no guarantee that it would remain “private.” I’m willing to bet that it would be hacked by the govt or other entities within a year.[/quote]
Pigeons are still part of defense budgets even in developed nations.

[Jazzman]

[quote=ocrenter][quote=Jazzman]Hong Kong is an interesting choice to hide. Iceland may be safer, but is probably as pro US as Sweden. If some dirt is dug up on him, we should worry. Internet idealists are a little naive, as you can never have true privacy on a global communications network. Maybe this will give rise to a new technology.[/quote]

Agree, I was thinking the same about HK. His explanation about picking HK also seems quite odd. He sad something along the line of people of HK can protest. So what? They can’t even vote for the entire legislature let alone the chief exec. And to have the illusion that the HK government is independent of Beijing and does not answer to the CCP? That is quite silly and naive.

SO he either picked HK so he can defect to China, the US’s chief rival, or he is just way over his head.[/quote]
He’s way over his head, but smart enough to know it. He took a calculated risk that media exposure is a sufficient layer of protection. And maybe it is. The unsuccessful attempt to prosecute an NSA whistle blower, makes you wonder whether it ‘s just a deterrent exercise. I think you may be right in that HK is possibly a halfway house to defection, and I’d be curious to know whether he has been approached and been offered protection.

It’s a fascinating insight into the world of espionage and counter terrorism. Totally predictable and being going on for a long time. It will be interesting to see how the government responds in terms of justifying the effectiveness of the intrusion into so-called privacy. Since that is likely classified, it’s a tough one for them. The relevant debate is really about potential abuses IMO, and activists probably need to exaggerate the issues to help prevent that. Much more important is that they’re buying these guys’ loyalty with $200k pay checks. No wonder I couldn’t find a reasonably priced home on Oahu.

[Jazzman]

[quote=Allan from Fallbrook][quote=SK in CV]I checked the manual. And then opened up some news site on the intertubes this morning, and up pops an ad. For Honeywell HVAC controls. What-the-F’ity EF EF? How do it know?[/quote]

SK: You need to turn this to your advantage, my friend. Patiently explain to your wife that all those Swedish porn popups are a result of your purchasing that Scandinavian artisanal reindeer’s milk cheese at Whole Foods.[/quote]
Facebook and Google do take liberties, but I suppose this borders the benign so they get away with it. Personal experiences with this whole Internet privacy is one thing, but it doesn’t stop there. I recently spoke with a lender in France, who wouldn’t talk to me. When I said I was calling from France, not the US, he said “Oh that’s OK then”. WTF! I was once approached in the terminal of a European international airport, over very loosely tied connections between the origin of my name, stamps in my passport and my location. I was so bewildered I didn’t have the wherewithal to enquire who wanted to know. This was not a customs official, and the assumptions so naive, I sincerely hope my tax dollars aren’t paying that ‘official’ a $200k salary. I laughed the incident off, by explaining I was a Colombian drug lord, just going about my business of laundering money. It was received with an embarrassed smile. Customs and immigration are on the front line of this battle. And terrorism isn’t the only thing they’re after.

[spdrun]

Public exposure will likely mean trial in a civilian court if he gets extradited to the US, rather than rendition to G-d knows where or simple murder. Hopefully, he’ll get a jury that’s enlightened enough to practice the time-honored tradition of jury nullification.

This disclosure is VERY MUCH in the interest of the American people. For one minor thing, wholesale collection of phone call information includes legislators’ and justices’ information. I’d say that 75% of people have SOMETHING they want to hide. Enough can be deduced from phone call info (calls to drug treatment clinics, women who aren’t wives, etc) to make them ripe targets for blackmail. Then the security state becomes self-perpetuating.

If they don’t toe the NSA line and vote for more surveillance, they might end up fighting a scandal and forced to resign. This kind of thing breaks the separation of powers — remember that Congressional votes are generally very close, and that even 5-10% of Congresspeople being corrupted might have a tangible impact on US politics.

There’s also precedent. Look at the shenanigans that happened during the Hoover FBI era, what with technology being much less advanced. The amount of damaging info that can be gathered these days with modern tech scares the hell out of me.

Snowden is a true patriot, a brave man, and one hell of an American hero. Hope he walks scot-free and is able to travel first-class back to his own country, to which he did a great service.

As far as the people who forced this system on the American public without their knowledge or consent, I’d say that they were laying the groundwork for totalitarianism in the US. Exactly what the enemies of the US want to happen — the destruction of democracy from within. If that isn’t treason (a shooting offense last I checked), then it comes damn close. Hope they see their day in court.

[SK in CV]

[quote=spdrun]Public exposure will likely mean trial in a civilian court if he gets extradited to the US, rather than rendition to G-d knows where or simple murder. Hopefully, he’ll get a jury that’s enlightened enough to practice the time-honored tradition of jury nullification.

This disclosure is VERY MUCH in the interest of the American people. For one minor thing, wholesale collection of phone call information includes legislators’ and justices’ information. I’d say that 75% of people have SOMETHING they want to hide. Enough can be deduced from phone call info (calls to drug treatment clinics, women who aren’t wives, etc) to make them ripe targets for blackmail. Then the security state becomes self-perpetuating.

If they don’t toe the NSA line and vote for more surveillance, they might end up fighting a scandal and forced to resign. This kind of thing breaks the separation of powers — remember that Congressional votes are generally very close, and that even 5-10% of Congresspeople being corrupted might have a tangible impact on US politics.

There’s also precedent. Look at the shenanigans that happened during the Hoover FBI era, what with technology being much less advanced. The amount of damaging info that can be gathered these days with modern tech scares the hell out of me.

Snowden is a true patriot, a brave man, and one hell of an American hero. Hope he walks scot-free and is able to travel first-class back to his own country, to which he did a great service.

As far as the people who forced this system on the American public without their knowledge or consent, I’d say that they were laying the groundwork for totalitarianism in the US. Exactly what the enemies of the US want to happen — the destruction of democracy from within. If that isn’t treason (a shooting offense last I checked), then it comes damn close. Hope they see their day in court.[/quote]

I agree with most of this, though I’m not sure about your conclusion in the 2nd to last paragraph. I don’t know if the guy is a hero. I think there’s a chance he’s a nut-job who has both exaggerated and fantasized about what he could do. That said, I’m glad he did it.

As to the bolded part….I’m not sure people really have the right to whine that shit was done without their knowledge or consent, when the information was readily available and they just weren’t paying attention. The press certainly has taken a few decades off in publicizing what was going on in Washington, but the (unfortunately very) small handful of us that have been watching closely aren’t the least bit surprised. Laws were discussed in detail, and passed with majority support in congress, with dire warnings that this would be the outcome. Many who criticized those laws were labeled as “soft on terrorism” or accused of “wanting the terrorists to win”. So? Who won? Us or the terrorists?

[Author]

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