Former CIA and NSA employee source of intelligence leaks

[The Brain]

I have nothing to hide so I don't have a problem with the government keeping us safe.

[Valmy]

I have nothing to hide so I don't have a problem with the government keeping us safe.

I do not think I do....but sometimes I am nervous I am forgetting something.

[Valmy]

Let's forget Grand Faceless Allgood Government. This means, that ANYBODY with sufficient level of NSA access OWNS you. If you cross an NSA agent because you piss on his lawn, or take his lover, or run a rival business, YOU ARE FUCKED. He knows your phone calls, he reads your e-mails, your Facebook PMs, he knows who your friends are, he can with a simple search get their details as well.

Well right it is endlessly abusable.  That is why our system is supposed to forbid this sort of information being collected unless there is a warrant to do so.  Or at least I was taught it did but it appears that it doesn't really and it is legal that it does not.  I guess it is up for public debate right now whether this is a bug or a feature.

[Warspite]

Let's forget Grand Faceless Allgood Government. This means, that ANYBODY with sufficient level of NSA access OWNS you. If you cross an NSA agent because you piss on his lawn, or take his lover, or run a rival business, YOU ARE FUCKED. He knows your phone calls, he reads your e-mails, your Facebook PMs, he knows who your friends are, he can with a simple search get their details as well.

People who've never been in government greatly overestimate how well it actually works. This pissed off NSA guy probably can't even simultaneously access all this information without filling in form after form and going through five different managers.

[The Brain]

Famous Paperwork Nazis the Germans managed to kill millions of Jews. Funny that.

[Tamas]

Let's forget Grand Faceless Allgood Government. This means, that ANYBODY with sufficient level of NSA access OWNS you. If you cross an NSA agent because you piss on his lawn, or take his lover, or run a rival business, YOU ARE FUCKED. He knows your phone calls, he reads your e-mails, your Facebook PMs, he knows who your friends are, he can with a simple search get their details as well.

People who've never been in government greatly overestimate how well it actually works. This pissed off NSA guy probably can't even simultaneously access all this information without filling in form after form and going through five different managers.

Right. I mean, once he has access he would NEVER, EVER abuse it. He is, after all, a human being.

[crazy canuck]

Let's forget Grand Faceless Allgood Government. This means, that ANYBODY with sufficient level of NSA access OWNS you. If you cross an NSA agent because you piss on his lawn, or take his lover, or run a rival business, YOU ARE FUCKED. He knows your phone calls, he reads your e-mails, your Facebook PMs, he knows who your friends are, he can with a simple search get their details as well.

People who've never been in government greatly overestimate how well it actually works. This pissed off NSA guy probably can't even simultaneously access all this information without filling in form after form and going through five different managers.

Right. I mean, once he has access he would NEVER, EVER abuse it. He is, after all, a human being.

Actually the chances of him abusing his access would be fairly remote since his trail of access and the use to which he puts such access are themselves easily traceable.  Indeed the one abuse we do know of (his leak) was probably easily traceable to him and that is why he has gone public.

[Warspite]

Let's forget Grand Faceless Allgood Government. This means, that ANYBODY with sufficient level of NSA access OWNS you. If you cross an NSA agent because you piss on his lawn, or take his lover, or run a rival business, YOU ARE FUCKED. He knows your phone calls, he reads your e-mails, your Facebook PMs, he knows who your friends are, he can with a simple search get their details as well.

People who've never been in government greatly overestimate how well it actually works. This pissed off NSA guy probably can't even simultaneously access all this information without filling in form after form and going through five different managers.

Right. I mean, once he has access he would NEVER, EVER abuse it. He is, after all, a human being.

Okay, so you're right. Where are all the obvious abuses of this power that are coming to light as a result of this leak?

[grumbler]

No, it would not be a bigger scandal if the US government actually upheld its constitution.

  Duh! Of course it's not a scandal that the US government follows its constitution!

[Tamas]

At any rate, it is nice to know you guys are fine with the government having every mundane detail of your everyday lives, and the lives of your children, logged and stored away for future use. Model citizens, you are.

[DGuller]

I just now remembered some curious bit from an entirely different story.  Those who follow online poker are probably aware of the UltimateBet scandal, where one of the site's founders cheated the players by being able to see their cards.  He was found out not by "regulators", but by poker players banding together on the biggest poker forum.

The interesting bit was heard recently.  After many years, the tape surfaced where the owner was discussing this issue with his lawyers, and in the process copped to everything.  One of the things he said to his lawyers was that he had a buddy in Interpol, and that this buddy was able to look into private e-mails of several lead poker player investigators. 

After that bit was heard on tape, some poker players dug around, and they did indeed find out that one of the scumbag's former business partners was a retired Interpol official. 

[grumbler]

At any rate, it is nice to know you guys are fine with the government having every mundane detail of your everyday lives, and the lives of your children, logged and stored away for future use. Model citizens, you are.

At any rate, it is nice to see you engage in hysterical rhetoric.  Model citizen, you are.

[Iormlund]

This doesn't make everyone a suspect anymore than CCTV or national ID cards do.

CCTV only works in public areas.

I think the internet's a pretty public area.

No it's not. The Internet is a means of communication. Just like normal mail, the inviolability of which falls under the European Human Rights Convention. As for the US, this quote is from the era before everyone went hysterical with the WoT:

No law of Congress can place in the hands of officials connected with the Postal Service any authority to invade the secrecy of letters and such sealed packages in the mail; and all regulations adopted as to mail matter of this kind must be in subordination to the great principle embodied in the fourth amendment of the Constitution.

[crazy canuck]

This doesn't make everyone a suspect anymore than CCTV or national ID cards do.

CCTV only works in public areas.

I think the internet's a pretty public area.

No it's not. The Internet is a means of communication. Just like normal mail, the inviolability of which falls under the European Human Rights Convention. As for the US, this quote is from the era before everyone went hysterical with the WoT:

No law of Congress can place in the hands of officials connected with the Postal Service any authority to invade the secrecy of letters and such sealed packages in the mail; and all regulations adopted as to mail matter of this kind must be in subordination to the great principle embodied in the fourth amendment of the Constitution.

No.  Anyone who wishes to do so can view this post.  The internet is very different from a sealed package sent in the mail.  People post on the internet via face book and forums like this knowing that what they post are very public.

[Iormlund]

No.  Anyone who wishes to do so can view this post.  The internet is very different from a sealed package sent in the mail.  People post on the internet via face book and forums like this knowing that what they post are very public.

Not really. You have no way of ascertaining who I am. You cannot use other activity to build a complete profile of me. The government does. It makes a huge difference.

Furthermore, not all the communications over the Net are 1-to-N. If my girlfriend sends me a picture or my doctor the results of my latest tests, the act is not meant as a broadcast to the public at all.