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Former NSA Chief Warns Hackers Will Attack US If Snowden Is Captured
Okian Warrior writes "The Guardian is reporting Michael Hayden speculating that hackers and transparency groups are likely to respond with cyber-terror attacks if the United States government apprehends whistleblower Edward Snowden. Hayden called the potential attackers 'Nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven't talked to the opposite sex in five or six years.'"
people who give a greater damn about the Constitution than the current government.
That's from guy who instead of talking to person of opposite sex would tap her phone, read her journal and search her underwear drawer?
Which are fascist, traitorous, nationalistic power-fetishists who only view the opposite sex as tools or sex toys. Power in D.C. attracts a lot of arm-candy and those people get used to that very quickly.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
I like how he lumps "activists" in together with Lulzsec and Anonymous.
Within a couple of years, the US media will be using "activist" as a synonym for "terrorist".
Sadly, most Americans will go right along with this.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
A government official advising against a course of action because he fears a terrorist response is proof that terrorism works.
[Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
When did hacking turn into "Cyber-terrorism"? Has the world gone stupid?
"Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
US citizens are advised to flee the planet.
In other news, US citizens will be punished either by the government for the actions of other citizens, or by other countries' citizens for the actions of the government. However, in no way and at no time, should this reflect that the government is in any way wrong. Meanwhile, police everywhere would like to remind women that if they were raped, it must be because of how they were dressed. "Lady Liberty was asking for it! She was showing leg."
-_- My point is that if the government is concerned that its actions may be inviting wide-spread reprisals, they ought to be asking whether or not those actions have public support. Afterall, isn't this supposed to be a democracy? When most of your citizens are saying "Dude, you fucked up," it might be time to, I don't know... hold a meeting at least?
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
How many times have you seen someone respond to IRC, forum post, thread, etc with something along the following lines:
"The person disagreeing with me is 15 year old acne-crusted, coke-glasses-wearing, living in his mother's basement loser with no social life and blah blah blah....."
Reading Michael Hayden feels like reading an internet troll. I don't know if he's doing it because he's dumb troll, or because he used to be one of those 15 year old acne crusted, coke-glasses-wearing, living in his mother's basement loser with no social life before getting into the NSA so he could change venue to live in a government basement.
The NSA narrative has always been the same: give us more money so that we can protect you against a large unspecified threat.
As a former NSA chief this is ingrained behavior for him, and so Hayden will keep spouting that line long after he's past the point of senility.
You can never know everything, and part of what you do know will always be wrong. Perhaps even the most important part.
twentysomethings who haven't talked to the opposite sex in five or six years
It's great to see people putting down others, I'm sure statements like that won't at all cause people who otherwise probably wouldn't have wanted to be involved in any such thing to change their minds. It's like saying "we have information suggesting an attack is imminent on US interests abroad - keep an eye out for young men who have unsightly beards, sand in their butt cracks, and a strange fascination with goats" and not expecting more people to be violent towards you than before you made the statement.
They won't attack the US, they'll attack the US government. Completely different. These guys remind me of mafiosi who try to claim prosecutors going after the Mafia are going after all Italian-Americans.
"If it's real, then it gets more interesting the closer you examine it. If it's not real, just the opposite is true." -
"twentysomethings who haven't talked to the opposite sex in five or six years.'"
Really? "Hah hah, little nerd, you don't get any pussy!" The former NSA chief is using sophomoric name-calling to make himself feel better about having become one of the most crafty and subversive enemies our nation has ever faced. Just like high school, when the jocks would do the same to feel better about their abusive relationships with their fathers.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
OK, the guy's being a DB, but you have to admit there's a grain of truth:
nihilists: that could be one way to describe groups like lulzsec, who aren't into transparency as a cause but would rather watch the world burn for the lulz.
anarchists: I don't see this one per se, but the govt described bradley manning as an anarchist so that's why they think that.
activists: for sure, groups like anonymous are activists. manning too. snowden too. they are motivated by effecting change in the system.
Lulzsec: I'm not sure to what degree Lulzsec would participate themselves based on the FBI busts, but I'm sure there would be some offshoot phoenix "rise from the ashes" that would throw their hats in the ring.
anonymous: i think this one is a given.
neckbeards: kind of a stereotype, not suprised he through that out.
tldr: I think he's more right than wrong, both to expect attempts at reprisals and in describing many of the groups that will attempt it. I would add foreign nations / hostile groups (not activists, but interested in harming USA interests). It's the perfect time to attack under the guise of these other groups.
"The more you tighten your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers" Seems fitting here.
Let's ignore that some of what he leaked was about the US more or less illegally spying on their own citizens and people in other countries. Let's ignore that not everyone feels they should be spied on by the US. Let's pretend that some of this spying wasn't getting into the unconstitutional domestically and illegal where it happened. Let's completely ignore than political asylum has been around for centuries and America has certainly granted it to Russians over the years who were equally damaging. While we're at it, let's pretend that this 'apprehending' is essentially illegal in the countries where it happens.
Instead, let's put the focus on how a bunch of nihilists and anarchists might decide to stage a little retribution and how God himself told America they're allowed to do these things and fuck everyone else.
Because it couldn't possibly be because people disagree with what the NSA and other agencies do, or that everyone else in the world is tired of them thinking that what everyone else's rights don't matter. There's no way that the rest of the world doesn't feel like the US has overstepped its authority in other countries. It's inconceivable that we don't think you can have Liberty if we have to give up all of our privacy in order to make you safe. People couldn't possibly be protesting because the US is rapidly becoming a surveillance state which will happily trample on people's rights while telling other countries they should be more open and free.
Fuck you Mr. Hayden, we're not buying the misdirection to a bunch of nerds in their basement. You may not be able to understand why people are venting their displeasure, but that doesn't mean your stated reasons are the right ones.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It's interesting Michael Hayden feels free to hold forth as an authority on the presumably private lives of his fellow American citizen's, specifically their sex lives.
Does anyone seriously doubt that this is Hayden accidentally -and very publicly- accessing and referencing the very thing he denies the NSA is doing- watching, cataloging , storing (and sniggering at) the most deeply personal and intimate details of people's everyday affairs, in this case their masturbation habits and likely frequency of sexual intercourse?
It's hard to keep clear the boundaries between what you know and can talk about and what you know and aren't supposed to talk about, isn't it Michael? It requires constant vigilance, doesn't it? You never know when you're going to let something slip.
I am asking the president of the United States to relieve General Hayden of his responsibilities for conduct unbecoming, gross negligence in his public utterances, and failure to uphold the high standards of the US military.
No, the U.S. is damn well not a democracy any more. Democracy doesn't mean, "going to vote every 2 or 4 years", although the so-called, "Republican" and "Democratic" branches of the Establishment Party would certainly like you to think that it does. Democracy requires (among other things) an informed electorate, a free press, and a government that is both accountable and responsive to its citizens. The U.S. does not have these things. It is not the public that panics in response to "political winds", it is the establishment that uses major events as excuses to do what they wanted to accomplish anyway.
is the kind of person that pulled the levers for the Third Reich.
Yeah, and arresting terrorists makes other terrorists mad at us too. So what? Either its the right thing to do, and we do it, or it isn't, and we don't.
The real conversation nobody seems to be having is wether its worth the tremendous black eye we are giving ourselves by ineffecitvely chasing this guy around the world. The guy broke the law, so he should be arrested. But that doesn't mean we have to publicly rail like impotent babies every time this dweeb sneaks into another country that doesn't like us much. For generations people have fled places like Russia and China after saying or doing things there that the government doesn't like (but are perfectly legal here), and we've rightly used each as an oppertunity to lecture them about freedom and human rights. Well guess what? Telling what you know about the NSA's operations is a form of speech that is not illegal in China or Russia. So now they can smugly do the same back to us. So what does our government do? Why, they make a big public stink about it, so that the damage to our reputation when China and Russia throw our own rhetoric back at us is a large as possible. This whole situation has been so perfect for Russia and China that they might start believeing in God again.
The most important rule of propaganda: If you can't discredit the message, discredit the messenger.
Mind the frickin' laser...
I am married for fifteen years, and have a daughter of nine, but I sympathise with Snowden, not with the likes of NSA, CIA or FBI, or other likewise organisations.
As a middle class engineer who has to comply with all kinds of regulations and laws and has to pay taxes, I want that the organisations which are created by the lawmakers also obey the law.
Also, whistle blowers should be by default protected by the judiciary.
You have to give him credit: it's a brilliant play. Insult script kiddies who see themselves as cyber activists, to get them to do their worst if and when the US arrests snowden for the crime of defending the constitution. When they finally do get him, they'll be able to shift the news story to the "cyberattacks" rather than "We've heard screams coming from the holding cell where Snowden is being held. Can you tell us you are not torturing him for exposing your crimes?"
That the "cyberattacks" will be the equivalent of someone spraying "Fuck U!" on a billboard for the NSA won't matter. Citizens will get the message that the NSA is your first and only defense against an unholy cabal of virgin"cyberterrorists" who would hack your toaster to murder your spouse and are probably gay or something, child pornography rapists who will come for your kids, and Edward Snowden who evidently murdered US troops or something.
In order to keep defending you against such evil people, they're going to need you to install a camera in your living room, and you'll need a license to go on the internet on your state-approved computer.
(I'll admit I got carried away with this hyperbole...)