Slashdot Mirror
The NSA Has an Advice Columnist
First time accepted submitter DTentilhao writes "On Friday, Glenn Greenwald's new website The Intercept published a number of internal NSA documents that didn't necessarily reveal any great state secrets, but instead cast some light on the NSA's office culture. Those documents, leaked by former security contractor Edward Snowden, were actually from an advice column series, written by a 20-year veteran of NSA management under the pen name 'Zelda.'" Here's the Intercept report.
I have a friend called Slashdot that keeps reposting new stories. Please help.
Yours
A concerned spy
NERD!
- In Soviet Korea, only old people loose all their bases to Natalie Portman's petrified hot grits overlords.
glen greenwald milks his shot at fame for all that its worth
Why shouldn't he? Why do you hate capitalism?
You and your co-workers could ask [the supervisor] for a team meeting and lay out the issue as you see it: “We feel like you don’t trust us and we aren’t comfortable making small talk anymore for fear of having our desks moved if we’re seen as being too chummy.” (Leave out the part about the snitches.) Tell him how this is hampering collaboration and affecting the work, ask him if he has a problem with the team’s behavior, and see what he says. Encourage him to come directly to the employee in question if he has a concern (rather than ask a third party to gather intel for him).
Trust is hard to rebuild once it has been broken. Your work center may take time to heal after this deplorable practice has been discontinued, but give it time and hopefully the open cooperation you once enjoyed will return.
Ironic, Big Brother.
From he TFA:
Here’s the scenario: when the boss sees co-workers having a quiet conversation, he wants to know what is being said (it’s mostly work related). He has his designated “snitches” and expects them to keep him apprised of all the office gossip – even calling them at home and expecting a run-down! This puts the “designees” in a really awkward position; plus, we’re all afraid any offhand comment or anything said in confidence might be either repeated or misrepresented. Needless to say, this creates a certain amount of tension between team members who normally would get along well, and adds stress in an already stressful atmosphere. There is also an unspoken belief that he will move people to different desks to break up what he perceives as people becoming too “chummy.” (It’s been done under the guise of “creating teams.”)
We used to be able to joke around a little or talk about our favorite “Idol” contestant to break the tension, but now we’re getting more and more skittish about even the most mundane general conversations (“Did you have a good weekend?”). This was once a very open, cooperative group who worked well together. Now we’re more suspicious of each other and teamwork is becoming harder. Do you think this was the goal? Silenced in SID
Holy s**!. They have an old school spying operation within their new fangled hi-tech enterprise. This is how every single commie regime including the one in my old country used to operate. Everyone around you could be a snitch and something as innocent as an anecdote told to a friend could get you in trouble. You have to love the irony!
m'kay
so... selling US government secrets to the remnants of the old Soviet Union is now called 'free market capitalism'
Not to mention the celebrity stop-over in China on the way
And before you go and claim that greenwald was just reporting on a story, consider how much effort he put in to make the whole thing happen
There is a pretty strong reason that greenwald has no intention of setting foot back in America, and it is not (as he claims) the defense of marriage act since the relevant statutes were knocked down by the SCOTUS
Wherever You Go, There You Are
What scandalous news! The American people will never stand for it!
Finally, after the previous reveals of illegal spying and lying to the public weren't enough, THIS is what will finally bring those evil bastards to justice.
Awaken, O America! The NSA has an advice column!
Is there any reason this should have been leaked? Yeah, we can poke fun at the irony of NSA co-workers concerned about their office gossip being spied upon and how they consider that an intrusion of their privacy. Does it constitute information a whistleblower should disseminate? The point isn't that this is damaging to national security, it's an advice column, but it was happening inside their intranet and not cleared for public scrutiny.
My problem with Snowden isn't that he leaked info about NSA unconstitutional activities. If you see your employers doing something blatenly illegal, it's your duty to do something about. My problem is that his leaks are completely indiscrimate. He didn't just deliver the documents that contained information on what he considered were illegal activities by the NSA. He took everything he could get his hands on and turned it in to journalists. I don't know how he could possibly justify that.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
Because it sucks.
(Actually, the answer to both questions)
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
selling US government secrets to the remnants of the old Soviet Union is now called 'free market capitalism'
Yes. Yes, it is.
What, you were expecting something more idealistic? Sorry, sucker, welcome to the real world.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Participation in fraud and selling stolen goods is hardly capitalism.
well, to the idiots who don't know any better, maybe it is but in reality it is no different then me selling your car out from under you. I know, I know, information wants to be free, but giving something away for free isn't capitalism either.
Maybe you should look into the theory of capitalism a bit and this time read past the title and forward of the books.
"You keep stalking me and all my fellow citizens, everywhere and all the time.
You have been caught trying to sabotage secure relationships.
Why can't you accept boundaries? Why can't you focus your efforts solely on targeted efforts?"
-- Signed, Publius ; )
Uh, Linux geek since 1999.
What fraud? What stolen goods? Do you mean "copied goods"?
"just doing a job" is no excuse.
This. A huge number of corporations and firms, generally because it happens do be profitable rather than out of malice, do *really* bad things. It's not like the guy whose job it is to deny insurance claims or the insurance "adjuster" is somehow insulated from moral culpability because it's his job to basically commit fraud. Excuse me, minimize claims.
"Just following orders" is a highly relevant phrase here. If freedom from government surveillance is a basic right, then people who are "just following orders" to abridge that right are culpable for having done so, even though they were following orders.
I mean the goods that were illegally taken and possessed and illegally disseminated. You know exactly what I'm talking about which is why you are posting AC instead of having such idiocy assicited in any way that could follow you.
I have heard that sysadmins here regularly take salable material home, but when I asked my boss, he said I was being silly. Can I really have a side business selling secrets so long as it's to Americans? Or do I have to leave all that money on the table...
davecb@spamcop.net
Let's begin making government smaller by getting rid of the NSA. Imagine the savings to the tax payer!
My Dearest Princess Zelda,
Have we not found the missing Link in Snowden?
P.S. It's dangerous to go alone.
Take this.
- Dangerous Kitten
Participation in fraud and selling stolen goods is hardly capitalism. ... Maybe you should look into the theory of capitalism a bit and this time read past the title and forward of the books.
Maybe you should look at how things work in the real world instead of believing what a bunch of philosophers tell you they think ought to happen. Hint: Karl Marx and Ayn Rand both developed economic theories that were entirely logical and self-consistent.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
Not only played instruments, waved a sword at baddies and turned into a wolf. He could use paragraphs.
Like this one here.
"Spy no need learn English yes?"
"Spy only need Twitter, must 150 letters yes?"
Good to know, I'am being spied on by someone who is just a glorified, selfish, Twitter fuck.
Dear Alice,
Eve keeps listening in on my conversations. What can I do to make her stop?
Thanks,
Bob
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I came here to read this article and engage in the discussion. I am leaving because of Beta. I will not use Slashdot with Beta. Fuck it. It's horrible.
Livin' the American Dream!
There will be a film about this modern American hero (despite the fact that he's not American, and is gay. I think.), if there isn't one already.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
If I call myself a christian but do not go to church, violate every single commandment and do not acknowledge Jesus was ever alive, am I really a christian?
Was Hilter's socialist Germany really representative of socialism or communism? Was Stalin's socialism actually socialism.
I think we are adults here and being so, we can actually be realistic in our interpretations of real world events. Fraud and stolen goods are actually against the law are they not? So you do not really think people violating the law is actually part of capitalism do you? Or do you think it is more like people trying to exploit capitalism or the people involved in it?