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SXSW: Edward Snowden Swipes At NSA
Nerval's Lobster writes "In a Google Hangout with an auditorium full of South by Southwest attendees, government whistleblower (and former NSA employee) Edward Snowden suggested that encrypted communication should become more ubiquitous and easier to use for the majority of Internet denizens. 'The way we interact with [encrypted email and communications] is not good,' he said from somewhere within Russia, where he resides under the conditions of a one-year asylum. 'It needs to be out there, it needs to happen automatically, it needs to happen seamlessly.' For his part, Snowden still believes that companies should store user data that contributes directly to their respective business: 'It's not that you can't collect any data, you should only collect the data and hold it as long as necessary for the operation of the business.' He also couldn't resist some choice swipes at his former employer, accusing high-ranking intelligence officials Michael Hayden and Keith Alexander of harming the world's cyber-security—and by extension, United States national security—by emphasizing offensive operations over the defense of communications. 'America has more to lose than anyone else when every attack succeeds,' Snowden said. 'When you are the one country that has sort of a vault that's more full than anyone else's, it makes no sense to be attacking all day.'"
Edward snowden is a thief that we are putting up on a higher ledge that we do anyone else. He should have had his 15 minutes of fame already and then we should put him out to dry.
The NSA is a thief that we are putting up on a higher ledge that we do anyone else. They should have had their 15 minutes of fame already and then we should put them out to dry.
As a Canadian, what I'm not clear on is whether there are exact American laws dictating what the NSA can and cannot do? If there are laws, and they have been broken, can anyone be charged, and if not, why not?
I realize the standard answers involve political interference, corruption blah blah blah, but on a purely academic level is there a means to charge anyone with a crime?
Correction, Snowden was not an employee of the NSA, Snowden was a contractor.
And yes, there is a huge difference.
Few people ever really think about how they would have acted if they were German citizens around the 1930s. Most people would do nothing but move with the crowd and many would get caught up in the propaganda.
Few resisted or ran away, because it was easier to fall in line. Same situation today. The parallels exist for those who can think about it without being too influenced by the herd. We are encouraged to vilify the people who oppose the authority and to dogmatically (and thoughtlessly) adhere to authority. Orwell said it, in times of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. We are at that point, most people can see that both parties are functionally dead and it's all one big scam - with the people pointing it out being marginalized and the people making REAL impact are treated as insurgents (because truth alone is not enough in the information overload age, it has to have bite to get noticed.)
Godwin's law is for simpletons and Nazi sympathizers; prohibiting learning from history more than it stops the ignorant name calling rants (while true that the trolls seem hopeless to educate should we give up all chances to apply history because of them?)
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Clear to say there are some hot emotions on the subject.
Anyone who has served will have a natural tendendcy to follow and believe in what they were trained to do. It is part of the job. On occasion that blind faith leads to their own destruction literally or virtually, other times it leads to a successful mission where nobody is left behind. It does not have to be even in the military - it applies to any job where one put trust in something.
To invested what one invests on active duty requires the belief that one is joining a good cause. Nobody wants to find out that there was a big sham or violation of trust since depend on the ones up the lines to do THEIR job. You put your life on the line for those up the command line, and above all, your fellow mates.
There are many who to speak about death and violence onto others. Seldom is it done with understanding and compassion from those looking on. Which is why there are so many injust actions, or cry for actions, as most simply dramatize what they feel they ultimately deserve. Looking in a mirror and then shoot someone because of what they see in it is a very common practice.
This guy's afflicted with the "good government" syndrome. His country can do no wrong. Love it or leave it. Just like a good little Nazi.
Wait a second, what on earth is he speaking at SXSW for? Is he now considered an expert on national security? Typical sysadmin, thinking they know everything about how you should do your job, even if your job has nothing to do with administering systems.
From the screenshot I saw it looked like he was getting legal advice from Saul Goodman.
Nullius in verba
Google, Twitter and Facebook adding SSL is useless in face of third party doctrine effectively declaring you have no right to any privacy (e.g. "tangible thing") online even in communications between individuals.
We need viable alternatives to massive centralized systems controlled by a handful of multi-billion dollar media and advertising companies.
On state attacking the way I see it more attacks from all parties the more pressure on all to deploy secure systems... this is ultimately in everyone's best interests. Closer the day when cost for a systems exploit approaches infinity where only viable attacks are physical force, social engineering and coercion the better for all.
Low intensity "cyber war" is better than complacency yielding brittle systems contributing to some cheese laden Hollywood doomsday plot line.
It's completely telling the the only people that love Snowden are people that deal with computers all day.
Only people? You don't get out much do you?
Why would they have a classified system with filters in the first place if privacy wasn't a concern?
Why not? It's obviously no hindrance to operations. You could have armies of robotic bunnies singing the national anthem all day long, it would have the same impact.
Remember, the NSA does serve a defense purpose. There actually are dangerous elements in the world, with Russia being the obvious latest example.
Yeah, I'm sure Mrs. Jackson's grocery list is of utmost importance when unraveling the latest Russian plot. Not like the resources to plow through all that data could have been spent much smarter, they're endless and unsupervised after all. And while sifting through all that useless data, your friends over at Fort Meade got caught with their pants down, yet again. And not just a little tug that shows the top of their tighty whities, no, a complete drop to the ankles and off the one foot.
blah, blah blah blah
Yeah, I stopped reading, your opinion is after all insignificant and irrelevant in the grand socialist scheme of things.
... whatever
The shill pickings must be really slim for NSA these days for them to recruit someone who can't tell the difference between his own country and a socialist system.
... whatever
Ok, I respect the guy for leaking what has been going on. I understand his need to not come back for awhile, and I dont blame him.
But when the dumbshit starts lecturing us all about how we all need to do things differently, how business should do this, how govt should do that, how private people should do this or that - he can go fuck himself.
Its like he's starting to take the attitude (shared by many college kiddies) of being on some sort of pedestal from which he can see over all of our heads and ~he~ knows how things should ~really~ be. Fucking ridiculous. That crap is only going to get him reviled, just like the idiot college brats who pull that shit. His ego overfloweth.
Surrender eDWard..
SXSW & Snowden: Goss, that a hipster's match made in heaven?
Of course, no comments on the OP? Everyone afraid of the gov't listening in on /. ?
Full of hipsters, "Makers" and trashy music.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
Me? Nothing. Why?
That giant whooshing sound is you not getting what is implied in my italicized question.
Even though we all know that all of our email is being read... email client support for encryption in many cases is still bad or non-existent.
Seamless and automatic SSL is what office denizens and school kids get, but they get a MITM for the ease of use.
Now Russia says it will continue to extend asylum protections to Snowden and won't send him back home.
(http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/24/world/europe/russia-snowden/ - of all sources...)
SXSW is a tradeshow & alot of the "keynote" speaking slots are for sale. It's a revenue stream for SXSW: keynotes get alot of press for their product therefore there is value to trade. Not that Snowden would have to pay to be a "keynote" speaker but it's possible.
To go another level, I don't trust anything about the Snowden Narrative from the ***very beginning*** It's fishy as hell, from the Russian poled-dancing girlfriend to his repeated wearing of the same two shirts...on the face of it the whole thing was backwards.
Yes. This is a fact that alot of fanbois want to ignore. We all may be happy about the increased awareness of gov't spying, but that doesn't mean we turn off our brains entirely.
IMHO Snowden was/is being blackmailed. He may have had nothing but good intentions but it's obvious that he's getting worked.
Thank you Dave Raggett
this of course does not prevent them from doing it. So, in short, in answer to the GP: no, there is no way for anyone abusing his power and violating the 4th amendment to be punished. There is a vague constitution amendment and a supreme court interpreting it as it wishes, but there are laws specifying punishments when the constitution is ignored here.
Ultimately, nothing within the NSA leaks actually show any abuse of power.
Right, like looking at non-criminal targets' sexually explicit webcam photos.
Thanks for your opinion, government drone. People like you are the real traitors because you don't want others to have opinions that are different from yours/the hive mind. You are anti-freedom.
Metadata about you is unimportant and can be obtained by an NSA/FBI/DEA/police/dog-catcher letter saying "please".
Metadata about the NSA is CLASSIFIED NATIONAL SECURITY NOFORN BURN-BEFORE-READING SOURCES AND METHODS that COULD TELL TERRORISTS HOW TO KILL YOUR MAMA and needs to be protected from anybody untrusted, like you, or journalists, or the American public, or the Congresscritters that set their budget.
It's really not that hard, citizen!
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
The US constitution covers "people" not "Americans" - it is generally taken to include any "US Person", including visitors, students, businesspeople, and others while on US territory, such as myself
Members of any organization need to be responsible for the actions of that organization and the role they play allowing that to happen, regardless of how small that role may be. The opposite of this is called "corruption."