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NSA: We Mulled Ending Phone Program Before Edward Snowden Leaks

Posted by samzenpus on from the we-meant-to-do-that dept.

Mark Wilson writes Edward Snowden is heralded as both a hero and villain. A privacy vigilante and a traitor. It just depends who you ask. The revelations he made about the NSA's surveillance programs have completely changed the face of online security, and changed the way everyone looks at the internet and privacy. But just before the whistle was blown, it seems that the NSA was considering bringing its telephone data collection program to an end. Intelligence officials were, behind the scenes, questioning whether the benefits of gathering counter-terrorism information justified the colossal costs involved. Then Snowden went public and essentially forced the agency's hand.

13 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Not everyone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The revelations did not change the way *I* looked at the Internet and privacy. It merely confirmed my well-justified suspicions.

    I think the same statement can be made by most people on slashdot, and by most technicians in general.

    The only people who were surprised were the technically ignorant.

    1. Re: Not everyone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why would anyone be so naive as to believe that a "goddamned piece of paper" would curtail this?

      The *only* force that prevents powerful institutions from abusing their power is public accountability. Any talk about oversight committees and the state of the law is pure air.

      If they are operating outside of the scrutiny of the public eye, it is *guaranteed* that they are doing something nefarious. That is how power works. To believe otherwise is to misunderstand human nature.

    2. Re:Not everyone by buchner.johannes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The revelations did not change the way *I* looked at the Internet and privacy. It merely confirmed my well-justified suspicions. I think the same statement can be made by most people on slashdot, and by most technicians in general. The only people who were surprised were the technically ignorant.

      There is a difference between suspecting and being looked at as paranoid, and everyone knowing something as a fact.

      --
      NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
    3. Re:Not everyone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The revelations did not change the way *I* looked at the Internet and privacy. It merely confirmed my well-justified suspicions. I think the same statement can be made by most people on slashdot, and by most technicians in general. The only people who were surprised were the technically ignorant.

      There is a difference between suspecting and being looked at as paranoid, and everyone knowing something as a fact.

      There is?

      Seems 99.999% of the population did exactly FUCK ALL after Snowden about their online privacy.

      Even when the tinfoil hatters are proven dead-nuts right, people don't give a shit. Watch and see as they wet their fucking pants over the first lady Prez, in all her corrupt glory.

      People are not just stupid. They fucking stupid. They're not even smart enough to know why they should give a shit.

  2. Sure you did.. by jaygridley · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Bullshit.

    1. Re:Sure you did.. by TheGavster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Even if the NSA was considering terminating these programs due to cost, that's not the same as terminating them because domestic surveillance exceeds the NSA's mandate. It's kind of like saying that we don't jail people for homosexuality because the prisons would cost too much: while the argument does end the injustice in the short term, it leaves open the possibility of it returning in a way that a moral argument doesn't.

      --
      "Because Science" is one step from "Because old book". Try "Because of my experiment testing my falsifiable assertion".
  3. This should be the common case, though. by shess · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Big deal. If you are running a program which costs money or time, you should be considering whether it is worth running periodically regardless of whether it's a program to collect phone data or bringing donuts to the office. If you aren't revisiting that decision, you're doing your job badly.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they're doing a good job. Just that "Oh, yeah, we considered cancelling that program" is a stupid comment which doesn't excuse anything. Most likely they kept the program more because you don't give up power and money once you have it, and they really didn't care about efficacy.

    1. Re:This should be the common case, though. by Jane+Q.+Public · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If you are running a program which costs money or time, you should be considering whether it is worth running periodically regardless of whether it's a program to collect phone data or bringing donuts to the office. If you aren't revisiting that decision, you're doing your job badly.

      Besides, I don't buy the line that Snowden "forced the agency's hand". I call bullshit. They could have done any number of things at that point: modify their program, reduce their program, or even eliminate it entirely. What they did instead was double down. That was THEIR decision, nobody else's. Trying to cast blame doesn't change that.

    2. Re:This should be the common case, though. by martin-boundary · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not a stupid comment, it's a comment designed to lull credulous people into thinking they're less evil than they really are. That's evil in itself of course, but is par for the course for a three letter agency - goes without saying, really.

  4. So now we're supposed to believe by presidenteloco · · Score: 4, Insightful

    that it's stopped.

    Mm hmmm.

    (google "disinformation")

    --

    Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
  5. uh huh by shentino · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nice to know that the value of american citizen's privacy never factored in, just the cost to the federal budget.

  6. Re:Told my girlfriend the same thing about the che by Cafe+Alpha · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No, the logic of the article is "now that she knows that I cheated I am forced to continue cheating forever, because F**K HER what makes her think she has a say. Because the guy who told on me is a traitor and we can't reward traitors. Also I'll send him to the hospital if he comes out of hiding"

    That's the logic of the article.

  7. GOOD NEWS EVERYONE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    NOTHING HAS CHANGED. The collection program is the tip of the iceberg. The comments and changes by Obama after the leaks leave the door wide open, only severing to deflect criticism and muddy the water with propaganda.