Snowden Demystified: Can the Government See My Junk?

An anonymous reader writes Comedian and journalist John Oliver set out to understand US Government surveillance in advance of the June 2015 expiration of section 215 of the Patriot Act. What resulted was a humorous but exceptionally journalistic interview of Edward Snowden which distilled the issues down in a (NSFW) way everyone can understand. Regardless of whether you view Snowden as a despicable traitor or an honorable whistleblower, it's worth a watch.

Comments

Re: Overrated

[timrod]

I think the "dick pics" line actually really works well. If you think about it from the perspective of the average person, a lot of people buy the NSA's statements that they don't care about the communications of most Americans and that PRISM is necessary to maintain security. After all, a lot of people post everything they do on Facebook or Twitter where anyone can see it.

One of the articles I read on this mentioned that even people who support or don't care about the NSA suddenly cared when they realized that the NSA can see the things they don't post on Facebook (nude pics, sexting, etc).

If framing the NSA's data collection programs as "dick pics" makes more people understand, then I'm all for it.

Re:Damn Youtube/uploader

[o_ferguson]

https://torrentz.eu/1791db990c...

Re:Damn Youtube/uploader

[o_ferguson]

Or the direct magnet, if you trust me: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:1791db990ce2031d523e3d015ae8206c738bbd8d&dn=Last.Week.Tonight.With.John.Oliver.S02E08.HDTV.x264-BATV%5Bettv%5D&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fopen.demonii.com%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexodus.desync.com%3A6969

Pedantic but Needed Suggestion

[eepok]

There is no "Patriot Act". It's called the USA PATRIOT Act and it must be remembered for what it is because what it stands for and what it spells out demonstrates the absolute inanity of the document and the (lack of) discussion when it was voted on.

USA PATRIOT stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.

It was proposed on October 23, 2001, passed by the House on October 24, passed by the Senate on October 25, and signed into law by President Bush on October 26. The Act amended 11 previously passed acts, 108 US Codes, and created 9 new US Codes. The bill itself was 342 pages long and it was passed in 3 days.

I don't think we have since learned our lesson, but at least there will be a historical record of our errors and how quickly we can be bullied into a political frenzy.

Re:Snowden needed the interruptions/lesson

[Chelloveck]

Actually Oliver was doing something very valuable with his interruptions. Forcing Snowden to refrain from technobabble that the general public would not get.

I agree. At first I thought Oliver was being a real jerk. He's always opinionated and blunt, but he seemed determined to be an asshole about it. It wasn't until he pulled out the dick pics that I actually figured out what he was doing. After that I thought it was a great interview, kept on-topic by constantly bringing it back to that one absurd fear -- "They" can see your dick. Literally and metaphorically. We're all exposed.

We've got people like Bruce Schneier interviewing Edward Snowden for all us geeky types who understand the technical issues. I think Oliver's interview boiled it down to something understandable by non-geeks. Lack of privacy means the NSA gets to look at your privates. That's something anyone can grasp.