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LinkedIn Used To Create Database of 27,000 US Intelligence Personnel

An anonymous reader writes: A new group, Transparency Toolkit, has mined LinkedIn to reveal and analyze the resumes of over 27,000 people in the U.S. intelligence community. In the process, Transparency Toolkit said it found previously unknown secret codewords and references to surveillance technologies and projects. "'Transparency Toolkit uses open data to watch the watchers and hold the powerful to account,' the group's website says. 'We build free software to collect and analyze open data from a variety of sources. Then we work with investigative journalists and human rights organizations to turn that into useful, actionable knowledge. Currently, our primary focuses are investigating surveillance and human rights abuses.'"

82 comments

  1. First Post - New Computer Language ? by randalware · · Score: 2

    unknown code words ?

    Has a strange new computer language been discovered ?

    or just "forth" subroutines !

    Go Forth and factor !

    --
    This is my opinion based on what little I know and understand of the rumors and lies Thanks, Randal
    1. Re:First Post - New Computer Language ? by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      unknown code words ?

      How can they tell the difference between a new unknown codeword and a typo? For that matter, is CLOUD SYNERGY a secret program or a marketing term?

      (If you want to create the ultimate hiding-in-plain-view secret program, start it with the ACTION ITEM view controller driving ELEVATOR PITCH monitoring devices built on PARADIGM SHIFT technology with STRATEGIC ROLE functionality and optional COMPETITOR STRATEGY and BIG PICTURE modules, all tied together via CRITICAL PATH and CUSTOMER FOCUS software. 50% of people reading it will fall asleep and the other 50% will have their heads explode, while you can get on with recording everyone's phonecalls and figuring out how to get Congress to mandate video cameras in bedrooms).

    2. Re:First Post - New Computer Language ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      If you have a sizable chunk of 27000 folks misspelling the same exact $THING, then it might just be something that the general public hasn't heard about but is known in the inner circles of these organizations.

  2. Riiight... by Etherwalk · · Score: 3, Funny

    So it's mining for a mix of deliberate misinformation and incompetence?

    I mean, couldn't you just get that from Congress?

    1. Re:Riiight... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      It depends how the US saw its needs been met for a massive in flow of university skill sets over decades.
      Every applicant would face same database search- state and federal, a interview with family, friends depending on the position, contractor, gov, mil.
      Historically that could be done as part of the draft or national service 'testing' for math, languages in some countries.
      Other nations just had vast university networks to feed in their maths, science, anthropology, language, computer science, psychology skill sets as needed.
      Nations my opt to use front companies or cut outs of keep skill sets in a business, faith, academic or telco setting.
      The other option is just to have national advertising that shows the clandestine services are looking for staff, have a go with your life story and you might make the interview stage. Top public service wages and condition mentioned, broad areas of interest to the gov (languages, math) but few other details.
      The good news about that massive approach is it keeps everybody guessing as to the final intake needs for that year or decade.
      The US seems to have two huge issues. Attracting the very top university students and keeping them over decades.
      Wages and good conditions where something the US could always offer and the UK had to learn to offer beyond the 1970's.
      The other issue is ensuring enough publicity as students exit an academic setting and enter the wider US work force. The US crypto and other US mil/gov related clandestine services have to position themselves as been a well paying, long term alternative to anything in the public or private sector and ensure a lot of students saw that message every year..
      The massive needs for the US gov and mil to draw new people in with needed skills, other nations ideas about using hidden methods to suggest options in the gov/mil as part of an academic setting.
      Part of that would be a new social media and contractor based employment network to show how fun and easy changing jobs, contractors could be. Word would spread that getting a clearance was not very hard, that listing work done was allowed and opened up a lot of new opportunities.
      The US had a different way of creating interest in and keeping a flow of expert staff for its clandestine services.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:Riiight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bingo, I'm sure I'm in that DB, and in some ways, want to be.

  3. I recall this technique during the Snowden leaks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    e.g. you search for one of the tools Snowden refers to, and it leads to CVs with those skills on it, which mentions others:

    https://www.linkedin.com/pub/jason-miller/39/741/a49

    "Skilled in the use of several Intelligence tools and resources: ANCHORY, AMHS, NUCLEON, TRAFFICTHIEF, ARCMAP, SIGNAV, COASTLINE, DISHFIRE, FASTSCOPE, OCTAVE/CONTRAOCTAVE, PINWALE, UTT, WEBCANDID, MICHIGAN, PLUS, ASSOCIATION, MAINWAY, FASCIA, OCTSKYWARD, INTELINK, METRICS, BANYAN, MARINA"

    I bet Monster.com would be a real gold mine for similar info.

  4. Re:Someone has a death wish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Just sayin' [...]

    Are you threatening me?

  5. Is it better to be visible? by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    When you decide to dedicate part of your life to annoy powerful people who regularly break the law and later become immune to the consequences, at some point you have to decide whether to try to be invisible, risking a mistake that could make you disappear; or trying to be as visible as possible, to make it too cumbersome to dispose of you.

    I wonder how does one take that decision.

    1. Re:Is it better to be visible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The guild is called the Anonymous Coward.

    2. Re:Is it better to be visible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Making yourself visible isn't a viable option. Even if you're whiter than white they will 'find' something to tie you up in legal battles or force you to take refuge in a foreign embassy.

    3. Re:Is it better to be visible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Making yourself invisible to an all seeing enemy doesn't really work either.

      Lets face it, its still our fucking government, we shouldn't fear them. We should stand up while there is still time.

    4. Re:Is it better to be visible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is only better to be visible if you have massive amount of dirt on the powerful that will be release on your death and they know it.

    5. Re:Is it better to be visible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you've got that information you're probably on the other side of the fence already

    6. Re:Is it better to be visible? by pornoindirmobil.com · · Score: 1

      En ksa süre içerisinde ingilizce örenip buralardan bir eyler örenmek istiyorum.

    7. Re:Is it better to be visible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I wonder how does one take that decision."
      Fast.
      Or it's made for you.

  6. weugfow owi[foef paqowkde by djfuq · · Score: 0

    jdpioqedj poqjwpo opqkwdpokd ck,xc did this for 7 years aksjdnaksjdbnlakjsdbnalsjkdhalsjhkdas and stuff. used iushdusdh. implemented jaskasjdh for the SASSHACA did zoisdjio and more money was saved by making sdfiushdfudhf.

    --
    Dj fuQ [url="http://djfuq.org"]djfuq urges you to listen to the beats[/url] [url="http://djfuq.org"]http://djfuq.org[
    1. Re:weugfow owi[foef paqowkde by nathan+s · · Score: 1

      So now we know you prefer a QWERTY keyboard layout...dox are on the way!

    2. Re:weugfow owi[foef paqowkde by Thanshin · · Score: 1

      By his chosen name, "djfuq", we also know some other things:
      - he's a dj
      - he fucks
      - he's dyslexic

      Our artist is finishing a sketch at this very moment.

  7. Yes by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    Everyone mentioning "area 51" or "the Philadelphia experiment" must be a member of the intelligence community

    1. Re:Yes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everyone mentioning "area 51" or "the Philadelphia experiment" must be a member of the intelligence community

      YOU just mentioned them, so by your own standards...Are you in the FBI? CIA? NSA?

    2. Re:Yes by Entrope · · Score: 1

      Yeah, data quality in this seems pretty poor. It looks like the only "useful"/interesting fields are -- no surprise -- the skill and contact lists. Most of these resumes only have matching keywords under skills, and I would guess the only useful thing you can do with the data set is social network analysis. The data is also practically anti-normalized: Most of the fields for a given user are repeated for each position that a person has held, so grepping for things turns up way more hits than it should.

      I suspect that LinkedIn's keyword search functions tried to be "helpful" but ended up pulling in a bunch of iffy results. There are -- purported -- people in there named "1 2" and "DC SECURITY CLEARANCE CONSULTANTS, LLC.". There are at least a few people listed in the 'EQUATION_(Group)'_SIGINT list whose only connection to the spy world seems to be an interest in differential equations. Other people, in lots of the lists, worked directly or indirectly for the US Government in the past -- but the keyword hits are for unrelated positions. You can probably guess which distillery has an awful lot of employees who don't seem to have ever done government work, but are still listed in 'MAKERS_MARK'_SIGINT. And no points for guessing what popular software development methodology lumps a lot of people into 'AGILEVIEW'_SIGINT (even without "view" being anywhere in their resume or position history).

  8. Morons by pbjones · · Score: 1

    only a moron would include 'Unknown Code Words' and 'references to surveillance technologies and projects' in a resume. Seems to be over 27,000 of them.

    --
    There was an unknown error in the submission.
    1. Re:Morons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but they aren't the winners in the moron category here. that goes to the three complete idiots that did the dirty work here. their prize is a lifetime of attention from some of those same 27,000 people or their current/former superiors.

    2. Re:Morons by codeButcher · · Score: 0

      only a moron would include 'Unknown Code Words' and 'references to surveillance technologies and projects' in a resume. Seems to be over 27,000 of them.

      Which part of "intelligence community" don't you understand? :-)

      --
      Free, as in your money being freed from the confines of your account.
    3. Re:Morons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which part of "intelligence community" don't you understand? :-)

      Yes, they're all `special'.

  9. Was this used at DEF CON? by Mal-2 · · Score: 2

    Were LinkedIn profiles used in the little games of Spot The Fed at DEF CON? Seems that if you could tie someone to their profile, you could determine a lot more about them than they're actually willing to tell you directly.

    --
    How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
  10. Three of a kind is what is needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So we got the rapist at bay
    Got the traitor at bay
    Got the tranny at bay

    What we need is to consolidate

    We need to get at bay a rapist who is a traitor who is a tranny

    Then we can proclaim

    MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

    Thank you for your support

  11. Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Viol8 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Or maybe draw up a list of Islamic militants and post it. Oh, they won't? Why is that then? A bit scared of what might happen? Boo hoo.

    Typical 21st century armchair warriors, pick on easy targets and make it look like you're a hero Sticking It To The Man when you know you're really living in a comfy democracy where nothing particularly bad is going to happen to you. Try doing the same in various other countries around the world and see how long it is before someone kicks down your door at 3am and your family never see you again.

    1. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Maybe they don't care? Maybe the Islamic militant nor the russian or north korean guys have no influence over what happens in their daily life and the US intelligence community does? Hell, how fucking many Islamic militants can you find on linkedIn?

      I can accept that my neighbors car runs worse than mine, doesn't mean I shouldn't take care of mine until it runs like my neighbors.

    2. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      At least the Islamic militants do not pretend that they are there to create peace, liberty and democracy.

    3. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by stephanruby · · Score: 2

      Or maybe draw up a list of Islamic militants and post it. Oh, they won't? Why is that then? A bit scared of what might happen? Boo hoo.

      Yes, you're right.

      Islamic militants post their resume on LinkedIn in perfect American English with all the right keywords to make sure ISIS's clueless Human Resources minions don't throw their resumes in the trash by mistake.

      It also helps that when they decapitate someone in an online video, they hire someone to close caption the video, translate it, and make sure all the names of the participants, from the executioner, down to the make up artists, and the fashion consultants, get clearly written into the credits (because like they say in Hollywood, if my name is not in the credits, I will f___g kill you).

    4. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a fascist apologist.

    5. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or maybe draw up a list of Islamic militants and post it. Oh, they won't? Why is that then? A bit scared of what might happen? Boo hoo.

      Typical 21st century armchair warriors, pick on easy targets and make it look like you're a hero Sticking It To The Man when you know you're really living in a comfy democracy where nothing particularly bad is going to happen to you. Try doing the same in various other countries around the world and see how long it is before someone kicks down your door at 3am and your family never see you again.

      Yet here you are, in your armchair picking safe fights with people on a harmless Internet forum. Bravo.

    6. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Viol8 · · Score: 1

      Russians and north koreans are brown are they? Or is everyone outside 'merica "brown" to you?

    7. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

      Or maybe draw up a list of Islamic militants and post it. Oh, they won't? Why is that then? A bit scared of what might happen? Boo hoo.

      Yes, you're right.

      Islamic militants post their resume on LinkedIn in perfect American English with all the right keywords to make sure ISIS's clueless Human Resources minions don't throw their resumes in the trash by mistake.

      It also helps that when they decapitate someone in an online video, they hire someone to close caption the video, translate it, and make sure all the names of the participants, from the executioner, down to the make up artists, and the fashion consultants, get clearly written into the credits (because like they say in Hollywood, if my name is not in the credits, I will f___g kill you).

      Right. Just like US intelligence personnel post their "code words" on LInkedIn, oblivious of the mad skillz of the lefties..

    8. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by moeinvt · · Score: 1

      When Islamic militants start a social network, I'm sure people will be interested in mining it.

      If we're in such a nice comfy "democracy" why don't we have complete transparency in government? How are government personnel able to engage in blatant criminal activity without fear of consequences?

      Cheers to these guys. There should be a searchable database of ALL employees of the government we're paying for.

    9. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by coofercat · · Score: 2

      ...or maybe they're helping expose the morally-bankrupt twats what work in the security services? If everyone thought less of the 'intelligence community' than they do of their local estate agent or lawyer or whatever, then maybe, just maybe we'd bet the intelligence community we want rather than one that's way too big and way too intrusive and has it's head way too far up its own arse.

    10. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by fustakrakich · · Score: 1

      There should be a searchable database of ALL employees of the government we're paying for.

      The janitor is a Soviet spy.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    11. Re: Now do the same for Russian & NK? by DeafScribe · · Score: 1

      These 21st century "armchair warriors" exist because they're striving to prevent further decline toward *becoming* one the countries that steal people away at night. It's not about sticking it to the Man so much as it is about maintaining accountability. If we held people who start wars of aggression accountable, maybe we wouldn't have quite so many problems with terrorists. Ignoring and or minimizing the domestic side of the issue isn't helpful.

    12. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Vitriol+Angst · · Score: 1

      It's not 100% safe, or hadn't you been tracking the state of Whistle-blowers or people in the press who get imprisoned? Whether it's just "more free" than Russia but less free than Norway and we can pat ourselves on the back or not -- the assumption that secret organizations keeping us safe without any oversight is anti-Democratic. America is better than Russia BECAUSE of the ACLU and other organizations and individuals that stand up to secrecy and how people are treated. The only thing we know is what we know and can measure -- everything else is an assumption. And we are told they are keeping us safe. Either they believe Democracy doesn't work because "we can't handle the truth" or they aren't working for us and just lie. I think there are a lot of people in this country who feel "you can't handle the truth" and they somehow feel like they are better qualified because we are naive; the enemy will take any advantage and won't hesitate to harm us if they can. I understand that kind of enemy; they think a lot like the "you can't handle the truth" people. I think the world is made up of "live and let live" and the cynical; "stab you in the back first" people. We can only win the hearts and minds of the former and hope they have influence on the latter.

      Being subversive and using Linked-In to track the people who track you seems like a very patriotic thing do. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander. If the intelligence community doesn’t like being outed, perhaps they should revisit the 4th Amendment.

      I just hope NOT posting this anonymously, doesn't hurt my credit rating -- you just don't know in this day and age how someone in power with no oversight can affect your life.

      --
      >>"ad space available -- low rates!!!"
    13. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Germans are ok.

    14. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right. Just like US intelligence personnel post their "code words" on LInkedIn, oblivious of the mad skillz of the lefties..

      Then there is really no problem if that's the case.

      It certainly wouldn't be the first time that unrealistic click-bait made it all the way to the front page of Slashdot.

    15. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 1

      If you think the publisher in the OP were picking a fight then you obviously have anger management issues and an inability to distinguish a threat from a disagreement. I'd recommend you seek help before you get into trouble on the street.

      You get it now?

    16. Re:Now do the same for Russian & NK? by Maritz · · Score: 1

      "picking a fight" on an internet forum is not a "threat". But then, you know that - you just went ahead and said it anyway, because you thought it suited your purposes at that moment. In truth, it just highlights that you're unreasonable and/or a troll.

      --
      I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  12. Found the original 2013 article on this: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://sploid.gizmodo.com/job-networking-site-linkedin-filled-with-secret-nsa-pro-514057863

  13. Re:Someone has a death wish by BlueStrat · · Score: 2

    Just sayin'. Don't those guys know that you don't antagonize the mighty and powerful, especially when they have armies of gun-toting thugs at their disposal, the ability to utterly destroy anyone's life financially, the power to detain anyone for an indefinite amount of time, suspend all of your rights without even needing to tell you why and abosolute immunity for any wrongdoing? And should I mention that they have shown no fear at all about using those powers? And that the vast majority of the populace and the media supports them? There's bravery and there is stupidity. This is just stupidity.

    That's what has been said to those intent on change right before every sea-change in government/leadership.

    It's a numbers game a government cannot win without first destroying the people's will to resist. If it were a matter of simple firepower, practically no revolution or rebellion from history would ever have succeeded.

    Any single individual can hurt, be it ever so slight, an entire government of many thousands (Snowden), but that government of many thousands can only hurt that single individual, and can only kill him/her once.

    If even just a significant fraction of the population decided "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ...was their new mission statement, the government would fall. The military, being composed of volunteers from the same population, would at the very least fracture, and possibly refuse for the most part to engage US citizens on the civilian leaders' behalf.

    Strat

    --
    Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
  14. It's ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ... Lets face it, its still our fucking government, we shouldn't fear them. We should stand up while there is still time ...

    Too fukin' late

  15. This is at least two years old by wiredog · · Score: 4, Informative
  16. Actionable Knowledge by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What are they going to do? Cover my granny-grocery-shopping helping, double-life having, answer-to-the-question-seeking neighbor's house with toilet paper?

  17. Dumb people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I work in the defense industry. They discourage even having a LinkedIn profile for this reason.

    1. Re:Dumb people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If a person needs to be TOLD to not do this, then it seems insane to me that they have a job which doesn't involve asking "do you want fries with that?".

    2. Re:Dumb people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As do I, for several decades, and have never heard anyone discouraging that.

    3. Re:Dumb people by hax4bux · · Score: 1

      I also support DoD. This is not about social media, we are expected to be careful in all forums.

  18. Re:Someone has a death wish by funkymonkjay · · Score: 2

    That's the sort of mentality they want us sheeps to have. I for one applaud these white knights of data mining.
    Bottom line, these "intelligence" folks had either the nerve or stupidity to post their super secret clandestine code names then they deserve to be smacked down.

  19. Re:Someone has a death wish by cavreader · · Score: 1

    And if these guys are not subjected to any of the bad consequences you listed would you be willing to reevaluate your arguments?

  20. Seriously? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1
    After numerous invitations to join LinkedIn, I started to sign up. Then I get to the point where they ask for my email password! Turns out that LinkedIn data mines your address book, then sends out invitations to all in it. I run a couple special interest groups, and I know when any member joins LinkedIn, because the Sig mail address gets an invitation

    Just between us billy goats gruff, there is no legitimate service that demands your password, that it is foolish to think they aren't reading everything that you email, and perhaps you should check with your ISP or employer if its okay to give out your password.

    I simply cannot fathom any DOD employees being allowed to use LinkedIn, period.

    Or anyone else for that matter

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re: Seriously? by cs668 · · Score: 1

      When I signed up I did not have to do that. It was an optional convenience feature and I said nope.

    2. Re: Seriously? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      When I signed up I did not have to do that. It was an optional convenience feature and I said nope.

      Problem is twofold - a lot of people are not clever enough to realize they are giving LinkeIn access to at least their mail, and the same dummies are probably even their whole computer.

      THe other is optional or not, its a slimy organization that would even ask for that access.

      So no thank you.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re:Seriously? by Entrope · · Score: 1

      You should write a letter. Or file a lawsuit. I'm sure that the US court system would show all due appreciation for your desire to prevent people from exercising their freedom to associate with LinkedIn.

    4. Re:Seriously? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      You should write a letter. Or file a lawsuit. I'm sure that the US court system would show all due appreciation for your desire to prevent people from exercising their freedom to associate with LinkedIn.

      Huh? Hey muchacho, stupid people are gonna be stupid. I personally don't care, even though I won't violate the TOS of my ISP ot the policy of my employer by handing out both my email and it's password. for what is really a phishing expedition.

      However, I'm not above warning others that if you are handing out your password to complete strangers, you might as well not have one.

      I would have serious questions about hiring someone for a sensitive position that would hand out their company email without a thought. Just imagine the mischief a person could make. Already you have people who don't think real hard about what they write, you then phish for everyone else in their address book, which would of course include co-workers. Eventually given the old "Kevin Bacon game" scenario, you could end up having access to most all of a company's email system, both users and passwords. Just depends on the average stupidity level.

      But if you want to do that, have at it. Even if it is grounds for dismissal at some places. At the last place I worked, you were not allowed to give out your password to anyone anywhere. Be that Social engineering spam, Wells Fargo or fake ISP notices, or your husband or wife.

      Or LinkedIn.

      That you apparently don't have a problem with the practice it already tells me much about you.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    5. Re:Seriously? by Entrope · · Score: 1

      You must be one of those stupid people who are going to be stupid, because as someone else explained to you even before my earlier comment, LinkedIn does not require its users to submit any password for any email account. You are making entirely unwarranted (and stupid) assumptions about what other people have done, and then using those faulty assumptions to argue about what people should be allowed to do.

    6. Re:Seriously? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      You must be one of those stupid people who are going to be stupid, because as someone else explained to you even before my earlier comment, LinkedIn does not require its users to submit any password for any email account.

      Your assessment of my stupidity doesn't change the fact that people are giving LinkedIn access to their email. It doesn't matter if its optional, because its happening.

      Tell me, if you had a business, and an email system, you'd be okay with your employees handing out their passwords?

      You are making entirely unwarranted (and stupid) assumptions about what other people have done, and then using those faulty assumptions to argue about what people should be allowed to do.

      I get several emails every week with datamined invitations to LinkedIn. These come from the accounts of people who have allowed LinkedIn access to their email. LinkedIn is sending email to everyone in their address book, and sending it as that person.

      Hard to imagine a person calling me stupid because I tell people to avoid doing that.

      Hard to imagine me being stupid because of a belief that a company that is slimy enough to do that might have other unethical tricks up its sleeve.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    7. Re:Seriously? by Entrope · · Score: 1

      Are you getting those invitations from people with security clearances? If so, try letting their security officers know -- security@example.org, or whatever domain name they used. They will almost certainly get a dressing down, will probably get written up, and everyone else at the site or company will get a sternly worded reminder (in addition to their annual training) never to share their passwords with anyone, for any reason.

      You complain loudly that people with clearances shouldn't do that, but so far you have not even asserted that they have done that -- only that some people on the Internet do -- much less provided so much as an anecdote to convince anyone that they gave their password to LinkedIn. That's most of why I called you and your argument stupid. The other part is that you jumped straight from "LinkedIn lets you do something stupid" to "I simply cannot fathom any DOD employees being allowed to use LinkedIn, period", and that's missing a whole chain of implications to support the conclusion.

    8. Re:Seriously? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      You complain loudly that people with clearances shouldn't do that, but so far you have not even asserted that they have done that

      I'm not certain why on earth you would assume that I'm only talking about DOD.

      No one anywhere should to that. If you don't know why it's a stupid thing for anyone, anywhere to do that, I can't help you on that. Not much use in having a password at all if you voluntarily hand it out ot strangers.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    9. Re:Seriously? by Entrope · · Score: 1

      I know perfectly well why it's a stupid thing to do, regardless of whether one has a security clearance or even any significant access to trade secrets, export-controlled materials, or anything similar. I can't convince strangers about that, though, and I haven't been on the receiving end of such spam, so I don't have a solution for the general problem. I do think it is spectacularly stupid to jump, as you did, from "LinkedIn has an entirely optional way for you to give them control of your email" to "DOD employees should not be allowed to use FaceBook, period". My way of fighting that particular stupidity is to call you on it.

    10. Re:Seriously? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I do think it is spectacularly stupid to jump, as you did, from "LinkedIn has an entirely optional way for you to give them control of your email" to "DOD employees should not be allowed to use FaceBook, period". My way of fighting that particular stupidity is to call you on it.

      I think you are reading something in to my posts that I never said. Seeing how you used quotes, I am assuming that you are saying that I wrote exactly what you quoted..

      Just in case I had made a typo, I went back and re-read my posts in this thread. I never mentioned Facebook at all. Much less your quotation. So why are you accusing me of making some kind of jump from LinkdIn to Facebook?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    11. Re:Seriously? by Entrope · · Score: 1

      Facebook was a typo. Please excuse my brain for substituting one social networking site for another one. Do you get so easily butthurt because you're an oversensitive moron, or because you're a troll?

    12. Re:Seriously? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1
      That was no typo. You don't even know what a typo is. Seriously, did you graduate High School?

      All i did was catch your lie, and called you on it. Yer pwnd, and you are a liar. What's that like Entrope? As for butthurt, frankly, you made my day.

      Just in case you didn't catch it, Entrope, you are a liar.

      And that, little man, is something you can quote me on.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    13. Re:Seriously? by Entrope · · Score: 1

      I apparently know better than you what a typo is.

      I regret thinking you had any intention of arguing in good faith, and shall not make that mistake again.

  21. LookingGlass rings a bell by Gim+Tom · · Score: 1

    Wasn't LookingGlass the call sign of the SAC dooms day command air craft during the height of the cold war? There is a touch of irony if so.

  22. Launch codes by linear+a · · Score: 1

    I guess I should take those nuclear launch codes off my LinkedIn page. Remind me to get around to that sometime.

    1. Re:Launch codes by linear+a · · Score: 1

      Too funny. I just got an email saying that "people are looking at your LinkedIn profile". "This member chose to be shown as anonymous".

  23. Finally, a hiring black list! by thedarb · · Score: 1

    May they never be able to get a job on the outside ever again! The price you pay for betraying your country and spying on your own.

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    This sig intentionally left blank.
  24. Slashdotted, or taken down? by Mocko · · Score: 1

    https://transparencytoolkit.or...

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