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WikiLeaks: NSA Eavesdropped On the Last Three French Presidents

Posted by Soulskill on from the enjoy-this-can-of-worms dept.

Earthquake Retrofit writes: The NY Times is reporting that WikiLeaks has released "material which appeared to capture officials in Paris talking candidly about Greece's economy, relations with Germany — and, ironically, American espionage." The information was leaked "a day before the French Parliament is expected to definitively pass a controversial security bill legalizing broad surveillance, particularly of terrorism suspects."

12 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Just doing their job. by EzInKy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The job of the NSA is to spy and if they don't spy on everything spyable they aren't doing their job. Can't even figure out why this would worthy of a ./ headline.

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    Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    1. Re:Just doing their job. by Nyder · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The job of the NSA is to spy and if they don't spy on everything spyable they aren't doing their job. Can't even figure out why this would worthy of a ./ headline.

      Maybe it is. But I'm pretty sure if the USA found out that the French had our Presidents office/phone bugged, we'd (the USA) would have a shit about it.

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      Be seeing you...
    2. Re:Just doing their job. by Gaygirlie · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Something being someone's job doesn't make it legal or acceptable.

    3. Re:Just doing their job. by antiperimetaparalogo · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The job of the NSA is to spy and if they don't spy on everything spyable they aren't doing their job. Can't even figure out why this would worthy of a ./ headline.

      I don't disagree with you, both about the NSA and "/.", even while i am a Greek (from the summary: "capture officials in Paris talking candidly about Greece's economy"). We Greeks spy on the French, they spy on us, we both spy on USA, USA spy on both of us...

      Few years ago we had a Greek spy captured by our friends the USA while spying them, we Greeks waited for a while until we captured a fine spy gentleman from USA spying us Greeks, and as friends and allies we solved this "little issue" like gentlemen do: we exchanged our spies and continued our fine relation (and spying on each-other)... no wikileaks shit, no drama... you send your diplomats to drink some Ouzo in Athens, we send ours for some bourbon, the thing was solved with mutual understanding that "shit happens"!

      What exactly most Slashdoters expect from NSA, to sing songs about world peace? They are spies, they spy!

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      Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
    4. Re:Just doing their job. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What's wrong with being a socialist?

    5. Re:Just doing their job. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Something being someone's job doesn't make it legal or acceptable.

      It is legal for the NSA to spy on foreigners. That is the only reason that they exist. Spying between nations is a good thing, because it means everyone knows more about each others intentions and motivations. Exactly a century ago, Europeans were slaughtering each other by the millions, in a world war that they bumbled into by misjudging each other, and because they were unaware of secret alliances that caused the military escalation to spin out of control. Some good spying could have prevented that.

    6. Re:Just doing their job. by someone1234 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That wouldn't stop the spying, only legalize it.

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      Patents Drive Free Software as Hurricanes Drive Construction Industry
    7. Re:Just doing their job. by Khyber · · Score: 1, Insightful

      It's called a discussion. Perhaps you should learn how one is structured in a civil manner.

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      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    8. Re:Just doing their job. by antiperimetaparalogo · · Score: 1, Insightful

      >> Your country owes money, your country needs to pay money. > I agree.

      What is this but pointless drivel? I mean, do you feel the need to assert everything you do or do not believe in?

      As a fellow Slashdoter already replied to you: "It's called a discussion. Perhaps you should learn how one is structured in a civil manner."!

      Some fellow Slashdoter wrote a reply to me (NOT anonymously), where he felt the need to remind me about this issue since i am a Greek (it was a bit off-topic -not much... the summary mentions "Greece's economy"-, but i also go very off-topic very often, so...), and since i try to always reply (especially to fellow Slashdoters, but even to anonymous like you!)... i replied!

      If i write to you "your country [you] owe[s] money, your country [you] need[s] to pay money" ("your country" means "you" as you understand), you will let it unanswered? I take it a little personal, because it is personal! Anyway, i repeat again a part of what the other Slashdoter wrote: "civil manner" !

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      Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
    9. Re:Just doing their job. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Times have changed. The EU was set up to prevent another war, and it worked. By being friends who trust each other and can work together. and who treat each other with the respect not to spy on each other's leaders, we have made wars unthinkable.

      The EU averts war through cooperation and trust. The US averts it through violence and economic might. The thing is, the EU is bigger than the US now, and China will be eventually too. The US should be looking to improve its relations with other nations, especially Europe where it has a lot of history.

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      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    10. Re:Just doing their job. by N1AK · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Spying between nations is a good thing, because it means everyone knows more about each others intentions and motivations.

      Bollocks. There's been plenty of spying since pretty much the moment secrets have existed; it hasn't stopped war, and the idea that if that spying had simply been 'better' everything would be different is completely lacking a compelling case.

      If we didn't have any spying then we'd have had no one claiming they had found evidence Saddam had WMD to justify the Iraq war; so explain exactly how the billions of dollars spent on spying helped us there.

      Even if you could find theoretical examples to try and demonstrate spying stopping wars it'd be worth nothing. The existence of spying will always be accompanied by counter-measures and misinformation which inherently limits the quality of spying.

  2. Fear of the past by Max_W · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I read that US is afraid that the Nazism (or National Socialism) will again return to the Western Europe and the Communism (or the USSR) to the Eastern Europe, and that is why it has to watch the European leaders carefully.

    On the other hand, if we must follow this absurd logic, we could be afraid that the USA will bring back the Slavery into the world. Were not ancient democratic Greece and democratic Rome based on slavery after all? Were not Slavery rampant in the USA still in 19th century?

    In my opinion, it is not possible to enter into the same river twice. And it would be much better to worry about the real problems, - the global pollution, mass unemployment, the life extinction on the planet, etc. But not the ridiculous ghosts of the past.