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The Intercept Releases First Batch Of New Docs Leaked By Snowden (theintercept.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the first-batch dept.

executioner quotes a report from The Intercept: The Intercept's first SIDtoday release comprises 166 articles, including all articles published between March 31, 2003, when SIDtoday began, and June 30, 2003, plus installments of all article series begun during this period through the end of the year. Major topics include the National Security Agency's role in interrogations, the Iraq War, the war on terror, new leadership in the Signals Intelligence Directorate, and new, popular uses of the internet and of mobile computing devices. You can download this batch directly here, or download the documents via Github.

12 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Panama Papers, Ed Snowden... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How about instead of this batch release nonsense we dump all of the data and get the public outrage all of the way at once, instead of spoonfeeding it to the masses at the controlling entities' behest?

    The public's collective memory is short.

    The thinking is that when you keep it in the news, no one will forget.

    Of course, that can backfire when everyone becomes numb to the stories.

  2. Nobody cares. by captaindomon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The most interesting thing to me about the whole Snowden thing, is that nobody really cares. The stuff that he leaked are things that most people thought were happening already. In general, the leaks got a kind of "meh" response from the world. What that says about the world is something to talk about, but I find it interesting that there's not really anything that interesting to the public. It's not like they found proof of alien autopsies or something. Just your normal "we're a spy agency run by the United States" type of stuff.

    --
    Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
    1. Re:Nobody cares. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's just fodder for the low political literacy crowd. The leftist nutjobs have put him on their "hero of the people" pedestal, the right-wing nutjobs wanted his head as soon as someone could frame the leak in a treasonous tone, meanwhile anyone with any familiarity with the PATRIOT act was already out of breath from half a decade of complaining that the exact kind of shit Snowden leaked was already legal.

    2. Re:Nobody cares. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't think it's quite accurate to say everybody thought this was going on. There have been studies showing that people are changing their behaviors online and are becoming more afraid to speak out on controversial issues as a result of the revelations. It would be more accurate to say that most simply don't care or think it's okay as opposed to the minority that do.

    3. Re:Nobody cares. by Wraithlyn · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Before the leaks: "LOL stupid conspiratard thinking the govt spies on everyone, put your tinfoil hat back on" (don't tell me you never saw sentiments like this)

      After the leaks: "Well duhh, of course the govt spies on everyone stupid. Everybody knows that, that's been common knowledge 4evar!"

      TL;DR there's always assholes saying "nothing to see here".

      --
      "Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
    4. Re:Nobody cares. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No. Everyone who used to argue with me about FBI and NSA spying has been very sheepish post Snowden. I don't even have to say "I told you so." And none of them want to defend the lies and subterfuge fed to the press by the security apparatus. None of them think electronic messages should be exempt from privacy and they don't really want to sneak off to the park and make sure they aren't followed to exercise what they were told in grade school was somehow "inalienable." We've been alienated. People care deeply, but they do not think the solution is within gov't. The solution being pursued is to up the game in the private sector. Movements like Let's Encrypt, Apple defaulting to secure crypto, WhatsApp deploying crypto, etc. Once people no long think the NSA is protecting them, they seek solutions outside their reach. They already know the agency is immune to Congressional oversight.

    5. Re:Nobody cares. by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 4, Interesting

      nobody cares because the press is afraid to do their jobs. they are spoon fed shit from the government and other Big Things(tm) and they are not going to bite the hand. this is how things have been for over 20 years, now. our press is castrated and useless.

      people are not told what is going on. how many people have read about the widespread h1b abuse? no one. every normie I talk to and tell this about, its all new to them. they act (and its real) like they never heard anything about this.

      the news does not do their job. they are like domesticated dogs. they learned that they could be wild and fight for food, or be tame and get food for just begging and being 'good' to humans. the media is called a lapdog and its not a coincidence.

      control the media and you control the message. our government learned that well and, sadly, executed well on it.

      our people are kept ignorant by 'news' and 'entertainment' (including sports and the latest R vs D distraction).

      they have it down to a science. they really do.

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    6. Re:Nobody cares. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      People do care. Privacy has become a selling point. Without Snowden I doubt that both major mobile operating systems would be going to unbreakable encryption by default, and strongly resisting attempts by governments and law enforcement to create back doors.

      The internet has changed a lot since Snowden. Encryption is a lot more common now. There is a sense of urgency that everything should be encrypted, from the most mundane web site to all communications. Look at the number of encrypted chat apps that exist now, and how most of the popular ones have implemented encryption.

      We always knew that GCHQ worked closely with the NSA, but he revelation that they are basically a subsidiary and guilty of many millions of crimes was still quite a shock to most people. It has lead to legal challenges and a proposed change in the law to make what they are doing legal, which has brought attention to the issue and a lot of on-going debate about it.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. Everyone in IT security cares. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you don't care, it suggests that you have no interest in computer security, which in turn suggests that this is probably the wrong forum for you.

    Snowden's revelations have had an absolutely massive worldwide effect on everyone in the industry, from the lowliest techie with an interest in their personal privacy and machine security, all the way up to the largest megacorps like Google and Apple. What's more, it has dramatically altered the encryption landscape in everyday computing, focused many developer minds on cryptography, and made TLS universal.

    To hear someone say "Nobody cares" is really kinda funny. While funny, the remark has no factual basis.

    1. Re: Everyone in IT security cares. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If the government can get into your stuff so can the criminals.. Even with the far out presumption that the two are always mutually exclusive.

    2. Re:Everyone in IT security cares. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Your lack of understanding is amusing.

      There is no technical difference between criminals getting into your stuff and the government getting into your stuff. Security is an equal opportunities provider.

      And that's why if you do not want criminals getting into your stuff and taking your money, you'd better be secure against all other parties gaining access too.

  4. Re:Yaaaawn by davester666 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yes, you can, idiot boy.

    It is valuable to know that the NSA was tracking every phone number dialed in America. Who called who.

    And yet, nobody was killed because we found out the NSA was doing this.

    Hell, the NSA thinks MAYBE all these phone numbers assisted with 2 terrorist related events. At least, that's what they told Congress, under oath.

    Of course, the FBI is going "whee!"

    --
    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!