Jumping Jedis!! Why didn't you tell me before? If the Death Star is coming and we have to evacuate the planet, I'm taking Agent Scully and 7 of 9 with me on the next outbound starship. We'll rendezvous at the nearest Battlestar. Forget Mulder, he can hitch a ride with the Vorlons or the Vulcans.
Strawman. Nobody in Congress knows its about 4 orders of magnitude too big to be just for metadata.
Yes, your post is a strawman. Nobody claims that the data center is there just to store metatdata except cranks lining up strawmen. The NSA has world-wide responsibilities for signals intelligence of all types for the US. They aren't just storing metadata from US phone records. The very idea is nonsense.
You might recall that there are about 200 countries on the planet. Most of them have armed forces. There are many terrorist groups. The NSA is responsible for knowing about them. That might involve a little data.
I'll make no bones about it--I think "Cold Fjord" is a paid forum-manipulator. I can only guess who actually pays him.
You seem to have a problem with obsession. Are you currently unmedicated against medical advice. You might find these links helpful.
Also, since I stated my beliefs about "Cold Fjord", my past posts are slowly but surely being moderated into the negative, where many of those posts were +2-3 territory originally. I've also not had a single post moderated over +2 since then, nor do I ever see the actual reason for the moderation (insightful, etc) unless I am in the negative.
You don't suppose it's because you keep posting this nonsense that makes you look like a crank? Are you unique and special in the moderation your posts "deserve?"
As I've stated in a previous post... I suspect "Cold Fjord" of having at least 2 other accounts--they all use Northern European references--so, if you do the math, posting at the rate he has been with this account, on 3 accounts, he has a full week of work doing nothing but posting on Slashdot.
The idea you are tripping up on is "artist's concept" - (Wikipedia & Wired) versus technical blueprints - (Forbes).
Engineers build off of blueprints, not an artist's concept. If you bother to study the blueprints you see that some of the items in the concept moved in the actual design of the buildings.
I see. So you are standing by the graphical representation in Wikipedia as the basis for dismissing the engineering drawings in the Forbes article? (Your post does nothing in terms of providing evidence one way or the other, but simply acts as a distraction from the nonsense in your previous post.)
If you look at the background material, the fusion centers perform intelligence analysis and information sharing among multiple agencies. They aren't big datacenters like the one in the story.
Does that building layout look anything like the one at the top of the linked Forbes article? The picture of the buildings and the layout right above are a match in the Wikipedia article, yet they don't match the plans in the Forbes article.
So where is this data center that Forbes has the plans to? They're obviously not the same.
So it surprises you that the etch-a-sketch drawings in the Wikipedia article don't match professional engineering documents? It looks like nobody is going to slip anything past you.
Scary they can build that and nobody in Congress knows yet.
Right, "nobody" in Congress knows that NSA is building that big data center. Not even the Congress members that have it in their districts.
They all think its for the *disclosed* metadata, but it can't possibly be, its far too big.
The NSA has responsibility for signal intelligence world-wide. You may recall from the news that the program involving phone records tied to direct communications with terrorists is a minor program involving only $20,000,000. Don't let your brainstorm carry you away to crank conspiracy theories.
He just wanted the 'big disappointment' soundbite onto his Slashdot obfuscation post.
I'm sure that made sense if you're drunk blogging.
No entity on earth should have such gigantic datacenters dedicated to spying everyone whether they are american or not. The very nature of those activities no matter their scale is already crossing the line and shall not be tolerated.
The US is the easy case. Until you find a way to get China, North Korea, Iran, (oppressive regime X), et al. to give them up, and various terrorist groups to stop attacking*, you're going to be stuck with it. If you are going to be stuck with it, the free democratic nations need intelligence agencies that are capable of helping to protect their societies. That brings you back to the US and its allies which cooperate to defend each other. Unilateral disarmament in the face of aggression tends to have significant negative consequences. Nothing will change for the good unless there is a better reason and plan than, "I don't like it, I don't want it."
* And make no mistake about the terrorist groups, they have their own independent agendas. They are not simply reacting to Europe or the Anglosphere. Al Qaida wants to reestablish the Islamic Caliphate government that was dissolved after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, and conquer the world for Islam.
I'm a narcissist who plans overthrowing the old word order from my island bunker somewhere in the South Pacific;) (.au).
LOL. Personally, I like the sound of that. I really must look into getting one of those island bunkers for myself.;) Of course, maybe a cabin in the outback will do until I can afford it.
I expect that it is because it makes it easier for people to relate to the enormous numbers being talked about while both innumeracy and illiteracy are a problem.
I've used an example like that myself to explain to people why the lottery and gambling are nothing to pin your hopes on. (When they draw the ticket, it will be like randomly picking 1 person west of the Rhine/Mississippi to win. Are you that person?)
To be fair, Paul Vixie thought it was more like 3 exabytes. The NSA has world wide responsibilities for all sorts of signal intelligence. I would guess that purely domestic data would be a minor part of it. No sense being narcissists about it, not everything is about "us."
It is amazing that people think this is such a big deal of a conspiracy.
From the article -
How big is the actual power density in HAARP's ionospheric spot? The total irradiance of the Sun's electromagnetic radiation (everything from x-rays to extremely low frequency (ELF) radio signals) is 1,360 W/sq m, measured by satellite outside the bulk of the Earth's atmosphere. HAARP's power density is about 0.001 percent of the Sun's irradiance – a nearly negligible quantity. Further, while local heating of the ionosphere is caused by HAARP (indeed, that is HAARP's purpose), the overall effect is rather like focusing the Sun's light using a magnifying glass – impressive if one is an ant, but not very significant on larger size scales.
And as far as his lawyer, your claims are ridiculous. In his case he needed to hire a lawyer with connections. In Russia than means that he would likely have contacts with the FSB. If he hired someone unconnected, he would be fucked.
Snowden claimed he wanted asylum, even if only temporary. Asylum in Russia is under the control of the Russian Federal Migration Service, not the FSB/KGB. So why is he talking to the head of public relations for the FSB/KGB intelligence service? Why is the KGB speaking on his behalf?
The competence of the FMS includes the implementation of legislation regarding refugees, granting political asylum to foreign citizens and persons without citizenship. (According to Russian law, the forms of protection granted are: refugee status; temporary asylum, and political asylum. Political asylum is granted by a personal Decree of the President of Russia).
--------
But that does not mean that Snowden is giving information to the FSB.
The FSB/KGB has already received information that originated from Snowden, the same as anyone else that reads the newspapers and visits the Guardian web site. That information was Top Secret. Now he is in regular direct contact with the head of public relations for the FSB/KGB when he claims to want asylum that should be going through another government agency. Why? You can't deny that he still has much highly secret information that he hasn't revealed. Glen Greenwald describes it as a "worst nightmare" if it were revealed. Trust the man that has violated so many trusts already? Trust the man that has lied so much?
That poll is bullshit. If a third of people don't know who he was, then the number was larger when the propaganda campaign started. All that this poll shows is that most people are ignorant and influenced by propaganda.
There is more than one poll showing essentially the same thing.
As to the rest of your nonsense.... Snowden chose his actions and picked his associations, not me. It's not my fault he stole an enormous amount of highly damaging top secret information, it is his fault. I didn't force him to work with the head FSB/KGB public affairs instead of the Federal Migration Service to get asylum, he chose that. Not acknowledging that fact is dangerously naïve. My views don't change anything he did. You are just trying to divert from that fact, trying to confuse people.
Your views are far outside the mainstream. You applaud a man that damages American security, for what purpose I can only guess. Your views are from the fringe.
Spending a year in solitary confinement with guards refusing to let you sleep for *months* and making you strip naked at random times...before you're even *charged*,
Manning probably regrets making a gratuitous suicide threat, don't you think?
" Manning told a guard that if he wanted to kill himself, he could hang himself with the waistband of his underwear." -- more
And that is how asymmetric advantage accrues to the genuinely oppressive regimes. Cripple intelligence agencies in free societies, do nothing about the actual oppressive regimes. What could possibly go wrong?
The Russian lawyer that has been speaking for Snowden for some time now is Anatoly Kucherena. Kucherena is head of public relations for the FSB, the successor to the KGB. So the KGB running interference for Snowden and his laptops full of stolen American secrets. John Walker must be jealous.*
David Francis' Fiscal Times write-up digs into Snowden for his "mind boggling naiveté":
He is asking for asylum in a country that continues to openly squash dissent, often using violent tactics. Putin runs the country with an iron fist, has jailed people who oppose him, and has chased others out of the country. Opponents have been known to meet early deaths, often under suspicious circumstances.
Francis notes the untimely, often gruesome deaths of several political opponents to Putin over the years...
To make matters worse, the person seemingly speaking for Snowden now — Russian attorney Anatoly Kucherena — also happens to be the head of public relations for the FSB.
Freelance reporter and intelligence expert Joshua Foust writes: "The involvement of known FSB operatives at his asylum acceptance... suggests this was a textbook intelligence operation, and not a brave plea for asylum from political persecution."
"The Russians are very good at what they do," wrote Foust, referring to their simultaneous control of the "principal" — Snowden — and the public message.
In the poll, only 11% of respondents said they viewed Mr. Snowden in a positive light, while 34% said they viewed him negatively. Nearly a third said they didn’t know who he was.
All in all, another impressive triumph for the KGB.
* John Walker so damaged American security by providing the Soviets stolen American cryptographic material that if an actual shooting war with the Soviet Union had occurred, the US Navy may have been defeated at sea. The Soviets would have been able to read their transmissions, know the locations of ships, and their orders. Snowden's damage may be as bad or worse.
Slashdot Mirror
Jumping Jedis!! Why didn't you tell me before? If the Death Star is coming and we have to evacuate the planet, I'm taking Agent Scully and 7 of 9 with me on the next outbound starship. We'll rendezvous at the nearest Battlestar. Forget Mulder, he can hitch a ride with the Vorlons or the Vulcans.
Strawman. Nobody in Congress knows its about 4 orders of magnitude too big to be just for metadata.
Yes, your post is a strawman. Nobody claims that the data center is there just to store metatdata except cranks lining up strawmen. The NSA has world-wide responsibilities for signals intelligence of all types for the US. They aren't just storing metadata from US phone records. The very idea is nonsense.
You might recall that there are about 200 countries on the planet. Most of them have armed forces. There are many terrorist groups. The NSA is responsible for knowing about them. That might involve a little data.
Hmmm. Well isn't that odd?
I'll make no bones about it--I think "Cold Fjord" is a paid forum-manipulator. I can only guess who actually pays him.
You seem to have a problem with obsession. Are you currently unmedicated against medical advice. You might find these links helpful.
Also, since I stated my beliefs about "Cold Fjord", my past posts are slowly but surely being moderated into the negative, where many of those posts were +2-3 territory originally. I've also not had a single post moderated over +2 since then, nor do I ever see the actual reason for the moderation (insightful, etc) unless I am in the negative.
You don't suppose it's because you keep posting this nonsense that makes you look like a crank? Are you unique and special in the moderation your posts "deserve?"
As I've stated in a previous post ... I suspect "Cold Fjord" of having at least 2 other accounts--they all use Northern European references--so, if you do the math, posting at the rate he has been with this account, on 3 accounts, he has a full week of work doing nothing but posting on Slashdot.
Well, isn't that odd?
The idea you are tripping up on is "artist's concept" - (Wikipedia & Wired) versus technical blueprints - (Forbes).
Engineers build off of blueprints, not an artist's concept. If you bother to study the blueprints you see that some of the items in the concept moved in the actual design of the buildings.
I'm sure everyone enjoys your off-topic crank conspiracy theories which you post over, and over, and over again.
No doubt you will soon be complaining once against that your posts are being moded down. Go figure.
I see. So you are standing by the graphical representation in Wikipedia as the basis for dismissing the engineering drawings in the Forbes article? (Your post does nothing in terms of providing evidence one way or the other, but simply acts as a distraction from the nonsense in your previous post.)
I'm happy to go with that, I hope you are.
If you look at the background material, the fusion centers perform intelligence analysis and information sharing among multiple agencies. They aren't big datacenters like the one in the story.
Does that building layout look anything like the one at the top of the linked Forbes article? The picture of the buildings and the layout right above are a match in the Wikipedia article, yet they don't match the plans in the Forbes article.
So where is this data center that Forbes has the plans to? They're obviously not the same.
So it surprises you that the etch-a-sketch drawings in the Wikipedia article don't match professional engineering documents? It looks like nobody is going to slip anything past you.
Scary they can build that and nobody in Congress knows yet.
Right, "nobody" in Congress knows that NSA is building that big data center. Not even the Congress members that have it in their districts.
They all think its for the *disclosed* metadata, but it can't possibly be, its far too big.
The NSA has responsibility for signal intelligence world-wide. You may recall from the news that the program involving phone records tied to direct communications with terrorists is a minor program involving only $20,000,000. Don't let your brainstorm carry you away to crank conspiracy theories.
He just wanted the 'big disappointment' soundbite onto his Slashdot obfuscation post.
I'm sure that made sense if you're drunk blogging.
(Only Goldilocks can be trusted.)
You obviously haven't checked your porridge bowl.
He's damn near a 'bot.
Not a bot, just "cold." ;)
... said Bradley Manning deserved to be tortured for 'faking' feeling suicidal. What do you expect?
At the moment I'm coming to expect that you are pathologically unable to accurately relay factual information.
I would think you could get some assistance from one of these resources.
UK: Treatment for Gambling Addiction
UK: Mental health helplines
US: USA Local Problem Gambling Hotlines
US: Mental Health
CA: Problem Gambling Institute
CA: Mental Health
AU: Problem Gambling
AU: Mental Health Services in Australia
I hope you get well soon.
No entity on earth should have such gigantic datacenters dedicated to spying everyone whether they are american or not. The very nature of those activities no matter their scale is already crossing the line and shall not be tolerated.
The US is the easy case. Until you find a way to get China, North Korea, Iran, (oppressive regime X), et al. to give them up, and various terrorist groups to stop attacking*, you're going to be stuck with it. If you are going to be stuck with it, the free democratic nations need intelligence agencies that are capable of helping to protect their societies. That brings you back to the US and its allies which cooperate to defend each other. Unilateral disarmament in the face of aggression tends to have significant negative consequences. Nothing will change for the good unless there is a better reason and plan than, "I don't like it, I don't want it."
* And make no mistake about the terrorist groups, they have their own independent agendas. They are not simply reacting to Europe or the Anglosphere. Al Qaida wants to reestablish the Islamic Caliphate government that was dissolved after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923, and conquer the world for Islam.
I'm a narcissist who plans overthrowing the old word order from my island bunker somewhere in the South Pacific ;) (.au).
LOL. Personally, I like the sound of that. I really must look into getting one of those island bunkers for myself. ;) Of course, maybe a cabin in the outback will do until I can afford it.
I'm already practicing my evil laugh.
Why the geographical comparisons?
I expect that it is because it makes it easier for people to relate to the enormous numbers being talked about while both innumeracy and illiteracy are a problem.
I've used an example like that myself to explain to people why the lottery and gambling are nothing to pin your hopes on. (When they draw the ticket, it will be like randomly picking 1 person west of the Rhine/Mississippi to win. Are you that person?)
To be fair, Paul Vixie thought it was more like 3 exabytes. The NSA has world wide responsibilities for all sorts of signal intelligence. I would guess that purely domestic data would be a minor part of it. No sense being narcissists about it, not everything is about "us."
After looking through the blueprints I couldn't find anywhere designated for a Stargate. Bummer.
On the bright side, that is one more rumor that can be laid to rest.
It is amazing that people think this is such a big deal of a conspiracy.
From the article -
How big is the actual power density in HAARP's ionospheric spot? The total irradiance of the Sun's electromagnetic radiation (everything from x-rays to extremely low frequency (ELF) radio signals) is 1,360 W/sq m, measured by satellite outside the bulk of the Earth's atmosphere. HAARP's power density is about 0.001 percent of the Sun's irradiance – a nearly negligible quantity. Further, while local heating of the ionosphere is caused by HAARP (indeed, that is HAARP's purpose), the overall effect is rather like focusing the Sun's light using a magnifying glass – impressive if one is an ant, but not very significant on larger size scales.
And as far as his lawyer, your claims are ridiculous. In his case he needed to hire a lawyer with connections. In Russia than means that he would likely have contacts with the FSB. If he hired someone unconnected, he would be fucked.
Snowden claimed he wanted asylum, even if only temporary. Asylum in Russia is under the control of the Russian Federal Migration Service, not the FSB/KGB. So why is he talking to the head of public relations for the FSB/KGB intelligence service? Why is the KGB speaking on his behalf?
The Federal Migration Service
The competence of the FMS includes the implementation of legislation regarding refugees, granting political asylum to foreign citizens and persons without citizenship. (According to Russian law, the forms of protection granted are: refugee status; temporary asylum, and political asylum. Political asylum is granted by a personal Decree of the President of Russia).
--------
But that does not mean that Snowden is giving information to the FSB.
The FSB/KGB has already received information that originated from Snowden, the same as anyone else that reads the newspapers and visits the Guardian web site. That information was Top Secret. Now he is in regular direct contact with the head of public relations for the FSB/KGB when he claims to want asylum that should be going through another government agency. Why? You can't deny that he still has much highly secret information that he hasn't revealed. Glen Greenwald describes it as a "worst nightmare" if it were revealed. Trust the man that has violated so many trusts already? Trust the man that has lied so much?
That poll is bullshit. If a third of people don't know who he was, then the number was larger when the propaganda campaign started. All that this poll shows is that most people are ignorant and influenced by propaganda.
There is more than one poll showing essentially the same thing.
Most think NSA is violating privacy rights but want Snowden charged with a crime
WSJ/NBC Poll: Most Americans View Snowden Negatively
Attitudes Shift Against Snowden; Fewer than Half Say NSA Unjustified
As to the rest of your nonsense.... Snowden chose his actions and picked his associations, not me. It's not my fault he stole an enormous amount of highly damaging top secret information, it is his fault. I didn't force him to work with the head FSB/KGB public affairs instead of the Federal Migration Service to get asylum, he chose that. Not acknowledging that fact is dangerously naïve. My views don't change anything he did. You are just trying to divert from that fact, trying to confuse people.
Your views are far outside the mainstream. You applaud a man that damages American security, for what purpose I can only guess. Your views are from the fringe.
He's just waiting for his luggage to pop out on the carousel
Of course he is. In (post) Soviet Russia, luggage containing secret filled laptops carries you (to asylum).
Spending a year in solitary confinement with guards refusing to let you sleep for *months* and making you strip naked at random times...before you're even *charged*,
Manning probably regrets making a gratuitous suicide threat, don't you think?
" Manning told a guard that if he wanted to kill himself, he could hang himself with the waistband of his underwear." -- more
And that is how asymmetric advantage accrues to the genuinely oppressive regimes. Cripple intelligence agencies in free societies, do nothing about the actual oppressive regimes. What could possibly go wrong?
Here are some things we do know.
The Russian lawyer that has been speaking for Snowden for some time now is Anatoly Kucherena. Kucherena is head of public relations for the FSB, the successor to the KGB. So the KGB running interference for Snowden and his laptops full of stolen American secrets. John Walker must be jealous.*
Snowden's Choice For Russian Asylum Reveals His 'Mind-Boggling Naiveté'
David Francis' Fiscal Times write-up digs into Snowden for his "mind boggling naiveté":
He is asking for asylum in a country that continues to openly squash dissent, often using violent tactics. Putin runs the country with an iron fist, has jailed people who oppose him, and has chased others out of the country. Opponents have been known to meet early deaths, often under suspicious circumstances.
Francis notes the untimely, often gruesome deaths of several political opponents to Putin over the years...
To make matters worse, the person seemingly speaking for Snowden now — Russian attorney Anatoly Kucherena — also happens to be the head of public relations for the FSB.
Freelance reporter and intelligence expert Joshua Foust writes: "The involvement of known FSB operatives at his asylum acceptance ... suggests this was a textbook intelligence operation, and not a brave plea for asylum from political persecution."
"The Russians are very good at what they do," wrote Foust, referring to their simultaneous control of the "principal" — Snowden — and the public message.
WSJ/NBC Poll: Most Americans View Snowden Negatively - July 24, 2013
In the poll, only 11% of respondents said they viewed Mr. Snowden in a positive light, while 34% said they viewed him negatively. Nearly a third said they didn’t know who he was.
All in all, another impressive triumph for the KGB.
* John Walker so damaged American security by providing the Soviets stolen American cryptographic material that if an actual shooting war with the Soviet Union had occurred, the US Navy may have been defeated at sea. The Soviets would have been able to read their transmissions, know the locations of ships, and their orders. Snowden's damage may be as bad or worse.