> From: [email protected] [mailto:discuss- > [email protected]] On Behalf Of Luke S. Crawford > > I think that the primary thing that Snowden showed was not that we were > being watched; we knew that. > > Snowden showed us that the data they were keeping on us was ridiculously > insecure. Not only can the government access your data (which we all > knew, or suspected) but any random contract sysadmin can also see your > data.
Actually - I agree. I was mostly shocked to think, "How the hell did he get so much information, and why is it written in such obviously incriminating language?" I thought secret spy organizations had policies of need-to-know, and least rights, and other barriers so if one of them were to defect or be compromised, very little would be compromised along with them. They certainly keep record of which documents each employee downloads. It seems hard to believe they don't have alerts and triggers to recognize somebody downloading an unusually high volume of secret documents. I keep suspecting there is an actual conspiracy here - either Snowden's aware or being used as a pawn - I keep thinking that the information leaks were intentional and orchestrated. Because either the government is *that* stupid, or it's a manipulation tactic. This is the NSA we're talking about. They can't be *that* stupid, can they? They can't get China or Russia to capture the guy? Because they couldn't file the paperwork properly? They can't secretly go to China or Russia and kidnap him? What kind of a spy organization is this? The Mafia could get it done. Maybe there are two conflicting political parties at play inside the NSA. One gains power to overreach and spy on Americans, a la Patriot Act, and the other thinks it's wrong to do so, so they place a huge pile of highly incriminating documents in front of the eyes of contractors waiting for one of them to leak it... Maybe they're intentionally bumbling and letting him constantly slip through their fingers, to demonstrate what would happen if they released prisoners from Gitmo. To undermine the faith of the American citizens in their government's ability to track these people, and therefore keep Gitmo open. I don't know. But I do know there's an overwhelming demonstration of incompetence and stupidity going around, and I know I'm in favor of exposing the secret programs a la PRISM. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
