That's true, but just like other things he is morally conflicted about (wants Gitmo closed, but can't; wanted to radically change the US role and image in the world yet has drone attacks costing innocent lives every week etc etc), he never seems to surpass the helpless posture of someone morally conflicted. It always ends with Obama being morally conflicted, there is never the next step of showing people "I am morally conflicted but I will do something about it".
'Old Europe' (Germany, France, and because I live there, Holland) has been dormant for so long on so many issues. Obama was welcomed as if he was Christ that returned. I, for a big part, applauded his election with equal euphoria. But it is a bitter disappointment. He doesn't seem to 'get' how important all this is in this day and age.
The only thing I wish for is that 'Old Europe', turning its back on Obama right now and being bitterly disappointed in him, will pick this issue up and make it a priority. It's long overdue.
― In the airplane over the .CSS (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 9 August 2013 21:57 (ten years ago) link
Obama's key line aimed at other countries tonight was this:
"And to others around the world, I want to make clear, once again, that America is not interested in spying on ordinary people."
O RLY? That's it?! That's supposed to make me feel you understand the gravity of this thing?
Could go on and on here, as it really angers me. It is not up to America to determine who is 'ordinary' or not. The problem is not "spying on ordinary people". The problem is the US just being unable to keep their filthy paws out of the candy jar of data. If you are not interested in "ordinary people", then don't hoard their data.
― In the airplane over the .CSS (Le Bateau Ivre), Friday, 9 August 2013 22:06 (ten years ago) link
lol 'old europe' sat on its hands and twiddled when genocide was happening on its doorstep within the past twenty years, i wouldn't hold my breath on 'old europe' manning up anytime soon. it's little more than a bank that has a gift shop selling cheeses and assorted post cards of old masters at this point.
― balls, Friday, 9 August 2013 22:25 (ten years ago) link
i wouldn't hold my breath on 'old europe' manning up anytime soon. it's little more than a bank that has a gift shop selling cheeses and assorted post cards of old masters at this point.― balls, Friday, August 9, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― balls, Friday, August 9, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
An indication of part of Europe's disappointment, is this, of course: http://www.telekom.com/media/company/192834
That was just released today. Yes, there is a lot of marketing spin on that, but the very little substance it does have, indicates that Europe will be making it harder for NSA to gain access to other countries's citizens's personal data. Does Germany allow surveillance? Absolutely. But that's not the point.
In the end, American IT jobs will be affected negatively and the whole cloud concept, which originally was a term people in IT wouldn't use because of its connotations, has now gone back some 15 years.
This entire situation aggravates the IT sector in the US and non-American companies will definitely be looking into selling the "NSA-free" model, regardless of how much their respective countries snoop around their personal data.
― c21m50nh3x460n, Friday, 9 August 2013 22:44 (ten years ago) link
i think you're overselling some anecdotes. all state power wants is to monopolize power, in "old europe" or elsewhere
― Mordy , Friday, 9 August 2013 22:53 (ten years ago) link
it's little more than a bank that has a gift shop selling cheeses and assorted post cards of old masters at this point.
oh snaps
― joe schmoladoo from 7-11 (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 9 August 2013 22:53 (ten years ago) link
i think you're overselling some anecdotes. all state power wants is to monopolize power, in "old europe" or elsewhere― Mordy , Friday, August 9, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Mordy , Friday, August 9, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― c21m50nh3x460n, Friday, 9 August 2013 22:57 (ten years ago) link
i don't disagree but tbh i think on this and other civil liberties issues obama's basically got very little to gain from taking a stand on this. most democrats seem closer to the 'this is troubling' side than the 'this is an inexcusable outrage' side, and most conservatives -- even the ones attacking the NSA stuff now -- would be blasting him for being 'weak' et al if he tried to put the brakes on these programs. this isn't to excuse obama but the fault for this state of affairs goes way way way beyond him.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 9 August 2013 23:11 (ten years ago) link
― balls, Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:25 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Nice comment and all but how is this any different from what I already said, apart from tone, ffiling it under 'dormant'?
JD otm. But if you are the POTUS, taking a stand once or twice helps. Because he can. Because he's the president. Regardless of gain, at least show some intention. Show good will. This definitely goes beyond Obama, I don't see nor intend to make him the scapegoat here. But he could do a hell of a lot more than he is doing now. And he isn't.
― In the airplane over the .CSS (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, 10 August 2013 00:47 (ten years ago) link
ppl imagining he's morally conflicted is already a gain
― zvookster, Saturday, 10 August 2013 01:19 (ten years ago) link
i don't disagree but tbh i think on this and other civil liberties issues obama's basically got very little to gain from taking a stand on this. most democrats seem closer to the 'this is troubling' side than the 'this is an inexcusable outrage' side,
Depends! Dianne Feinstein's defenses align with what we would have called the Dem national security side of the Senate (i.e. Biden, and every other Senate Democrat [like Byrd and Sam Nunn in the ninetieswho would have defended the president]).
― first I think it's time I kick a little verse! (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 August 2013 01:29 (ten years ago) link
But the truth is that European countries will make it harder for the US to collect data on their users.
Correct. Because those same European countries are rushing to build their own Total Information Awareness systems.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 10 August 2013 08:23 (ten years ago) link
"I welcome this debate, we just need to put the guy who started it in solitary confinement forever."
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, 10 August 2013 17:19 (ten years ago) link
But the truth is that European countries will make it harder for the US to collect data on their users.Correct. Because those same European countries are rushing to build their own Total Information Awareness systems.― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, August 10, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, August 10, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Anyway, today's news: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/the-nsa-is-commandeering-the-internet/278572/
I want to hear more about this:
Already companies are taking their data and communications out of the US.
― c21m50nh3x460n, Monday, 12 August 2013 17:51 (ten years ago) link
it's funny that he even feels the need to do this, it's not like he's going to appease anybody or win any more elections
Must be ego or vanity, I can't think of any other reason.
there's the remote strong possibility that he is ACTUALLY THIS GUY
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Monday, 12 August 2013 17:56 (ten years ago) link
otm
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Monday, 12 August 2013 18:05 (ten years ago) link
surely the more vain/egotistical option would just be to go "trust me, I got this" and not publically make appeals for limiting his own power...?
― joe schmoladoo from 7-11 (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 12 August 2013 18:08 (ten years ago) link
that was the last guy's brand
― one yankee sympathizer masquerading as a historian (difficult listening hour), Monday, 12 August 2013 18:18 (ten years ago) link
before history as much as before the voters which is why he still does this thinkyface stuff
― one yankee sympathizer masquerading as a historian (difficult listening hour), Monday, 12 August 2013 18:21 (ten years ago) link
http://www.eddysrun.com
― Mordy , Tuesday, 13 August 2013 01:00 (ten years ago) link
via the Fandor film blog:
“How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets” is the straight-forward title of Peter Maass‘s cover story for this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. It is, of course, an utterly riveting read, supplemented by Maass’s encrypted question-and-answer session with Snowden himself. Snowden: “We came to a point in the verification and vetting process where I discovered Laura was more suspicious of me than I was of her, and I’m famously paranoid.” And Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald recalls that when he met Poitras, “She insisted that I not take my cellphone, because of this ability the government has to remotely listen to cellphones even when they are turned off.”
You’ve likely heard that Laura Poitras has her reasons for being cautious. With each successive film—My Country, My Country, nominated for an Oscar in 2006, The Oath (2010), winner of several awards (Sundance, Peabody, MacArthur), and now the one on surveillance which she began in 2011—Poitras has been detained at airports with increasing frequency. One “security guy” told her, “You have a threat score that is off the Richter scale. You are at 400 out of 400.” In short, she’s come a long way from the San Francisco Art Institute and those classes with Ernie Gehr.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 14:28 (ten years ago) link
One “security guy” told her, “You have a threat score that is off the Richter scale. You are at 400 out of 400.”
this strikes me as kind of
something
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 14:31 (ten years ago) link
being an Oscar nominee who's making a feature doc abt surveillance racks up pts i guess
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 14:43 (ten years ago) link
Once she began working on her surveillance film in 2011, she raised her digital security to an even higher level. She cut down her use of a cellphone, which betrays not only who you are calling and when, but your location at any given point in time. She was careful about e-mailing sensitive documents or having sensitive conversations on the phone. She began using software that masked the Web sites she visited. After she was contacted by Snowden in 2013, she tightened her security yet another notch. In addition to encrypting any sensitive e-mails, she began using different computers for editing film, for communicating and for reading sensitive documents (the one for sensitive documents is air-gapped, meaning it has never been connected to the Internet).
These precautions might seem paranoid — Poitras describes them as “pretty extreme” — but the people she has interviewed for her film were targets of the sort of surveillance and seizure that she fears. William Binney, a former top N.S.A. official who publicly accused the agency of illegal surveillance, was at home one morning in 2007 when F.B.I. agents burst in and aimed their weapons at his wife, his son and himself. Binney was, at the moment the agent entered his bathroom and pointed a gun at his head, naked in the shower. His computers, disks and personal records were confiscated and have not yet been returned. Binney has not been charged with any crime.
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 15:04 (ten years ago) link
“I’m not stopping what I’m doing, but I have left the country. I literally didn’t feel like I could protect my material in the United States, and this was before I was contacted by Snowden. If you promise someone you’re going to protect them as a source and you know the government is monitoring you or seizing your laptop, you can’t actually physically do it.”
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 15:27 (ten years ago) link
lol @ http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/12/irony_alert_pentagon_now_fears_a_big_data_national_security_threat
― c21m50nh3x460n, Tuesday, 13 August 2013 16:48 (ten years ago) link
Have any of you actually read the entire Poitras piece? I'm not done with it yet, but here is a Q&A with Snowden conducted by Peter Maass: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/snowden-maass-transcript.html
― c21m50nh3x460n, Tuesday, 13 August 2013 17:03 (ten years ago) link
i did. slow day at the office.
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 17:04 (ten years ago) link
For Americans who want to speak out against the NSA: http://nowaynsa.com
― c21m50nh3x460n, Tuesday, 13 August 2013 17:07 (ten years ago) link
NSA copying emails directed to or originating from the US and Fourth Amendment stuff: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/11/nsa-internet-surveillance-email
― c21m50nh3x460n, Tuesday, 13 August 2013 17:16 (ten years ago) link
http://news.yahoo.com/-dni-clapper-won%E2%80%99t-control-spying-review--white-house--194607489.html
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/obamas-reform-panel-to-be-led-by-clapper-who-denied-spying-to-congress/
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 August 2013 21:21 (ten years ago) link
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:04 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I did too, though it was a fast day at the office (I was procrastinating). An amazing piece tbh.
― In the airplane over the .CSS (Le Bateau Ivre), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 21:32 (ten years ago) link
clapper panel finds clapper guilty of loving america too much
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, 13 August 2013 23:56 (ten years ago) link
http://www.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/encryption-is-less-secure-than-we-thought-0814.html
In this case, rather than prior knowledge about the statistical frequency of the symbols used in a password, the attacker has prior knowledge about the probable noise characteristics of the environment: Phase noise with one set of parameters is more probable than phase noise with another set of parameters, which in turn is more probable than Brownian noise, and so on. Armed with these statistics, an attacker could infer the password stored on the card much more rapidly than was previously thought.
― c21m50nh3x460n, Wednesday, 14 August 2013 16:39 (ten years ago) link
That is cool
― touch. zing touch. you've almost convinced me I'm real (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 14 August 2013 20:43 (ten years ago) link
Worrying presentation at Black Hat this year: http://breachattack.com
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 14 August 2013 21:36 (ten years ago) link
https://twitter.com/WikileaksTruck/status/367760668117565440/photo/1
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 14 August 2013 21:45 (ten years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BRqMYRICAAAr2gj.jpg
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 14 August 2013 21:46 (ten years ago) link
^^^ manning, just now
manningsplain
― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Wednesday, 14 August 2013 22:08 (ten years ago) link
sad, moving, hard to fully trust
― R'LIAH (goole), Wednesday, 14 August 2013 22:11 (ten years ago) link
the outpouring of grief from supporters on twitter when he said "i am sorry my actions hurt the united states" was overwhelming
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 14 August 2013 23:55 (ten years ago) link
the people who've called him hero didn't expect remorse, i guess
but, shit
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Wednesday, 14 August 2013 23:57 (ten years ago) link
poor kid
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 15 August 2013 01:06 (ten years ago) link
well, torture works sometimes
― Miss Arlington twirls for the Coal Heavers (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 15 August 2013 01:10 (ten years ago) link
yeah, friend was just saying 'what, you don't think they would have broken you too?'
― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 15 August 2013 01:20 (ten years ago) link
Morbs most likely otm. And if not, given the situation and what he is facing I can't blame him for saying sorry. If it takes 10-20 years off the sentence, what the hell does any of it matter anyway?
― In the airplane over the .CSS (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 15 August 2013 01:23 (ten years ago) link
galileo did the same iirc
― blinded by aggro (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 15 August 2013 04:20 (ten years ago) link
http://www.chronicle.su/news/dog-the-bounty-hunter-to-pursue-snowden-bounty/
― blinded by aggro (forksclovetofu), Thursday, 15 August 2013 07:10 (ten years ago) link
And if it isn't obvious now... Gmail promises “no reasonable expectation” of privacy
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 15 August 2013 08:04 (ten years ago) link