Washington Post - Snowden leaks provide detailed picture of NSA surveillance

[XangXu]

Why aren't Americans more up in arms about this?

I mean we made movies about this kind of shit but we thought it could never happen in reality.

Well it is happening! Why isn't there more anger about it? The fucking James Bond villain is running your country and the best you can muster is a resounding...

"meh..."


wtf has happened?!

[Rukentuts]

Why aren't Americans more up in arms about this?

Because we've known about it since 2005.

[XangXu]

Because we've known about it since 2005.

No, people like Glenn Beck raved about it and you all just casually, almost jokingly or sarcastic agreed with it.

I just thought that when fucking raving ass holes like Glen Beck turn out to be RIGHT and with proof, Americans would be a little more angry about it.

[Cybran]

Gross violation of privacy and erosion of diplomatic relationships is fine as long as you claim that you "knew about it". What?

[Aeluron Lightsong]

"We're not spying on everyone on purpose! It just...happens. Honest! But we're still going to keep that unintentional stuff."

I expect Skrosec in here any time to rush to their defence.

That is inevidable as always.

[Deleted]

Because we've known about it since 2005.

Yeah, but Americans are known for acting against things like this. Why aren't you now?

[mmokri]

Yeah, but Americans are known for acting against things like this. Why aren't you now?

There is thing called nationalist/patriot.

[tylenol]

We have some breaking news to report....Every spy agency on earth that is capable of spying is spying, more at 11


Lets all go riot in the streets of Washington and demand change an destroy shit!...yeah that isn't going to work....No one has cared for almost 10 years (since the spying became public knowledge) and no one has done anything about it, I mean that German chick got mad for a few days then dropped it but its possible it was just that time of the month...sort of a "save face" type deal...worked well

I wonder if snowden had dreams about what would happen before he leaked PRISM...total reform, more openness, a perfect NSA...what has happened? nothing, more spying etc

worth it, now hes in some dump in russia

[ringpriest]

We have some breaking news to report....Every spy agency on earth that is capable of spying is spying, more at 11

There's a massive difference between, on the one hand, knowing that Russia, or China (or whoever) can focus on any one individual's communications if they want to put the effort into it. And, on the other hand, knowing that the US automatically grabs everything, all the time, and stores it for later use. It's the difference between the cops being able to check a particular license plate and see who it belongs to, and tracking every car in the city, all the time, and then storing the records for later review. They're subject to very different natures and degrees of abuse. And, I've yet to see the evidence that anyone besides the NSA and the US government (no, not even China) is logging everyone all the time.

Lets all go riot in the streets of Washington and demand change an destroy shit!...yeah that isn't going to work....No one has cared for almost 10 years (since the spying became public knowledge) and no one has done anything about it, I mean that German chick got mad for a few days then dropped it but its possible it was just that time of the month...sort of a "save face" type deal...worked well

I wonder if snowden had dreams about what would happen before he leaked PRISM...total reform, more openness, a perfect NSA...what has happened? nothing, more spying etc

worth it, now hes in some dump in russia

In my opinion, the biggest single thing that's happened is the sea change in how seriously encryption is being taken by major players, for example, by the IETF. We're seriously looking at a future where the entire internet has end-to-end, TNO encryption. That's massive It's what the cypherpunks like Assange have been dreaming about for decades. And its will likely gut the NSA's monitoring ability. A great deal of their 'catalog' is just script-kiddie style exploits that have been polished, packaged, and distributed by contractors at a markup. Those leverage existing vulnerabilities - eliminate the vulnerabilities and the NSA's collection of man-in-the-middle attacks is sunk.

That's not all, of course. Before Snowden, crypto-geeks were fringe - barely one step about truthers or UFOologists. Overnight, they started getting taken seriously, by everyone. The Germans get more pissed off every day. It becomes increasingly obvious that the NSA is virtually useless for 'stopping terrorists' because instead of finding needles (supposedly their job), they're burying everything under more haystacks (data) than they can usefully sift, just because they can. There's also a lot of work going into less-sweeping privacy tools, that would likely have never happened without Snowden's leaks. At lea st one mass data-collection program has beenshut down. (Although the NSA appears to be doing similar collection under other rationales.) And the NSA's reputation has been (deservedly) turned to shit.

[Tierbook]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...in-berlin.html

Saw that in relation to the German spy. Aside from the fact that he contacted as about spying on Germany if he was a Russian spy as well it would just be hilarious. Granted if Germany doesn't do something to Russia and he was spying for Russia this will only serve to annoy the US further.

[Cthulhu 2020]

I've never liked the idea of NSA surveillance. But I'm under no delusion that it's going to stop or that it's anything new. America and every single other country on this planet with any international interests has been spying on both its own citizens and other countries since governments began. That's just a fact.

[oplawlz]

Yeah, but Americans are known for acting against things like this. Why aren't you now?

Because somehow a few isolated incidents of terrorist attacks put so much fear into the American people that they hired a government pimp to whore out their liberties for protection.

[Olo]

Because somehow a few isolated incidents of terrorist attacks put so much fear into the American people that they hired a government pimp to whore out their liberties for protection.

Yes, domestic surveillance and laws eroding civil liberties are unique to our post 9/11 world.

We were far more invasive in our pursuit of communists with a short break where we switched our attention to the Japanese for a few years.

[oplawlz]

Yes, domestic surveillance and laws eroding civil liberties are unique to our post 9/11 world.

We were far more invasive in our pursuit of communists with a short break where we switched our attention to the Japanese for a few years.

You're talking about very different worlds. Like it or not, comparing privacy post and pre dotcom is like comparing civil liberties in the U.S. pre 1900 and post 2000 - interesting, but not really relevant.

[Theinquisition]

Just like every other advanced nation on Earth we engage in spying. I guess others just get mad about it because we are so damned good at it.

[Tierbook]

Just like every other advanced nation on Earth we engage in spying. I guess others just get mad about it because we are so damned good at it.

Well when their chief way of figuring out US secrets is either wikileaks or Snowden then they are going to need some help. Also how does no one remember the Russia spies that were found a few years ago..... I think the girl is a super model now.

[Theinquisition]

Well when their chief way of figuring out US secrets is either wikileaks or Snowden then they are going to need some help. Also how does no one remember the Russia spies that were found a few years ago..... I think the girl is a super model now.

Yep, I'd definitively hit it. I think they call that a honeypot.

Anyway, yeah I guess if I was German I'd also be irritated with my government for not developing counter-measures for electronic spying.

[Olo]

You're talking about very different worlds. Like it or not, comparing privacy post and pre dotcom is like comparing civil liberties in the U.S. pre 1900 and post 2000 - interesting, but not really relevant.

The nature of surveillance has changed but we've sacrificed civil liberties much more substantially in the 20th century. We instituted interment camps and openly attacked the concept of of freedom of association.

The debate about security vs civil liberties is definitely there to be had. But don't pretend it's new or even near the historical extreme.

[Kellhound]

Spying on any and all foreign powers by America is to be expected, the reporting of such by Americans however should result in severe punishment for ALL that help spread the information. Spying on US citizens without a warrant, that is a no-no that should be stopped no matter how much it helps.

[Theinquisition]

Spying on any and all foreign powers by America is to be expected, the reporting of such by Americans however should result in severe punishment for ALL that help spread the information. Spying on US citizens without a warrant, that is a no-no that should be stopped no matter how much it helps.

I guess it just makes me smile when foreigners act like they are entitled to American constitutional protection. Want to be mad at someone be mad at your own government for taking your internal security for granted.