Skeptic Project

Found this linked on another blog I read, I am not really interested that much in Snowden or his claims. That said I know he causes a lot of heated debate and has a ton of fanboys so this should throw the cat amongst the pigeons.

What do you guys think about it ?


http://soldiercitizen.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/edward-snowden-liar/

"employees spying on their love interests"

So a few employees use the system to check out their lovers, this isn't the NSA policy. It's just the odd employee turning the information in their own personal favour. This proves nothing other than unprofessionalism of certain employees.

"NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts"

That's basic espionage, and it's something that goes on all over the world by every single government. There's nothing remotely unusual about this or specific to the NSA. Most of us in the Western World have become accustomed to the idea that criminals, political threats, government officials and business high flyers can be under surveillance. I'm not saying I think it's ethical in every circumstance, but it's certainly not illegal to spy on people under certain legislations.

"NSA SEXINT is the Abuse You've All Been Waiting For"

Black balling and ruining someones public reputation to discredit them happens everywhere and by everyone. Again nothing new here, the media and individual people do it to one another on a daily basis. Plus finding out personal information about people can be extremely useful if you are wanting to form a profile of them for intelligence purposes.

"I don't understand how servile and naïve you have to be to dismiss this as a non-deal."

Isn't this just an attempt by you to name call anyone who thinks your points are not that impressive ?

Context and supporting evidence for transgressions of civil liberties and legislations are all that matter. This would require specific case examples and exactly what information is being collected illegally and which specific legislation it breaks, not a couple of news items discussing electronic espionage or employee transgressions.

Shoot, looks like my response got screwed up.

So a few employees use the system to check out their lovers, this isn't the NSA policy. It's just the odd employee turning the information in their own personal favour. This proves nothing other than unprofessionalism of certain employees.

Why do you not consider this a problem? Surveillance is being exploited for personal benefit; this kinda looks to me like "The lives of Others" IRL in the making. And this doesn't even touch upon other risks, such as rogue NSA employees leaking competitive IP or NSA officials recreating Hoover's legacy or political harassment.

That's basic espionage, and it's something that goes on all over the world by every single government. There's nothing remotely unusual about this or specific to the NSA.

I disagree with the premise that normalcy or legality are the deciding factors here. I don't mean this as an ad hom, but I'd expect a DDR kommissar to make a similar appeal and it wouldn't be any stronger.

Context and supporting evidence for transgressions of civil liberties and legislations are all that matter. This would require specific case examples and exactly what information is being collected illegally and which specific legislation it breaks, not a couple of news items discussing electronic espionage or employee transgressions.

What about risk factors? We know that the NSA's application of surveillance tech is liberal enough that it can be exploited for personal reasons, which opens up the risk of economic espionage and personal vendettas - not to mention harassing and silencing political activists and opponents - both on the individual and organizational scale. And this doesn't even include the millions of dollars of startup capital (and potential billions in future market cap) the US is losing because techies don't like to start companies when they're forced to hand over all their data by default. SilentCircle and Lavabit are just two examples.

All in all, I don't see how the NSA in it's current form is compatible with the US' premise of freedom and justice. To be fair, the agency isn't my only concern, and maybe we're talking past each other, but there.

In case anyone's interested, there's a great Frontline episode about the recent development of the NSA:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/united-states-of-secrets/

There's a TL;DR here, but the last paragraph doesn't seem accurate. Take it with an ounce of salt.