Edward Snowden, NSA Whistleblower

lucasa · June 21, 2013, 3:53pm

[quote]Aragorn wrote:

[quote]lucasa wrote:

However, I think they would be stupid to assume that
[/quote]

Yes, because our gov’t is so incredibly intelligent ;)[/quote]

IMO, in this case, it’s a result of the democratic majority that walk around thinking things like;

“The police/gov’t can’t listen in to the conversations that I broadcast all over the city, I have a right to privacy.”

“My neighbors can’t peer in my open windows, that violates my personal privacy, they’re breaking the law!”

“The dogs can smell me smoking pot from across the street and down the block, but if the cops knock on my door, they’re invading my privacy.”

If others and/or the police have somehow unduly search your property from theirs or seized your property from theirs (or someone else’s), I’m not entirely or de facto convinced they’re at fault.

Aragorn · June 21, 2013, 8:02pm

[quote]lucasa wrote:

[quote]Aragorn wrote:

[quote]lucasa wrote:

However, I think they would be stupid to assume that
[/quote]

Yes, because our gov’t is so incredibly intelligent ;)[/quote]

IMO, in this case, it’s a result of the democratic majority that walk around thinking things like;

“The police/gov’t can’t listen in to the conversations that I broadcast all over the city, I have a right to privacy.”

“My neighbors can’t peer in my open windows, that violates my personal privacy, they’re breaking the law!”

“The dogs can smell me smoking pot from across the street and down the block, but if the cops knock on my door, they’re invading my privacy.”

If others and/or the police have somehow unduly search your property from theirs or seized your property from theirs (or someone else’s), I’m not entirely or de facto convinced they’re at fault.[/quote]

I disagree. being able to smell pot walking down the street and tell where it’s coming from is probable cause, and regardless of my opinion that they shouldn’t be arresting guys who like to smoke a bowl and chill it is still technically against the law. Probable cause is not an invasion of privacy. Now, if the cops or k-9 units are actively sniffing around your door all the time for no reason, or keep showing up hoping to catch you lighting up that’s a different story altogether. Being able to smell weed from a mile away like at a concert is your own fault. That’s “casual notice” stuff.

Leaving your windows open is just plain stupid. Yes it’s an invasion of privacy but it’s not illegal because you don’t need to be creeping up on windows to have seen something through them. You’re not all that concerned about privacy if you’re going to leave your windows open and then, say, disrobe in front of them. I’ve seen that happen walking through campus in college by dorms–not even attempting to pull a John Belushi or anything, simply just walking through.

However–a conversation that is by phone or email is expected to be private. It is expected, however naively, that the encryption that you pay a service for–because you are not just paying for convenience, you are paying to have your information kept from being stolen and privacy assured via identity theft or whatever–is going to do what you pay them to do. Namely keep your shit private.

I am aware that the majority of email is now free, but it didn’t use to be that way. It was a paid service. Furthermore, even if it is free it is still entered into with an explicit expectation of privacy from prying eyes. Your foolishness in leaving an " xxx girls" email up at work while you walk off to the coffee pot and people pass by is not the same as expecting to have your information broadcast no matter WHAT you’re talking about. You make a choice in one instance, probably driven by caffeine and shortsightedness, and in the other somebody else forces it.

Zeppelin795 · June 22, 2013, 4:56pm

He is an obvious hero in the tradition of Bradley Manning and Julian Assange.

MaximusB · June 22, 2013, 11:27pm

Nancy Pelosi booed and heckled over Snowden comments at Netroots Nation…

pat · June 23, 2013, 2:00pm

[quote]MaximusB wrote:
Nancy Pelosi booed and heckled over Snowden comments at Netroots Nation…

I agree with the heckler, she sucks.

Zeppelin795 · July 2, 2013, 11:45pm

I just saw where Ecuador offered the U.S. 23 MM grant in education about human rights. Fucking hilarious…

SexMachine · July 3, 2013, 7:46am

[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Quite an interesting story (from his perspective–it is disgusting from a gov’t point of view). I am very glad he did this, and I hope he does not pay a heavy price for his disclosure. I do not think he has done anything wrong, the American people needed to know.[/quote]

Yeah and the British people needed to know the sophisticated details of how the ENIGMA coding machine worked and when and where the D-Day landings would be. Good grief! What the ‘people’ know the ENEMY knows!

SexMachine · July 3, 2013, 7:51am

[quote]Chushin wrote:
I was strongly opposed to what Manning did, but support this guy.[/quote]

May I ask why? And why would this champion of press freedom and the publics’ right to know flee to Russia/Cuba/Ecuador of all places? Places where journalists disappear on mass and keep mysteriously falling out of windows or getting shot?

Anyway, what he revealed was pretty much already an open secret amongst those who follow these types of stories - i.e. nothing new here.

Zeppelin795 · July 7, 2013, 6:04pm

Despite Obama’s rhetoric they are after Snowden.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10406

SexMachine · July 8, 2013, 2:45am

[quote]Zeppelin795 wrote:
Despite Obama’s rhetoric they are after Snowden.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10406[/quote]

And rightly so. I can’t believe I agree with Obama. Maybe it’s because I think for myself instead of filling my head with the most hard left/hard right, discredited sources I can find. Please try to keep as much of it to yourself as possible. This is PWI, not Zeppelin’s modern Pravda even though Zeppelin doesn’t know what Pravda is but it must be ultra cool right? Who cares if the world’s going to shit and our children may have to fight an epic genocidal world war?

beachguy498 · July 8, 2013, 11:27am

[quote]Zeppelin795 wrote:
Despite Obama’s rhetoric they are after Snowden.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10406[/quote]

Oh no doubt about it. Probably every CIA listening post is on full alert. And the only way to get Snowden to asylum would take something other than a commercial airline flight. Especially since the US has revoked his passport. I say, give him 2 weeks and he’ll magically pop up in downtown Bolivia. Maybe a Rusky submarine transfer to a fishing boat off shore?

Rob

Zeppelin795 · July 8, 2013, 5:28pm

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]Zeppelin795 wrote:
Despite Obama’s rhetoric they are after Snowden.

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10406[/quote]

And rightly so. I can’t believe I agree with Obama. Maybe it’s because I think for myself instead of filling my head with the most hard left/hard right, discredited sources I can find. Please try to keep as much of it to yourself as possible. This is PWI, not Zeppelin’s modern Pravda even though Zeppelin doesn’t know what Pravda is but it must be ultra cool right? Who cares if the world’s going to shit and our children may have to fight an epic genocidal world war?[/quote]

He let the public know what is going on in our surveillance state and this is a bad thing. Is what Daniel Ellsburg did a bad thing?

SexMachine · July 12, 2013, 12:19am

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:
I was strongly opposed to what Manning did, but support this guy.[/quote]

May I ask why? And why would this champion of press freedom and the publics’ right to know flee to Russia/Cuba/Ecuador of all places? Places where journalists disappear on mass and keep mysteriously falling out of windows or getting shot?

Anyway, what he revealed was pretty much already an open secret amongst those who follow these types of stories - i.e. nothing new here.[/quote]

I wrote that when the extent of his “revelations” was what the US government is doing concerning US citizens.

I see a huge difference between informing Americans regarding their loss of privacy and telling other nations about national security secrets.

In other words, I think he deserves a bullet in the head now. [/quote]

The NSA program specifically targets Islamists and across the world not just in the US. Places like Islamic bookstores, mosques and internet chat rooms. They’re looking for Islamic crazies but yes, there is always the potential for abuse of process.

jj_dude · July 12, 2013, 4:32pm

Here is something to think about for this thread. Ever hear of the FISA?

The major reason you do not want a government collecting information just in case is the presumption that it will always do what is right with it. I can guarantee that everyone on this list is in violation of several state, local and federal crimes.

Interesting chat with a friend of mine (career law enforcement) about what seems to have gone wrong with the criminal justice system: He thinks it is the War on Drugs, where agencies were charged with throwing as many people in jail as possible. The net effect is a welter of agencies with competing jurisdictions and conflicting laws plus some very creative ways of getting around the Constitution, which with its insistence on innocence until being proved guilty is just damned inconvenient. The practical effect is that the government can basically grab you at any time and then find a reason to throw you in jail – the assessment of another friend of mine who is a lawyer. The current US incarceration rate of 1% is roughly the same as the Soviet Union in the heyday of the gulag system too, which was considered a humanitarian and social disaster.

Just being full of shit as always…

– jj

beachguy498 · July 17, 2013, 3:47pm

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]Chushin wrote:
I was strongly opposed to what Manning did, but support this guy.[/quote]

May I ask why? And why would this champion of press freedom and the publics’ right to know flee to Russia/Cuba/Ecuador of all places? Places where journalists disappear on mass and keep mysteriously falling out of windows or getting shot?

Anyway, what he revealed was pretty much already an open secret amongst those who follow these types of stories - i.e. nothing new here.[/quote]

I wrote that when the extent of his “revelations” was what the US government is doing concerning US citizens.

I see a huge difference between informing Americans regarding their loss of privacy and telling other nations about national security secrets.

In other words, I think he deserves a bullet in the head now. [/quote]

The NSA program specifically targets Islamists and across the world not just in the US. Places like Islamic bookstores, mosques and internet chat rooms. They’re looking for Islamic crazies but yes, there is always the potential for abuse of process.[/quote]

Snowden may eventually get a bullet to the head if Russia has no use for him and the CIA makes an under-the-table deal for him.

With the abuse of process thing, I see it as fishing for striped bass. Sometimes you pull up a skate, sea robin or crab… those we throw back. But the NSA would put them on ice for posterity.

Rob

dmaddox · July 17, 2013, 4:13pm

[quote]beachguy498 wrote: