omnibus PRISM/NSA/free Edward Snowden/encryption tutorial thread

holy shit david brooks is the worst
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/opinion/brooks-the-solitary-leaker.html?hp&_r=2&

He betrayed the cause of open government. Every time there is a leak like this, the powers that be close the circle of trust a little tighter. They limit debate a little more.

He betrayed the privacy of us all. If federal security agencies can’t do vast data sweeps, they will inevitably revert to the older, more intrusive eavesdropping methods.

He betrayed the Constitution. The founders did not create the United States so that some solitary 29-year-old could make unilateral decisions about what should be exposed.

fuck this fucking moron

oh you missed the best part

He betrayed his employers. Booz Allen and the C.I.A. took a high-school dropout and offered him positions with lavish salaries. He is violating the honor codes of all those who enabled him to rise.

srsly brooks?!?

If only he had the gentle gradation of ILX nestled between neighborhood and religion

a david brooks new york times column stomping on a human face forever

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/06/was-cheney-right-about-obama.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

For those of you that know me without my super hero cape, you can probably understand why I’ll be refraining from blog posts for awhile. My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass. Surely there will be villainous pirates, distracting mermaids, and tides of change in this new open water chapter of my journey. But at the moment all I can feel is alone. And for the first time in my life I feel strong enough to be on my own. Though I never imagined my hand would be so forced. As I type this on my tear-streaked keyboard I’m reflecting on all the faces that have graced my path. The ones I laughed with. The ones I’ve held. The one I’ve grown to love the most. And the ones I never got to bid adieu. But sometimes life doesn’t afford proper goodbyes. In those unsure endings I find my strength, my true friends, and my heart’s song. A song that I thought had all but died away, when really it was softly singing all along. I don’t know what will happen from here. I don’t know how to feel normal. But I do know that I am loved, by myself and those around me. And no matter where my compass-less vessel will take me, that love will keep me buoyant.

The Adventures of a world-traveling, pole-dancing super hero (Snowden's girlfriend)

Cheney wasn't "right" about Obama, but he understood his character better than most Democrats did.

Laura Poitras on how they got that story:

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/10/qa_with_laura_poitras_the_woman_behind_the_nsa_scoops/

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18qg6vi272tccjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg

Whenever I see mention of Edward Snowden I just assume it's about "Game of Thrones" and skip the story for fear of spoilers.

"According to The Washington Post, he has not been a regular presence around his mother’s house for years."

hang him!

Good on Wonkette for being the only place I've seen to make the "Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?" connection because I was gonna make that joke here but decided to Google first.

From what we know so far, Edward Snowden appears to be the ultimate unmediated man. Though obviously terrifically bright, he could not successfully work his way through the institution of high school. Then he failed to navigate his way through community college.

According to The Washington Post, he has not been a regular presence around his mother’s house for years. When a neighbor in Hawaii tried to introduce himself, Snowden cut him off and made it clear he wanted no neighborly relationships. He went to work for Booz Allen Hamilton and the C.I.A., but he has separated himself from them, too.

Though thoughtful, morally engaged and deeply committed to his beliefs, he appears to be a product of one of the more unfortunate trends of the age: the atomization of society, the loosening of social bonds, the apparently growing share of young men in their 20s who are living technological existences in the fuzzy land between their childhood institutions and adult family commitments.

How exciting! Snowden happens to be one of David's bobos in paradise.

all this and roxy music has a new album out too

xp that is beyond stupid. is suffering some kind-of brain damage a requirement to be a columnist?

I can think of TONS of people with GED/aborted college who then become extremely capable programmers/sysadmins/etc - one of the few sectors where the ability to do the job outweighs the need for academic qualifications.

you mean they weren't atomized citizens?

that one's a real chin stratcher, huh.

Meanwhile Florida's senior senator has some things to say

Pareene:

he debate became whether or not Snowden is a hero because that is easier to talk about. Pick a side! Argue! The same thing happened before Snowden was revealed as the leaker, as hundreds of people felt it necessary to announce that they had Important Opinions about the work of Glenn Greenwald. (Once the Post got in on the fun, the ad hominem Greenwald attacks suddenly seemed even less relevant.) Some people hated Greenwald, for various reasons, and that was easier to talk about than the substance of the stories he was reporting.

If you’re a straight-up dolt like Richard Cohen, you probably don’t understand the complicated tech stuff involved in the NSA’s data-mining, so you just call Snowden “a cross-dressing Little Red Riding Hood” and endorse your check. (Meanwhile your actually informed colleagues file informative reports like this one co-authored by Dana Priest.)

If you’re Politico, where the meta-story is always more relevant than the story-story, you write a few hundred words about how the White House is grateful that everyone is arguing about Snowden instead of about surveillance. You quote Paul Begala asking if James Franco will play him in the movie. That’s fun! Plus you don’t need to think seriously about difficult questions to get and print that quote. Politico, as an institution, is incapable of criticizing or seriously analyzing the national security state (some of their best advertisers are defense contractors!), so it is quite fortuitous for them that they can treat this story as another issue of personalities and ineffable “scandal.”

http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/is_edward_snowden_a_hero_or_a_traitor_who_cares/

Some people hated Greenwald, for various reasons, and that was easier to talk about than the substance of the stories he was reporting.

This seems awfully familiar...

http://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/nsa-post-office-checks-in-danziger.gif

this whole thing has been a conspiracy by the post office to destroy email once and for all

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO_6Y4oT7UQ

that danzinger ed cartoon is very onionesque

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/06/11/john_boehner_says_edward_snowden_is_a_traitor.html

david brooks is the most hateful bootlicker ever to see print in the nytimes

the usps cartoon is mostly wrong, anyway

http://gawker.com/the-fbi-is-spying-on-you-too-snail-mailers-so-maybe-do-512201927

david brooks is the most hateful bootlicker ever to see print in the nytimes

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Bill_Kristol_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg/220px-Bill_Kristol_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg

richard cohen should come post to ilx, good column, a few ilxors were making some similar points minus the trans-slurring

i liked when he said "nothing has been searched or seized. it has merely been noted."

or, you know. liked ironically.

I think Americans who feel "entitled" to a certain amount of free speech and/or privacy are starting to feel like Warren Beatty in the last 20 minutes of McCabe & Mrs Miller.

(or The Parallax View)

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/conversation/harrys%20privacy.jpg

I fear most Americans who care will end up like Gene Hackman playing the sad sax in the last 3 mins of The Conversation

nah like woody allen in the last minute of manhattan

mariel hemingway is the fourth amendment here

http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u46173/snowden.jpg

"You have to have more faith in people"

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/06/the_big_money.php?ref=fpblg

The consulting scandal doesn’t scratch the surface. Snowden was reputedly taking home $200K which is considerably more than a system admin would normally make $100K is a good salary for a UNIX admin.
Like many people he is described as a consultant but he really wasn’t. He was an NSA employee who was being paid through a contract with Booze Allen. He was what we used to call a ‘Temp’. But in many government offices they can’t pay a commercial salary for a position so they pay twice to three times as much to hire them as a ‘consultant’.

So the government won’t pay a commercial rate for employing technical staff and they pay double to hire them through an agency.

i don't even know where to begin w/this

i do think it's important that we keep in mind what a dangerous millennial he is though

lol at a company called "Booze Allen"

what's next: "Crank James"?

i saw somewhere that BA is denying that he made 200k

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/11/news/companies/snowden-booz-allen/?hpt=hp_t2

"Booz Allen, in a statement Monday, also confirmed reports that Snowden was an employee of the firm for less than three months, working in Hawaii. The firm said he was paid an annual salary of $122,000, a figure substantially less than the $200,000 that has been previously reported. "

Good on Wonkette for being the only place I've seen to make the "Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?" connection because I was gonna make that joke here but decided to Google first.

oh fucking duh, "spilled his guts." i spent probably a whole two minutes of concentration on this when he first revealed himself and i still couldn't think of a joke that worked; i'm so dumb.

good work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li6ssFbej64

DNC Chair: Snowden ‘Violated America’s Trust’

lol, lou ferrigno is a sherrif's deputy?

i work in a s/w house that releases data analysis products so i guess i'm in the minority here when i say that these revelations did not come as a shock.

in fact, given the sheer volume of data that is available with supposed consent, i would be more shocked if the various govt agencies weren't doing this.

^^^ my opinion as well