4 ms·

Probably because they don't feel like spending the rest of their lives in permanent solitary confinement in ADX Florence.

cookiecaper 11y ago
Yeah, but surely there would be a way to get the ball rolling without outing yourself. NSA analysts are going to be acquainted with at least the basic ways to stay anonymous online. If they found something interesting in the correspondence destined for a prominent politician or corporate officer, they could get the rumor mill started, or even make strategic leaks. Perhaps they already are doing it and we just aren't aware because they're covering their tracks well, but it seems like we'd see more aggressive targeting of interests that offend the likely demographic of NSA analysts, which to my knowledge hasn't happened. However many people have access to this, I don't know if it's dozens, hundreds, or thousands, have a frightening amount of power. They have to realize it. I guess they probably can't just type in "My Least Favorite Politician's Emails" into NSA internal search. Maybe this is the practical limitation that provides some nominal check on the power of these people?
- deepnet 11y ago
  Actually Snowden reveals they can perform such a search[1]. [1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-... PRISM can notify when new emails appear and can provide a live view of the targets online activity. [2] [2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-collection-documents/m/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-...
  - cookiecaper 11y ago
    Ah, he's quoted in the article saying that he has to have a personal email address. That probably means that there's a filter and/or blacklist that's at least watching for, if not actively blocking, access to whitehouse.gov and/or other official/important domains. This probably extends into the commercial world. I wonder if looking up anything other than the conventional email domains is a cause for suspicion. Thus, looking up "trump@trump.biz", for example, is inadvisable.
    - deepnet 11y ago
      Who watches the watchers ?

cookiecaper 11y ago

Yeah, but surely there would be a way to get the ball rolling without outing yourself. NSA analysts are going to be acquainted with at least the basic ways to stay anonymous online. If they found something interesting in the correspondence destined for a prominent politician or corporate officer, they could get the rumor mill started, or even make strategic leaks. Perhaps they already are doing it and we just aren't aware because they're covering their tracks well, but it seems like we'd see more aggressive targeting of interests that offend the likely demographic of NSA analysts, which to my knowledge hasn't happened. However many people have access to this, I don't know if it's dozens, hundreds, or thousands, have a frightening amount of power. They have to realize it. I guess they probably can't just type in "My Least Favorite Politician's Emails" into NSA internal search. Maybe this is the practical limitation that provides some nominal check on the power of these people?

deepnet 11y ago
Actually Snowden reveals they can perform such a search[1]. [1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-... PRISM can notify when new emails appear and can provide a live view of the targets online activity. [2] [2] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-collection-documents/m/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/prism-...
- cookiecaper 11y ago
  Ah, he's quoted in the article saying that he has to have a personal email address. That probably means that there's a filter and/or blacklist that's at least watching for, if not actively blocking, access to whitehouse.gov and/or other official/important domains. This probably extends into the commercial world. I wonder if looking up anything other than the conventional email domains is a cause for suspicion. Thus, looking up "trump@trump.biz", for example, is inadvisable.
  - deepnet 11y ago
    Who watches the watchers ?