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The naive point of view would be that if you're an American citizen the NSA agents are supposed to be YOUR employees so they have an obligation to be whatever y

The naive point of view would be that if you're an American citizen the NSA agents are supposed to be YOUR employees so they have an obligation to be whatever you ask them.

linkregister 10y ago
They are indirectly doing exactly what the citizenry have asked them to do. It's just that the HN community (and me) don't agree with it. 1. The most pressing issue for debates is terrorism response. [1] 2. Lawmakers and the Executive are elected on this mandate and spend significant resources (estimated $100Bn per year). [2] 3. The NSA performs all of its functions based off of requirements generated by ODNI, DoD, the Chief Executive, and congress. [3] 4. Most individuals care deeply about privacy and think there should be greater limits to what the government collects. However, less than 10% have changed their habits to improve their privacy posture. I conjecture that this suggests that privacy is not a priority compared to physical and financial security to most citizens. [4] In this case I think it is fair to say that the best interests of American society and its economy are being thwarted by security concerns of a plurality of citizens. The right course of action is for privacy debates to be publicized. The Pew report referenced in #4 shows a far greater skew toward privacy action after being informed of government and commercial surveillance. [1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/15/in-debates-voters-want-to-hear-most-about-terrorism-and-the-economy/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/15/in-debates-v... [2] http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/news/economy/cost-of-fighting-terrorism/ http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/news/economy/cost-of-fightin... [3] http://fas.org/irp/offdocs/int023.html http://fas.org/irp/offdocs/int023.html [4] http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/05/20/americans-attitudes-about-privacy-security-and-surveillance/ http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/05/20/americans-attitudes-ab...

The naive point of view would be that if you're an American citizen the NSA agents are supposed to be YOUR employees so they have an obligation to be whatever you ask them.

linkregister 10y ago

They are indirectly doing exactly what the citizenry have asked them to do. It's just that the HN community (and me) don't agree with it. 1. The most pressing issue for debates is terrorism response. [1] 2. Lawmakers and the Executive are elected on this mandate and spend significant resources (estimated $100Bn per year). [2] 3. The NSA performs all of its functions based off of requirements generated by ODNI, DoD, the Chief Executive, and congress. [3] 4. Most individuals care deeply about privacy and think there should be greater limits to what the government collects. However, less than 10% have changed their habits to improve their privacy posture. I conjecture that this suggests that privacy is not a priority compared to physical and financial security to most citizens. [4] In this case I think it is fair to say that the best interests of American society and its economy are being thwarted by security concerns of a plurality of citizens. The right course of action is for privacy debates to be publicized. The Pew report referenced in #4 shows a far greater skew toward privacy action after being informed of government and commercial surveillance. [1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/15/in-debates-voters-want-to-hear-most-about-terrorism-and-the-economy/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/15/in-debates-v... [2] http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/news/economy/cost-of-fighting-terrorism/ http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/16/news/economy/cost-of-fightin... [3] http://fas.org/irp/offdocs/int023.html http://fas.org/irp/offdocs/int023.html [4] http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/05/20/americans-attitudes-about-privacy-security-and-surveillance/ http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/05/20/americans-attitudes-ab...