3 ms·

Code interception and breaking. Cutting undersea cables. Parallel construction. Carefully managed release to manipulate public opinion. It's nice to have an

Code interception and breaking. Cutting undersea cables. Parallel construction. Carefully managed release to manipulate public opinion. It's nice to have an inside view on an intelligence coup - albeit from 100 years ago.

dx034 10y ago
It somehow shows that what we see at the moment isn't new at all. Yes, there is a different scale of information gathering, but that's just because there's more information flowing. 100 years ago it was very hard to communicate over a distance without traffic being intercepted, and the same is true today. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to make communication more secure, but it indicates that we are not heading towards an ever worse surveillance state.
- sametmax 10y ago
  I find it scary. If they could do that 100 hundred years ago, what are they doing now with the added century of experience and the new tech ?
  - pif 10y ago
    I find it reassuring. If we could do that 100 hundred years ago, what are we doing now with the added century of experience and the new tech?
    - sametmax 10y ago
      The benefit of experience and tech is diluted among the public, but concentrated in corporations and govs. The will and ability to use and understand them even more.
- bainsfather 10y ago
  I agree with all of that, apart from your last conclusion. The British intelligence service was, it appears, acting logically given its motivations and capabilities. It achieved the outcome it wanted. Note that the motivations do not always align with what is good for Britain (nor, rather obviously, other countries) - see e.g. Iraq intelligence. From what is visible (e.g. Snowden data), GCHQ continues to do the same thing. But it has vastly greater capabilities, both in collection and analysis. This means we have been heading towards an ever more capable/powerful surveillance state.

3 ms·

Code interception and breaking. Cutting undersea cables. Parallel construction. Carefully managed release to manipulate public opinion. It's nice to have an

by bainsfather 10y ago

dx034 10y ago
It somehow shows that what we see at the moment isn't new at all. Yes, there is a different scale of information gathering, but that's just because there's more information flowing. 100 years ago it was very hard to communicate over a distance without traffic being intercepted, and the same is true today. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to make communication more secure, but it indicates that we are not heading towards an ever worse surveillance state.
- sametmax 10y ago
  I find it scary. If they could do that 100 hundred years ago, what are they doing now with the added century of experience and the new tech ?
  - pif 10y ago
    I find it reassuring. If we could do that 100 hundred years ago, what are we doing now with the added century of experience and the new tech?
    - sametmax 10y ago
      The benefit of experience and tech is diluted among the public, but concentrated in corporations and govs. The will and ability to use and understand them even more.
- bainsfather 10y ago
  I agree with all of that, apart from your last conclusion. The British intelligence service was, it appears, acting logically given its motivations and capabilities. It achieved the outcome it wanted. Note that the motivations do not always align with what is good for Britain (nor, rather obviously, other countries) - see e.g. Iraq intelligence. From what is visible (e.g. Snowden data), GCHQ continues to do the same thing. But it has vastly greater capabilities, both in collection and analysis. This means we have been heading towards an ever more capable/powerful surveillance state.