4 ms·

I'm curious: If there is a war going on, did this leak help or hinder? Which side did it help or hinder? Who benefits from this leak, and who is harmed? I have

I'm curious: If there is a war going on, did this leak help or hinder? Which side did it help or hinder? Who benefits from this leak, and who is harmed? I have a sinking suspicion that the average American, for example, isn't benefited by this leak.

mmjaa 9y ago
I dunno how we can quantify "Americans being benefited" in light of what these leaks are revealing in the global context, but I sure don't like it, living as I do, under either a velvet glove, or an iron one, depending on which side of the wall I happen to decide to visit. But, I do think that these leaks are good for everyone, not just Americans, and that is why they need to happen.
- fixermark 9y ago
  But practically, what would you do given the information divulged. Hackers gonna hack, that's known. Does knowing Russian agents attempted a hack cast them in worse light? No; we already know Russia isn't a close political ally of the US. What details of the hack do is tip off the Russians to burn their channels and methods and complicate the NSA's work in protecting American digital assets from further attack (as well as, depending on what secondary information can be gleaned from the hack based on what the Russians know, compromise the NSA's own back-channels and espionage approaches to understanding what Russia's spy operations are doing). There's a difference between the leaks Deep Throat provided ("Your President is a criminal") and the leaks allegedly executed by Reality Winner ("Russian spies are spying, as Russian spies do"). A failure to distinguish qualitative nature of dumped information weakens both the future security of leakers and the overall philosophy that more transparency is a good thing.
  - mmjaa 9y ago
    This story has the danger of cyber-fatigue'ing the general public, but it has the potential to forward a number of positive aspects in the war against warfare-criminality-because-secrecy, on either side of the argument: Pro "Pease with Russia, At All Costs", or Con "Send Russkie Hacker UP The Bomb(s)". These leaks have value, because they continue to forward the narrative in the general public, and the centres of true power, though weakening: mainstream/middle-class/entitled-/privileged- consumers who can Do Stuff™ to change the power structures behind this big military-industrial mess. If we hold one thing in place: Pease with Russia, we must assume that there are parties who want this, and parties who don't. Oh, sorry, I mean "War With Russia", which is what this is all really about.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
rhizome 9y ago
I'm curious: If there is a war going on, did this leak help or hinder? Which side did it help or hinder? Who benefits from this leak, and who is harmed? Do the answers to these questions matter if the war continues regardless?

mmjaa 9y ago

I dunno how we can quantify "Americans being benefited" in light of what these leaks are revealing in the global context, but I sure don't like it, living as I do, under either a velvet glove, or an iron one, depending on which side of the wall I happen to decide to visit. But, I do think that these leaks are good for everyone, not just Americans, and that is why they need to happen.

fixermark 9y ago
But practically, what would you do given the information divulged. Hackers gonna hack, that's known. Does knowing Russian agents attempted a hack cast them in worse light? No; we already know Russia isn't a close political ally of the US. What details of the hack do is tip off the Russians to burn their channels and methods and complicate the NSA's work in protecting American digital assets from further attack (as well as, depending on what secondary information can be gleaned from the hack based on what the Russians know, compromise the NSA's own back-channels and espionage approaches to understanding what Russia's spy operations are doing). There's a difference between the leaks Deep Throat provided ("Your President is a criminal") and the leaks allegedly executed by Reality Winner ("Russian spies are spying, as Russian spies do"). A failure to distinguish qualitative nature of dumped information weakens both the future security of leakers and the overall philosophy that more transparency is a good thing.
- mmjaa 9y ago
  This story has the danger of cyber-fatigue'ing the general public, but it has the potential to forward a number of positive aspects in the war against warfare-criminality-because-secrecy, on either side of the argument: Pro "Pease with Russia, At All Costs", or Con "Send Russkie Hacker UP The Bomb(s)". These leaks have value, because they continue to forward the narrative in the general public, and the centres of true power, though weakening: mainstream/middle-class/entitled-/privileged- consumers who can Do Stuff™ to change the power structures behind this big military-industrial mess. If we hold one thing in place: Pease with Russia, we must assume that there are parties who want this, and parties who don't. Oh, sorry, I mean "War With Russia", which is what this is all really about.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]

rhizome 9y ago

I'm curious: If there is a war going on, did this leak help or hinder? Which side did it help or hinder? Who benefits from this leak, and who is harmed? Do the answers to these questions matter if the war continues regardless?