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The whole thread was about the NSA's budget and mission, so I misunderstood your point. It appears you have no specific qualms with the NSA other than the fact

by dahdum 7y ago

The whole thread was about the NSA's budget and mission, so I misunderstood your point. It appears you have no specific qualms with the NSA other than the fact they exist under the same government as the FBI/CIA?

kerkeslager 7y ago
No, I'm just shooting down the idea that simply saying the NSA was involved in fighting the cold war doesn't mean they're positive for US Citizens. I haven't mentioned my qualms about the NSA up to this point, but since you asked: I object to spending $10.8 billion in 2013[1]. I object to the fact that they have so little oversight, the public had to find out what their funding is from a leak[1]. I object to the fact that this spending resulted in only 4 arrests they will tell us about over a period of years[2] which are all fairly questionable[3]. I object to their continued violation of the constitutional right to privacy of almost every American.[4] I object to them undermining encryption standards[5] which weakens the security of people and companies everywhere. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/30/us/politics/leaked-document-outlines-us-spending-on-intelligence.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/30/us/politics/leaked-docume... [2] https://www.ibtimes.com/four-times-nsa-surveillance-programs-stopped-attack-1312309 https://www.ibtimes.com/four-times-nsa-surveillance-programs... [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20944055 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20944055 [4] https://www.eff.org/702-spying https://www.eff.org/702-spying [5] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nsa-nist-encryption-scandal/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nsa-nist-encrypti...
- emmelaich 7y ago
  > No, I'm just shooting down the idea that simply saying the NSA was involved in fighting the cold war doesn't mean they're positive for US Citizens is a big backtrack from > There's a strong argument to be made that the US government did more harm to US citizens during the Cold War than the Soviets ever did
  - kerkeslager 7y ago
    The second thing you quoted is part of my evidence for the first thing you quoted. It's not a backtrack at all. Do you have an actual evidence-based opinion, or are you just trying to catch me in weird gotchas? I'm sure I've said something slightly incorrect you can track down, but that doesn't really negate the evidence I've linked.

by dahdum 7y ago

kerkeslager 7y ago

No, I'm just shooting down the idea that simply saying the NSA was involved in fighting the cold war doesn't mean they're positive for US Citizens. I haven't mentioned my qualms about the NSA up to this point, but since you asked: I object to spending $10.8 billion in 2013[1]. I object to the fact that they have so little oversight, the public had to find out what their funding is from a leak[1]. I object to the fact that this spending resulted in only 4 arrests they will tell us about over a period of years[2] which are all fairly questionable[3]. I object to their continued violation of the constitutional right to privacy of almost every American.[4] I object to them undermining encryption standards[5] which weakens the security of people and companies everywhere. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/30/us/politics/leaked-document-outlines-us-spending-on-intelligence.html https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/30/us/politics/leaked-docume... [2] https://www.ibtimes.com/four-times-nsa-surveillance-programs-stopped-attack-1312309 https://www.ibtimes.com/four-times-nsa-surveillance-programs... [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20944055 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20944055 [4] https://www.eff.org/702-spying https://www.eff.org/702-spying [5] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nsa-nist-encryption-scandal/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nsa-nist-encrypti...

emmelaich 7y ago
> No, I'm just shooting down the idea that simply saying the NSA was involved in fighting the cold war doesn't mean they're positive for US Citizens is a big backtrack from > There's a strong argument to be made that the US government did more harm to US citizens during the Cold War than the Soviets ever did
- kerkeslager 7y ago
  The second thing you quoted is part of my evidence for the first thing you quoted. It's not a backtrack at all. Do you have an actual evidence-based opinion, or are you just trying to catch me in weird gotchas? I'm sure I've said something slightly incorrect you can track down, but that doesn't really negate the evidence I've linked.