14 ms·

The Thailand story was a cover for the NSA buying a huge number of drives for the new data facility in Utah.

by colordrops 5y ago

segfaultbuserr 5y ago
Too bad for the NSA that they couldn't use Chia mining as the cover back then. /s
- Lammy 5y ago
  Good thing NSA et al aren't also competing for parallel-computing hardware or it would be even harder to buy a new GPU. Luckily all participants in online discussion forums are real humans who can tell me what to blame :)
semi-extrinsic 5y ago
Source?
- simondotau 5y ago
  I'm 99.9% sure that this post wasn't meant to be taken seriously.
3np 5y ago
Source for this claim? Sounds entirely like unfounded speculation. (Wikipedia page on the facility in question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center)
- Lammy 5y ago
  Yeah maybe it was just for the construction kickbacks and the datacenter is actually empty.
  - 3np 5y ago
    Or they managed to fill it with hardware without having to coordinate an intricate conspiracy involving supply chain and manufacturers across the globe.
    - Lammy 5y ago
      > coordinate an intricate conspiracy Nobody is alleging that but you. Personally I don't think either "surveillance system needs a way to store what is collected" or "high-volume customers have economic leverage to demand confidentiality" are particularly intricate concepts.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - choeger 5y ago
        The Snowden effect has worn off, it seems. Nowadays the NSA is back to being able to pull the most extreme stunts and everyone who thinks it is even remotely possible is called a crazy conspiracy theorist.
        exmadscientist 5y ago
        To claim that the NSA caused or faked the Thailand flooding is conspiracy theorist bullshit of the highest order. To claim that the NSA took advantage of an existing event to help their already-planned ordering fly under the radar more easily is perfectly plausible. And, honestly, pretty boring. Which one are you alleging? Choosing your words carefully might be wise.
        rbanffy 5y ago
        The NSA has no shortage of front companies to do such jobs. For instance, when the CIA needed to place torture experts in Brazil so they better could support the Brazilian military dictatorship, companies like Ford and Coca Cola were more than happy to offer them management jobs.
simondotau 5y ago
The plausibility of a conspiracy theory diminishes as the number of people necessary to keep the secret increases. How many people work in Thailand's hard drive manufacturing plants? Hundreds? Thousands? How many people in the logistics channels? How many people are vending food to these employees? How many people in the US Government? Oh, and pulling this off would also require co-ordination with Thai Government. That's hundreds of people right there.
- choeger 5y ago
  You overthink this. The flooding might not have led to a crisis alone if the NSA or any other big buyer didn't place a huge order at that time. You also don't need a conspiracy to keep the procurements of a government agency confidential.
- sinyug 5y ago
  > The plausibility of a conspiracy theory diminishes as the number of people necessary to keep the secret increases. Not if you can discredit those who dare to speak out by labeling them "conspiracy theorists," thereby discouraging others from coming out as well. I remember an episode from an old American sitcom where people make fun of the dad (an airline pilot) when he claims to have seen a UFO. It is the same thing. Any deviation from the standard narrative isn't tolerated by most people.
  - pas 5y ago
    ... but aren't the observations itself part of the standard narrative, and the nonstandard part is how people explain them? (One standard explanation being that they are just some next-level high-tech stuff being tested.)
    - sinyug 5y ago
      > but aren't the observations itself part of the standard narrative Only in a technical sense. When people talk about UFOs, they are not referring to known things like weather balloons, planes or fighter jets, but, instead, to something out of the ordinary. However, every "standard" explanation offered is one of these things. The standard narrative here is: UFOs don't exist.
cm2187 5y ago
Maybe not the NSA: One thing I learned recently, which made the effect of the 2011 flood on the HD market worst: Aramco purchased a big chunk of several months of the world supply of hard drive to recover from Shamoon in 2012, by replacing every HD in the company [1] [1] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/30/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/30/
wilco4 5y ago
This might be the funniest thing I've read all day.
BongoMcCat 5y ago
This is probably some joke that I just don't understand, but just to be clear: Are you saying that there either was no tsunami or that the NSA created the tsunami as a cover to buy harddrives?
- BenjiWiebe 5y ago
  They're implying that the tsunami did little to no damage to the hard drive factory.
ChrisRR 5y ago
So many conspiracy theories fall apart when you give it the smallest thought Why not just start a rumour claiming the price is increasing due to huge demand?
- rbanffy 5y ago
  Because it doesn’t sound like one of those crazy conspiracy theories. They need to feel privy to some knowledge “the others” don’t have and refuse to see.
skinkestek 5y ago
First time I hear this but I think timelines match up and at this point I think it is completely believable. (Not saying I'm sure it is actually true, only that it won't surprise me more than if it is untrue.

The Thailand story was a cover for the NSA buying a huge number of drives for the new data facility in Utah.

segfaultbuserr 5y ago

Too bad for the NSA that they couldn't use Chia mining as the cover back then. /s

Lammy 5y ago
Good thing NSA et al aren't also competing for parallel-computing hardware or it would be even harder to buy a new GPU. Luckily all participants in online discussion forums are real humans who can tell me what to blame :)

semi-extrinsic 5y ago

Source?

simondotau 5y ago
I'm 99.9% sure that this post wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

3np 5y ago

Source for this claim? Sounds entirely like unfounded speculation. (Wikipedia page on the facility in question: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Data_Center)

Lammy 5y ago
Yeah maybe it was just for the construction kickbacks and the datacenter is actually empty.
- 3np 5y ago
  Or they managed to fill it with hardware without having to coordinate an intricate conspiracy involving supply chain and manufacturers across the globe.
  - Lammy 5y ago
    > coordinate an intricate conspiracy Nobody is alleging that but you. Personally I don't think either "surveillance system needs a way to store what is collected" or "high-volume customers have economic leverage to demand confidentiality" are particularly intricate concepts.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - choeger 5y ago
      The Snowden effect has worn off, it seems. Nowadays the NSA is back to being able to pull the most extreme stunts and everyone who thinks it is even remotely possible is called a crazy conspiracy theorist.
      - exmadscientist 5y ago
        To claim that the NSA caused or faked the Thailand flooding is conspiracy theorist bullshit of the highest order. To claim that the NSA took advantage of an existing event to help their already-planned ordering fly under the radar more easily is perfectly plausible. And, honestly, pretty boring. Which one are you alleging? Choosing your words carefully might be wise.
        rbanffy 5y ago
        The NSA has no shortage of front companies to do such jobs. For instance, when the CIA needed to place torture experts in Brazil so they better could support the Brazilian military dictatorship, companies like Ford and Coca Cola were more than happy to offer them management jobs.

simondotau 5y ago

The plausibility of a conspiracy theory diminishes as the number of people necessary to keep the secret increases. How many people work in Thailand's hard drive manufacturing plants? Hundreds? Thousands? How many people in the logistics channels? How many people are vending food to these employees? How many people in the US Government? Oh, and pulling this off would also require co-ordination with Thai Government. That's hundreds of people right there.

choeger 5y ago
You overthink this. The flooding might not have led to a crisis alone if the NSA or any other big buyer didn't place a huge order at that time. You also don't need a conspiracy to keep the procurements of a government agency confidential.
sinyug 5y ago
> The plausibility of a conspiracy theory diminishes as the number of people necessary to keep the secret increases. Not if you can discredit those who dare to speak out by labeling them "conspiracy theorists," thereby discouraging others from coming out as well. I remember an episode from an old American sitcom where people make fun of the dad (an airline pilot) when he claims to have seen a UFO. It is the same thing. Any deviation from the standard narrative isn't tolerated by most people.
- pas 5y ago
  ... but aren't the observations itself part of the standard narrative, and the nonstandard part is how people explain them? (One standard explanation being that they are just some next-level high-tech stuff being tested.)
  - sinyug 5y ago
    > but aren't the observations itself part of the standard narrative Only in a technical sense. When people talk about UFOs, they are not referring to known things like weather balloons, planes or fighter jets, but, instead, to something out of the ordinary. However, every "standard" explanation offered is one of these things. The standard narrative here is: UFOs don't exist.

cm2187 5y ago

Maybe not the NSA: One thing I learned recently, which made the effect of the 2011 flood on the HD market worst: Aramco purchased a big chunk of several months of the world supply of hard drive to recover from Shamoon in 2012, by replacing every HD in the company [1] [1] https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/30/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/30/

wilco4 5y ago

This might be the funniest thing I've read all day.

BongoMcCat 5y ago

This is probably some joke that I just don't understand, but just to be clear: Are you saying that there either was no tsunami or that the NSA created the tsunami as a cover to buy harddrives?

BenjiWiebe 5y ago
They're implying that the tsunami did little to no damage to the hard drive factory.

ChrisRR 5y ago

So many conspiracy theories fall apart when you give it the smallest thought Why not just start a rumour claiming the price is increasing due to huge demand?

rbanffy 5y ago
Because it doesn’t sound like one of those crazy conspiracy theories. They need to feel privy to some knowledge “the others” don’t have and refuse to see.

skinkestek 5y ago

First time I hear this but I think timelines match up and at this point I think it is completely believable. (Not saying I'm sure it is actually true, only that it won't surprise me more than if it is untrue.