5 ms·

The conversation here on HN is quite funny. I can imagine the same conversation taking place in China: the data on US apps goes straight to the US government.

gmm1990 5y ago
Yeah at one point (probably still) didn't all data just go to the NSA.
- ashwagary 5y ago
  NSA takes pride in knowing what every European leader said and did on their personal cellphone this morning.
- duxup 5y ago
  >didn't all data just go to the NSA. "all" is so general that I think it's kinda hard to really address that.
  - williamscales 5y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A
    - duxup 5y ago
      I'm aware of that. This is what I meant by how hard it is to talk about 'all'. Someone says all and then someone gives an example that's not all and so what are we talking about? Ultimately I think there are differences between country A and country B's methods and etc.
      - williamscales 5y ago
        Yeah, I mean what is “all”? In terms of internet traffic, my understanding is that the NSA would have access to a significant fraction of all of it via this room (and perhaps others). A significant enough fraction that there’s a high likelihood any given internet communication could be intercepted. Maybe not every time but enough stuff routes through the US that eventually it will be seen. So to me I’ve feel comfortable using “all” in a loose (empirical) sense. But I see your point that it’s not as clear.
duxup 5y ago
It's pretty common for everyone to assume such things... particularly if you're doing it. I recall when Trump ran into issues with contacts made with some Russian agents he publicly stated that he thought everyone else did it (to be specific he meant sending someone to meet with agents who said they had information he would want). When in fact almost every recent presidential candidate had reported attempted contacts by Russian agents (the lone exceptions were Trump, and George Bush Sr... but Bush had been head of the CIA so it seems likely the Russians might not try). It seems it makes it easy to imagine these things by default if you're up to it.

gmm1990 5y ago

Yeah at one point (probably still) didn't all data just go to the NSA.

ashwagary 5y ago
NSA takes pride in knowing what every European leader said and did on their personal cellphone this morning.
duxup 5y ago
>didn't all data just go to the NSA. "all" is so general that I think it's kinda hard to really address that.
- williamscales 5y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A
  - duxup 5y ago
    I'm aware of that. This is what I meant by how hard it is to talk about 'all'. Someone says all and then someone gives an example that's not all and so what are we talking about? Ultimately I think there are differences between country A and country B's methods and etc.
    - williamscales 5y ago
      Yeah, I mean what is “all”? In terms of internet traffic, my understanding is that the NSA would have access to a significant fraction of all of it via this room (and perhaps others). A significant enough fraction that there’s a high likelihood any given internet communication could be intercepted. Maybe not every time but enough stuff routes through the US that eventually it will be seen. So to me I’ve feel comfortable using “all” in a loose (empirical) sense. But I see your point that it’s not as clear.

duxup 5y ago

It's pretty common for everyone to assume such things... particularly if you're doing it. I recall when Trump ran into issues with contacts made with some Russian agents he publicly stated that he thought everyone else did it (to be specific he meant sending someone to meet with agents who said they had information he would want). When in fact almost every recent presidential candidate had reported attempted contacts by Russian agents (the lone exceptions were Trump, and George Bush Sr... but Bush had been head of the CIA so it seems likely the Russians might not try). It seems it makes it easy to imagine these things by default if you're up to it.