7 ms·

Bit of a mess of an article IMHO. Intelligence agency staff leave their roles, just like anyone else does. Unregulated? They're as regulated as the rest of us.

Bit of a mess of an article IMHO. Intelligence agency staff leave their roles, just like anyone else does. Unregulated? They're as regulated as the rest of us. Then you have the article casting aspersions on them for doing so, it must be about money and malign foreign influences. Of course foreign states use proxies; so does the UK. Why's that even mentioned as if it's implying ex-intel staff are the proxies - which as far as I'm aware, they're not? Should we ban these people from working again, or ensure they only flip burgers for the rest of their lives for daring to leave the public sector?

matthewdgreen 1y ago
I have no idea how regulated “the rest of us are.” This brush-off does not convince me that private spying is good, or that regulations are sufficient to stop it. In fact, the existence of an article in Politico makes me strongly suspect this is part of a discussion in which someone argues for more regulation. Fortunately I don’t live in the UK. Unfortunately I’m not convinced that is a barrier. ETA: the argument “what, do you expect these people not to keep engaging in work that we traditionally reserve for governments, how will they feed their kids?” also leaves me quite cold.
- cs02rm0 1y ago
  I don't buy that it's work traditionally reserved for governments, or that it's all bad. There are people offering their services to find kidnapped children, I struggle to see that as a bad thing. Private investigatory work has a long history in the country of Sherlock Holmes (or at least Dr Joseph Bell). You have figures as far back as Harry Philby flirting with foreign governments after their time within the UK government. They're not offering government services, they're offering their own capabilities.
  - rendaw 1y ago
    > Black Cube ... its staff had snooped on journalists and adopted false identities to obtain information about film mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse accusers That sounds like more or less the opposite of finding kidnapped children. > Providing home addresses to Russian oligarchs who have a history of topping people — particularly journalists
Maxious 1y ago
US veterans have to seek permission to enter employment or invest in companies that do business with foreign governments https://dodsoco.ogc.osd.mil/Portals/102/summary_emoluments_clause_restrictions.pdf https://dodsoco.ogc.osd.mil/Portals/102/summary_emoluments_c... Australia introduced a less onerous 1/5/10 year permission period but for anybody with "training in military tactics and use of software or technology with military applications" https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2024-05-07/new-law-place-overseas-work https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2024-05-07/new-l... Most famously due to a former US citizen turned Australian citizen awaiting extradiction back to the US for allegedly training chinese fighter pilots (although this seems to be more of an ITAR violation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecution_of_Daniel_Duggan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecution_of_Daniel_Duggan
- sa46 1y ago
  > US veterans have to seek permission Retired military personnel, not all veterans.
  - bigiain 1y ago
    This is a very off topic tangent, but that makes me quite curious. What is the difference between "veterans" and "retired military personnel"?
    - throwup238 1y ago
      “Retired military personnel” have completed their 20+ years of service and retired with full pension. “Veteran” refers to anyone who has served in the armed forces.
      - bigiain 1y ago
        Ahhh, right. I guess that'a a distinction that makes sense. Thanks.
      - harvey9 1y ago
        So if you only did 10 years and have military skills this regulation does not apply?
PeterStuer 1y ago
It is POLITICO. Always a mess of emotional appeal and misty allegations trying to launder editorials as 'news'. Run their articles through NLP and ask about facts and cited evidence to support those facts and most of the time their will be 'very' little. Ask which type of audience the articles are written for, and you will find the writing style alligns with an audience driven by emotional appeal rather than fact or reason. And yes, most of our media has devolved in the same way, but nearly every time I come across a POLITICO article, it seems to go out of its way to confirm this and then some.

matthewdgreen 1y ago

I have no idea how regulated “the rest of us are.” This brush-off does not convince me that private spying is good, or that regulations are sufficient to stop it. In fact, the existence of an article in Politico makes me strongly suspect this is part of a discussion in which someone argues for more regulation. Fortunately I don’t live in the UK. Unfortunately I’m not convinced that is a barrier. ETA: the argument “what, do you expect these people not to keep engaging in work that we traditionally reserve for governments, how will they feed their kids?” also leaves me quite cold.

cs02rm0 1y ago
I don't buy that it's work traditionally reserved for governments, or that it's all bad. There are people offering their services to find kidnapped children, I struggle to see that as a bad thing. Private investigatory work has a long history in the country of Sherlock Holmes (or at least Dr Joseph Bell). You have figures as far back as Harry Philby flirting with foreign governments after their time within the UK government. They're not offering government services, they're offering their own capabilities.
- rendaw 1y ago
  > Black Cube ... its staff had snooped on journalists and adopted false identities to obtain information about film mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse accusers That sounds like more or less the opposite of finding kidnapped children. > Providing home addresses to Russian oligarchs who have a history of topping people — particularly journalists

Maxious 1y ago

US veterans have to seek permission to enter employment or invest in companies that do business with foreign governments https://dodsoco.ogc.osd.mil/Portals/102/summary_emoluments_clause_restrictions.pdf https://dodsoco.ogc.osd.mil/Portals/102/summary_emoluments_c... Australia introduced a less onerous 1/5/10 year permission period but for anybody with "training in military tactics and use of software or technology with military applications" https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2024-05-07/new-law-place-overseas-work https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/news/2024-05-07/new-l... Most famously due to a former US citizen turned Australian citizen awaiting extradiction back to the US for allegedly training chinese fighter pilots (although this seems to be more of an ITAR violation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecution_of_Daniel_Duggan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosecution_of_Daniel_Duggan

sa46 1y ago
> US veterans have to seek permission Retired military personnel, not all veterans.
- bigiain 1y ago
  This is a very off topic tangent, but that makes me quite curious. What is the difference between "veterans" and "retired military personnel"?
  - throwup238 1y ago
    “Retired military personnel” have completed their 20+ years of service and retired with full pension. “Veteran” refers to anyone who has served in the armed forces.
    - bigiain 1y ago
      Ahhh, right. I guess that'a a distinction that makes sense. Thanks.
    - harvey9 1y ago
      So if you only did 10 years and have military skills this regulation does not apply?

PeterStuer 1y ago

It is POLITICO. Always a mess of emotional appeal and misty allegations trying to launder editorials as 'news'. Run their articles through NLP and ask about facts and cited evidence to support those facts and most of the time their will be 'very' little. Ask which type of audience the articles are written for, and you will find the writing style alligns with an audience driven by emotional appeal rather than fact or reason. And yes, most of our media has devolved in the same way, but nearly every time I come across a POLITICO article, it seems to go out of its way to confirm this and then some.