6 ms·

Show HN: Ask the NSA

68 points by hiddentao 13y ago

"The NSA Transparency Initiative was undertaken in response to the recent unauthorized disclosure of classified information. This website will answer your questions about the NSA's programs."

rabidonrails 13y ago
When that FBI WML came on, I burst out laughing; the execution here is awesome.
sp332 13y ago
Is tracking an IP address scary? :p
- lucb1e 13y ago
  To many, yes. I did that once, using SMF forum's "who is online" page and a bit of PHP code to display a signature image "Hello $username, your IP $ip has been saved to the database!". That really pissed them off, though I could have just tracked/saved it without telling them.
- mpyne 13y ago
  Well, it is metadata and we know what that means.
Cbasedlifeform 13y ago
brilliant but all too realistic alas
anthonymonori 13y ago
You got me for a moment there!
roansh 13y ago
As if they are going to tell us the REALITY.. :D
pvnick 13y ago
Very funny! Also, I like the design.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
brokenparser 13y ago
I asked if I'm on a shitlist and it said I'm an Al Queda associative force. I'll take that as a yes.
karstenw 13y ago
I lost the number of the girl I phoned three weeks ago. Can you help me out?
nathell 13y ago
Am I mistaken, or have these guys actually managed to infringe on the WTFPL? https://github.com/hiddentao/askthensa https://github.com/hiddentao/askthensa http://www.wtfpl.net/faq/ http://www.wtfpl.net/faq/
- siddboots 13y ago
  How have they infringed?
  - stordoff 13y ago
    I think this line "Copyright (C) 2004 Ramesh Nair ram@hiddentao.com and Nick Budden hello@nickbudden.com" should read "Copyright (C) 2004 Sam Hocevar". It is the copyright statement for the license text, not the program, so cannot be changed without changing the name of the license.
brass9 13y ago
>nginx/1.1.19 meh, even the al-qaeda website runs a more up-to-date web server...
nandhp 13y ago
Brilliant: I put in a question and it returned "405 Not Allowed".
- S4M 13y ago
  Same. I don't know if it's a real NSA website that contains a bug (maybe because I am not based in the US?) or just some HNer who set up the whole thing as a joke.
  - guptaneil 13y ago
    The fact that this could be mistaken for a real NSA website really speaks to the sad state of affairs the NSA has put itself in.
    - gulbrandr 13y ago
      Look at the bottom of this file http://askthensa.com/js/bootstrap.js http://askthensa.com/js/bootstrap.js you'll know what to type.
ivzar 13y ago
The eagle is wearing headphones...I love it
gulbrandr 13y ago
Look at the bottom of this file: http://askthensa.com/js/bootstrap.js http://askthensa.com/js/bootstrap.js
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]

68 points by hiddentao 13y ago

"The NSA Transparency Initiative was undertaken in response to the recent unauthorized disclosure of classified information. This website will answer your questions about the NSA's programs."

rabidonrails 13y ago

When that FBI WML came on, I burst out laughing; the execution here is awesome.

sp332 13y ago

Is tracking an IP address scary? :p

lucb1e 13y ago
To many, yes. I did that once, using SMF forum's "who is online" page and a bit of PHP code to display a signature image "Hello $username, your IP $ip has been saved to the database!". That really pissed them off, though I could have just tracked/saved it without telling them.
mpyne 13y ago
Well, it is metadata and we know what that means.

Cbasedlifeform 13y ago

brilliant but all too realistic alas

anthonymonori 13y ago

You got me for a moment there!

roansh 13y ago

As if they are going to tell us the REALITY.. :D

pvnick 13y ago

Very funny! Also, I like the design.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

brokenparser 13y ago

I asked if I'm on a shitlist and it said I'm an Al Queda associative force. I'll take that as a yes.

karstenw 13y ago

I lost the number of the girl I phoned three weeks ago. Can you help me out?

nathell 13y ago

Am I mistaken, or have these guys actually managed to infringe on the WTFPL? https://github.com/hiddentao/askthensa https://github.com/hiddentao/askthensa http://www.wtfpl.net/faq/ http://www.wtfpl.net/faq/

siddboots 13y ago
How have they infringed?
- stordoff 13y ago
  I think this line "Copyright (C) 2004 Ramesh Nair ram@hiddentao.com and Nick Budden hello@nickbudden.com" should read "Copyright (C) 2004 Sam Hocevar". It is the copyright statement for the license text, not the program, so cannot be changed without changing the name of the license.

brass9 13y ago

>nginx/1.1.19 meh, even the al-qaeda website runs a more up-to-date web server...

nandhp 13y ago

Brilliant: I put in a question and it returned "405 Not Allowed".

S4M 13y ago
Same. I don't know if it's a real NSA website that contains a bug (maybe because I am not based in the US?) or just some HNer who set up the whole thing as a joke.
- guptaneil 13y ago
  The fact that this could be mistaken for a real NSA website really speaks to the sad state of affairs the NSA has put itself in.
  - gulbrandr 13y ago
    Look at the bottom of this file http://askthensa.com/js/bootstrap.js http://askthensa.com/js/bootstrap.js you'll know what to type.

ivzar 13y ago

The eagle is wearing headphones...I love it

gulbrandr 13y ago

Look at the bottom of this file: http://askthensa.com/js/bootstrap.js http://askthensa.com/js/bootstrap.js

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]