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Wait until your phone call winds up on youtube. Think it can't go that far? Imagine an NSA contractor or employee with a gambling problem who needs cash. Your d

Wait until your phone call winds up on youtube. Think it can't go that far? Imagine an NSA contractor or employee with a gambling problem who needs cash. Your data is now their ticket out of trouble.

bilbo0s 13y ago
"...Your data is now their ticket out of trouble..." And their ticket into prison.
- noir_lord 13y ago
  Indeed because addicts never make poor or irrational over the long-term decisions.
mpyne 13y ago
> Imagine an NSA contractor or employee with a gambling problem who needs cash. Your data is now their ticket out of trouble. Even today there are NSA analysts who have tried to lookup their ex-wives, and been caught and terminated. And that's just leaving it to NSA's own accountability measures, imagine what we could do if we actually added real oversight!
- jasonjei 13y ago
  A dumb analyst could inside trade large amounts by eavesdropping on privileged conversations with a corporation and its public auditor (and eventually be caught for the size of transactions). A sophisticated NSA analyst could make many trades with inside information and avoid raising alarm by making off-the-radar trades.
jsz0 13y ago
I doubt the NSA would build such a sophisticated system without layers of security and extensive audit trails to prevent misuse. If not only because misuse of the system would be a disaster for the NSA and potentially be a bigger national security problem than what the system is designed to prevent in the first place.
- coldcode 13y ago
  Yet by the very nature of a secret agency you will never know what safeguards they have or how effective they are. Plus there are a lot of really really smart people likely working there who know exactly how everything works. Aldrich Ames took advantage of his position and knowledge to out CIA spies for years.
- ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
  If a budget is tight, one of the first things to go is accountability and oversight. Social Security Insurance is a perfect example of this. If the program had more earmarked toward tracking the cases of abuse taxpayers wouldn't be able to complain about those that exploit it (as much).

Wait until your phone call winds up on youtube. Think it can't go that far? Imagine an NSA contractor or employee with a gambling problem who needs cash. Your data is now their ticket out of trouble.

bilbo0s 13y ago

"...Your data is now their ticket out of trouble..." And their ticket into prison.

noir_lord 13y ago
Indeed because addicts never make poor or irrational over the long-term decisions.

mpyne 13y ago

> Imagine an NSA contractor or employee with a gambling problem who needs cash. Your data is now their ticket out of trouble. Even today there are NSA analysts who have tried to lookup their ex-wives, and been caught and terminated. And that's just leaving it to NSA's own accountability measures, imagine what we could do if we actually added real oversight!

jasonjei 13y ago
A dumb analyst could inside trade large amounts by eavesdropping on privileged conversations with a corporation and its public auditor (and eventually be caught for the size of transactions). A sophisticated NSA analyst could make many trades with inside information and avoid raising alarm by making off-the-radar trades.

jsz0 13y ago

I doubt the NSA would build such a sophisticated system without layers of security and extensive audit trails to prevent misuse. If not only because misuse of the system would be a disaster for the NSA and potentially be a bigger national security problem than what the system is designed to prevent in the first place.

coldcode 13y ago
Yet by the very nature of a secret agency you will never know what safeguards they have or how effective they are. Plus there are a lot of really really smart people likely working there who know exactly how everything works. Aldrich Ames took advantage of his position and knowledge to out CIA spies for years.
ChikkaChiChi 13y ago
If a budget is tight, one of the first things to go is accountability and oversight. Social Security Insurance is a perfect example of this. If the program had more earmarked toward tracking the cases of abuse taxpayers wouldn't be able to complain about those that exploit it (as much).