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I've had similar experiences about many things I used to think were paranoid becoming provable fact. However the other day the news about the google search for
by Homunculiheaded 13y ago
I've had similar experiences about many things I used to think were paranoid becoming provable fact. However the other day the news about the google search for back packs and pressure cookers I thought was completely false and it was.
What I've realized is that the things I thought were paranoid and came true are things that I thought were paranoid because I had "trust" in various organizations not to abuse power, not because the actions seemed out right implausible.
With the backpacks and pressure cookers story, I was skeptical not because I trusted the fbi, but because it seemed implausible given the way the fbi typically acts and strongly against their interests.
So my updated rule is that 'trust' is no longer a valid reason to rule something out as paranoid. This is an ethos that the security world has long held as obvious, that many technical people formerly not particularly interested in security are waking up to.
- jivatmanx 13y ago"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty." -John Adams
- neilk 13y agoI thought it wouldn't happen for cynical reasons. I assumed that government agencies would want to guard their powers jealously, and given the potent justification of national security, the NSA could easily do so. Also, because they're smart people who understand the danger of revealing their programs to too many people. Maybe I misjudge how many favors bureaucracies are willing to do for one another. Or perhaps the higher-ups in the NSA are true believers in the drug war. I guess I'm not and I assume people in the NSA wouldn't be either. That said, I think I've made it abundantly clear that nobody should listen to my speculations.