4 ms·

May I suggest a different perspective: We did need the Snowden disclosures to know this, for some value of we. A lot of members here on HN appear to realize thi

by Nimi 13y ago

May I suggest a different perspective: We did need the Snowden disclosures to know this, for some value of we. A lot of members here on HN appear to realize this for the first time, and this is obviously a computer-related community. Non-technical people, considering who to vote for next time, certainly needed the Snowden disclosures to know this. The press could have picked up this story from resumes, but didn't, so the disclosures do allow for a democratic discourse on the subject, which wasn't possible earlier. I do appreciate you sharing the fact that among computer security circles it was a well-known fact, and it's sad that you get so much hate for your informative comments.

dreamfactory 13y ago
You might also reasonably ask why tptacek and friends weren't blowing the whistle as this is huge news to most.
- DanBC 13y ago
  I can't speak for tptacek. I don't know what he and his friends were doing. But I've been telling people to encrypt everything, and to assume the government can read everything, for very many years. Sure, I lack gravitas, but still. We were telling people about it. A Google web search for Echelon before 1999 reveals many hits for the secret codename (as well as many not relevant hits) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=echelon&sa=X&ei=IXWRUpCGE8eRhQeKxoHYAw&ved=0CCAQpwUoBg&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A%2Ccd_max%3A01%2F01%2F1999&tbm= https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=echelon&sa=X&ei=IXWRUpCGE8... We successfully fought against idiotic ideas from government to control use of encryption (EG Clipper chip). We told you to use encryption. We told you they could listen. We told you they were listening. What more could people have done? http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/1997/issue1/akdeniz1.html#ukpolicy http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/1997/issue1/akdeniz1.html#ukpolicy
  - Nimi 13y ago
    I think there's a strong distinction between "the government can read everything unencrypted" and "the government has a horde of vulnerability researchers, and routinely infects huge numbers of computers with their code". For the sake of discussion, I will concede that the former was well-known. The latter, IMO, wasn't. What more could people have done? Good question. Maybe try and contact investigative journalists, although I have had no luck doing that for an unrelated issue I feel strongly about (NBA game fixing).

by Nimi 13y ago

dreamfactory 13y ago

You might also reasonably ask why tptacek and friends weren't blowing the whistle as this is huge news to most.

DanBC 13y ago
I can't speak for tptacek. I don't know what he and his friends were doing. But I've been telling people to encrypt everything, and to assume the government can read everything, for very many years. Sure, I lack gravitas, but still. We were telling people about it. A Google web search for Echelon before 1999 reveals many hits for the secret codename (as well as many not relevant hits) https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=echelon&sa=X&ei=IXWRUpCGE8eRhQeKxoHYAw&ved=0CCAQpwUoBg&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A%2Ccd_max%3A01%2F01%2F1999&tbm= https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=echelon&sa=X&ei=IXWRUpCGE8... We successfully fought against idiotic ideas from government to control use of encryption (EG Clipper chip). We told you to use encryption. We told you they could listen. We told you they were listening. What more could people have done? http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/1997/issue1/akdeniz1.html#ukpolicy http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/1997/issue1/akdeniz1.html#ukpolicy
- Nimi 13y ago
  I think there's a strong distinction between "the government can read everything unencrypted" and "the government has a horde of vulnerability researchers, and routinely infects huge numbers of computers with their code". For the sake of discussion, I will concede that the former was well-known. The latter, IMO, wasn't. What more could people have done? Good question. Maybe try and contact investigative journalists, although I have had no luck doing that for an unrelated issue I feel strongly about (NBA game fixing).