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I'll be disappointed in the NSA if they're not selling their access to hedge funds and other major corporations. This'd be great to front run mergers and other

I'll be disappointed in the NSA if they're not selling their access to hedge funds and other major corporations. This'd be great to front run mergers and other similar events. C'mon, guys -- let's not be small time with the corruption here. Go big or go home. Now, how exactly do these companies think that this sort of collaboration will not utterly destroy the trust that non-US companies have had for American IT services? You can only lie so much until people stop listening to anything that you have to say, even if some of it is true. I also appreciated the clear explanation of the CDN loophole. Good presentation, guys! Good job! Also, despite increased access to 'intelligence,' the US continues to make poor strategic decisions, blunder into wars that it loses, lurch from financial crisis to crisis, and lose the trust of both its domestic citizens and important foreign allies. Tons and tons of 'data' but negligible intelligence.

felipeerias 12y ago
You know of Snowden because he is the only one who got access to this information and decided to expose it, ruining his own life in the process. How many other NSA workers, in the same situation, have made the (far more profitable) decision to keep their knowledge secret and use it for personal gain. A dozen? A hundred? A thousand?
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  Well, we know of at least some in government agencies involved doing so, because some of the information that has become public as a consequence of the Snowden leaks (not part of those leaks, necessarily, but information that was released afterwards) has revealed numerous instances of abuse of the surveillance system for personal purposes by people with direct access (not just using the information about the system for personal purpose, but using the surveillance systems themselves for personal purposes.)
Zigurd 12y ago
The NSA can't handle all relationships. For the link to investment bankers, you have to look to the CIA. Averell Harriman, the Dulles brothers, etc. are early manifestations of those links. One of the remarkable things that comes out in those slides is how few nominally non-aligned nations can actually operate a government that isn't thoroughly permeated with US intelligence capabilities. NSA not only penetrates, but has the cooperation of the operators of the vast majority of communications bandwidth on the planet. The governments in these countries have no ability to maintain confidentiality, and can't really operate with meaningful sovereignty. Brazil appears to be the largest example of a country attempting to operate independently that hasn't come under overt economic attack. Apart from being unjust, this condition is very brittle. The people in these countries are as free as is convenient to US strategic and economic interests. This stifles political and economic diversity. The US exports bad economic policy and outcomes in areas like intellectual property and Internet infrastructure policy. We allow our rent-seekers to screw us, and then we impose our crap outcomes on the planet. People around the world are right to chafe on principle, but also to shake off our crappy economic and technology policy influence.
- hagbardgroup 12y ago
  They're going to, because as you suggest, the situation is fragile. It's only possible to garner enthusiastic compliance when the scheme is not properly understood. Now that it is understood, enthusiastic compliance is no longer common. People at every level drag their feet.

felipeerias 12y ago

You know of Snowden because he is the only one who got access to this information and decided to expose it, ruining his own life in the process. How many other NSA workers, in the same situation, have made the (far more profitable) decision to keep their knowledge secret and use it for personal gain. A dozen? A hundred? A thousand?

dragonwriter 12y ago
Well, we know of at least some in government agencies involved doing so, because some of the information that has become public as a consequence of the Snowden leaks (not part of those leaks, necessarily, but information that was released afterwards) has revealed numerous instances of abuse of the surveillance system for personal purposes by people with direct access (not just using the information about the system for personal purpose, but using the surveillance systems themselves for personal purposes.)

Zigurd 12y ago

The NSA can't handle all relationships. For the link to investment bankers, you have to look to the CIA. Averell Harriman, the Dulles brothers, etc. are early manifestations of those links. One of the remarkable things that comes out in those slides is how few nominally non-aligned nations can actually operate a government that isn't thoroughly permeated with US intelligence capabilities. NSA not only penetrates, but has the cooperation of the operators of the vast majority of communications bandwidth on the planet. The governments in these countries have no ability to maintain confidentiality, and can't really operate with meaningful sovereignty. Brazil appears to be the largest example of a country attempting to operate independently that hasn't come under overt economic attack. Apart from being unjust, this condition is very brittle. The people in these countries are as free as is convenient to US strategic and economic interests. This stifles political and economic diversity. The US exports bad economic policy and outcomes in areas like intellectual property and Internet infrastructure policy. We allow our rent-seekers to screw us, and then we impose our crap outcomes on the planet. People around the world are right to chafe on principle, but also to shake off our crappy economic and technology policy influence.

hagbardgroup 12y ago
They're going to, because as you suggest, the situation is fragile. It's only possible to garner enthusiastic compliance when the scheme is not properly understood. Now that it is understood, enthusiastic compliance is no longer common. People at every level drag their feet.