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NSA Says It’s Too Large, Complex to Comply With Court Order

33 points by igravious 12y ago

a3n 12y ago
How soon before they give up even the pretence of pretence, and just say "No." Or go dark.
- igravious 12y ago
  Is this really the future we want for ourselves and our children? Are our pre-digital expectations of privacy hopelessly outdated in this brave new world of globe-spanning fiber optic?
sdegutis 12y ago
It's kind of funny, the size of the NSA is the very reason we fear them, thus the very reason we fear them is the very reason we can't shut them down.
- igravious 12y ago
  Very Catch-22 don't you think? Joseph Heller would have been proud to come up with that line. I see us as being at a point socially compared to where Stallman was when he wanted to fix a printer and couldn't. He had to build another system from the ground up to circumvent the existing one. That's what I think we have to do. Federated encrypted social media and messaging. It'll take a generation. There's no point in going through the courts, we need something like the GPL and GNU but for privacy.
lostcolony 12y ago
Shut it down. Shut it down shut it down shut it down. I'm past the point of trying to take a nuanced look at balancing the need for security; this is clearly, unquestionably our liberty at stake.
- theandrewbailey 12y ago
  The NSA has a proven track record over several decades that it cannot uphold the Constitution. They are more dangerous to it than the terrorists they fight.
Rusty_Jenkins 12y ago
They're basically saying they're too big to regulate?
joesmo 12y ago
If it can't comply, it's in violation of law and it needs to be shut down completely. The mere fact of its existence and the inability of our elected representatives to hold it accountable to laws indicates that this agency has no right to exist. Not to mention that the idea that one would have to shut down a database to retrieve data is so ludicrous, the NSA should be ashamed for even trying to propose it or think that anyone will be fooled by it (many will, especially politicians). Land of the free my ass.
- deciplex 12y ago
  They're not saying they have to shut it down to retrieve it, they're saying they have to shut it down to preserve the data it holds. Considering this is the same organization that never was able to figure out what Snowden took from them in the first place, it's plausible. That said, I agree with lostcolony 1000%.
technologue 12y ago
I think they learned this trick from the bankers. "We're too big to follow the law!"

33 points by igravious 12y ago

a3n 12y ago

How soon before they give up even the pretence of pretence, and just say "No." Or go dark.

igravious 12y ago
Is this really the future we want for ourselves and our children? Are our pre-digital expectations of privacy hopelessly outdated in this brave new world of globe-spanning fiber optic?

sdegutis 12y ago

It's kind of funny, the size of the NSA is the very reason we fear them, thus the very reason we fear them is the very reason we can't shut them down.

igravious 12y ago
Very Catch-22 don't you think? Joseph Heller would have been proud to come up with that line. I see us as being at a point socially compared to where Stallman was when he wanted to fix a printer and couldn't. He had to build another system from the ground up to circumvent the existing one. That's what I think we have to do. Federated encrypted social media and messaging. It'll take a generation. There's no point in going through the courts, we need something like the GPL and GNU but for privacy.

lostcolony 12y ago

Shut it down. Shut it down shut it down shut it down. I'm past the point of trying to take a nuanced look at balancing the need for security; this is clearly, unquestionably our liberty at stake.

theandrewbailey 12y ago
The NSA has a proven track record over several decades that it cannot uphold the Constitution. They are more dangerous to it than the terrorists they fight.

Rusty_Jenkins 12y ago

They're basically saying they're too big to regulate?

joesmo 12y ago

If it can't comply, it's in violation of law and it needs to be shut down completely. The mere fact of its existence and the inability of our elected representatives to hold it accountable to laws indicates that this agency has no right to exist. Not to mention that the idea that one would have to shut down a database to retrieve data is so ludicrous, the NSA should be ashamed for even trying to propose it or think that anyone will be fooled by it (many will, especially politicians). Land of the free my ass.

deciplex 12y ago
They're not saying they have to shut it down to retrieve it, they're saying they have to shut it down to preserve the data it holds. Considering this is the same organization that never was able to figure out what Snowden took from them in the first place, it's plausible. That said, I agree with lostcolony 1000%.

technologue 12y ago

I think they learned this trick from the bankers. "We're too big to follow the law!"