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Say hello to men who hate NSA spying but blame women for being spied on

9 points by ot 12y ago

x1798DE 12y ago
I don't know how right it is to blame anyone in particular for this specific security flaw (I don't even know enough details to start to analyze that), but I don't think this is an appropriate comparison either way. Purportedly the NSA is supposed to be acting on our behalf, in our interest - they are given a huge amount of access to our internet infrastructure, and as such we're trusting them not to misuse that access; when they abuse that power, it's a betrayal of trust. No one is trusting these random hackers with their data - they just took it because they found a security hole they could exploit. It's not something anyone's encouraging (it's illegal, for one thing - we do actively try to stop these sorts of things), but you don't usually get mad at your opponents, you just try to work to prevent them from getting you again next time. I think the comparison would be more apt if these pictures were leaked by some IT guy who had been given all these women's phones and passwords and he abused his position to get the pictures. I think you'll even see some anger at Apple if it turns out that this is something that could have been easily foreseen ahead of time (e.g. poor security practices in general). My guess is it's going to end up being social engineering and weak passwords.
- saturdayplace 12y ago
  The point of the article isn't where to lay blame for the security breach. It's to point out the hypocrisy of people who scream "Invasion of privacy" in every online conversation about the NSA, but somehow still feel justified in viewing or looking for these celebrity photos.
  - x1798DE 12y ago
    The point of my comment wasn't about blame either, just that the thing that people are so upset about regarding the NSA is the breach of trust, not just normal breach of privacy. Also consider that no one is going to be surprised or outraged if these people are caught and prosecuted, but we already know who is perpetrating the NSA breaches or privacy and nothing is being done. There are a lot of reasons why these things are perceived very differently.
A_COMPUTER 12y ago
Speaking of hypocrisy: "Tell creepy men on the Internet how you really feel" then posts people's Twitter accounts. It's public shaming when we do it, and organized harassment campaigns when they do it.

9 points by ot 12y ago

I don't know how right it is to blame anyone in particular for this specific security flaw (I don't even know enough details to start to analyze that), but I don't think this is an appropriate comparison either way. Purportedly the NSA is supposed to be acting on our behalf, in our interest - they are given a huge amount of access to our internet infrastructure, and as such we're trusting them not to misuse that access; when they abuse that power, it's a betrayal of trust. No one is trusting these random hackers with their data - they just took it because they found a security hole they could exploit. It's not something anyone's encouraging (it's illegal, for one thing - we do actively try to stop these sorts of things), but you don't usually get mad at your opponents, you just try to work to prevent them from getting you again next time. I think the comparison would be more apt if these pictures were leaked by some IT guy who had been given all these women's phones and passwords and he abused his position to get the pictures. I think you'll even see some anger at Apple if it turns out that this is something that could have been easily foreseen ahead of time (e.g. poor security practices in general). My guess is it's going to end up being social engineering and weak passwords.

saturdayplace 12y ago
The point of the article isn't where to lay blame for the security breach. It's to point out the hypocrisy of people who scream "Invasion of privacy" in every online conversation about the NSA, but somehow still feel justified in viewing or looking for these celebrity photos.
- x1798DE 12y ago
  The point of my comment wasn't about blame either, just that the thing that people are so upset about regarding the NSA is the breach of trust, not just normal breach of privacy. Also consider that no one is going to be surprised or outraged if these people are caught and prosecuted, but we already know who is perpetrating the NSA breaches or privacy and nothing is being done. There are a lot of reasons why these things are perceived very differently.

A_COMPUTER 12y ago

Speaking of hypocrisy: "Tell creepy men on the Internet how you really feel" then posts people's Twitter accounts. It's public shaming when we do it, and organized harassment campaigns when they do it.