7 ms·

Indeed, the entire mechanism should be available to the general public for use, or in other words - entirely radical thinking - why don't we defeat the NSA by d

Indeed, the entire mechanism should be available to the general public for use, or in other words - entirely radical thinking - why don't we defeat the NSA by demanding it open-source itself, 100%? After all, it might make all the difference in the world if maximum intelligence was suddenly and irrevocably available to every single living human on the planet .. its actually within our grasp, as a species, to share such a moment. Gimme root, NSA.

happyscrappy 12y ago
Giving your enemies all your tech is not wise. Thankfully hipster dufuses have no real power.
- fit2rule 12y ago
  Too bad the makers of enemies seem to think they're the only ones who can be trusted with power.
  - happyscrappy 12y ago
    Then move to Russia and fight the evil West.
  - krapp 12y ago
    Show me a powerful nation without enemies.
    - fit2rule 12y ago
      Maybe we wouldn't have so many enemies if we didn't keep so many secrets.
- jazzyk 12y ago
  So you (just like the US government/NSA) think that the people of this country are the enemy.
  - happyscrappy 12y ago
    If you make it publicly available how do you plan on keeping it from North Korea?
daveloyall 12y ago
I think I might support this, but I'm not done thinking about it. One thing that would happen immediately: people would stop discussing marital affairs via telephone. (And there'd be a brief spike in murders if the historic data were released!) The knee jerk reaction is to extend that idea to would-be terrorists, too--to imagine that they'd simply change their communication habits (they already try to avoid monitoring, I presume). But, let's think a little harder, and let's start with the married folk. Bob and Mary are married. Eve is Bob's co-worker. Don't you think that Eve-Bob communication is going to contain some tell-tale signs _before_ the affair? Could Mary (or Bob, or Eve) use this information to prevent the affair (or proceed in a less painful manner, depending on their situation)? I was interrupted and now I've put that line of thought on hold and developed a new one. Remember IRC? Did you ever choose your stance in a dispute by reviewing the logs? ...Was there anything wrong with that? Wasn't it generally helpful? Of course in that world, PRIVMSG does exist. In our world, it doesn't. I dunno.
mindcrime 12y ago
Too funny... I made very nearly this same suggestion to a co-worker last week (in jest though). My spin was that the NSA should both fund themselves, and justify their existence, by offering valuable services, like the "Is my spouse cheating on me" report, and a "background checks on potential co-founders" service, etc. As well as, of course, providing archived copies of lost email, files, etc. The thing is, I really was just joking. But somewhere out there, there's probably somebody who thinks this is all actually a good idea.

happyscrappy 12y ago

Giving your enemies all your tech is not wise. Thankfully hipster dufuses have no real power.

fit2rule 12y ago
Too bad the makers of enemies seem to think they're the only ones who can be trusted with power.
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  Then move to Russia and fight the evil West.
- krapp 12y ago
  Show me a powerful nation without enemies.
  - fit2rule 12y ago
    Maybe we wouldn't have so many enemies if we didn't keep so many secrets.
jazzyk 12y ago
So you (just like the US government/NSA) think that the people of this country are the enemy.
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  If you make it publicly available how do you plan on keeping it from North Korea?

daveloyall 12y ago

I think I might support this, but I'm not done thinking about it. One thing that would happen immediately: people would stop discussing marital affairs via telephone. (And there'd be a brief spike in murders if the historic data were released!) The knee jerk reaction is to extend that idea to would-be terrorists, too--to imagine that they'd simply change their communication habits (they already try to avoid monitoring, I presume). But, let's think a little harder, and let's start with the married folk. Bob and Mary are married. Eve is Bob's co-worker. Don't you think that Eve-Bob communication is going to contain some tell-tale signs _before_ the affair? Could Mary (or Bob, or Eve) use this information to prevent the affair (or proceed in a less painful manner, depending on their situation)? I was interrupted and now I've put that line of thought on hold and developed a new one. Remember IRC? Did you ever choose your stance in a dispute by reviewing the logs? ...Was there anything wrong with that? Wasn't it generally helpful? Of course in that world, PRIVMSG does exist. In our world, it doesn't. I dunno.

mindcrime 12y ago

Too funny... I made very nearly this same suggestion to a co-worker last week (in jest though). My spin was that the NSA should both fund themselves, and justify their existence, by offering valuable services, like the "Is my spouse cheating on me" report, and a "background checks on potential co-founders" service, etc. As well as, of course, providing archived copies of lost email, files, etc. The thing is, I really was just joking. But somewhere out there, there's probably somebody who thinks this is all actually a good idea.