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> Warantless surveillance of US citizens (this is bad whether it's by law enforcement, intelligence agencies, or anyone). Agreed very strongly. > Infiltration

> Warantless surveillance of US citizens (this is bad whether it's by law enforcement, intelligence agencies, or anyone). Agreed very strongly. > Infiltration of foreign companies in allied or neutral nations purely for economic or geopolitical insight, not for military purposes (Brazil's Petrobras oil company, all sorts of spying in Germany and Norway and other places). See this is where the NSA really shines. We (The US) delayed Iran's nuclear program by THREE YEARS with Stuxnet! Three! And after they finally figured out it was sabotage the US and Israel had the director assassinated for further delays. Having Merkle's cell phone? During the Eurozone crisis? It would have been awful (financially) for the United States not to have that information. It's fun to look back and read the confused reports during the time "European Union suffering considerably from Eurozone crisis; America sees only limited effects." PETROBRAS? We won offshore oil drilling locations because we had that information. Energy security for the country going forward decades. Unfortunately geopolitics are important and you can't just not participate. Hacking is (one important way) that modern espionage, surveillance and sabotage are done.

grey-area 12y ago
Having Merkle's cell phone? During the Eurozone crisis? It would have been awful (financially) for the United States not to have that information. The cost of this sort of machiavellian policy is of course the opprobrium of former allies and friends, and a loss of moral standing. The US loses a lot of soft power if it chooses this route, and the consequences will be felt for decades in mistrust and distance from her allies. A dangerous course both for the US and for the world.
- xnull2guest 12y ago
  I fluxuate with how I feel about it (it = 'machiavellian policy'). I'm not going to defend US policy in this case, nor claim to understand all of the nuances required to make global strategic geopolitical decisions. But I will say that the NSA's perspective is that: it is only because of the Snowden leaks if we have lost face with allies. To the NSA, the secrets were kept well enough until Snowden and friends disclosed them. This is my basic issue with this article. America and the NSA ate mud pie for the actions disclosed in the leaks. This article has the very real possibility of doing a lot more damage. One could say it is good because justice has been served, but one could also suggest that it is bad because similar disclosures of German surveillance programs (a touchy subject given the history), Chinese capabilities, Russian objectives etc haven't been disclosed by a Snowden-like actor. Really the whole situation is bad. I don't like being at war, cyber or otherwise.
  - grey-area 12y ago
    This is my basic issue with this article. America and the NSA ate mud pie for the actions disclosed in the leaks. This article has the very real possibility of doing a lot more damage. Not because of the leaks, but because of their actions. That's an important distinction. If you take actions like this, you should be prepared for them to be exposed, and if you use the argument the NSA and you yourself have made here (it would be ok if we were evil and no-one knew about it), you should expect no one to trust you. You've just declared yourself untrustworthy and a bad ally in perpetuity, because you think this is ok as long as no-one knew about it.
    - xnull2guest 12y ago
      > Not because of the leaks, but because of their actions. That's an important distinction. Right. I agree with that. There's actually sort of a boolean AND. Because we did them AND we got caught. My guess is that all major players are doing the same stuff and that if the US doesn't participate it loses. I doubt the US hacked Germany on a whim - I bet it was a pretty labored decision with cost-benefit analysis (one being chance of getting caught).
  - meowface 12y ago
    >But I will say that the NSA's perspective is that: it is only because of the Snowden leaks if we have lost face with allies. To the NSA, the secrets were kept well enough until Snowden and friends disclosed them. Of course that's their perspective, as is the perspective of anyone committing an embarrassing or morally unscrupulous act. "The thing I regret most is getting caught." Secrets of this nature have a tendency to leak. If it wasn't Snowden, it could've been anyone else. I don't think all of the NSA's capabilities or actions should be leaked, but reporting of confirmed infiltrations of US and allied companies and systems is fine by my book. All's fair in love and war, but we are not at war with Germany or Brazil or, hopefully, ourselves.
    - xnull2guest 12y ago
      > the perspective of anyone committing an embarrassing or morally unscrupulous act In this instance it was embarrassing because it brought into question how well the US would be able to keep secret strategic information. And yeah hacking into allies is pretty unscrupulous. A bunch of the Snowden leaks showed that Israel, France, Germany and others have hacked into us. It's the way it all works. > Secrets of this nature have a tendency to leak. If it wasn't Snowden, it could've been anyone else There were many such leaks, e.g. Binney. > reporting of confirmed infiltrations of US and allied companies and systems is fine by my book I agree wholeheartedly with this.
danenania 12y ago
If your excuse for doing plainly immoral things is 'geopolitics is important', where do you draw the line? Your excuse can be used to justify pretty much any form of self-serving barbarity. How about if we just don't do evil shit and deal with the lack of an ill-gotten advantage? Works well enough in everyday life (assuming you aren't a mafioso). Why hold people who work for government agencies to such a pitifully lower standard of decency?
- xnull2guest 12y ago
  It's not my excuse. It's the NSA's (really the US Gov's) excuse. I don't know where they draw the line. If you didn't see it, there's a link on another branch of the conversation containing (at least) 37 other countries involved in cyberwarfare. It's happening. I'm not excusing it. Honestly, it really sucks.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
spopejoy 12y ago
It seems you've decided that US hegemony is a "good thing" regardless of the moral implications for ourselves and the world. However, some find actions like the following to be dangerous, immoral, unnecessary: * "the US and Israel had the director assassinated" * "we won offshore drilling" * the blase assertion that a nuclear Iran is any worse than the existing nuclear powers (especially Israel!!!) "Energy security" is oil company nonsense, hilarious considering their tireless efforts to block any kind of clean alternative. The OPEC crisis saved us from gas guzzlers, and now we're back to having SUV's everywhere. We could use some "energy insecurity" but with fracking we're now an exporter. Oil forever!! Climate be damned. I disagree also with attempts to close off the discussion by saying "geopolitics are important." The US does not have to subvert governments, install dictators across the globe, prop up Saudi Arabia, blindly support Israel, be the muscle for Big Oil (and assassinate and imprison folks at home, too). The moral hazards that have created this situation are to blame, but it doesn't help that our leaders are as a group paranoid and uncreative, all too willing to let militaristic fascists (accurate, not name-calling here) drive their decision-making. Edward Snowden is a hero, full stop. You can't do enough damage to the NSA, these types must be resisted at all times.
- BugBrother 12y ago
  >> the blase assertion that a nuclear Iran is any worse than the existing nuclear powers Iran has one of the worst dictatorships around, it exports weapons and ammunition everywhere. The regime support groups that as SOP fire rocket artillery at civilians. The regime even support the politicians which organized the genocides/rapes of millions in Sudan. And so on. Iran's priests is just not the kind of regime that should be immune to military threats, like Russia is now with Ukraine. The really scary thing with that religious dictatorship, with both a fin de siecle attitude and nuclear weapons, is that they might get most of the Iranian population killed. Probably a majority of the Iranians really hates their priests and are a bit more west oriented than the average European. They have worked hard to push off their yoke, but their junta was ready for it. (I come from Sweden, there are lots of Iranian refugees there.) That said, to use spying for economic reasons ("offshore oil drilling locations" in the GP comment) do deserve a total lack of trust. They lower themselves to the Chinese dirty level.
- 12y ago
meowface 12y ago
>See this is where the NSA really shines. We (The US) delayed Iran's nuclear program by THREE YEARS with Stuxnet! Three! And after they finally figured out it was sabotage the US and Israel had the director assassinated for further delays. I'm honestly okay with this (except for the assassination part, though it was speculated that was Mossad and not US). The other things though are simply to gain an unfair advantage in political and economic situations, even against countries that are supposedly our allies. Realistically, these things happen all around the world and have been forever, but ethically I don't think it's a good thing for the NSA or CIA to be doing.
- xnull2guest 12y ago
  It's one of those catch 22's. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

grey-area 12y ago

Having Merkle's cell phone? During the Eurozone crisis? It would have been awful (financially) for the United States not to have that information. The cost of this sort of machiavellian policy is of course the opprobrium of former allies and friends, and a loss of moral standing. The US loses a lot of soft power if it chooses this route, and the consequences will be felt for decades in mistrust and distance from her allies. A dangerous course both for the US and for the world.

xnull2guest 12y ago
I fluxuate with how I feel about it (it = 'machiavellian policy'). I'm not going to defend US policy in this case, nor claim to understand all of the nuances required to make global strategic geopolitical decisions. But I will say that the NSA's perspective is that: it is only because of the Snowden leaks if we have lost face with allies. To the NSA, the secrets were kept well enough until Snowden and friends disclosed them. This is my basic issue with this article. America and the NSA ate mud pie for the actions disclosed in the leaks. This article has the very real possibility of doing a lot more damage. One could say it is good because justice has been served, but one could also suggest that it is bad because similar disclosures of German surveillance programs (a touchy subject given the history), Chinese capabilities, Russian objectives etc haven't been disclosed by a Snowden-like actor. Really the whole situation is bad. I don't like being at war, cyber or otherwise.
- grey-area 12y ago
  This is my basic issue with this article. America and the NSA ate mud pie for the actions disclosed in the leaks. This article has the very real possibility of doing a lot more damage. Not because of the leaks, but because of their actions. That's an important distinction. If you take actions like this, you should be prepared for them to be exposed, and if you use the argument the NSA and you yourself have made here (it would be ok if we were evil and no-one knew about it), you should expect no one to trust you. You've just declared yourself untrustworthy and a bad ally in perpetuity, because you think this is ok as long as no-one knew about it.
  - xnull2guest 12y ago
    > Not because of the leaks, but because of their actions. That's an important distinction. Right. I agree with that. There's actually sort of a boolean AND. Because we did them AND we got caught. My guess is that all major players are doing the same stuff and that if the US doesn't participate it loses. I doubt the US hacked Germany on a whim - I bet it was a pretty labored decision with cost-benefit analysis (one being chance of getting caught).
- meowface 12y ago
  >But I will say that the NSA's perspective is that: it is only because of the Snowden leaks if we have lost face with allies. To the NSA, the secrets were kept well enough until Snowden and friends disclosed them. Of course that's their perspective, as is the perspective of anyone committing an embarrassing or morally unscrupulous act. "The thing I regret most is getting caught." Secrets of this nature have a tendency to leak. If it wasn't Snowden, it could've been anyone else. I don't think all of the NSA's capabilities or actions should be leaked, but reporting of confirmed infiltrations of US and allied companies and systems is fine by my book. All's fair in love and war, but we are not at war with Germany or Brazil or, hopefully, ourselves.
  - xnull2guest 12y ago
    > the perspective of anyone committing an embarrassing or morally unscrupulous act In this instance it was embarrassing because it brought into question how well the US would be able to keep secret strategic information. And yeah hacking into allies is pretty unscrupulous. A bunch of the Snowden leaks showed that Israel, France, Germany and others have hacked into us. It's the way it all works. > Secrets of this nature have a tendency to leak. If it wasn't Snowden, it could've been anyone else There were many such leaks, e.g. Binney. > reporting of confirmed infiltrations of US and allied companies and systems is fine by my book I agree wholeheartedly with this.

danenania 12y ago

If your excuse for doing plainly immoral things is 'geopolitics is important', where do you draw the line? Your excuse can be used to justify pretty much any form of self-serving barbarity. How about if we just don't do evil shit and deal with the lack of an ill-gotten advantage? Works well enough in everyday life (assuming you aren't a mafioso). Why hold people who work for government agencies to such a pitifully lower standard of decency?

xnull2guest 12y ago
It's not my excuse. It's the NSA's (really the US Gov's) excuse. I don't know where they draw the line. If you didn't see it, there's a link on another branch of the conversation containing (at least) 37 other countries involved in cyberwarfare. It's happening. I'm not excusing it. Honestly, it really sucks.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

spopejoy 12y ago

It seems you've decided that US hegemony is a "good thing" regardless of the moral implications for ourselves and the world. However, some find actions like the following to be dangerous, immoral, unnecessary: * "the US and Israel had the director assassinated" * "we won offshore drilling" * the blase assertion that a nuclear Iran is any worse than the existing nuclear powers (especially Israel!!!) "Energy security" is oil company nonsense, hilarious considering their tireless efforts to block any kind of clean alternative. The OPEC crisis saved us from gas guzzlers, and now we're back to having SUV's everywhere. We could use some "energy insecurity" but with fracking we're now an exporter. Oil forever!! Climate be damned. I disagree also with attempts to close off the discussion by saying "geopolitics are important." The US does not have to subvert governments, install dictators across the globe, prop up Saudi Arabia, blindly support Israel, be the muscle for Big Oil (and assassinate and imprison folks at home, too). The moral hazards that have created this situation are to blame, but it doesn't help that our leaders are as a group paranoid and uncreative, all too willing to let militaristic fascists (accurate, not name-calling here) drive their decision-making. Edward Snowden is a hero, full stop. You can't do enough damage to the NSA, these types must be resisted at all times.

BugBrother 12y ago
>> the blase assertion that a nuclear Iran is any worse than the existing nuclear powers Iran has one of the worst dictatorships around, it exports weapons and ammunition everywhere. The regime support groups that as SOP fire rocket artillery at civilians. The regime even support the politicians which organized the genocides/rapes of millions in Sudan. And so on. Iran's priests is just not the kind of regime that should be immune to military threats, like Russia is now with Ukraine. The really scary thing with that religious dictatorship, with both a fin de siecle attitude and nuclear weapons, is that they might get most of the Iranian population killed. Probably a majority of the Iranians really hates their priests and are a bit more west oriented than the average European. They have worked hard to push off their yoke, but their junta was ready for it. (I come from Sweden, there are lots of Iranian refugees there.) That said, to use spying for economic reasons ("offshore oil drilling locations" in the GP comment) do deserve a total lack of trust. They lower themselves to the Chinese dirty level.
12y ago

meowface 12y ago

>See this is where the NSA really shines. We (The US) delayed Iran's nuclear program by THREE YEARS with Stuxnet! Three! And after they finally figured out it was sabotage the US and Israel had the director assassinated for further delays. I'm honestly okay with this (except for the assassination part, though it was speculated that was Mossad and not US). The other things though are simply to gain an unfair advantage in political and economic situations, even against countries that are supposedly our allies. Realistically, these things happen all around the world and have been forever, but ethically I don't think it's a good thing for the NSA or CIA to be doing.

xnull2guest 12y ago
It's one of those catch 22's. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.