Once again our eyes are off the ball. Snowden is a side story. He is one of several, recent whistleblowers that have come forward. As far back as the Viet Nam war, our RP-2E (a variant of the P-2 Neptune) scooped all electronic info, in country, in ONE pass. We also had an office in France that scooped all communications from Europe to America and this was over 50 years ago.
Despite our advances in cable, doesn't anyone here remember how implementation lagged behind the rest of the world because the NSA needed time to figure out how to spy on the network?
I have no qualms about what is done for our security. Look at what we allow of ourselves to be displayed on Facebook and other ridiculous sites. We are an open society that has yet to mature at the level that technology sets the pace.
Accountability is the issue here. Private, for profit companies don't have the inherent patriotism that government does and yet it's these private companies that have the highest clearances and lowest standards as the Snowden affair has demonstrated.
There is recourse when government messes up but next to none when private companies do. They'll simply reorganize and get another contract. Some of these companies have already been caught using our private info for non security purposes (marketing, selling of our info, etc.) and no one complains. In addition, they are soaking us (the taxpayers) by inflating the cost of their services compared to what the government charges.
Snowden admits to intentionally going to Booz Allen to get info he had no right to have access to, among other things. Structurally, we're screwed until better screening practices and standards of operations are put in place.
All the best,
Nonoise
Despite our advances in cable, doesn't anyone here remember how implementation lagged behind the rest of the world because the NSA needed time to figure out how to spy on the network?
I have no qualms about what is done for our security. Look at what we allow of ourselves to be displayed on Facebook and other ridiculous sites. We are an open society that has yet to mature at the level that technology sets the pace.
Accountability is the issue here. Private, for profit companies don't have the inherent patriotism that government does and yet it's these private companies that have the highest clearances and lowest standards as the Snowden affair has demonstrated.
There is recourse when government messes up but next to none when private companies do. They'll simply reorganize and get another contract. Some of these companies have already been caught using our private info for non security purposes (marketing, selling of our info, etc.) and no one complains. In addition, they are soaking us (the taxpayers) by inflating the cost of their services compared to what the government charges.
Snowden admits to intentionally going to Booz Allen to get info he had no right to have access to, among other things. Structurally, we're screwed until better screening practices and standards of operations are put in place.
All the best,
Nonoise