President Obama Calls Ed Snowden A 'Hacker' When He Didn't Hack Anything
from the smearing dept
This is odd. In talking about Ed Snowden, President Obama referred to him as a "hacker." After being asked about what kinds of efforts the administration was making to capture Snowden, the President (thankfully) claimed that they weren't going to go too crazy over it, but chose an odd descriptor for Snowden:"I'm not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker," he told reporters during a news conference in Senegal.Leaving aside the fact that Snowden recently turned 30, calling him a "hacker" seems like a calculated move to try to reframe these leaks as something nefarious where someone "broke in" to get classified info, rather than a whistleblower on the inside, who saw what was going on, the widespread abuses, the lying to the American public and Congress, and decided to do something about it. This attempt at reframing whistleblowing is all too consistent with the administration's practice of declaring war on whistleblowers.
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Filed Under: barack obama, ed snowden, edward snowden, hacker, nsa leaks, whistleblowers
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Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
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Re:
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Why the focus on the 29
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Re: Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
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"during a news conference in Senegal."
Seems like he made a wrong turn somewhere...
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That's a heck of a reference
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Paging Doctor Freud...
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=
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So what he was really saying is that he's so butt hurt that this 30 year old is doing a better job of defending the Constitution (something he promised to do before he took office and swore under oath to do when he took office) than he is that it's making him look so bad that he can't even get the basic facts on the guy straight.
Uh, Mr. President, WHAT exactly did he hack? By all known accounts, he had security clearance AND authorized access to every piece of information that he possessed. Oh, you don't actually KNOW what the word "hacking" means? Well, it would probably be a good idea to find out before you try to use it, because when you misuse a term in a way that shows you don't know what you are talking about, it only makes you look foolish and further undermines the credibility of your argument. Just a little piece of advice.
PS: You might want to fire your advisers because they probably should have told you this long ago.
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Re: Why the focus on the 29
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Re: Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
There are other reasons, but this is a big one.
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Probably Albuquerque.
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Re: Re: Why the focus on the 29
Yep. But directly referring to him as "that young punk" would be so... 1986. Or 1968.
P.S. Get off my lawn.
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Re: Re: Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
Read PowerShift by Alvin Toffler. Frightening stuff. But the signs that the power shift has started is all around us.
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Trouble is they already look foolish as it is, as they have been caught with their pants down doing the very things that Obama claimed they weren't doing.
I suspect without proof that Obama's oath doesn't mean much as most likely the NSA has some sort of leverage on him through all this spying. If it ever comes out, most likely you will find all the judges, and all the politicians are likewise compromised and that is how we have gotten to the point we are today. Somehow, I serious doubt this is all by happenstance without arm twisting of some sort.
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Re: Re: Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
Dissidents are being cataloged, count on it.
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Tit for Tat
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Re: Re: Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
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Recalling how the Occupy protesters were gone after, treated, spied on, claimed to be terrorists so that the FBI could be involved in collecting data; I'd say it was highly likely you are correct.
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Another way of looking at this
While it's true that the government tends to overreact to anything it feels falls under the CFAA, there's still enough of the "old guard" left (population-wise)that someone can be instantly marginalized simply by declaring them to be a "hacker." The word conjures up ineffectual, pasty young men who still live in their parents' basement and cannot comfortably exist in the "real world."
When Obama says he won't be scrambling jets to go after a "29 year old hacker" (also notice: "29" sounds much more young, callous and irresponsible than "30" does), it seems to me he's implying that Snowden is beneath the administration's attention. And if Snowden and his leaks can't make Obama panic, then maybe he's just some hacker punk messing around with a few hard drive's worth of unimportant documents.
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It sounds like they have found out that he was cracking along on the local mom and pap NSA hideaway. Now, if he figured that world was not enough he might have hacked his way into some server with data he did not have clearance for.
That would make him a hacker technically and since I know Obama is decently versed in the lingo, I would expect that he knows the difference which would make it a concious designation.
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Re: Re: Re: Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
All users of Notepad++, Visual Studio, Eclipse, IntillaJ, ect... Must Register with the Government. Users found not in compliance will be sent out for Reeducation.
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And just because he uses a word, it doesn't mean he knows what it means. That's typical of politicians these days. Does "Series of tubes" ring a bell?
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Re: Another way of looking at this
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Re: Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
Because barry is the NWO’s shill…
Up next on barry’s agenda…raise the price of everything with carbon taxes…no no no it’s for the children’s sake.
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Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/25/greenwald-snowden-s-files-are-out-there- if-anything-happens-to-him.html?source=socialflow&account=thedailybeast&medium=twitter
Ac cording to that description, he's a hacker.
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Re: Paging Doctor Freud...
They know that IF he gets to any country that's going to grant him asylum, it's going to be a very long halt. Of course, if that doesn't play out, the second option always apply in their sick-twisted-criminal minds: they most certainly will attempt to snatch him in the dark, special force's style. They don't give a single fuck about other Nation's Sovereignty.
For this matters alone, I really hoped he could have stayed in China or Russia, the only two countries that could have granted him some decent protection.
I really hope I'm dead wrong, but hey, it's the U.S.A. "Land of the Free, Home of the Brave"
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Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
There's only two ways to interpret this statement:
1) Mr. Alexander is a bald-faced liar, or
2) The NSA is hopelessly incompetent with security systems
...and I seriously doubt the answer is #2.
If properly implemented, it is the next best thing to impossible to "fabricate digital keys", particularly by a single person without access to some serious computing resources.
If Snowden did manage to pull this off, then yes, he's hacking. But the more serious revelation would be the crippling incompetence of the NSA.
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And now they can charge him for "theft" under 18 USC 641
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130624/12345623597/doj-guidelines-inappropriate-to-p rosecute-leaking-govt-information-as-theft-govt-property.shtml
More specifically, the DOJ guidelines state (see part 3):
"for the reasons set forth below,...it is inappropriate to bring a prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 641 [theft] when: (1) the subject of the theft is intangible property, i.e., government information owned by, or under the care, custody, or control of the United States; (2) the defendant obtained or used the property primarily for the purpose of disseminating it to the public; and (3) the property was not obtained as a result of wiretapping, (18 U.S.C. § 2511) interception of correspondence (18 U.S.C. §§ 1702, 1708), criminal entry, or criminal or civil trespass."
There you go!
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And now they can charge him for "theft" under 18 USC 641
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130624/12345623597/doj-guidelines-inappropriate-to-p rosecute-leaking-govt-information-as-theft-govt-property.shtml
More specifically, the DOJ guidelines state (see part 3):
"for the reasons set forth below,...it is inappropriate to bring a prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 641 [theft] when: (1) the subject of the theft is intangible property, i.e., government information owned by, or under the care, custody, or control of the United States; (2) the defendant obtained or used the property primarily for the purpose of disseminating it to the public; and (3) the property was not obtained as a result of wiretapping, (18 U.S.C. § 2511) interception of correspondence (18 U.S.C. §§ 1702, 1708), criminal entry, or criminal or civil trespass."
There you go!
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Re: Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
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Re: Why the focus on the 29
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Re: Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
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Re: Re: Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
Further, guessing/stealing a password, tailgating onto a machine that someone left logged in, etc., aren't even on the same continent as "fabricating a digital key".
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
Privilege escalation is a hack, no matter how he did it, and it is the most reasonable explanation for how he had access to the files he stole. Do you really think you can just roll up to BAH and get the keys to the kingdom within three months? Further, he took the job at BAH specifically to gain access to those files.
He's a hacker. The President spoke correctly. "President Obama Calls Ed Snowden A 'Hacker' When He Didn't Hack Anything" is BS.
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Which is it -- did he fabricate a digital key, or did he use a privilege escalation hack? Those two things can't be easily confused. They're totally different acts.
So now we're being told two contradictory things about what Snowden actually did. That the NSA can't keep its story straight is an even greater indication that they're lying.
Maybe he is, I don't know.
The only indication of it is the NSA's say-so. The NSA had already lost most of its credibility by lying to Congress about all this stuff, and the story I'm hearing about this particular point is even sketchier than that. it's certainly nowhere near credible enough to justify an unqualified accusation that he's a hacker.
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But still, the old obama that got elected by the people wouldn't let stuff like this go unchecked. Too bad he "changed" >.> . There is no reason to debate about whether or not he has changed, it's too obvious. The people of the US would never vote someone like obama is now into presidency.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
1. Snowden targetted the NSA using the BAH job knowing there was a vector by which he could gain access to sensitive information, and gained access via that vector.
2. Snowden was given access to the files as a new employee to FISA files that have never been leaked in the history of FISA.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
Interestingly, recent news reports I've been hearing have cited the NSA as saying that Snowden did not actually access any super-sensitive files, and that he only copied the more abstract and generally available (to cleared employees) things like that slide show.
What's really clear to me is that we're getting a lot of contradictory information from the NSA. This is a standard spy tactic to mitigate the release of real information: you fill the media with a bunch of made-up crap so that nobody can be sure which information is accurate.
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That may or may not be true, there have been reports that he created codes that allowed him access to files that under normal circumstances he would not have access to.
This is plausible due to the NSA instituting a two person policy.
Unix, Administrator, Superuser, Account Creation.
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What he meant to say was
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Re: That's a heck of a reference
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Welcome to the land of States secrets...
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Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
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Re: Another way of looking at this
The real threat Snowden's revelations posed are when people starting asking the bigger questions of access:
1)If Snowden had access to all this information, how many other people did as well?
2) How do we know Snowden was the first person to access all this data, and what might they have done with it?
I posed those questions the other day, and a few hours later I was reading about Snowden being stuck in a Russian airport, where Putin was quoted as saying "Snowden didn't tell us anything we already didn't know."
I'm willing to bet they aren't really so mad that it's been revealed the information is there, but how easy it was to compromise, because I'm also willing to bet it's been compromised for quite some time.
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Uhhh, he used it correctly
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Well to cut long story short, he got away with my snorkel. But I made a solemn vow that I would not rest, I would not sleep for an instant, until the one-nostriled man was brought to justice!
...But first I decided to buy some doughnuts.
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Hacker is the new terrorist.
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Re: Uh, I'm not sure how you missed this...
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Re: Re: Lets tread on conspiracy; Shall we?
Seriously, NWO? Barry? Carbon taxes as secret plan?
Faux called, they said you were a too-paranoid crazy-eyed loon for them to let you watch their station.
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Truth
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