Obama Apparently Tells NSA To Not Be So Damn Obvious About Spying On The UN

from the small-things dept

Tue, Oct 29th 2013 4:13pm — Mike Masnick

Back in August, it was revealed that the NSA was tapping UN communications. As we noted, this was hardly a surprise -- in fact, it seems to fit within the NSA's general job. However, it was definitely another embarrassment in a long list of them. The latest news is that President Obama has supposedly told the NSA to cut back a bit on spying on the UN, which almost certainly means "please don't get caught again, you idiots." I classify this one in the same category as the US signing a "no spying on each other" agreement. A completely meaningless gesture that will be ignored by pretty much everyone, serving only to be used as a "leak" to the press.

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Filed Under: barack obama, nsa, nsa surveillance, united nations

12 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2013 @ 4:26pm

So Obama here knows about the UN spying on leaders but doesn't know about the spying on them in their home countries?

Why does this claim not to know about it by him sound like so much bullshit?
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- Anonymous Coward, 30 Oct 2013 @ 4:05am
  
  Re:
  Because he has to deny it: there has to be a veneer of separation from said intelligence agencies, even if it's an open secret to "democratic leaders" that they would be spied upon.
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out_of_the_blue, 29 Oct 2013 @ 4:30pm

Trying to not be obvious, Google building mystery barges.
More important items than yours aren't difficult to find. This being mere Masnicking, here's something of interest, right now on Drudge, couldn't be missed unless by intent:

Google Reportedly Building More Floating Structures Outside Bay Area

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/10/28/google-reportedly-building-more-floating-structures- outside-bay-area/

What do you think is purpose of those barges right there in the bay by ya, Mike? Or maintaining your usual silence on Google?
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- Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2013 @ 4:37pm
  
  Re: Trying to not be obvious, Google building mystery barges.
  The story says it's a promotion project for Google Glass. It doesn't support your insinuations. Moreover, there's nothing special about 'barges' that cannot be accomplished by Google's massive existing surveillance infrastructure.
  
  So why are you whining again?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2013 @ 4:48pm
    
    Re: Re: Trying to not be obvious, Google building mystery barges.
    I can answer that.
    
    The MAFIAA new tactic is to vilify Google, because someone in an university in California believes that things will get better if they can get Google out of their way to spout more nonsense.
    
    The good bit is that ootb is so dumb that he uses the brazen passionate crazy style which puts him on the receiving and of all the jokes.
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- Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2013 @ 5:31pm
  
  Re: Trying to not be obvious, Google building mystery barges.
  What exactly does your comment have to do with this article? Anything besides your opinion about its relative importance?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2013 @ 5:44pm
    
    Re: Re: Trying to not be obvious, Google building mystery barges.
    What exactly does your comment have to do with this article?
    
    Oh! Oooh! Teacher! Teacher! � *Waves hand wildly* � Oooh! Call on me!
    
    I can answer that one easily. It has to do with�
    �A completely meaningless gesture�
    
    �
    
    See? I told you I could answer that one.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2013 @ 4:32pm

Diplomats can't even visit each others country, without being spied on the second they step off the plane.

Breaking the encryption on the UN's teleconferencing system is a pretty rude thing to do. As is spying on citizens!

Stop with the spying already. The US, UK, Israel, Sweden, France, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, and who knows who else is spying. Probably everybody!
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Zem, 29 Oct 2013 @ 5:06pm

Dare I say it but it's clear the Whitehouse has yet to find the bugs the NSA must have put there. They must just be in un obvious places. Betcha there is one in the Nixon portrait. Spying on everyone means just that.
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Anonymous Coward, 29 Oct 2013 @ 5:53pm

I think people are missing the real problem of all the illegal spying, rights abuse, TSA abuse, etc, etc. It is that ever since 9/11 the government has been operating on the notion that the ends justify the means. That assumption always end badly. And there's always the thing about beware what you hate, you will become it.
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Chris, 29 Oct 2013 @ 6:53pm

This whole thing is silly to me. All countries spy on each other...and they spy on their own citizens....it's been this way since the dawn of mankind... its just that the U.S. got caught red handed this time. But believe me, they may say they're done spying....but they won't.
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cpt kangarooski, 29 Oct 2013 @ 7:11pm

Well of course they're spying on the UN. That's the whole damn reason the US wanted the UN to be based in the US in the first place -- it gives our intelligence services easy access to telecommunications lines and premises used by UN missions as well as the UN itself.

Confirmation is nice to have, and if it's useful in chopping our intelligence services down to size, I'm all for it coming out. But it's not a big secret.
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