Former NSA Boss: This Leak Teaches The World That America Can't Keep Secrets

from the no,-actually,-the-opposite dept

We've been trying to understand why the NSA and its supporters are both trying to play down the seriousness of the leak, while also claiming that it's incredibly dangerous, and I think we may finally have an explanation from former NSA and CIA boss Michael Hayden, who has given the most bizarre explanation yet:

“It informs our adversaries. It puts American companies at risk internationally for simply complying with our laws,” said Mike Hayden, a former director of the NSA and a former director of the CIA. "It teaches practically everyone in the world—sources, liaison services—that America can’t keep secrets."

Actually, I think it teaches the exact opposite. It teaches everyone that the US does keep secrets -- massive, privacy-destroying secrets that certainly appear to be in conflict with the basic principles of the 4th Amendment. And, the idea that it puts American companies at risk for "simply complying with our laws" is ludicrous. If they were simply complying with our laws, then there would be no cause for concern when the details were revealed. Laws and compliance with laws shouldn't be a secret. The problem is that because the interpretation of the laws were mostly secret, most people did not believe that this level of surveillance was really happening. So, yes, it puts American companies at risk, but the reason is because of the broad overreach of our government and the intelligence community (including the time when Hayden was in charge of large sections of it).

Separately, that same report notes that within the NSA, people are freaking out:

The impact of the leak inside the NSA has been enormous. “There is complete freakout mode at the agency right now,” one former intelligence officer tells The Daily Beast.

If this was no big deal and just the revelation of a basic internal government computer system to deal with statutorily authorized data collection, then why would they be freaking out so much?

Filed Under: edward snowden, michael hayden, nsa, nsa leak, nsa surveillance, secrets

J&J Sued For Trying To Avoid Recall By Sending People To Buy Up Defective Motrin

from the health-and-safety dept

Consumerist points us to the rather stunning story of how pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson tried to avoid doing an actual recall on defective Motrin it discovered by, instead, hiring people to go around the country buying up the pills. For those who already bought them? Too bad. The company did eventually do a full recall and has admitted that it probably should have told regulators that it was secretly buying up all the medicine. One of the people hired to buy up the product realized that something underhanded was going on and alerted officials. The instruction sheet he had been given stated:

"You should simply 'act' like a regular customer when making these purchases. THERE MUST BE NO MENTION OF THIS BEING A RECALL OF THIS PRODUCT!"

When the guy was questioned as to why he was buying such a large amount of Motrin he just brushed aside the questions. Separately, J&J emails reveal that execs congratulated each other on a "great job" and a "major win" for originally avoiding having to do a full recall. Feeling safer?

Filed Under: recall, secrets
Companies: johnson & johnson

If You're Part Of An Elite Military Unit, Perhaps You Shouldn't Be Uploading Photos Of Your Base To Facebook

from the just-a-suggestion dept

People who have grown up with social networking type sites and applications have become used to the idea of really documenting their lives with them: providing detailed updates and regularly uploading photos of their activities. That's great for most folks -- but if you're in an elite military unit in a war zone, that might present a problem. An Israeli soldier has been sentenced to 19 days in jail after the military noticed that he'd been posting photos of the base where he was stationed to Facebook where anyone could see them. You would think that it would be common sense not to do such a thing... but common sense sometimes isn't so common.

Filed Under: israel, military, photos, secrets, social networks
Companies: facebook

Your Kids May Be Telling The Whole Internet Your Secrets

from the i-learned-it-from-watching-you dept

Now that more and more of our lives are online, it's common to hear that torrid details of our lives somehow end up on the web browsers of potential employers doing background checks. Now, parents are now being warned that family secrets may be outed by their children, whose blogposts and comments may be a source of potentially damning information about their parents. The article claims that parents have lost jobs from their children describing their laziness, drug habits, and drinking problems. Police have arrested a woman, using her son's tales about his mother buying him and his underage friends a keg of beer as evidence. Perhaps instead of blaming the Internet for getting caught, perhaps these parents should take a look at themselves first, since it was their own illicit or inappropriate behaviors that actually got them in trouble in the first place.

Filed Under: secrets