NY Times 'Uses' Scare 'Quotes' To Highlight How 'They' Don't 'Understand' How Snowden 'Copied' Documents

from the wtf? dept

One of the interesting things in watching the reporting on various Snowden documents, is that a variety of publications have been bringing on actual technology and security experts to help with the reporting. The Guardian has been working with Bruce Schneier. The Washington Post has been working with Ashkan Soltani. Jacob Appelbaum has worked with Der Spiegel. However, it appears that the NY Times is above little things like actually talking to "experts." And that's why tons of folks spent the weekend laughing at the NY Times' latest reporting on how Ed Snowden got access to various documents, in which they use bizarre scare quotes around perfectly ordinary words, more or less emphasizing what the reporters clearly don't understand:

Intelligence officials investigating how Edward J. Snowden gained access to a huge trove of the country’s most highly classified documents say they have determined that he used inexpensive and widely available software to “scrape” the National Security Agency’s networks, and kept at it even after he was briefly challenged by agency officials.

Using “web crawler” software designed to search, index and back up a website, Mr. Snowden “scraped data out of our systems” while he went about his day job, according to a senior intelligence official.

Lots of people who read this started quickly mocking it online. Matt Blaze joked about the fact that children (children!) might download wget:

@kataclyst @csoghoian I understand wget is available on the Internet where children can download it. Children!

— matt blaze (@mattblaze) February 8, 2014

Chris Soghoian pointed out that a sys admin knowing how to use a web scraper is not news, let alone front page NY Times news.

Snowden, a $120k a year sys admin, knowing how to use web scraping tools, is like a chef knowing how to use a vegetable peeler. Not A1 news.

— Christopher Soghoian (@csoghoian) February 8, 2014

But, perhaps the most entertaining mocking came from Marc Andreessen who rattled off a series of similar sounding lines with scare quotes that might highlight how silly the NYT report sounds to anyone even marginally familiar with technology.

NYT: 'Snowden used "web crawler" software to "scrape" NSA networks...' http://t.co/iim4fL2Gmv

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 9, 2014

The gardener used a "lawn mower" to "mow" the lawn.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 9, 2014

The sommelier used a "corkscrew" to "open" the wine bottle.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 9, 2014

On weekends, the "venture capitalist" enjoyed "reading" the New York Times.

— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 9, 2014

The NY Times has a bunch of the Snowden documents. It might be a good idea for them to reach out to someone who actually understands technology before reporting on any more of them.

Filed Under: ed snowden, journalism, scare quotes, scraping, web crawler