We all know that to some extend Obama is "responsible" for the NSA. However, saying that he should know exactly what is going on is a little like saying that the head of General Motors should know details about the janitorial staff in one of the production plants.
There is a reason leaders (both corporate and political) have underlings... As a human being, you can only process so much information, you have to be able to trust the people under you to do what YOU think is right and NOT blow smoke up your skirt when they disagree.
Obama's big mistake is letting the NSA top dogs blow smoke and figuring out that there may be a fire.
Could a photographer (or a preacher) be forced to participate in an all nude wedding? Both are "contract" for hire positions, I can't see how the contractor can be forced to take the contract.
I'm a programmer that has worked for a CMS subcontractor for many years (no, not one of the ones involved with this system) and I have to say that the comment that CMS is (at least partly) to blame may be dead on.
CMS is notorious for requirements that leave out most of the details. Imagine that you raise goats in your back yard and need a fence to keep them in. If CMS were writing the RFP (request for proposal), it might ask for "a fence" and when pushed to specify what kind of fence, they might answer "we really like picket fences". Then after you quote them a picket fence and start building it, someone at CMS would ask... "Ummm... will this keep the goats in?". And when you ask "why didn't you put that in the requirements", you are answered with "you should have just known"....
And no, I'm NOT making this up - I've been in the meetings where this exact reasoning was used.
Oh, and I do know that on this particular project at the state level, requirements that were needed to hit the MANDATED Oct 1 implementation date weren't finalized on Oct. 1 by CMS. Of course it's not all CMS's fault - they have to do what congress tells them to do even if it's impossible (in many cases congress sets the implementation date without any input from the folks that are going to implement it).
Of course if HIS definition of the boundaries INCLUDE "accidental" or "incidental" disclosures, he's technically still telling the "truth"... well, sort of.
The NSA says that they only LOOK at certain records, but to be able to find those records they have to look at all records (even if if's just to index them).
So, by LOOKING for one record they SEARCH ALL OTHER RECORDS. To me this means that every search ABSOLUTELY involves the ACLU's records being searched (to exclude them) without a warrant.
Just like a search warrant for a single apartment, doesn't mean the police can search every other apartment in the complex (or heck, the whole country), this shouldn't mean that all users can be searched.
I read somewhere that the NSA doesn't have the same oversight (what little there is) when they monitor from a facility on foreign soil. Wouldn't that mean that if they drove all IT offshore, they would potentially have MORE access, not less?
So, are there no fly zones over all radio / TV towers (I'm pretty sure my cell phone - or even 300 cell phones combined - doesn't put out 500,000 watts of radio transmission)? I guess they turn off the radar towers at airports when planes take off and land - we wouldn't want interference, right?
What it really comes down to is "you can't prove a negative". You can't prove that it CAN'T cause problems. Oh, and never forget "that's the way it's always been". Two great excuses.
I have a prediction... Someone in Washington is going to come out and say that hacking was a potential cause of the Texas explosion... Hence we REALLY need CISPA "think of the fire fighters".
All this time we THOUGHT Prenda was about copyright trolling, but it turns out that they are WAY smarter than that. The copyright trolling and courtroom antics were just bate to get us to laugh at them and make comments to provide them with unbounded "proof" of defamation of "character". Of course, I apparently have a different definition of "character" than they do, but hey... to each his own.
Now if someone could do something like that with software - you know, do the work and share it with the world so others could use / improve it..... Oh wait, we do have that - it's called Open Source. ;)
LOL.... So, you are saying that if People magazine runs an add for Vanity Fair, that People magazine will pay Vanity Fair. Apparently you are not up on how advertising works.
Besides, if Google were being "fair", they would CHARGE for every search result provided (as it's advertising for the resulting page). Instead they get other people to pay for the resulting pages advertising for them - pretty nice if you ask me.
Google said at the time it purchased Motorola that Motorola would operate as an independent subsidiary. Maybe, it's ACTUALLY doing this and Motorola (not Google) actually responded in a fashion that helps both it and it's parent. Stranger things have happened.
On the post: Obama Chastises Keith Alexander For Trying To Befuddle Him With Tech Jargon
Re: Re: It's easy to blame....
What I was saying is NSA is a REALLY small percentage of the federal government (between 2 and 3%).
How many CEO's of 600 employee companies have more than a passing acquaintance with a team lead for a group of 17 enployees?
On the post: Obama Chastises Keith Alexander For Trying To Befuddle Him With Tech Jargon
It's easy to blame....
There is a reason leaders (both corporate and political) have underlings... As a human being, you can only process so much information, you have to be able to trust the people under you to do what YOU think is right and NOT blow smoke up your skirt when they disagree.
Obama's big mistake is letting the NSA top dogs blow smoke and figuring out that there may be a fire.
On the post: Unfortunate: ACLU On The Wrong Side Of A Free Speech Case
All nude wedding?
On the post: Unfortunate: ACLU On The Wrong Side Of A Free Speech Case
Different but similar....
1 - a photographer who specializes in female portraits being forced to photograph a man?
2 - a pro-civil rights writer being forced to ghost write a auto-biography of a KKK leader?
3 - a church news letter being required to accept advertising for an abortion clinic?
On the post: Mike Rogers: You Can't Have Your Privacy Violated If You Don't Know About It
Too Much Credit
On the post: Mike Rogers: You Can't Have Your Privacy Violated If You Don't Know About It
Politician... Duh...
On the post: Contractors Who Built Healthcare.gov Website Blame Each Other For All The Problems
A different perspective
CMS is notorious for requirements that leave out most of the details. Imagine that you raise goats in your back yard and need a fence to keep them in. If CMS were writing the RFP (request for proposal), it might ask for "a fence" and when pushed to specify what kind of fence, they might answer "we really like picket fences". Then after you quote them a picket fence and start building it, someone at CMS would ask... "Ummm... will this keep the goats in?". And when you ask "why didn't you put that in the requirements", you are answered with "you should have just known"....
And no, I'm NOT making this up - I've been in the meetings where this exact reasoning was used.
Oh, and I do know that on this particular project at the state level, requirements that were needed to hit the MANDATED Oct 1 implementation date weren't finalized on Oct. 1 by CMS. Of course it's not all CMS's fault - they have to do what congress tells them to do even if it's impossible (in many cases congress sets the implementation date without any input from the folks that are going to implement it).
On the post: Government's Redaction Fail Causes Exceptionally Grave Damage To Nation's Security
Soooo, not Walmart
Not even close! Walmart is both profitable and accountable. :)
On the post: The NSA Reveals That It Does 20 Million Database Queries Per Month
One query for 3 out of 4 Americans every year
On the post: Just Weeks Ago, Keith Alexander Said Review Of NSA Found Not A Single Violation; Reality: Thousands Of Violations
On the post: FISA Court Rubber Stamps Continued Collection Of All Phone Records, While DOJ Insists No One Can Challenge This
LOOK or look?
So, by LOOKING for one record they SEARCH ALL OTHER RECORDS. To me this means that every search ABSOLUTELY involves the ACLU's records being searched (to exclude them) without a warrant.
Just like a search warrant for a single apartment, doesn't mean the police can search every other apartment in the complex (or heck, the whole country), this shouldn't mean that all users can be searched.
On the post: Why The Tech Industry Should Be Furious About NSA's Over Surveillance
Unless this is the intent....
On the post: Irony Alert: John Steele Denies Uploading Anything Ever Despite Growing IP Evidence
I think you hit the nail on the head...
On the post: Lots Of People Don't Turn Off Their Devices When They Fly
Radio / TV towers
What it really comes down to is "you can't prove a negative". You can't prove that it CAN'T cause problems. Oh, and never forget "that's the way it's always been". Two great excuses.
Guess the FAA knows more about electronic interference than the FCC (Even FCC thinks in-flight gadget bans are dumb)
On the post: Former DHS Official Says Boston Bombing Proves ACLU & EFF Are Wrong About Surveillance And CISPA
Texas Plant Explosion
On the post: Prenda Law Issues Subpoena For IP Addresses Of Every Visitor To Critic Blogs For The Past Two Years
We've got it backwards.
On the post: DMCA Copyright Takedowns To Google Increased 10x In Just The Past Six Months
Top 10 Submitters removed over 85% of URLs
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AigWLtPZF29BdG9lM3ZFbUFOWGxSYXZMTElXZGprNHc
On the post: Harvard Research Scientist: Sharing Discoveries More Efficient, More Honorable Than Patenting Them
What a novel concept....
On the post: Google To French Media: We May Have To Cut You Off
Re: Just who is cutting whom off?
Besides, if Google were being "fair", they would CHARGE for every search result provided (as it's advertising for the resulting page). Instead they get other people to pay for the resulting pages advertising for them - pretty nice if you ask me.
On the post: Google Launches Patent Attack On Apple In A Disappointing First For The Company
Motorola NOT Google
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