I see, you read my use of "deserved" as me righteously telling them off for their potential failure, whereas I meant it more as a straight analysis of cause and effect without judgement attached. I should have anticipated your reading of it; it's a loaded word.
My point was meant to be that the American political and power distribution system seems to have strayed off course. American society can collectively do something to correct the trajectory or they can allow it to career further on its current path, and the outcome and their fortunes will depend on the electorate's own efforts and ability (or not) to turn it around.
In Canada, we have recently seen a shift in the political winds, brought on largely by the population deciding against one style of politics and opting for another. We too in the scheme of things will get the government we deserve, and I hope it's worthy of the faith that has been put in it.
How is it bullshit? The sentiment works no matter which side you're on.
By whatever measure you want, if America elects someone who proves undesirable, it's because a) they wanted that person and their values or b) their system has become broken and it allowed the undesirable candidate to win despite their collective will, in which case they are the authors of (i.e. are deserving of) their failure.
If America elects someone who turns out to be good for them, it will be because they succeeded despite extreme obstacles and they will deserve their success. If this new leader manages to lead a corrective path (for any of a number of definitions of corrective), all the more deserving.
The American public, for better or worse, through their election process will get exactly the President they deserve. Let's hope they deserve better than these particular candidates.
Ok, so assuming they succeed and the govt has back-door keys for all SSL traffic, for instance. Now they have to not only do deep-packet-inspection, but decryption too. They now have the "clear" stream, but maybe the payload is wrapped with another level of end-to-end encryption. Even if that is also back-doored, it needs decrypting, only to find another layer, and another, and the final payload maybe contains steganography and other methods. Where does it stop? (hint: it doesn't). Right, so they have determined that there is some random-looking data I have sent. What if I want to send a megabyte of random/entropy bytes to someone? Will I be branded a criminal?
Oh, it's even more dangerous with US football. The crafty coaches cover their mouths with their clipboards so the TV cameras don't see them talking to their players. They could be sending covert messages to ISIS for all we know but we've been stymied by this clever obfuscation ever since Snowden. We need to mandate and enforce transparent plexiglass clipboards for all football coaches immediately, because terror!
It's a good thing that bad guys would never knock, say they are the police, then rush in and commit crimes. Because that would mess up the whole thing where you can always be certain only the good guys would knock first and say "It's just the cops, so don't be confused by the stun grenades, menacing threats, semiautomatic weapons and ninja getup, because we're really friendly".
"...word games the NSA and its defenders will use to increase spying"
They don't use these word games to increase spying, they use them to increase legal ass-coverage for spying that they already do.
It's quite plain that when a novel technique is available to them, they do not wait for supporting legislation before they use it, they implement it completely and if they think anyone will find out and object, only then do they task their spin masters to provide retroactive legislation "reforms" justifying it.
This isn't a story about failures, it's a story about successes.
In each of these instances, the government employees did exactly what was asked of them and were extremely successful at it.
They were asked to make sure that these initiatives resulted in a whackload of tax dollars flowing to the corporations involved. The people who asked them to do it are very happy with the outcome.
Cronyism and regulatory capture are not failures of the system. They ARE the system. It's a worldwide phenomenon.
When one assesses Hayden as a bumbling idiot or the rest of the players in this and any other government operation (TSA, war on drugs, voting machines...) as incompetent, one is measuring them by the mandate specified in their job description - i.e. to serve the American public, to further the needs of the American people as a whole.
While these people are reading the relevant legislation via their secret decoder rings, they are also completely dismissing the mandate that the rest of the world is measuring them by and instead following their own agendas. And by those agendas, they are far from incompetent.
Each of these "incompetent" initiatives is _extremely_ competent at transferring taxpayer wealth to the corporations that supply the equipment and manpower to implement the programs. Is a $100-million abandoned software project an example of incompetence? Yes, if you measure it by the stated mandate. No, if you measure it by the software company's agenda. Is a prison system overflowing their capacity a problem? Yes if you measure it by their expressed mandate. Not at all if you forklift your skids of profits from the penitentiary-building industry.
Whenever you hear of government incompetence at levels such as this, look for the beneficiary of the "incompetence" and turn your perspective around. You will find that these are some very competent folks.
They also seem to have some amazing foresight. I have been intrigued more than once at the speed with which expensive scanners or voting machines have been ramped into production and distribution and pushed through certification following on the introduction of the legislation that enables them. It's uncanny.
On the post: The Two Leading Presidential Candidates -- Clinton And Trump -- Are Both Mocking Free Speech On The Internet
Re: Re: Re: Re: Just Deserts
My point was meant to be that the American political and power distribution system seems to have strayed off course. American society can collectively do something to correct the trajectory or they can allow it to career further on its current path, and the outcome and their fortunes will depend on the electorate's own efforts and ability (or not) to turn it around.
In Canada, we have recently seen a shift in the political winds, brought on largely by the population deciding against one style of politics and opting for another. We too in the scheme of things will get the government we deserve, and I hope it's worthy of the faith that has been put in it.
On the post: The Two Leading Presidential Candidates -- Clinton And Trump -- Are Both Mocking Free Speech On The Internet
Re: Re: Just Deserts
By whatever measure you want, if America elects someone who proves undesirable, it's because a) they wanted that person and their values or b) their system has become broken and it allowed the undesirable candidate to win despite their collective will, in which case they are the authors of (i.e. are deserving of) their failure.
If America elects someone who turns out to be good for them, it will be because they succeeded despite extreme obstacles and they will deserve their success. If this new leader manages to lead a corrective path (for any of a number of definitions of corrective), all the more deserving.
On the post: The Two Leading Presidential Candidates -- Clinton And Trump -- Are Both Mocking Free Speech On The Internet
Just Deserts
On the post: Rep. Michael McCaul Proposes 'Commission' To 'Force' Silicon Valley To Undermine Encryption
Process flow
On the post: Senator McCain Promises To Introduce Legislation To Backdoor Encryption, Make Everyone Less Safe
Re: Cricket
On the post: Aadhaar: Soon, In India, Everyone Will Be A Number
Will the real Glyn Moody please stand up
So many identities. It would be so much easier if you just gave us your Aadhaar
On the post: Years Of Brainwashing The Public Into Thinking Everything Creative Must Be 'Owned' Has Led To This New Mess
Get your headlines here
Family of Muddy Waters Sues Entire 12-Bar Blues Music Industry
Every Country Star Sues Every Other Country Star
Three Chord Bands Bands All Sue Each Other
Nickelback Sues Nickelback
On the post: Vicious Cycle: When Those Abused By Trademark Abuse Others With Trademark
Re: Re: Wild Turkey
On the post: Vicious Cycle: When Those Abused By Trademark Abuse Others With Trademark
In related news...
On the post: Grand Jury Somehow Fails To Indict Man Who Shot Deputy During No-Knock, Pre-Dawn Raid For Capital Murder
Knock knock
On the post: Without Anyone Paying Attention, Canada Is About To Change Its Laws To Support ACTA
Re: Re: Paying no attention
On the post: Without Anyone Paying Attention, Canada Is About To Change Its Laws To Support ACTA
Paying no attention
On the post: DOJ Finally Realizing That It Has Absolutely No Case Against Julian Assange
Re:
On the post: With Repeated Reports Of Long-Term NSA Abuses, Does Anyone Actually Believe NSA Is Following The Law Today?
The NSA should hook up with the mayor of Toronto.
On the post: How Feinstein's Fake NSA Reform Bill Could Actually Make It Easier For NSA To Record Your Phone Calls
Carts and horses
They don't use these word games to increase spying, they use them to increase legal ass-coverage for spying that they already do.
It's quite plain that when a novel technique is available to them, they do not wait for supporting legislation before they use it, they implement it completely and if they think anyone will find out and object, only then do they task their spin masters to provide retroactive legislation "reforms" justifying it.
On the post: Why Healthcare.gov Sucks? Because They Hired Political Cronies, Not Internet Native Companies To Build It
It's all perspective
In each of these instances, the government employees did exactly what was asked of them and were extremely successful at it.
They were asked to make sure that these initiatives resulted in a whackload of tax dollars flowing to the corporations involved. The people who asked them to do it are very happy with the outcome.
Cronyism and regulatory capture are not failures of the system. They ARE the system. It's a worldwide phenomenon.
On the post: Former NSA Boss Hayden Says Snowden Likely To Become An Alcoholic Because He's 'Troubled' And 'Morally Arrogant'
Competence
While these people are reading the relevant legislation via their secret decoder rings, they are also completely dismissing the mandate that the rest of the world is measuring them by and instead following their own agendas. And by those agendas, they are far from incompetent.
Each of these "incompetent" initiatives is _extremely_ competent at transferring taxpayer wealth to the corporations that supply the equipment and manpower to implement the programs. Is a $100-million abandoned software project an example of incompetence? Yes, if you measure it by the stated mandate. No, if you measure it by the software company's agenda. Is a prison system overflowing their capacity a problem? Yes if you measure it by their expressed mandate. Not at all if you forklift your skids of profits from the penitentiary-building industry.
Whenever you hear of government incompetence at levels such as this, look for the beneficiary of the "incompetence" and turn your perspective around. You will find that these are some very competent folks.
They also seem to have some amazing foresight. I have been intrigued more than once at the speed with which expensive scanners or voting machines have been ramped into production and distribution and pushed through certification following on the introduction of the legislation that enables them. It's uncanny.
Follow the tax dollars.
On the post: Details Reveal Crypto Standard Controlled By NSA; And How Canada Helped
My detailed Canadian perspective on this
On the post: The US Government Has Betrayed The Internet; It's Time To Fix That Now
Re: Re: Cisco likely sold out
On the post: James Clapper Says Feds Will Start Releasing Some FISA And NSL Metadata, But Not The Kind That Matters
We don't care to know what they want us to know.
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