Internet Zen Master (profile), 26 Jul 2013 @ 11:41am
Re: Re: Technically speaking, he IS a traitor
1. one who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation or duty
Bolded for emphasis.
Manning is a traitor in the sense that he betrayed the trust of his superior officers/the government as a whole when he went and handed over all those classified diplomatic cables to Wikileaks. Whether the cables should have been classified or not is irrelevant now.
The point is, the government trusted Manning enough to grant him a TS/SCI [Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information]-grade security clearance, which gave him access to a cubic shit-ton of classified intel back in Jan. 2008.
What you have to realize that when the government grants someone a security clearance, that clearance sticks with you for the rest of your life. That means the government has just placed quite a bit of trust [and faith] in that person, and I assume[more like hope in all honesty] that the level of trust required for someone to get a TS/SCI security clearance is even higher.
Long and short of it, Bradley Manning betrayed the government's trust. Therefore, by [normal] definition, he is a traitor.
However, as far as things are concerned in the legal sense, whether Manning is a traitor [someone who committed treason] in the eyes of the court, that remains to be seen.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 26 Jul 2013 @ 10:00am
Nancy "you've got to pass the bill to see what's in it" Pelosi being a two-faced hypocrite? What else is new? I hope that her constituents remember this next year during the midterms (likelihood of that is next to nil, but one can dream).
[tangent]
...For whatever it's worth, the Amash amendment was a blunt instrument and attaching it to an appropriations bill might not have been the best way to go about stopping the NSA surveillance plan...
"You don't say?"[sarc] - said everyone who's had a security clearance
While we really do need to rein in the NSA (see none of this secret court secretly interpreting the constitution in secret malarkey), we have to remember that the NSA is an intelligence agency that (while completely screwed up in the head) does has the best interests of the US at heart. Forcing the NSA to be 100% transparent in everything it does and showing the world every little tactic is uses to spy on people, foreign or domestic, is a BAD idea. Should the NSA being spying on people? Ideally no, but not having any kind of concealment for their surveillance programs is a naive, idealistic view to have.
Having an organization watching out for terrorists isn't supposed to be a bad thing. Problem is the whole 'who watches the watchers?' thing, which the government has dropped the ball on so badly it's put a hole in the floor.
It's no wonder people have such low approval of government these days...[/tangent]
Internet Zen Master (profile), 26 Jul 2013 @ 9:28am
Technically speaking, he IS a traitor
According to Merriam-Webster, the two definitions the word traitor are:
1. one who betrays another's trust or is false to an obligation or duty
2. one who commits treason
Now Manning is obviously a traitor according to the first definition (he betrayed the trust of the US government, who gave him clearance to access the info that he leaked). Personally I'm a little iffy on whether he falls under the second definition, but that's just my opinion on that.
But seriously, anarchist?
Did someone resurrect a zombified McCarthy while I wasn't looking?
Manning may be a traitor by definition, but a hacker and anarchist he is not.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 25 Jul 2013 @ 12:46pm
Re: Duelling quotes
Invoking Godwin's law, but yeah, it's factually correct.
(Actually, I'm not sure if quoting a famous person who makes a comparison to Hitler/Nazis counts as actually invoking that law, but still, close enough.)
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jul 2013 @ 6:17pm
Re: How about these 'gems'?
When you consider the time period Leviticus and Corinthians were written, these 'laws' aren't really that unusual.
Plus I imagine you'll have a hard time finding a priest/minister/preacher who gives sermons on those particular verses today, roughly two millennia later, even among the hardcore fringe fundamentalist Christians.
Actually, the last verse is kinda funny, considering that Jesus is usually depicted with shoulder-length hair.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jul 2013 @ 5:54pm
Re: Confederate Flag?
While often associated with the ugly history of racism in the South, the Confederate Flag on it's own is actually treated by many southerners as a symbol of pride/independence. Or something like that.
If it was a Confederate Flag with a shirt that said white power it would be a lot closer to wearing Nazi-styled belt buckle.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jul 2013 @ 5:41pm
Re: Re: In the NSA's defense
Oh yeah, midterm elections are coming up next year. Let's see if the voters remember this in a year or so (provided that Snowden doesn't stop releasing [preferably non-critical] leaks).
As for the size of the data collection, a lot it has to do with overlapping data (as I understand it at least). Ideally, the NSA doesn't put people under surveillance just based on one hit on a jihadist website. Ideally, they'll look for patterns, such as repeated hits to jihadist websites a, b, c, and d, as well as calls to traditionally unstable countries in order to factor in their decision.
Emphasis on ideally here. This is the same organization that says they can't even detect their own emails, and doesn't have the decency to waste the ink redacting everything like the DOJ does when they're the biggest data collectors on the planet.
Doesn't help that they shot themselves in the foot with a drone strike right out of the gate after the leaks started coming out with the 51% 'foreigness' remark.
It seems like the NSA has a worse PR/Damage Control team than Microsoft.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jul 2013 @ 3:28pm
Politically ambitious scumbags
Ever heard of Angela Corey? She's Florida's State Attorney.
The same one who saw a political opportunity when she charged Zimmerman with 2nd-degree murder back in April last year, (probably) because she thought it would look great for her re-election campaign. In my opinion, they should've charged him with manslaughter, the chances of convicting the guy for 2nd-degree murder were low even before the trial started, but that's beside the point.
...Yeah, that went over well.
In other words, state attorneys are lower than politicians when it comes to waving the populist "for-the-children!" type flags around. Especially since it only takes one of them to ruin your day.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jul 2013 @ 2:58pm
When you think about it, Glowacki's claim that he doesn't accept gays simply because he is Catholic is a little inaccurate. He should accept gays as people in general (see "love thy neighbor"), but he doesn't need to accept anyone simply because of their sexuality alone. Insert comment about MLK's "judged by the content of their character" line here.
Anwyay, yeah, contrary to what most people (read: district superintendents, principals, and some teachers) like to think, students do not check their right to free speech at the door. There are limits imposed (see: wearing a fake swastika armband at school, calling people racial slurs), but no where even in the same universe as what McDowell was claiming.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jul 2013 @ 2:19pm
Re:
Honestly, I have no issue with the "Fast-forwarding may be disabled during this program" kind of thing they have for shows on demand. My only gripe with that is networks have started pulling the same shit video streaming companies do online: play the exact same commercial over and over at every commercial break.
For those of us who had to suffer those irritating [although brilliantly marketed] Head-On! commercials, imagine that for 18-22 minutes split into 3-5 minute intervals during your favorite show.
Suddenly the whole post ad-break recap for some of the current drama tv shows makes a whole lot more sense (even if they were initially intended to hook viewers who had just walked into the room).
Internet Zen Master (profile), 24 Jul 2013 @ 12:45pm
In the NSA's defense
The reason the NSA's freaking out about the Amash Amendment is because it would cut the funding for their dragnet programs, yes? I guess they're concern is technically legit, because in theory, if Congress did force the NSA to shut down the program, it would be unable to provide intel through the proper channels or more likely anonymous tip lines to other agencies (NYPD, FBI, etc, etc).
While it's good to be up in arms about the NSA's alleged (and statistically likely) monitoring of Americans (as well as the rest of the world, but especially Americans), before we get too worked up about things and completely tear off the lid, we need to realize that the NSA is a spy agency. Secrecy and surveillance are their bread and butter.
If we were to completely reveal all the NSA's secrets, the US would be put at a severe disadvantage, or a "spy gap", in comparison to the rest of the world.
So while I'd love to have a some more oversight for that behemoth of an agency (no secret courts with secret rulings and secret interpretations of the law thank you very much), I'd rather if we didn't force the NSA to show all of its hand to everyone at the espionage poker table, spy and terrorist alike.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 23 Jul 2013 @ 12:44pm
Now all we need is for lower-budget movies to be a success
Like say the Jadallah Brothers' horror movie Entity, the first professional attempt at making a film based on Victor-Surge's Slenderman and the creature's expanded mythos [it's coming out sometime this summer if I remember the trailers correctly].
...Actually, I take that back. A big name studio getting its hooks into Slenderman would not bode well for the Internet community (especially those in the Creepypasta realm). They'd probably try to claim copyright over the character or some crazy b.s., even though Slenderman has an owner, and therefore is already copyrighted.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 23 Jul 2013 @ 9:22am
Most Europeans
Tend to be more sensitive to the whole "privacy vs. security" issue than Americans for various reasons (especially Eastern Europe). Granted, Americans by default are sensitive to it, but they're also constantly told that "we're doing this to protect you!", which for anyone who has a sliver of faith in the government, is somewhat reassuring.
That and 9/11 blew up what was a national landmark (WTO), and as far as I know, nothing on that level of terrorism has happened over in Europe yet (it'd be the equivalent of someone blowing up Buckingham Palace), which is why Europeans (especially Germans) are more aware of the privacy vs. security problem than Americans today.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 22 Jul 2013 @ 9:06am
Re: Re: Missing the point....
To quote Ambassador de Sadesky from Dr. Strangelove:
"Our source was the New York Times."
Maybe Snowden is causing incalculable harm to the national security of the US in the long-term. Then again, maybe these releases won't, and the only people who will be harmed are the NSA, who will have to actually change their surveillance strategies in order to keep doing their jobs [protecting us from Al-Qaida/other terrorist groups].
(Part of the problem is the alphabet-soup organizations hate sharing info with each other, but that's for another rant)
Internet Zen Master (profile), 17 Jul 2013 @ 1:36pm
Re:
And based on how many calls computer-literate people (both professional and hobbyist) get for help about rather basic problems.
Example:
Caller: My new desktop computer won't turn on!
Tech: is it plugged into the wall?
Caller:...Uh, no? Should it be?
Tech: *sigh* Yes. It's not a laptop computer, it doesn't have internal batteries!
Caller: *completely missed everything after "not a laptop computer"* See honey! I told you we should've bought one of them new-fangled tablet computers!
Tech: *headdesk*
At least, that's how I imagine a lot of tech support conversations go.
So yeah, a computer guide that basic would really help the world, not just your mother. And it would mean the people with actually computer issues wouldn't be stuck on hold for eternity plus a day...
Internet Zen Master (profile), 17 Jul 2013 @ 10:16am
Re: Re:
First time I've seen him drop an f-bomb (then again, I've been hanging around TechDirt for about a year, if that).
All the same, I think this situation does warrant the use of a vulgarity like that, and what's better is that Mike didn't resort to long for of the all-too-common "wtf?" remark we see nowadays.
Internet Zen Master (profile), 17 Jul 2013 @ 9:39am
Re: This is fairly debatable...
Actually, if I remember right, the NSA pretty much lacked transparency towards ALL other federal agencies pre-9/11. After all, before 9/11, the federal government refused to even acknowledge the NSA's existence, despite the gargantuan headquarters they have inside Fort Meade, Maryland.
Doesn't help matters that the NSA is considered military and groups like the FBI, CIA, and the state Department are considered civilian (it's predecessor, AFSA, had a big problem with that).
On the post: Government Argues Bradley Manning Was An Anarchist, As Case Closes
Re: Re: Technically speaking, he IS a traitor
Bolded for emphasis.
Manning is a traitor in the sense that he betrayed the trust of his superior officers/the government as a whole when he went and handed over all those classified diplomatic cables to Wikileaks. Whether the cables should have been classified or not is irrelevant now.
The point is, the government trusted Manning enough to grant him a TS/SCI [Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information]-grade security clearance, which gave him access to a cubic shit-ton of classified intel back in Jan. 2008.
What you have to realize that when the government grants someone a security clearance, that clearance sticks with you for the rest of your life. That means the government has just placed quite a bit of trust [and faith] in that person, and I assume[more like hope in all honesty] that the level of trust required for someone to get a TS/SCI security clearance is even higher.
Long and short of it, Bradley Manning betrayed the government's trust. Therefore, by [normal] definition, he is a traitor.
However, as far as things are concerned in the legal sense, whether Manning is a traitor [someone who committed treason] in the eyes of the court, that remains to be seen.
On the post: Nancy Pelosi Saved The NSA Surveillance Program; Now She Should Help Kill It
[tangent]
"You don't say?"[sarc] - said everyone who's had a security clearance
While we really do need to rein in the NSA (see none of this secret court secretly interpreting the constitution in secret malarkey), we have to remember that the NSA is an intelligence agency that (while completely screwed up in the head) does has the best interests of the US at heart. Forcing the NSA to be 100% transparent in everything it does and showing the world every little tactic is uses to spy on people, foreign or domestic, is a BAD idea. Should the NSA being spying on people? Ideally no, but not having any kind of concealment for their surveillance programs is a naive, idealistic view to have.
Having an organization watching out for terrorists isn't supposed to be a bad thing. Problem is the whole 'who watches the watchers?' thing, which the government has dropped the ball on so badly it's put a hole in the floor.
It's no wonder people have such low approval of government these days...[/tangent]
On the post: Government Argues Bradley Manning Was An Anarchist, As Case Closes
Technically speaking, he IS a traitor
Now Manning is obviously a traitor according to the first definition (he betrayed the trust of the US government, who gave him clearance to access the info that he leaked). Personally I'm a little iffy on whether he falls under the second definition, but that's just my opinion on that.
But seriously, anarchist?
Did someone resurrect a zombified McCarthy while I wasn't looking?
Manning may be a traitor by definition, but a hacker and anarchist he is not.
On the post: Rep. Mike Pompeo Says NSA's Metadata Program Is A Result Of The Way 'Government Is Supposed To Operate'
Re: Duelling quotes
(Actually, I'm not sure if quoting a famous person who makes a comparison to Hitler/Nazis counts as actually invoking that law, but still, close enough.)
On the post: Student's Free Speech Victory Is A Victory For Everyone Even If You Disagree With His Speech
Re: How about these 'gems'?
Plus I imagine you'll have a hard time finding a priest/minister/preacher who gives sermons on those particular verses today, roughly two millennia later, even among the hardcore fringe fundamentalist Christians.
Actually, the last verse is kinda funny, considering that Jesus is usually depicted with shoulder-length hair.
On the post: Student's Free Speech Victory Is A Victory For Everyone Even If You Disagree With His Speech
Re: Confederate Flag?
If it was a Confederate Flag with a shirt that said white power it would be a lot closer to wearing Nazi-styled belt buckle.
On the post: Congress Should Support Amash Amendment Just Because White House Statement Is So Insulting
Re: Re: In the NSA's defense
As for the size of the data collection, a lot it has to do with overlapping data (as I understand it at least). Ideally, the NSA doesn't put people under surveillance just based on one hit on a jihadist website. Ideally, they'll look for patterns, such as repeated hits to jihadist websites a, b, c, and d, as well as calls to traditionally unstable countries in order to factor in their decision.
Emphasis on ideally here. This is the same organization that says they can't even detect their own emails, and doesn't have the decency to waste the ink redacting everything like the DOJ does when they're the biggest data collectors on the planet.
Doesn't help that they shot themselves in the foot with a drone strike right out of the gate after the leaks started coming out with the 51% 'foreigness' remark.
It seems like the NSA has a worse PR/Damage Control team than Microsoft.
On the post: State Attorneys General Want To Sue Innovators 'For The Children!'
Politically ambitious scumbags
The same one who saw a political opportunity when she charged Zimmerman with 2nd-degree murder back in April last year, (probably) because she thought it would look great for her re-election campaign. In my opinion, they should've charged him with manslaughter, the chances of convicting the guy for 2nd-degree murder were low even before the trial started, but that's beside the point.
...Yeah, that went over well.
In other words, state attorneys are lower than politicians when it comes to waving the populist "for-the-children!" type flags around. Especially since it only takes one of them to ruin your day.
On the post: Student's Free Speech Victory Is A Victory For Everyone Even If You Disagree With His Speech
Anwyay, yeah, contrary to what most people (read: district superintendents, principals, and some teachers) like to think, students do not check their right to free speech at the door. There are limits imposed (see: wearing a fake swastika armband at school, calling people racial slurs), but no where even in the same universe as what McDowell was claiming.
On the post: Court Says Broadcasters Can't Use Copyright To Block Commercial Skipping
Re:
For those of us who had to suffer those irritating [although brilliantly marketed] Head-On! commercials, imagine that for 18-22 minutes split into 3-5 minute intervals during your favorite show.
Suddenly the whole post ad-break recap for some of the current drama tv shows makes a whole lot more sense (even if they were initially intended to hook viewers who had just walked into the room).
On the post: Congress Should Support Amash Amendment Just Because White House Statement Is So Insulting
In the NSA's defense
While it's good to be up in arms about the NSA's alleged (and statistically likely) monitoring of Americans (as well as the rest of the world, but especially Americans), before we get too worked up about things and completely tear off the lid, we need to realize that the NSA is a spy agency. Secrecy and surveillance are their bread and butter.
If we were to completely reveal all the NSA's secrets, the US would be put at a severe disadvantage, or a "spy gap", in comparison to the rest of the world.
So while I'd love to have a some more oversight for that behemoth of an agency (no secret courts with secret rulings and secret interpretations of the law thank you very much), I'd rather if we didn't force the NSA to show all of its hand to everyone at the espionage poker table, spy and terrorist alike.
On the post: Maybe The Answer To The $200 Million Movie Question Is To Not Focus On $200 Million Movies?
Now all we need is for lower-budget movies to be a success
...Actually, I take that back. A big name studio getting its hooks into Slenderman would not bode well for the Internet community (especially those in the Creepypasta realm). They'd probably try to claim copyright over the character or some crazy b.s., even though Slenderman has an owner, and therefore is already copyrighted.
On the post: NSA's Keith Alexander Calls Emergency Private Briefing To Lobby Against Amash Amendment
Apparently Keith Alexander is afraid. So what (else) is he hiding?
On the post: German Minister Calls Security A 'Super Fundamental Right' That Outranks Privacy; German Press Call Him 'Idiot In Charge'
Most Europeans
That and 9/11 blew up what was a national landmark (WTO), and as far as I know, nothing on that level of terrorism has happened over in Europe yet (it'd be the equivalent of someone blowing up Buckingham Palace), which is why Europeans (especially Germans) are more aware of the privacy vs. security problem than Americans today.
Well, that and fucking reality TV.
On the post: Ex-CIA/NSA Boss Says Snowden Worse Than Every Spy From Benedict Arnold To The Rosenbergs
Re: Re: Missing the point....
"Our source was the New York Times."
Maybe Snowden is causing incalculable harm to the national security of the US in the long-term. Then again, maybe these releases won't, and the only people who will be harmed are the NSA, who will have to actually change their surveillance strategies in order to keep doing their jobs [protecting us from Al-Qaida/other terrorist groups].
(Part of the problem is the alphabet-soup organizations hate sharing info with each other, but that's for another rant)
As the Zen Master says, "We'll see."
On the post: NSA Official Admits Agency's Surveillance Covers Even More People Than Previously Indicated
Re: Re:
They must have an Inquisition-like DOJ and Big Brother-style NSA to deal with that sort of blasphemy!
On the post: NSA Official Admits Agency's Surveillance Covers Even More People Than Previously Indicated
Re: I wonder how many more slips before....
But that's just the cynical side of me talking. I doubt they actually... *goes back and re-reads the article again* No, it probably does...
As the Zen Master says, "We'll see."
On the post: Pippa Middleton Sends Legal Threats Over Parody Twitter Account
Re:
Example:
Caller: My new desktop computer won't turn on!
Tech: is it plugged into the wall?
Caller:...Uh, no? Should it be?
Tech: *sigh* Yes. It's not a laptop computer, it doesn't have internal batteries!
Caller: *completely missed everything after "not a laptop computer"* See honey! I told you we should've bought one of them new-fangled tablet computers!
Tech: *headdesk*
At least, that's how I imagine a lot of tech support conversations go.
So yeah, a computer guide that basic would really help the world, not just your mother. And it would mean the people with actually computer issues wouldn't be stuck on hold for eternity plus a day...
On the post: Former Top NSA Lawyer Blames Civil Libertarians For 9/11, Says Hype About NSA May Lead To A Repeat
Re: Re:
All the same, I think this situation does warrant the use of a vulgarity like that, and what's better is that Mike didn't resort to long for of the all-too-common "wtf?" remark we see nowadays.
On the post: Former Top NSA Lawyer Blames Civil Libertarians For 9/11, Says Hype About NSA May Lead To A Repeat
Re: This is fairly debatable...
Doesn't help matters that the NSA is considered military and groups like the FBI, CIA, and the state Department are considered civilian (it's predecessor, AFSA, had a big problem with that).
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