General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOK, initial reaction to Snowden's claims
Just curious what the views are.
Snowden is claiming that as a computer technician, he was in a position to view the Internet activities of anyone in the US, at any time, including the President, and that he saw this capability misused by others to gain information about American citizens in the US. He also claims to have had access to a roster of every single employee of the NSA.
(Note to a common objection: he has not specifically claimed that he saw that during his 3 months at BAH, as far as I can tell.)
What does your initial bullshit-o-meter say? (Without getting into his whole Faraday cage thing...)
5 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited | |
I believe a computer tech contracting with NSA had the capability of viewing any Internet activity of anyone, and had access to a list of all NSA employees | |
2 (40%) |
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I do not believe a computer tech contracting with the NSA had the capability of viewing any Internet activity of anyone, nor that he had access to a list of all NSA employees | |
3 (60%) |
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0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided. | |
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Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll |
DisgustipatedinCA
(12,530 posts)...to form a considered opinion.
What changed your thoughtful approach?
Recursion
(56,582 posts)alsame
(7,784 posts)doesn't matter, I'd like to know the facts.
One of the many, many thing we don't know is how many people have access to the information that is gathered and who those people are.
B2G
(9,766 posts)Interesting. Would love to know his job title. At 200k a year he was either a manager or high up the tech chain.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)The root user doesn't have access to everything (this is assuming the NSA uses their own systems).
B2G
(9,766 posts)Then you have it all.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)That's what's so awesome about the code NSA contributed. The only user on the whole system who can get to the database is the user allowed to, and changing who is allowed to see that is visible to everyone.
B2G
(9,766 posts)How do you prevent them from viewing data in non production environments?
Recursion
(56,582 posts)... but doesn't have a key to the data itself. That is, the DBA can see the structure of tables, but not their contents.
B2G
(9,766 posts)You can only do so much with bogus data. You're going to need at least a significant subset of prod data.
Just thinking out loud...
Recursion
(56,582 posts)It's not the systems administrator, though. Again, assuming NSA is using the capabilities it contributed to Linux.
Quantess
(27,630 posts)The third option.
msanthrope
(37,549 posts)indicate someone who is stressed. I'll wait and see how this shakes out.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)given what we had access to in a remote place like Iraq and Afghanistan as Intelligence analysts at the Brigade level when I was in those places, I have no trouble believing he could see what he claims working for an alphabet agency, even as a contractor. People just don't know...........and wouldn't believe it if they could see it.