On Snowden coverage, and how natsec smears the messengers

Jack Shafer wins the day with this headline for his critique of media attacks following the Snowden leaks: "What an NSA charm offensive looks like."



      1. Easy.

        Disqus does suck, but it makes posting very easy and quick -> more comments to intercept.

        New system: largely decoupled from the article page = many more clicks necessary = almost no discussion -> nothing for the NSA to see.


        1.  I hope this is permanent as I wasn’t about to have anything to do with Discourse (other than to post that very message).

  1. This guy asks all the right questions! How does the NSA know? The easy answer is they don’t. This is more than a scandal and who watches the watchers is not going away soon. CNN and Yahoo news both treat Snowden as a villain, but the posters in the comments section are outraged.

    As a registered Federal Contractor, I had to agree for them to monitor all my internet activity. That was fine, because I read the fine print and agreed. I knew all cell phones can be monitored for location (just like a gps ) but I didn’t know they were tracking and monitoring everything. 

     Even though it hasn’t come out yet, you can bet they have unlawful recordings of all phone conversations in America and around the world archived for 5 years. Why 5 years? I just was asked to participate in HP’s program that asks me to give them permission to mine my data and keep it in another country for 5 years.

    1. > As a registered Federal Contractor, I had to agree for them to monitor all my internet activity.

      That’s interesting.  Does registered Federal Contractor mean your employer is the federal government, or a separate vendor?  Do you work on-site at a federal facility or work off-site?  Do you do secret/military/tech-type stuff?  I’m trying to figure out what circumstance makes the government impose that agreement on contractors, or even if it’s just all contractors period.  (My questions sound kind of suspicious, don’t they?  I swear, I’m not an attractive beauty in her mid-twenties, with a disarming vulnerability, intensely interested in your work …)

  2. Just  checking to see if I can log in here, since the new system isn’t letting me…

  3. Prediction: Boing Boing members largely avoid new discussion system, even when working, since it is some “other place” than here under articles. Antonious cries.

          1. @bradbell:disqus :  I hear you all too well.  We’ve has something akin to a monsoon over the last week.  But, hey, at least it isn’t 106 F like it was last year at this time.  

        1. It’s quite good, in fact. Airports are run by private business (there was a large taxes scandal recently), and the owners are more than willing to spend some money on comfort. Wi-fi and food are also fine.

    1. What if they could have an iframe, or direct feed from the BBS, at the bottom of a given article to entice people? I personally like the idea of the BBS system, and look forward to participating there (when I can remember). Also: They need to have the number of comments in the BBS system show up next to the article here on BoingBoing. Half the time it seems I’m clicking in because I see that the story’s generating a healthy discussion.

      Just my .

    2. People don’t like to learn new things because it’s annoying. Not much anyone can do about that. But it would be sad if ‘computer people’ can’t spend a few minutes being annoyed, ie. learning. It’s called adaptability and our survival depends on it. I  predict 94% will adapt, but 91% will bitch about it for what seems like an eternity.  Then a bit later everyone will forget it ever happened. “I loved the new system from the start!”

  4. I for one look forward to our politicians and pundits calling  Gen James Cartwright a traitor, and our reporters wondering aloud if NYT correspondance David Sanger should be charged with crimes.

    I also look forward to an infestation of anal winged simians.

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