The Frontline video started out about Edward Snowden. Given my background in IT & IS security, there are a vast number of trusts, privileges, procedures, and laws he violated in doing what he did, and he should be tried for each of them. I'm curious as to how he gained the type of access he had to within the systems he did because it's a gross violation of not only his non-disclosure agreements, but being familiar with the formalities in place for that type of access, he would have had to receive even greater access to individual programs within whatever he was looking at. So whistle-blowing aside, he had violated security accesses, received and transported classified data, disclosed classified information in unsecured means to people who were not cleared to receive it, and I'm sure I could list off other violations. Regardless of the content of the leaks, my professional side finds him extremely in the wrong for everything he did.
This may be the geek in me, but I think William Binney was a genius. I understand how many people feel that their internet privacy was "violated" by the government's actions, but you have to give him credit for designing a system of this magnitude and including an ability to encrypt private information within the system. That being said, I have no problem at all that this system existed in the state that Binney had designed it.
The issue degraded when the executive staff and counsel removed the bystander encryption that would have still upheld the 4th amendment rights of the US population. Privacy is not something to be expected outside of encrypted channels. Everything on the internet is accessible to someone else in some way or another, which is one reason why I do not trust cloud computing as a business platform.
The volume of industrial espionage and terrorism planning conducted online against the US from within its borders is a constant occurrence. A program like this, done the way it should have, legally, would have benefited the US intelligence community and national security in ways no other country is capable of.
A couple of things the geek in you is missing is that this is not about Snowden being the only law breaker here. The NSA moved him into that position because he was great geek and knew his way around the system. Then he found evidence that was being hidden from the public, not from encryption -- most of the data that was classified should not have been -- but the extend of the breach. It was not encrypted as much as it was hidden. Others found it years before but tried to go through the normal chain of command and were held at gunpoint, computers confiscated, houses searched. That was in the video, too.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone would have taken the risk Snowden did, and he knew the risks, but felt it was worth it. If you saw the video, then how can you see this as only a bad guy breaking the law? Lots of people broke the law, including the government, and lots of people knew it.
Yes, this is going on in other countries, too. But we aren't watching them as carefully as we should, either. Cloud or no cloud. :)