Government snooping, backdoors and #necessaryhashtags

[ewmayer]

NSA to cut system administrators by 90 percent to limit data access: (Reuters) - The National Security Agency, hit by disclosures of classified data by former contractor Edward Snowden, said Thursday it intends to eliminate about 90 percent of its system administrators to reduce the number of people with access to secret information.

[xilman]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

NSA to cut system administrators by 90 percent to limit data access: (Reuters) - The National Security Agency, hit by disclosures of classified data by former contractor Edward Snowden, said Thursday it intends to eliminate about 90 percent of its system administrators to reduce the number of people with access to secret information.

Why do bolted horse stable doors come to mind?

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by xilman

Why do bolted horse stable doors come to mind?

Because the horses already have a published GPG public-private key pair?

[Nick]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

The National Security Agency...said...it intends to eliminate about 90 percent of its system administrators

How should we interpret it if the NSA says it is going to eliminate someone?

[kladner]

Originally Posted by Nick

How should we interpret it if the NSA says it is going to eliminate someone?

Here is the Venture Brothers answer-

[ewmayer]

Obama's Cream Puff Plan to Reform US Surveillance Program

On Friday, president Obama announced a plan to reform NSA surveillance.

Don't expect much of anything to come out of it. It's a dog and pony show designed to make people feel better as opposed to any solid measures as to how much data government collects on everyone.

My 'favorite' bit of Obama disingenuity here is this:

"My preference, and I think the American people’s preference, would have been for a lawful, orderly examination of these laws. A thoughtful, fact-based debate that would then lead us to a better place."

You mean a thoughtful, fact-based debate about these secret laws being argued in front of and interpreted by secret courts, which even the legislators passing the laws are sworn to secrecy on? So if Snowden had not brought this stuff to light, we'd be having a thoughtful, fact-based debate about stuff which at that time did not officially exist? Interesting ... but I suspect the hypothetical 'debate' here would have been rather brief.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

My 'favorite' bit of Obama disingenuity here is this:

"My preference, and I think the American people’s preference, would have been for a lawful, orderly examination of these laws. A thoughtful, fact-based debate that would then lead us to a better place."

Let us please be honest and truthful here.

Those in power rarely understand and appreciate what is really going on, let alone have a hope of actually being in control.

Those in power rely on their advisers to advise, who somehow rarely have the general human's general interests in mind or in heart.

That might be considered heartless, but that's my opinion about how this game works....

[CRGreathouse]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

NSA to cut system administrators by 90 percent to limit data access: (Reuters) - The National Security Agency, hit by disclosures of classified data by former contractor Edward Snowden, said Thursday it intends to eliminate about 90 percent of its system administrators to reduce the number of people with access to secret information.

Man, those Maginot line plans look great, don't they?

[ewmayer]

As Head Of NSA Review Group Obama Appoints Same Person Who "Apologized" For Lying To Congress

"Because of his vast experience - at lying through his teeth under oath".

[only_human]

These via Groklaw's Latest News Picks:

• Dilbert on NSA "The government wants access to our customer records..." - Dilbert
• Exclusive: After Multiple Denials, CIA Admits to Snooping on Noam Chomsky
  For years, the Central Intelligence Agency denied it had a secret file on MIT professor and famed dissident Noam Chomsky. But a new government disclosure obtained by The Cable reveals for the first time that the agency did in fact gather records on the anti-war iconoclast during his heyday in the 1970s.
• Multiple New Polls Show Americans Reject Wholesale NSA Domestic Spying
• NSA “touches” more of Internet than Google

[ewmayer]

London says media company's spying rubbish bins stink

The City of London has told a bin company to keep its nose out of people's business.

The rubbish and recycling bins, from the company Renew, were set up to identify and remember people's smartphones, and thereby the movements and habits of their owners, as they walked by - kind of like how web pages monitor site traffic.

The online magazine Quartz was the first to report on the tracking technology, which, it says, was installed in a dozen bins around London’s Square Mile.

UK government is probably [a] wondering how this missed this glorious method of spying on their own, and [b] in fast-track negotiations with Renew to license the technology.

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Google: Be Evil

Google’s brief said: “Just as a sender of a letter to a business colleague cannot be surprised that the recipient’s assistant opens the letter, people who use web-based email today cannot be surprised if their emails are processed by the recipient’s [email provider] in the course of delivery. Indeed, ‘a person has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information he voluntarily turns over to third parties.’” (Motion to dismiss, Page 19)

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Cisco to lay off 4,000 workers; some will blame Snowden

The 4,000 layoffs represent about five percent of Cisco's global workforce and many of those 4,000 workers can point the finger of blame at former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

"Ever since this NSA thing, they've been getting quietly banned in a lot of countries, and I think they're anticipating a major falloff as a result," said tech analyst Rob Enderle.
Enderle says Cisco is battling a perception its Internet servers and routers might have secret codes imbedded to allow the NSA to spy overseas. That kind of speculation can impact sales, fueled by revelations by former contractor Snowden.

"When there were rumors of China doing the same thing, Congress moved to ban much of the Chinese imports and companies in the U.S. starting blocking Chinese sales. Now that the NSA has been found to do this, I think China's saying, 'OK, if you can do it, we can do it too," said Enderle.

This, along with on-going economic weakness in Europe, could be why Cisco wasn't able to meet growth expectations by Wall Street analysts. Cisco reported higher quarterly profits on Wednesday, but with future growth projected to be about two percent lower than expected, Cisco's stock price immediately dropped 10 percent in after-hours trading.

Cisco is not saying where the layoffs will occur. It has almost 17,500 Bay Area employees. The global headcount is 75,000.

The company has a history of layoffs, even as it added 7,500 workers earlier this year. In March, it laid off 500 people. Last summer, layoffs numbered 1,300, while 6,500 lost their jobs in summer of 2011.

Cisco did say the workforce reduction will free up money to spend on what it called "growth opportunities." Cisco has been doing research and development lately on expanding the Internet to vehicles.

It may have a tougher path trying to convince overseas customers it is not a complicit partner in helping U.S. spy agencies.

My sister works as a part-time contractor for Cisco [since ~12 months] ... as ZH notes, the NSA fallout and European depression may have given the company the ideal excuse to move another big chunk of its workforce to "the jobs of the future," that is, part-time-or-contractor-sans-benefits.