OK, initial reaction to Snowden's claims

[Recursion]

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%)
	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%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[DisgustipatedinCA]

1. Oh hell no. You were just caterwauling in another OP about waiting 2 days

...to form a considered opinion.

What changed your thoughtful approach?

[Recursion]

2. I'm curious what people's initial reaction is. I haven't voted. (nt)

[alsame]

3. What I believe

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]

4. Sounds like he had superuser rights

Interesting. Would love to know his job title. At 200k a year he was either a manager or high up the tech chain.

[Recursion]

6. NSA pioneered superuser-less servers. It was one of their big contributions to Linux

The root user doesn't have access to everything (this is assuming the NSA uses their own systems).

[B2G]

8. all you really need is access to the backend databases

Then you have it all.

[Recursion]

9. Right, except with role-based accounting, you don't

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]

10. What about DBAs?

How do you prevent them from viewing data in non production environments?

[Recursion]

11. Well, I've never dealt with the NSA's systems, but in DoD the DBA can see the schema ...

... 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]

12. Developers and testers need to see the data

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]

13. There probably is someone who can see all of the data, I agree

It's not the systems administrator, though. Again, assuming NSA is using the capabilities it contributed to Linux.

[Quantess]

5. I don't know.

The third option.

[msanthrope]

7. His claims are grandiose. His behavior (the pillows, the red hood)

indicate someone who is stressed. I'll wait and see how this shakes out.

[AnalystInParadise]

14. Yes I do

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.