If the NSA Trusted Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

[nashville_brook]

This could very well be the point he's trying to make, especially with regard to the tipping point he referenced. That, the system is out of control and the secrecy is enabling it.



http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/06/09/edward_snowden_why_did_the_nsa_whistleblower_have_access_to_prism_and_other.html

If the NSA Trusted Edward Snowden With Our Data, Why Should We Trust the NSA?

The worst part about the NSA’s surveillance is not its massive reach. It’s that it operates entirely in secret, so that we have no way of assessing the sophistication of its operation. All we have is the word of our politicians, who tell us that they’ve vetted these systems and that we should blindly trust that the data are being competently safeguarded and aren’t vulnerable to abuse.

Snowden’s leak is thus doubly damaging. The scandal isn’t just that the government is spying on us. It’s also that it’s giving guys like Snowden keys to the spying program. It suggests the worst combination of overreach and amateurishness, of power leveraged by incompetence. The Keystone Cops are listening to us all.

[Logical]

1. So true!

[scarletwoman]

2. THIS! This is the question folks ought to be asking!

Instead of arguing over Snowden's motives, or whether or not the NSA's surveillance programs are acceptable, we ought to be asking why the hell someone like this guy had access in the first place!

Exactly the point was I making here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2979901

[morningfog]

3. So true. For profit spying.

[RobertEarl]

4. What if...

Someone not like Snowden, who put country first, used their position to damage us?

It could easily have already happened. And still could.

The NSA needs stricter controls. People like Snowden need to be praised and made into leaders of the org.

[Fumesucker]

5. Some unethical analyst might use this program to dig up dirt on very high ranking people

For purposes of blackmail or perhaps even worse.

[JDPriestly]

13. Think Eliot Spitzer.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022973186

Think John Edwards.

Think any number of people embarrassed with information that could have come from their phone records.

I'm not saying that this program was used against any specific people, but I am pointing out that the program could be used very selectively and you can judge from those men's cases what the outcome would be.

Many people, maybe even most, make mistakes.

That includes politicians.

[backscatter712]

6. Good question.

Unlike Snowden, Most of the fuckstains in the NSA don't have a conscience or empathy. Think Roose Bolton.

[Recursion]

7. If

Since what he's claiming he saw borders on the fantastical, I'm not yet convinced that they did.

[usGovOwesUs3Trillion]

8. Agreed

However we should also not lose sight of the constitutionality question of wether or not it is legal to recod all of our digital communications as that would certainly lead us down the path of tyranny, otherwise they could just say, "ok we will federalize the program, problem solved, right" wrong.

[Cha]

9. Yeah, IF. Either way.. the NSA needs to screen way more better.

[DevonRex]

10. He had passed the toughest background check there is.

He had worked for the CIA. His clearance level was high. Why wouldn't he be trusted?

[sabrina 1]

11. There's money in spying. There's money in torture. There's money in war. There's even

money in going after leaks, he ended that lucrative game which was already begun, by outing himself. Take the money out of all of it, and we would find we don't need to be spied on for our security, we don't need to torture anyone for our security and we don't need to kill people for our security. But with so much money available for our 'security' it will never stop.

[KT2000]

14. Yes

we don't manufacture much anymore so the future looks like it is wrapped up in "security."

You made a good point.

[JDPriestly]

12. Excellent point.

[truebluegreen]

15. Now THAT is an excellent question! nt