This is the website of Abulsme Noibatno Itramne (also known as Sam Minter).
Posts here are rare these days. For current stuff, follow me on Mastodon
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@abulsme tweets from 2013-06-17 (UTC)
- Every time Snowdon talks: initial hype falls apart more, he looks like more of idiot & chances of fixing any REAL 4th Am concerns diminish. 16:22
- Kudos to people last week who were quiet and waited for more facts instead of believing initial Guardian and WP stories. I feel silly now. 16:48
- Program looks more and more constrained and reasonable the more that comes out about it. But better it is public than secret. 16:51
- Real reason for secrecy looking clearer though: Make bad guys fear monitoring is more pervasive than it is. Sunlight exposes the limits. 16:52
- Still lots of legit concerns about how such things work, particularly regarding openness v secrecy, abuse protections, privacy implications. 16:58
- But huge freak out (including mine) looking more and more overblown the more comes out. Could be changed by more revelations of course. 17:03
- And of course, to be conspiratorial, I should say “Of course, that is what they WANT you to believe.” :-) 17:04
- If there really are more shoes to drop, time to drop them. Maybe check them out more deeply first. Sloppiness in 1st reporting lost trust. 17:09
- RT
@BYUfan: .@abulsme There’s still a LOT more surveillance going on than we know. http://thehill.com/video/house/305047-dem-rep-lawmakers-learned-significantly-more-about-surveillance-programs-in-nsa-briefing … 17:54
- Reading – NSA revelations only вЂthe tip of the iceberg,’ says Dem lawmaker (Daniel Strauss) http://thehill.com/video/house/305047-dem-rep-lawmakers-learned-significantly-more-about-surveillance-programs-in-nsa-briefing … 17:56
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@BYUfan I am sure there is. As new things come out, I may reevaluate. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still concerned about the issue. 17:58
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@BYUfan But overblown initial claims and reax there to hurts case for looking at the real issues. 17:59
- RT @BYUfan .
@abulsme Sloppiness was in interpretation of stories. Greenwald accurately reported discrepancies between PPT and Internet company claims. ??:??
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@BYUfan Initial Greenwald article did clearly note that discrepancy. But was clear Greenwald believed slides and not denials. 18:01
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@BYUfan Articles were pushing the story about the grand revelations…. Not the denials. Would be non-story if denials true. 18:03
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@BYUfan Real headline: “Low level IT guy freaks out over PowerPoint he found without understanding context.” 18:05
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@BYUfan I would consider possibility a lot of this might be disinformation to discredit Snowden except so much comes out of his own mouth. 18:08
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@BYUfan Again, plenty of real issues here about executive power, potential for abuse, due process, even debate on protections for non-US. 18:10
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@BYUfan And certainly lots on openness and transparency vs secrecy. I think it is much better these things in the open, debated fully. 18:12
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@BYUfan But frustrating that over reactions and exaggerations and incorrect info, mean the real issues will again be minimized. 18:14
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@imbou: @abulsme this has been going through the history of mankind. If you didn’t know about its because you didn’t care to know. 18:21
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@imbou: @abulsme @BYUfan Which was my point about this whole thing in the podcast. All he did is reveal details of something authorized. 18:21
- Reading – Spying on foreigners: It’s a really big deal. (Matthew Yglesias) http://is.gd/1FGrjf 18:26
- Reading – “Truth Is Coming, And It Cannot Be Stopped”: The Best Of Edward Snowden’s Q&A (Gregory Ferenstein) http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/17/truth-is-coming-and-it-cannot-be-stopped-the-best-of-edward-snowdens-qa/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29 … 18:46
- Reading – Edward Snowden Q and A: NSA whistleblower answers your questions (Guardian) http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/17/edward-snowden-nsa-files-whistleblower … 19:00
- Important to read that whole Q&A. Snowden sounds a lot less crazy in full context than in summary. 19:01
- He actually makes some points/arguments I have been known to make myself. 19:02
- He still however hurts his own cause almost every time he opens his mouth. 19:03
- Reading – FACEOFF: Obama And Snowden вЂDebate’ NSA Surveillance Programs (Igor Bobic) http://is.gd/Qg5ehQ 21:46
- RT @AdamMinter For better or worse, ‘petting a Phoenix’ is now and forever more THE favored & most delightful euphemism for ‘spying for China.’ ??:??
- Still not reautomated. :-( -> Reading – Twitter Digest Shot By Twitter API v1.1 (Mike, Whalespine) http://whalespine.org/2013/06/15/twitter-digest-shot-by-twitter-api-v1-1/ … 22:37
- Reading – Real (Matt Drance) http://www.appleoutsider.com/2013/06/17/real/?utm_source=loopinsight.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Feed … 22:42
- Good interview -> Reading – 3 NSA veterans speak out on whistle-blower: We told you so (Eisler/Page) http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/06/16/snowden-whistleblower-nsa-officials-roundtable/2428809/ … 23:08
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We’ve always had government snooping and collecting data on us – 1950ish Joe McCarthy saw communists everywhere – 1960s and later J. Edgar Hoover had spies collecting about those seeking change and many more – today is different only in capacity of current technology – which I think does need to have limits – I really like the capacity to have a private life and to think out of the box
The difference today is entirely scale and technology. Of course these things have always happened, and have always been abused. But now the capability exists… and is being used… to capture vast amounts of information in a completely un-targeted fashion. Not snooping on or surveillance of particular groups or people of interest… with the technology of 50 years ago… or even 20 years ago… you had to be selective. But now you can record almost everything about almost everybody. (There are still limits to this of course, but decreasing each year.) Later you can go back and search for things within that big mass of data. “Give me everybody in Atlanta who sent email mentioning Pineapples in February 2011.” Or “Bob was never suspicious before, but he seems to be making trouble these days, lets go dig up anything we can on him from the last 15 years that might be interesting.” And yes, that kind of power can of course be used “for good”, and rules exist restricting somewhat how this information is to be used to try to make sure it is used only for “approved” purposes, but the technology exists, and those rules will inevitably be broken and the capabilities abused. If it isn’t already happening, it is only a matter of time.