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[SalmonGod]

How about swarms of robot bees?

[Frumple]

Pollinate while you propagate operational security. Sounds like the NSA Harvard is trying to net the green vote.

[SalmonGod]

RoboBees are on Wikipedia.

Not exactly NSA stuff, but it's one of the first things I thought of when I learned about this project a couple days ago.  I could definitely see insect-sized surveillance drones being the next thing (as predicted by works of fiction for a long time already).

[Urist Imiknorris]

>Implying there are some people they ignore.

The only people they ignore are people they can't keep spying on, such as people in remote tribes.

Satellites?

[Loud Whispers]

I'll have a reason to make a super-fine electrified mesh around my house soon?

YAY!

Pretty certain they put you on a watchlist for that.

[Loud Whispers]

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jul/11/the-ultimate-goal-of-the-nsa-is-total-population-control


I want to stop being right sometimes.

[SalmonGod]

I've seen that guy's statements before.  The problem with people who just come out and say something like that is nobody who didn't already think things were like that is going to put any stock in what he's saying, and are most likely to lose some trust in the source that publicized it.

[Loud Whispers]

I've seen that guy's statements before.  The problem with people who just come out and say something like that is nobody who didn't already think things were like that is going to put any stock in what he's saying, and are most likely to lose some trust in the source that publicized it.

Not from a source as famous as the guardian nor is it a problem when it's the bloody truth you TroutGod

[SalmonGod]

The Guardian is famous, but it's still kind of relegated itself to the internet echo-chamber these days.  It very obviously emphasizes a specific viewpoint.  It does so often with hard evidence, and I really appreciate that... but the writing style and articles like this one also make it really easy for anyone who disagrees to discard the evidence along with everything else due to perceived bias.

nor is it a problem when it's the bloody truth you TroutGod

It's not concrete enough to be promoted as truth.  Response I would expect from anyone who didn't already believe what he's saying.

"The goal of certain people within the NSA may be population control, but a major government organization like the NSA couldn't possibly be formed for that express purpose.  That mission statement would get shot down during the democratic processes necessary to establish it, and oversight processes are in place to keep people with corrupt motivations from realizing them.  This guy's personal conflicts with his former employer and personality interpretations of his peers don't amount to any real evidence to the contrary."

[palsch]

That post is in the Guardian's Comment is Free section. That's their dumping ground for editorials, mirrored blog posts and public solicitations. It doesn't have the same editorial standards as the rest of the paper.

And I'd argue those have slipped since they started cutting back on staff. IIRC they have had several hundred staff members leave the books, either by going from paid editors to volunteers or simply being made redundant. At the same time they have opened whole new divisions that are seemingly independent of their original offices and history, including most of their internet stuff and their new American operations.

Which makes them a still fun quirky paper with the most amusing liveblogs on various topics, but the kernel of hard news is a lot smaller and softer these days.

I do tend to tune into high stakes coverage of issues like the CoE general synod. High octane news!

4.43pm: I must apologise. I - along with 470 other people in Church House - though that this afternoon's debate about the code of practice on women bishops would be interesting. It was nothing of the sort.
...
Anyway, I'm logging off now because a) nothing is happening b) I want to catch up with episodes of Borgen and c) it's going to be a late one tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep

[Evil Knievel]

"Hacienda", some new documents show how five-eyes "colonize" the internet
A possible even a useful article with discussion on how to protect yourself/your network against said attacks in its second half. Unfortunately, it is a bit too technical for me.

And a bit older, the interview with Snowden on Wired

[Evil Knievel]

There have been plenty of mentionworthy events, none of them I would consider positive, but since interest has died down apparently, I have not continued posting them here.

This one, I thought, might interest you a little (even though it is too late now)
Congress Passes Bill Granting “Unlimited Access To Private Communications Of Every American” Without Legal Process

The bill as well as the section in question in the previously linked text can be found here (search for "sec. 309").

[Loud Whispers]

The internet is somewhat fucked.

[Frumple]

... looks like it's not quite past congress, yet. And maybe the president will retain sanity and veto it, if it goes by.

I mean, sure, maybe flying pigs laden with coconuts full of hundred euro bills will fly over the continental US and explode into a shower of lucre and candy, too, but... it's possible. Distantly.

[Baffler]

So this is it, then. If it passes then all they've got to do is use this thing a little more freely, and possibly expand the definition of incitement, and we've got jailed political opposition. Unless I take the wrong meaning from that article which is admittedly a bit sensational.