what do Americans think about the NSA scandal

[kandrathe]

One of my favorite politically minded people on the internet has weighed in

My current signature is a quote from one of his "essays" (he likes to call them essays instead of blog entries. I think he hits the nail on the head here.

I agree with the general gist of it, of course.

I disagree with the perfect implementation of "rules" or "laws". The example would be in the middle of nowhere you come across a very long red light at 3am. Should you need to wait there 5 minutes until the robot box tells you it's your turn, or should you be able to stop, look both ways, then proceed on your way?

Or, no passing double lines... Do you follow the 5 mph tractor for 30 miles, just because on a winding road there is no good opportunity to pass? Or, do you let drivers determine the safest possible opportunity? Spirit of the law and letter of the law, and all that. Police officers can gauge motive, and forgive minor lapses, but they are also imperfect and not 24x7.

It works the other way too. When I was 18, I received a deserved speeding ticket when I was driving 55 in a 55 zone. It was pouring rain, and the rest of the traffic was crawling along at 20 mph. I was fearless, careless, and immortal -- the officer was right to give me that ticket, even though I was within the limit -- I was being unsafe.

And, perfection may be difficult for us. My police friends tell me that most every person breaks at least one law daily, if not more. Were you to be tailed by a cop all the time, you'd get ticketed all the time.

Also, I think there is more to my philosophy than merely the Lord Acton warning; there is also the concept of "need to know". We use this pretty simple data security practice where I work. We do not give people any detailed information they don't need. I frequently publish summarized information, but you cannot determine anything other than trends from it. It is common for me to make one e-mail post to my co-analysts, then forwarding the analyst level memo to management with the details redacted. When we transfer large amounts of sensitive information we use a secure drop box as an intermediary. So, until the NSA/FBI/DIA/CIA, etc determine that an e-mail address, or IP address, or phone number is related to a bad actor (with probable cause), I would say that there is no need to watch or record any data or metadata relating to that address, and then only that address, and potentially the ones with which it is in contact -- which should be enumerated in detail and reviewed by the FISA court.

Yes, that would remove the tool of being able to go back into your 6 year log file and cough up every bit that passed through that address. Imagine if you had 1 drone assigned per person, capturing 24 hours surveillance, just in case anything bad ever happened. We could also put black box type recorders in every car to GPS and capture RPM's and speed everywhere all the time (just in case something bad happened), and it could be produced in court if there were ever a reason. You don't need to look at it until after the fact, or you might be tempted to write some predictive analysis algorithm that highlights suspicious activities. Extreme examples? Sure. But if you asked me if a decade ago the worlds spy agencies would collaborate to MASTER THE INTERNET, I'd have bet against it.