One of the common criticisms of conspiracy theories is that it would require hundreds of people spread over many different interest groups to all simultaneously uphold overly elaborate lies and to maintain perfect secrecy over dozens of years. Such a scenario is often deemed so infeasible that this counts as a strong strike against conspiracy theories that involve large government agencies.
When I first read about it, I immediately thought that it didn’t pass the smell test. It involved way too many people concocting a way over elaborate scheme that has gone thus far undetected for way too long. If even a single person had figured it out, it would have caused a huge amount of controversy for way too little apparent reward.
It may be that the alleged claims turn out to be false after all but if it isn’t, does it serve as an existence proof that such wide-ranging conspiracies are in fact possible?
If anything, it proves that mass conspiracy theories are impossible, because all it takes is one disgruntled hipster to spill the beans to a newspaper and then take off for Russia with a backpack full of money.
Jesus Christ, Smapti, you’re acting like Snowden told you there is no Santa Claus. Were you really that enamoured with your incorrect belief that the head of the NSA wasn’t a federal criminal?
Well, imagine a world where Edward Snowden didn’t have the balls he did.
Or a world where almost everyone - thousands of people - are so intidated by the consequences of revealing the conspiracy (of Gov led reprisal) they don’t say anything. Wait, that is our world.
Quite. He didn’t take off to Russia. He was blockaded there and forced to seek Asylum with that ‘unfriendly’ power. A sure sign to me that the information he holds is nothing to do with national security.
Plus he doesn’t have a sackful of money.
Snowden is a patriot and a hero. It is those willing to trade liberty for the vague promise of security from nebulous ‘threats’ that are the traitors to everything the USA is meant to stand for.
No, Snowden is a self-aggrandizing traitor who risked the lives of countless Americans for the sake of personal fame, and bungled his big heroic moment so much that he couldn’t even find a country to hide in that doesn’t do all the same things and more that he’s supposedly mad at America for doing.
Wide-ranging illegal activities by governmental agencies are certainly possible.
The NSA’s behavior, regardless of legality, was not uncovered by hordes of amateurs on the Internet flogging conspiracy theories, but by a solitary whistle-blower.
Therefore, I do not find that conspiracy theory-promoters have gained any credibility via NSA revelations.
From the original conception through the legal experts, the building architects and experts determing the hardware, to the software creators, to the project managers, recruiters and current staff … who said anything?
I don’t know. You tell me. You cite me the terrorist plots that were thwarted by this?
Maybe you can explain why the NSA Magic Rock failed to stop the recent wave of Ramadan killings (what was it 7k deaths) in the territory of our ally, Iraq?
Maybe you can explain why the Magic Rock failed to find Bin Laden?
Quite frankly - I don’t care. The price being asked for some undefined ‘safety’ from some ‘undefined’ threat is too expensive for me and it is certainly a price that demands democratic debate and effective democratic oversight.
None of which we have. It is only these revalations that have bought the issue into play.
I don’t beleive if we pulled the plug on the whole shebang it would make any difference to ‘national security’ anyway.
I can’t, because those things are classified and with good reason. Why don’t you ask Snowden?
I’m sure you understand why having a vote on whether or not things should be classified is not a viable option.
I ask you; is your life any different now than it was before this leak? Have any government officials showed up at your door demanding that you explain your web browsing habits? What “price” do you think you’re being asked to pay?
He lied to Congress about what his organisation had been doing. Doing so is a federal crime.
Zero. The terrorists already knew the US government was spying on them. The big secret wasn’t about how the NSA was spying on the terrorists, but how they were spying on everyone else.
Next time you state that someone who has not been arrested is, ipso facto, not a criminal and then state that someone who has not been arrested is, in fact, a criminal, don’t forget to put the “United Way” update between the two statements.
No need for them to show up, it’s all done remotely.
Are your web browsing habits being recorded for use against you?
You don’t know. You have no way to know. Doesn’t that bother you?
What are you doing on the web that you’re concerned the government is going to use against you?
Then Congress is free to press contempt charges against him. I’ll wait.
Did they know how they were being spied on? They do now, thanks to Snowden telling them exactly how the program works, and Lavabit telling them the best way to elude federal surveillance.
They aren’t “spying on everyone else”. You make it sound like there’s some guy in a little room somewhere reading everyone’s emails all day, when the reality of it is that none of that information can be touched without a warrant. I’d be sorely disappointed if the government weren’t able to read the emails of criminal suspects.