Posts by Reality787

NSA alleges 'BIOS plot to destroy PCs'

Re: "US person"

Snowden is still considered a US person under the FISA law. But I doubt there was any difficulty obtaining warrants.

Re: "US person"

The term "United States person" is defined by statute. It is not governed by regulations pertaining to security clearances. Nor can one become a non United States person by sending or receiving emails from a foreign entity.

See 50 USC 1801(i). If you are a US citizen or an alien admitted for permanent residence, then you are a US person.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2011-title50/pdf/USCODE-2011-title50-chap36-subchapI-sec1801.pdf

Why Some of These Comments Are Absurd

// begin rant - some of this is unfair

(1) "9/11 was sooo 12 years ago! It's no longer a good reason for anything."

I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist of some of the comments.

Let me be clear: those comments are utterly moronic. The last time the US lost that many people on American soil in an attack was during the CIVIL WAR. You'd have to be a really special kind of stupid to think that a whole 12 years means that such an attack is no longer relevant. Even after a whole 12 years, the US thinks it's kind of important to have measures in place that help stop such terrorist attacks.

(2) "BIOS malware! So funny! Listen to the funny NSA man!"

I'd like to introduce you to a term called "asymmetric warfare." Are you a developing country that would like to assert your regional power... more assertively, shall we say, but find yourself restrained by the 800 ton gorilla across the big blue sea? Wouldn't it be nice to have leverage that didn't involve delivering missiles to that gorilla, with all its fancy defenses and a huge arsenal of missiles of its own? Is there anything that the gorilla really depends on, that is often vulnerable, that could be damaged in a way that's tough to trace back, that wouldn't invite a nuclear response? Hmmm...

When the US Department of Defense announced a couple of years ago that, going forward, certain types of cyber-attacks would be considered equivalent to attacks with conventional weapons and would invite a proportional response, what did you think they were talking about?

So, no, the NSA man isn't just being funny or scare-mongering. Sorry.

(3) "They're all devils conspiring with other devils to hurt us!"

This is a catchall category for the various forms of "NSA = Evil" comments. Snowden ripped off how many documents? 200,000? 1,000,000? How many others did he look at? How many examples of the NSA or GCHQ abusing their authority to harm innocent people has he come across? Zero. You want to start waxing philosophical about how all of this has the potential for abuse, someday, and we need good safety measures? Be my guest. In fact I even agree, we do need good safety measures. But if you want to start heaving giant gobs of BS in the form of assertions that these organizations are filled with Machiavellian villains who are already using their powers for evil, can't you throw those gobs somewhere else? Maybe a private screen in your home? Because frankly, it's embarrassing to have that kind of stuff on the Internet. Maybe not for you, but for humanity as a whole.

// end rant - yes, some of it is unfair, but a lot of it is accurate