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Home Front: Culture Wars
NSA Whistle Blower Edward Snowden - The Children of the Internet Coming of Age
2013-06-15
Most of the people he used to interact with are long gone -- like Snowden, they grew up, and receded back into the real world. But he took with him the set of values he either learned or became comfortable expressing online: A keen interest in rights and speech, particularly where they concern the internet and privacy, suspicion of government and authority, a belief in both free markets and free-flowing information, and a set of cultural and aesthetic values that both set him apart from the mainstream and endear him to his people -- the internet people. [BuzzFeed]

A whole group of people out there are just like Snowden, says BuzzFeed's Herman, and that should make the NSA, and any organization with secrets, a little nervous. Because when you move from how to why, the answer is a little unsettling, Herman says: "This isn't about 'hacktivism' or some kind of unified cause. This is about the children of the internet coming of age."
Posted by:Winky Sproing5899

#12  Mr. B that is a keeper.
Posted by: Dale   2013-06-15 23:13  

#11  *giggle* That's some story, Besoeker.
Posted by: trailing wife   2013-06-15 21:51  

#10  Gov't hiring brings this little story to mind. I do hope no one is offended ;-)

A guy goes to the Post Office to apply for a job. The interviewer asks him, "Are you allergic to anything?" He replies, "Yes, caffeine. I can't drink coffee."

"OK, have you ever been in the military service?"
"Yes," he says, "I was in Iraq for one tour."
The interviewer says, "That will give you 5 extra points toward employment."

Then he asks, "Are you disabled in any way?"
The guy says, "Yes. A bomb exploded near me and I lost both my testicles."

The interviewer grimaces and then says, "Okay. You've got enough points for me to hire you right now. Our normal hours are from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm.

You can start tomorrow at 10:00 am, and plan on starting at 10:00 am every day."

The guy is puzzled and asks, "If the work hours are from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, why don't you want me here until 10:00 am?"

"This is a government job", the interviewer says. "For the first two hours, we just stand around drinking coffee and scratching our balls.
No point in you coming in for that .....


Posted by: Besoeker   2013-06-15 21:47  

#9  someone who stuffs secret documents down his pants

That would be the Sandy Berger approach.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2013-06-15 21:22  

#8  "Children of the Internet coming of age" my ASS!

The 'internet' has nothing to do with what he did - he appears to be a traitor and (as lex mentioned) a "narcissistic little buffoon" with an inflated idea of his own skills who goes around calling himself a 'hacker' - much like a script kiddie would.

There isn't anything 'special' about what he did and he's really no different than someone who stuffs secret documents down his pants or takes photographs and he should be treated no differently. The 'NSA' stuff is simply a smokescreen to cover his treason IMHO.

It is especially difficult to hire a non-leaking 'hacker' when your first hiring criteria is "Is he part of the right ethnic group?" and little things like loyalty and character are down around number 47 on the list.

Posted by: CrazyFool   2013-06-15 21:13  

#7  Lex:

Not certain of the Sino-Snowden connection, but I'd certainly like to borrow your term "child-men". Excellent !
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-06-15 20:07  

#6  Snowden is a narcissistic little buffoon, like most of the self-described libertarian programmer-types who think the world is an extension of a multiplayer online video game and that all information, everywhere, should belong to everyone and no one.

These are child-men. Their understanding of the social contract is a ridiculous cartoon borrowed from Ayn Rand's crackpot novels and the paranoid literary genres.

Outside of his deyond his delusions of grandeur, Snowden has no connection or loyalties - not to his employers, whom he's cheated and screwed, or to a wife or family (he has none), or to a community of any kind - least of all to his nation.

He is now a pathetic pawn of Chinese intel, hostage to a chess match that far exceeds the cunning and subtlety of him or his foolish admirers.

Clue: the information gathered by the likes of Axciom is orders of magnitude more intrusive and damaging than the metadata stuff scooped up by the NSA....
Posted by: lex   2013-06-15 19:43  

#5  A nice "Nothing to see here, move along." story....
Posted by: Uncle Phester   2013-06-15 16:08  

#4  Thumb drives don't kill people. People kill people.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-06-15 09:13  

#3  http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2013/06/12/an-open-of-course-letter-to-my-friend-the-nsa/ideas/nexus/

There
Posted by: Dale   2013-06-15 08:33  

#2  "Really tough not to hire a non leaking hacker"
Posted by: Dale   2013-06-15 08:32  

#1  We have our hippies running things now. So now educated youth in politically correct thought.
Somehow I don't think these youth will be as bad as drug brain fried hippies. Gene pool errors accumulate. I do see more of a zombie like behavior or group thought.
Posted by: Dale   2013-06-15 06:12  

00:00