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You say this like it’s not obvious. Just because what they’re doing is OK doesn’t make it uninteresting. There are lots of posts on HN about completely sensible things.

Why does the NSA need defending this badly anyway?

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I think people are conditioned to associate "leaks" with "scandals" (especially when it comes to the three letter agencies), when in actuality this "leak" is just a revelation of completely reasonable and expected activities.

Isn't it inherently scandalous for intelligence agencies to misplace this sort of information?

Yes it is. As somebody above said, the news here is that they can’t keep anything secret.

I take the comment as an explanation...not a claim that the world as it is is the the way it ought to be.

Does it really need explaining? The sky is blue, the NSA isn't 100% evil.

It just feels really out of place under an article focusing on the technical side of things, not accusing the NSA of anything nefarious.

Despite neither the article or any of the comments here suggesting there's anything wrong with the NSA activities being discussed, several users felt the need to preemptively stand up the agency:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16536778

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16537479

I don't know exactly what to make of it, but this kind of behavior just seems strange to me.

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