Al-Qaida said to be changing its ways after leaks | Hacker News Reader

Al-Qaida said to be changing its ways after leaks

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21 pointsics34 comments

Gotta love this bit:

The officials wouldn't go into details on how they know this

C'mon guys, put a little more effort into your disinformation campaign! I mean, even Bloomberg carried this the other day:

U.S. Surveillance Is Not Aimed at Terrorists http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-23/u-s-surveillance-is...

C'mon! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5BMQ-xpTog

I actually laughed after reading that line. Sometimes you really have to wonder how ridiculous this whole debacle is getting.

When you go to the DMV, you mentally prepare yourself for an experience where you will, at some point, feel like you're in a Monty Python skit.

NSA has been taking lessons, it seems.

+1 Miles, well said.

All things considered, including economic, terrorist, military industrial complex mega over reach, etc, I feel like our government's actions are making us much less safe. Just my personal opinion.

Unfortunate but consistent with the the theme of the article: if terrorists are adjusting due to leaks, the last thing an intelligence operative would do is leak details which would cause further adjustments.

Well I guess all we need to do is just trust whatever the government tells us! It's not as if we've ever been misled before.

What part do you find hard to believe? That a spy agency might have access to information that you do not? Or that spy targets would not make use of leaked information about how the spy agency operates? Or that a spy agency might not want to tell you how it acquired some information?

There is quite a big difference between what a spy agency might have access to and what it releases in an AP article. The latter is motivated by self preservation. Truth, when it happens, is a coincidence.

Here's what I believe: that quoted "government officials" are self-serving liars.

Let me guess, they no longer sign emails with "Death to America"

And this "The officials spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak about the intelligence matters publicly."

Shouldn't that be "traitorous leakers"?

Definitely. By letting al-Qaida know that we know that they know that we're spying on them - irregardless of the PR benefits for the NSA - these rogue leakers have caused irreparable harm to our nation and will certainly be pursued with as much vigor as Mr. Snowden /hamburger

Not unexpected from the US government, claim Al-Qaeda is benefiting from the leaks without offering any sort of proof beyond conjecture...

I'm sure that, prior to the leak, terrorists were having Skype conferences from their living rooms, while posting their activities on Facebook and exchanging bomb recipes on Gmail....

And then of course, the Boston bombing suspects were identified to the US government by Russian agents, and they couldn't prevent that attack. Either the NSA, CIA and FBI are staffed by imbeciles, or someone's lying to the people...

   It is the first time intelligence officials have described which groups are 
   reacting to the leaks. The officials spoke anonymously because they were not 
   authorized to speak about the intelligence matters publicly

Ooh. Gonna be holding my breath waiting for the Obama administration to diligently find these leakers. Unless -- and I'm sure this is coincidence -- prosecutions are correlated with in what light leaks frame the administration? Nah, couldn't be.

So now that The Terrorists are changing it up, might as well dismantle the surveillance state, huh? What good does capturing all this data do if they're not going to get anything useful?

The cognitive dissonance required to justify these programs is just staggering.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the source of this article originally said "People on the internet start using encryption and other privacy-protecting techniques to keep their communications secret from the NSA" and the media spun it to be "[Al Quaida/Terrorists] on the internet start using encryption and other privacy-protecting techniques to keep their communications secret from the NSA" because that gets more eyeballs.

Love the propaganda.

My high school pot dealer refused to do any deals over the phone. I highly doubt terrorist plots were being hatched over Skype.

And anyone who is now suddenly communicating differently is flagged as a posible terrorist, or at least someone who has something that needs investigating. Watching the progress of communication patterns changing must be fascinating. If the alternate forms of communication are also compromised that'll be even better.

Action and reaction.

    [...]the NSA will catch up eventually, he predicted, because there are only
    so many ways a terrorist can communicate. "I have every confidence in 
    their ability to regain access."

So now NSA is the injured party?

Al-Qaida don't need to communicate: read the Qu'ran; if you believe it says take up arms then you're in; no need to e-mail anybody.

Allah don't have cell phone; use prayer rug.

Especially if it's this man's rug:

http://www.leonardcarr.com/the-story-of-the-locksmith-a-trad...

Abhorrent conduct can also have benefits: News at 11.

When the CIA stopped(?) waterboarding suspects, I bet they got fewer terrorism leads, too.

There are some lines we never should have crossed.

Even Al-Qaida is trying to discredit his move ?

Al-Qaida is not a person. Either you accidentally used the wrong pronoun, or perhaps you're confused as to what Al-Qaida refers to.

He may have been making some kind of joke based on the way they treat Al-Qaida like it is some kind of centralized entity and how everyone involved acts the same way.

Actually, judging from his comment history, I'm just thinking English may not be his first language.

Indeed.

I just wish our local terrorists, the US Government, would do the same.

Why no body post on al-qada facebook page no more?

AP - The Official NSA Public Relations Organization

Yeah, Al Qaeda didn't know that NSA listens and reads to their communications. That's why Bin Laden used couriers to personally deliver thumbdrives and had no telephone or internet.

It's amazing that the AP would so eagerly accept these anonymous government officials' stories after they were specifically targeted by the FBI, what was it, a month ago?

Why grant these people anonymity, when all they're doing is spouting out government-serving platitudes with zero evidence or justification for keeping their identities secret?

True, but it would likely be impractical to use couriers to communicate between Al Qaeda H.Q. to any Al Qaeda cells in the U.S., or even in an adjacent country.

But Snowden offered them nothing new, so they must trying to avoid detection as much as they can.

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