Details on NSA/FBI Eavesdropping | Hacker News Reader

Details on NSA/FBI Eavesdropping

schneier.com

61 pointsqubitsam8 comments

I'm not sure what conclusions to draw from this information. On the one hand, I would applaud any ISP that tried to make a stand against the NSA or any other organization that tries to collect data unconstitutionally, but then the NSA can show up with a legal order and their own equipment and shoehorn them in wherever and however they please. On the other hand, if they do cooperate then if that information got out it could be very damaging to their reputation.

Sort of a Catch-22 for the ISPs.

If enough companies had the courage to just shut down their networks when the NSA threatened them, we wouldn't have this problem. But the dollar outranks morals, I understand.

If the ISP shut down their network, they could be charged with obstructing justice.

Go to jail. Guess who's got a lot of goodwill from people like me when you get out? You'll be right back in business in no time.

Take the long view, folks, and stop rolling over for bullies. MLK and Gandhi both went to jail rather than sacrifice their morals. If Kim Dotcom can relaunch his business a year after having the world's superpower violently take it down, then someone with morals probably has a free ticket to success after taking one for the team like that. I know they'd gain my everlasting respect.

Then do not shut it down, let the FBI agents in with their equipment, and let the FBI shut down the ISP for you. From the article:

"Those devices, the companies fear, could disrupt operations..."

Any one can be charged with nearly anything, by a prosecutor though if unreasonable normally the prosecutor is considered over zealous.

Is there any US precedence to this? Mandating an innocent to work for an indefinite period of time against their will at least anything after we got ride of slavery and indentured servitude for the most part?

I might be paranoid, but I've always wondered if these kinds of issues are why the US seems to be decades behind other first world countries in telecommunications and broadband access and why these services are so obscenely expensive.

I'm not entirely sure this behavior is US-specific.

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