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Isn't it obvious that the official task of a totalitarian agency can be different from the actual job it's doing??

embolism 13y ago
Isn't it obvious that anyone can accuse anyone of anything? Usually it's more meaningful when they have evidence. [edit: since this is receiving downvotes - clearly we have evidence that the NSA is dangerously overreaching and should stop. We have absolutely zero evidence that it is their mission to keep an elite in power 'at any cost']
- straight_talk 13y ago
  “All it takes for evil to succeed is for a few good men to do nothing...”
  - embolism 13y ago
    Why don't you actually present a single piece of evidence, rather than just irrelevant innuendo?
arkem 13y ago
I am comparing the official missions of the Stasi and NSA which are significantly different. If your argument is that the NSA is not acting in accordance to its mission, or that abuses are taking place, or that the NSA is acting like the Stasi that's something else entirely, completely separate to what I'm discussing. I'm pointing out that these are different agencies with different roles and responsibilities, and trying to draw parallels between an NSA data center and a Stasi archive is not really useful.
- straight_talk 13y ago
  >> that's something else entirely, completely separate to what I'm discussing. Aha I see. The NSA and Stasi are collecting vast amounts of data on everybody living in their countries. Data that was and will be abused to ruin innocent lives. But you prefer to discuss in this topic something "entirely, completely separate".
  - arkem 13y ago
    This is a discussion on an article that compares an NSA data center to the Stasi archives. I chose to discuss how I find that comparison fallacious. I am arguing that the NSA is not like the Stasi. They had different goals, different authorization, and different modus operandi. You're arguing that the NSA is bad (because they are like the Stasi). Whether the NSA is bad or not is orthogonal to my discussion. To directly answer your reply: 1. The Stasi doesn't collect vast amounts of anything any more. 2. Has the NSA used data to ruin innocent lives? Have you any evidence that they will do so in the future?

Isn't it obvious that anyone can accuse anyone of anything? Usually it's more meaningful when they have evidence. [edit: since this is receiving downvotes - clearly we have evidence that the NSA is dangerously overreaching and should stop. We have absolutely zero evidence that it is their mission to keep an elite in power 'at any cost']

straight_talk 13y ago
“All it takes for evil to succeed is for a few good men to do nothing...”
- embolism 13y ago
  Why don't you actually present a single piece of evidence, rather than just irrelevant innuendo?

arkem 13y ago

I am comparing the official missions of the Stasi and NSA which are significantly different. If your argument is that the NSA is not acting in accordance to its mission, or that abuses are taking place, or that the NSA is acting like the Stasi that's something else entirely, completely separate to what I'm discussing. I'm pointing out that these are different agencies with different roles and responsibilities, and trying to draw parallels between an NSA data center and a Stasi archive is not really useful.

straight_talk 13y ago
>> that's something else entirely, completely separate to what I'm discussing. Aha I see. The NSA and Stasi are collecting vast amounts of data on everybody living in their countries. Data that was and will be abused to ruin innocent lives. But you prefer to discuss in this topic something "entirely, completely separate".
- arkem 13y ago
  This is a discussion on an article that compares an NSA data center to the Stasi archives. I chose to discuss how I find that comparison fallacious. I am arguing that the NSA is not like the Stasi. They had different goals, different authorization, and different modus operandi. You're arguing that the NSA is bad (because they are like the Stasi). Whether the NSA is bad or not is orthogonal to my discussion. To directly answer your reply: 1. The Stasi doesn't collect vast amounts of anything any more. 2. Has the NSA used data to ruin innocent lives? Have you any evidence that they will do so in the future?