5 ms·

So, uh, does this mean that NSA has an internal LiveJournal instance?

by bdb 13y ago

ben1040 13y ago
I was wondering the same thing. It certainly looks that way, the comments/"mood"/timestamp display on the posts is a dead giveaway.
- crashandburn4 13y ago
  Did anyone else notice: current mood: juche-licious The only juche I know of is the north korean one[1], guessing this is just a random joke, just wanted to ask in case there's an alternate meaning I'm missing? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche
  - GBond 13y ago
    Must be spy-humor. Kinda like how some ex-gov't coworkers of Snowden assumed he wore an EFF t-shirt ironically.
    - crashandburn4 13y ago
      hahaha, I hadn't heard that. Sounds quite funny actually, definitely feels like an NSA worker wearing an EFF t-shirt would have to understand the irony of their situation.
drewcrawford 13y ago
This is kind of off-topic, but I don't know where else to ask. Have we seriously entertained using "OSS" licenses that would prevent NSA & co. from using them? I know Douglas Crockford has his "don't be evil" JSON license that got everybody's knickers in a twist. And I know OSI has a nice page on why field of use restrictions are bad. However... I wonder if these pre-Snowden viewpoints credibly consider an organization that uses the software community's tools to conduct targeted attacks on that community. I mean, these documents suggest a much scarier attack on software developers than, say, putting the Linux kernel in a TiVo or whatever they changed in the GPLv3. On the other hand, maybe FOU restrictions are still bad on principle. What do you all think?
- sjtgraham 13y ago
  Wouldn't it be futile since the federal government has sovereign immunity? It's not as if you could sue for unlicensed use.
  - hobs 13y ago
    http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-caught-pirating-military-software-pays-50-million-to-settle-131127/ http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-caught-pirating-military-softwar... It has happened as far as I can tell.
    - jasomill 13y ago
      In the US, sovereign immunity doesn't exempt the federal government or its employees from criminal prosecution, and there are statutes on the books that explicitly waive immunity for civil cases that arise as a result of contract disputes (among other things).
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- mildtrepidation 13y ago
  This is an amusing suggestion... do you really think the people who are bugging just about every line of communication in existence and subverting every possible method of secure communication and storage give two shits about the terms of software licenses?
- JabavuAdams 13y ago
  Right, so the Constitution didn't stop them, but a FOSS licence will?
- jlgaddis 12y ago
  Suppose you wrote MediaWiki, by yourself, and thus had the authority to change its license. Further suppose you did so, adding in restrictions like you mentioned that forbid the NSA from using it. Now, assume you found out, via a leak of some of these classified documents, that they were using it -- in violation of your license -- and you decided to sue. Having seen some of the excuses they've come up with before (and assuming that you have as well, which seems like a reasonable assumption), why wouldn't they simply argue that the software applications they use internally are classified, that disclosure of such would be detrimental to national security, and, because of that, your case should be thrown out (like they have argued so many other times)?

So, uh, does this mean that NSA has an internal LiveJournal instance?

by bdb 13y ago

So, uh, does this mean that NSA has an internal LiveJournal instance?

I was wondering the same thing. It certainly looks that way, the comments/"mood"/timestamp display on the posts is a dead giveaway.

crashandburn4 13y ago
Did anyone else notice: current mood: juche-licious The only juche I know of is the north korean one[1], guessing this is just a random joke, just wanted to ask in case there's an alternate meaning I'm missing? [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche
- GBond 13y ago
  Must be spy-humor. Kinda like how some ex-gov't coworkers of Snowden assumed he wore an EFF t-shirt ironically.
  - crashandburn4 13y ago
    hahaha, I hadn't heard that. Sounds quite funny actually, definitely feels like an NSA worker wearing an EFF t-shirt would have to understand the irony of their situation.

drewcrawford 13y ago

This is kind of off-topic, but I don't know where else to ask. Have we seriously entertained using "OSS" licenses that would prevent NSA & co. from using them? I know Douglas Crockford has his "don't be evil" JSON license that got everybody's knickers in a twist. And I know OSI has a nice page on why field of use restrictions are bad. However... I wonder if these pre-Snowden viewpoints credibly consider an organization that uses the software community's tools to conduct targeted attacks on that community. I mean, these documents suggest a much scarier attack on software developers than, say, putting the Linux kernel in a TiVo or whatever they changed in the GPLv3. On the other hand, maybe FOU restrictions are still bad on principle. What do you all think?

sjtgraham 13y ago
Wouldn't it be futile since the federal government has sovereign immunity? It's not as if you could sue for unlicensed use.
- hobs 13y ago
  http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-caught-pirating-military-software-pays-50-million-to-settle-131127/ http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-caught-pirating-military-softwar... It has happened as far as I can tell.
  - jasomill 13y ago
    In the US, sovereign immunity doesn't exempt the federal government or its employees from criminal prosecution, and there are statutes on the books that explicitly waive immunity for civil cases that arise as a result of contract disputes (among other things).
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
mildtrepidation 13y ago
This is an amusing suggestion... do you really think the people who are bugging just about every line of communication in existence and subverting every possible method of secure communication and storage give two shits about the terms of software licenses?
JabavuAdams 13y ago
Right, so the Constitution didn't stop them, but a FOSS licence will?
jlgaddis 12y ago
Suppose you wrote MediaWiki, by yourself, and thus had the authority to change its license. Further suppose you did so, adding in restrictions like you mentioned that forbid the NSA from using it. Now, assume you found out, via a leak of some of these classified documents, that they were using it -- in violation of your license -- and you decided to sue. Having seen some of the excuses they've come up with before (and assuming that you have as well, which seems like a reasonable assumption), why wouldn't they simply argue that the software applications they use internally are classified, that disclosure of such would be detrimental to national security, and, because of that, your case should be thrown out (like they have argued so many other times)?