Ethanol-fueled writes:
"What do you do when you need advice about how to handle that sleeping coworker, the office mate who smells bad, or the supervisor who collects gossip on all of his subordinates? What do you do when you can't write Dear Abby because you work for the NSA, and that foul-smelling office mate is a classified matter of national security?
Why, Ask Zelda, of course! Zelda's column, headlined 'Watching Every Word in Snitch City,' offers an ironic insight into a spy agency where the spies apparently resent being spied upon. Along with the actual examples, the article reads, in part:
Her column reads like an unintended allegory or a cleverly masked one. The NSA's own advice columnist explores the ways in which pervasive surveillance can erode freedom of expression and social cohesion by making it difficult for people to have faith in the privacy of their communications. There is no indication that Zelda is trying to make a larger point, but some of what she goes on to propose would be useful for ordinary citizens outside the agency who worry about government and corporate surveillance.
For those not in the know, The Intercept is Glenn Greenwald's spinoff which focuses on the Snowden leaks and their national and international fallout."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by brainsalad on Monday March 17 2014, @02:47AM
I'm not clicking links today. Someone tell me what it is that she proposes. Thanks in advance.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Monday March 17 2014, @08:40AM
Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Click the link, or remain forever in ignorance!
(Score: 0, Troll) by Rousay on Monday March 17 2014, @03:10AM
Are we going back in time? This aggregate is from 10 days ago. Recently a lot of the posting has been of old news, if the site is truly going to be competitive this has to stop happening - the amount of content is meaningless if all the content has been aggregated on so many other sites for more than a week.
Should start making rules, not to aggregate 'news' that's more than 24 hours old or something. Next post will be "Plane missing while on route from Malaysia to China". WTFx.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by iNaya on Monday March 17 2014, @03:35AM
The main reason I come to sites like Slashdot and Soylent News is not to get news, but rather to get a good discussion on recent, and not so recent events.
I find that many of the commenters at both sites are very insightful. The editors at Slashdot, not so much (the editors here seem much better, so thanks to you guys/gals).
So, I get your point about there being old news here, and it may seem regurgitated. On the other hand, I often find that to be an advantage because I get to see more viewpoints on news I have already digested, and also get to see some items that I somehow missed.
(Score: 2) by ls671 on Monday March 17 2014, @03:37AM
That was just a tap in the back for Ethanol-fueled! ;-)
P.S. Ethanol-fueled is not the type of green guy that put alcohol (ethanol) in his car. He puts it in his body instead as he explained himself before ;-)
Everything I write is lies, including this sentence.
(Score: 2) by hatta on Monday March 17 2014, @02:02PM
Are we going back in time? This aggregate is from 10 days ago.
Of course. Soylent is a Slashdot clone, after all.
(Score: -1, Troll) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday March 17 2014, @03:44AM
I AM ABSOLUTELY SERIOUS.
The only email I could find at the CIA was for their Entertainment Industry Liason. I'f you'd like to make a True To Life Spy Thriller, entertainmentliason@ucia.gov [mailto] will send you some, uh, "redacted" True Crime Stories. I expect that's why the movie The Falcon and the Snowman was so good.
I once stumbled across a message submission form at the CIA site, which is not in any way hidden but it's not real obvious how to get there. It took me like an hour to find it. I dropped into it a short story I wrote a while back, actually about the CIA. I don't have it online just now but will repost it then link it in a reply.
If you'd like to work for either agency - my ex-girlfriend, a PhD Mathematician, does, as well as a Physicist friend of mine who is now her husband.
I'm not supposed to know that but they got the bright idea to put their work addresses on Caltech's Ricketts House's alumni directory.
If you'd like to work for either agency, apply through the USAJOBS [usajobs.gov] Resume Bank and Job Board. It's rather time consuming to fill out their structured resume form - one cannot just upload PDF nor paste in text - but it really is just about the finest Job Board I've ever stumbled across.
See, a while back I applied to work for the Air Force Cyber Command, but I got no response. Perhaps because they checked out my website, which is packed solid with essays and articles about my mental illness.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 17 2014, @03:54AM
Dear Zelda, my boyfriend's cousin has this lump on her inner thigh which comes and goes, and she thinks it's ever since she broke up with this guy she's been going out with for three months. Well anyway she has a poodle that chews the doormat and when the electricity company guy came the poodle made a mark on his leg, and to cut a long story short they had tea together and now my boyfriend's cousin is going out with the electricity company guy. So my question is, when do I.. you know, pop the question, and ask the both of them over for a coffee? Yours sincerely, Anna Nemis-Cowerd
(Score: 2) by ls671 on Monday March 17 2014, @03:58AM
"Perhaps because they checked out my website, which is packed solid with essays and articles about my mental illness."
Perhaps...
Everything I write is lies, including this sentence.
(Score: 2) by tynin on Monday March 17 2014, @03:59AM
My bullshit meter was going positively haywire as I was reading this. Even after reading it twice, I cannot tell if you are ABSOLUTELY SERIOUS.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 17 2014, @08:14AM
He's a troll from Kuro5hin. Please do not feed the trolls.
(Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Monday March 17 2014, @04:17AM
People may not realize that intelligence agencies are run by people. And they may not realize all that this entails. I here invoke Hanlon's razor. The problem with intelligence agencies is the lack of intelligence.
(Score: 2) by ls671 on Monday March 17 2014, @05:32AM
"People may not realize that intelligence agencies are run by people."
Very insightful !
Indeed, it is a fact that offers a wide variety of opportunities. It's kind of like driving an F1 car; it's easy to fuck up but it is efficient if done properly.
To sum it up: SN is people and people are F1s.
Everything I write is lies, including this sentence.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 17 2014, @10:33AM
"People may not realize that intelligence agencies are run by people."
no shit? since when did this start? next you're going to tell us we've landed on the moon.
(Score: 1) by aristarchus on Tuesday March 18 2014, @06:34AM
Well, previously they were only scumbag traitors, or "assets", but now we have all gone facebooky, so they are our friends. Just friends that rat us out.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Winterbottom on Monday March 17 2014, @07:00AM
...the fair maiden of Spyrule. I'd tap it.
(Score: 4, Informative) by FatPhil on Monday March 17 2014, @09:10AM
Apparently the previous story posted by paulej72, two back, also had the name omitted, so it might be something to do with paulej72, or that could be just a bogus connection.
Of course, github's inability to let me see the SoylentNews bugtracker because none of the five browsers I have on my various machines are to their liking (OK, 4 of those don't even have javascript) is a bug too. Hopefully staff will read this comment though, and can create a ticket manually.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves