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Over at The Intercept, Greenwald and Fishman did a great job of thoroughly discrediting blatant (effectively) CIA funded propaganda that somehow passed unquestioned as journalism on National Public Radio (NPR). The propaganda itself was merely the usual run of the mill bit trying to smear Snowden or anyone who talks about real cybersecurity (tor/pgp/ssh/etc) as an enabler of terrorists. About as logical as arguing that agricultural professors are helping enable terrorists by teaching everyone, including the terrorists about how to manufacturer their own sustenance for long term survival. What made this bit of propaganda extra slimey, especially for the otherwise generally well regarded NPR, was how the CIA ties were not mentioned.
... Temple-Raston knows all of this. Back in 2012, NPR’s Morning Edition broadcast her profile of Recorded Future and its claimed ability to predict the future by gathering internet data. At the end of her report, she noted that the firm has “at least two very important financial backers: the CIA’s investment arm, called In-Q-Tel, and Google Ventures. They have reportedly poured millions into the company.”
That is the company she's now featuring as some sort of independent source that can credibly vindicate the claims of U.S. officials about how Snowden reporting helps terrorists.
I felt compelled to rebroadcast this to SN because I think it is actually helpful to see the CIA propaganda machine at work, and never forget that it is there, far better funded and at least as relentlessly vigilant as its opposition. And despite a full disclosure that a few years back I myself was effectively getting paid straight from the CIA via In-Q-Tel, and felt thoroughly guilty for it, I have to say I just ADORE the fact that Dan Geer gave up trackable smart phones for the privacy enhanced security of old school pagers.
(Score: 5, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday August 19 2014, @04:39PM
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2014/08/16/340624540/attacking-npr-as-a-shill-for-government-intelligence [npr.org]
Here's what the NPR Ombudsman had to say about The Intercept's piece.
TL;DR: It was a mistake to omit the connection between Recorded Future and In-Q-Tel (CIA). Temple-Raston is pro-civil liberties.
Most critically, Temple-Raston did not say in her report that there is a proven causal link between the Snowden leaks and internet encryption improvements made by al-Qaida — as Greenwald and Fishman suggest she did. (The story summary that pops up when web viewers click on the link to hear the story does use the word "proof" — and that should be corrected).
...
I would have liked a little more skepticism on the significance of the Recorded Future findings in the lead-in read by host Renee Montagne and up until this conclusion by Ahlberg. But this is a matter of editorial judgment and arguably the additional skepticism wasn't necessary. The pooh-poohing of the study that begins in the next line after Ahlberg's statement went beyond being possibly sufficient to being quietly devastating: (exchange with Bruce Schneier)
...
Recorded Future's trolling of the internet for al-Qaida references to Snowden, the tracking of encryption software used by the terrorists, and other such mining and scraping of data were an interesting academic exercise, whether the CIA was involved or not. But is anyone surprised that there might be a link between encryption improvements and the Snowden leaks? I think we all expect it.
The Intercept counters this conclusion, basically saying that "the terrorists" have been using encryption or eschewing digital communications for some time. A lot of messages are delivered by couriers - see Bin Laden. I do expect to see improvements in encryption and a wide variety of groups taking up this encryption, including terrorists, and I just don't care. It was possible to encrypt long before 2014. I'd rather see full encryption of Web communications and a measured foreign policy than handwaving over terrorists.
Aside: NPR's reporting isn't mentioning The Intercept's Ryan Devereaux's arrest at Ferguson [firstlook.org]. But it does mention the two German reporters and the Getty Images photographer.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 19 2014, @05:41PM
> TL;DR: It was a mistake to omit the connection between Recorded Future and In-Q-Tel (CIA).
I am sure it was. But I am also concerned about the fact that the NPR reporter had an "exclusive" on the report. As the ombudsman notes, an earlier, related report by Recorded Future got no NPR coverage. Getting NPR coverage can add legitimacy to a point of view, even if that coverage is mixed. Sort of like the old hollywood adage, "I don't care what you say about me, as long as you spell my name right."
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 19 2014, @06:02PM
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