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talkpoliticsSo a lot of people in the US are currently pulling their hair out about the new revelation that the NSA has been spying on people. Somehow they seem to have forgot they already have known that since the 90's, but that's material for another post.
In a recent post in another community, there was a quote that seemed off. So I went and looked for it, and besides being mis-attributed, its not real at all. However, there's plenty of people who are quick to grab any evidence they find that supports their views without much research.
Take this for instance:
http://politichicks.tv/column/nsa-if-you-have-nothing-to-hide-you-have-nothing-to-fear/
Mrs Goodman uses ample scary sounding links that are referenced. The problem is the reference is to a parody site: http://nsa.gov1.info/
You wouldn't know that unless you go to the very bottom where in small letters it reads: "This is a parody of nsa.gov and has not been approved, endorsed, or authorized by the National Security Agency or by any other U.S. Government agency."
Now, there is a Utah data center being built, but most of the information people claim as facts are not. Most seems to have come from a book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Sentry-History-National-Security/dp/1596915153 "The Secret Sentry" by Matthew Aid who is an Intelligence Historian. The only information known for sure is it will hold a whole lot of data.
Mrs. Goodman can feel a litle better in that she's not alone. I saw lots of people linking to that website stating it as evidence that Big Brother is being callous.
Here's a random other link: http://usc.247sports.com/Board/59419/NSA-IF-YOU-HAVE-NOTHING-TO-HIDE-YOU-HAVE-NOTHING-TO-FEAR-19245859/1 that goes on for pages of people just accepting that it was a real source and a real statement.
Forbes contributor who was previously fooled: http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardstiennon/2013/06/07/nsa-surveillance-threatens-us-competitiveness/
He's now changed his links to wikipedia. Unfortunately most of the wiki sources are unsourced opinion pieces. The most factual link that "it is to monitor emails" links to an article of the NSA denying it is to monitor emails. I guess that's all the proof some people need.
Please people, study your references.
In a recent post in another community, there was a quote that seemed off. So I went and looked for it, and besides being mis-attributed, its not real at all. However, there's plenty of people who are quick to grab any evidence they find that supports their views without much research.
Take this for instance:
http://politichicks.tv/column/nsa-if-you-have-nothing-to-hide-you-have-nothing-to-fear/
Mrs Goodman uses ample scary sounding links that are referenced. The problem is the reference is to a parody site: http://nsa.gov1.info/
You wouldn't know that unless you go to the very bottom where in small letters it reads: "This is a parody of nsa.gov and has not been approved, endorsed, or authorized by the National Security Agency or by any other U.S. Government agency."
Now, there is a Utah data center being built, but most of the information people claim as facts are not. Most seems to have come from a book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Sentry-History-National-Security/dp/1596915153 "The Secret Sentry" by Matthew Aid who is an Intelligence Historian. The only information known for sure is it will hold a whole lot of data.
Mrs. Goodman can feel a litle better in that she's not alone. I saw lots of people linking to that website stating it as evidence that Big Brother is being callous.
Here's a random other link: http://usc.247sports.com/Board/59419/NSA-IF-YOU-HAVE-NOTHING-TO-HIDE-YOU-HAVE-NOTHING-TO-FEAR-19245859/1 that goes on for pages of people just accepting that it was a real source and a real statement.
Forbes contributor who was previously fooled: http://www.forbes.com/sites/richardstiennon/2013/06/07/nsa-surveillance-threatens-us-competitiveness/
He's now changed his links to wikipedia. Unfortunately most of the wiki sources are unsourced opinion pieces. The most factual link that "it is to monitor emails" links to an article of the NSA denying it is to monitor emails. I guess that's all the proof some people need.
Please people, study your references.
(no subject)
Date: 24/6/13 14:46 (UTC)