[sneak]

You’re right. The US IC has shown time and time again that they have no moral compass, no regard for the US Constitution, and no regard for human rights or the rule of law.

That said, neither do a lot of hackers. There is a long history of collaboration between hackers and the military-industrial complex. Silicon Valley is Silicon Valley because of the DoD. And the director of the NSA once gave the keynote at DEF-CON.

Even the best hacker movie, from which I take my nick, ends with the hackers assisting the NSA as if they are the good guys. :(

Intelligent people like Snowden don’t become as deep into the NSA as they are without a whole lot of “good guys” propaganda for many years first.

[jonnybgood]

I’m sure you’re aware of this but Snowden wasn’t in the NSA. He worked for a contractor to manage their IT.

[StrauXX]

He was both! Initially working for a contractor, then for them directly. He may have again gone back to a contractor afterwards.

[tptacek]

My understanding is that he worked for some time at CIA, but never directly for NSA.

[throwaway48476]

It doesn't matter which 3 letter agency is violating the constitution. They all need to stop.

[tptacek]

Yes. Only the 4 letter agencies are allowed to do that.

[saagarjha]

We need to rein in the USGS

[whatisthis9]

God damn NASA.

[sneak]

That’s a distinction without a difference. He was directly CIA for a bit, and went through the revolving door to a contractor who was placed at the NSA. It really doesn’t matter which corporate entity’s name is on the pay stub; it’s all the same public-private scam. Whether or not Booz gets a percentage of the tax money firehose for running the payroll or not is of no import.

All of this is covered in his book, which is a decent read. I recommend it because it’s information dense and quick.

Furthermore, I said he was deep into the NSA (which he was), not that he was employed by them.