[polemic]

Dripping with irony:

    Persons wanted on felony charges, such as Mr. Snowden, 
    should not be allowed to proceed in any further international 
    travel, other than is necessary to return him to the 
    United States. Because of the Privacy Act, we cannot 
    comment on Mr Snowden's passport specifically.

Maybe, after HKSAR's closing jibe[1], they think it's a game?

1. http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/201306/23/P201306230476.h...

[bjornsing]

Speaking of irony, have you seen the ABC News interview[1] with General Keith Alexander, Director of the NSA? He is specifically (and brilliantly) asked if he is confident that the NSA has not broken Hong Kong law (in it's cyber espionage activities). His answer is a mumble about the NSA not violating US law.

Under those circumstances I'd be somewhat careful with the word 'disappointed'... :)

[1] http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/06/nsa-chief-keith...

[danbruc]

»Are you sure you did not break US law when you hacked computer systems in the USA?«

»I am sure we did not break Chinese law.«

[coldtea]

-- still, the answer is for "when they hacked computer systems in the USA".

As for if they broke Chinese law "when they hacked computer systems IN CHINA", that's another question.

[nano111]

if you use a computer (phone) MADE IN CHINA, you can't expect any privacy

[coldtea]

Err, wait what?

I thought we're technical people here.

[nano111]

they are all made in china, don't you get it?

[ChuckMcM]

That press release is priceless. FWIW that is how you play the game of getting what you want while not getting in trouble. The whole "Well we are still waiting for the correct forms to be filed in the correct way oh and meanwhile he decided to leave."

[runn1ng]

I can appreciate US government caring about privacy.

[seferphier]

heh, the irony.

[clicks]

If you want some more irony: Keith Alexander, chief of NSA, was at the last Defcon [1] giving talks wearing jeans and..

yes, a t-shirt with EFF slogan: https://twitter.com/EFF/status/346011010819305472

[1]: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57481689-83/nsa-director-fi...

[seferphier]

You have to wear clothes to "fit in" with the crowd. It is like camouflaging to your environment: "Sometimes you guys get a bad rap," Alexander said. "From my perspective, what you're doing to figure out vulnerabilities in systems" is great."

It is great because we need to recruit hackers like you to join NSA and find vulnerabilities to gather "intelligence" on everyone!

>The country also needs better sharing between private companies and the government, something that proposed cybersecurity legislation can help fix

Translation: We need to "fix the sharing of data" by forcing private companies, namely, Google, Apple, Facebook, Verizon and Microsoft to hand over all their data on users through legal means.

[alan_cx]

Ahhhh, a subliminal message, to seed the idea the the EFF is puppet of the NSA too.

Spooky...

[fixxer]

When I read these statements (this one, the NSA press statement earlier, etc.), I honestly wonder if anyone on the side of government actually does get the irony.

[seferphier]

I'm sure some of them understand the irony but they have to (blindly) obey to authority.

see related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

[fixxer]

We hope. The alternative is a bunch of Dr. Strangeloves are running things.