[streetnigga]

If you want to look for examples of companies in the US and elsewhere engaging in activities mentioned in this article against political dissidents, look no further than the HB Gary email leak of years back. I referenced such works here[0] after Obama's announcement of NSA 'reforms' that hinted at offloading more sensitive data to private companies.

I would like to bring the attention of people who read this article back to the tactics such as the real-time spying on Wikileaks viewers. Tactics discussed by the likes of HB Gary's Aaron Barr like going after activists by their families and careers, or the US Chamber of Commerce's interest in such work.

There is a profound amount of moral hazards here that companies are wading deep into for cash and possible immunity such as what AT&T was granted.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7078402

[FreakLegion]

Do note that those emails were all talk. Other than the failed attempt to expose the "leadership" of Anonymous, none of Barr's big plans were even tried, let alone successfully carried out. His own employees (all two of them) mocked him and refused to participate. Aaron Barr was one guy, dealing with a failed marriage and a failing company, and he just lost the plot there for a bit.

[tptacek]

Since this appears to be the basis of the notion that Palantir is a branch of the NSA: the one Palantir person known to have been involved was a 27 year old sales engineer who was subsequently terminated from the company and rehired after the legal investigation Palantir launched on itself for coming within a mile of Aaron Barr cleared him. (This is based on reporting of what happened, not any kind of firsthand knowledge about Palantir, of which I have none).

[jbooth]

Ok, so we had one small email leak, and 2 gung-ho morons trying to do this really bad idea in order to make a name for themselves.

If we leaked more emails from inside the NSA, how many more gung-ho morons would there be pushing the envelope to make a name for themselves?

You've gotta get ahead somehow. Make some waves, you know?

[streetnigga]

Palantir is not a branch of the NSA, they are backed by the CIA[0].

[0] http://finance.yahoo.com/news/cia-backed-palantir-technologi...

[tptacek]

So was Decru. I suppose storage encryption is also a CIA plot. So was FireEye. I suppose killing zero-day is also a CIA plot. So was Inktomi. I suppose caching web traffic, &c &c.

I could go on, if you like. In-Q-Tel has backed a lot of stuff.

[oceanstone]

In-Q-Tel is an interesting company. They've invested in Google (OSINT), and Keyhole (GEOINT/IMINT). Google went on to acquire Keyhole, to create Google Earth [1].

[1] http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia...

[mpyne]

I hear this DARPA thing has been pretty active in sponsoring some stuff as well that's hit the commercial sector.

[aspensmonster]

Nice to tptacek is still alive and kicking. I kinda missed him.

[tptacek]

23 skidoo!

[streetnigga]

Why did you make like light of Michael Hasting's death then denigrate Barrett Brown[0] after irrelevantly bringing up Monsanto and Nickelback[1] in that thread 36 days ago instead of discussing the topic (or not engaging) like a reasonable person?

You could of had the advantage of people not knowing more about this type of work enlisted by governments/carried out by for-profit concerns, instead you choose to be highly corrosive in an attempt to elicit some reaction.

But by golly here you are again doing the same. So while your attention is clearly engaged upon me, could you answer the question above?

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7084938

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7082094

[tptacek]

Because Michael Hastings was killed for his unpublished work on chemtrails, not the reporting he'd done on CIA, and Barrett Brown is no hero: he's out to immanentize the eschaton! Hail Eris!

If you're going to write a conspiracy theory for us, "streetnigga", at least do it with some style. Throw an "Ewige Blumenkraft" or two in there.

[EthanHeilman]

I am torn between wanting to up vote this comment in honor of Wilson and other associated Popes and wanting to down vote it because it contributes nothing and distracts from the various crimes highlighted in the article.

Have Karl Koch and a downvote: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Koch_(hacker)

[rdl]

How many drinks have you had this evening?

[tptacek]

Zero, but thanks for putting the idea in my head. :)

I have a very hard time taking people who believe in the Michael Hastings conspiracy seriously, and that's just one of the goofy conspiracy theories the parent commenter has promoted on HN.

[rdl]

Happy to help. This is Free Liquor Week (aka RSA), but you're probably wise enough to avoid it.

I agree the most likely situation with Hastings was he had personal issues, but maybe got spooked by someone calling him or otherwise being threatening, and crashed his car. After writing some pretty good articles. And Barrett Brown has some serious issues as well, although (like aaronsw and weev, and manning's pre-trial detention conditions) the way the legal system is being used is itself unconscionable.

I still think "punch up" applies.

[mindslight]

So, you've spent enough effort studying the details of the Michael Hastings case that you can actually conclude the conspiracy angle is so outlandish that it can even be used as a reliable indicator of a broken general reasoning process? That is a mighty strong claim, and I'm surprised that the quality of evidence is high enough to support it and that you were so interested in it.

I haven't, and don't really have feelings on the case either way - it seems inactionable and thus uninteresting. But it seems to me that the reasonable uninvolved opinion should be to treat views on Michael Hastings's death as unindicative of much else at all.

[streetnigga]

You are the one that brought up his death as if it was a conspiracy[0] in response to my linking[1] of one Hasting's reports on spying[2]. No one asked you to believe in a conspiracy. You deflected from the original topic of spying with it, and continue to do so by stating I was the one that promoted it.

Retract your outright fallacy.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7084938

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7083406

[2] http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/why-democrats-love-to-spy-...

[a3n]

Hey, cool! That's exactly the kind of behavior that GCHQ is bragging about to their partners.

That's even better than Tang from the space program!