[ingler]

I don't know what's more disturbing: the fact that US government does this with impunity or the fact that a sizable group of technically competent citizens defends it.

[pgwhalen]

I think the "sizable group of technically competent citizens" realizes that espionage between nation-states is as old as nation-states themselves, and that because of the nature of humanity, it's not going away anytime soon.

[ingler]

It's also where the money is. Getting paid to do the wrong thing is also an old trait of humankind.

Remember Google's original motto? Whatever happened to that?

[sheensleeves]

Harder to count HN support for a political side, than to count people at a rally. (Sock puppets.)

[azinman2]

I'm for it when it doesn't target only US tech like we see here... that harms trade. I'm an American and thus I benefit... plus I think the skills are awesome (to me the tapping optical fiber without cutting it off is more impressive, however).

The attack is just like any other malware attack at that point, which everyone will always need to defend better against. If anything this creates a better challenge for SV & tech in general to react to. Apple already has responded and is making it harder to intercept which is good for everyone in the long-run.

The US might just be the first ones discovered with it, but to think that no one else will also figure it out (nation-state or not) is very unlikely. Internet + digitized everything makes our current paradigm vulnerable unless everything starts getting more secure.

[LLWM]

It disturbs you that other people have different political views than you do?

[ingler]

No, I like a good debate. What disturbs me is the misuse of government power and those people who should know better that defend it.

[LLWM]

It's almost as if people don't see it as misuse! How disturbing!