Tom 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (137)

• On the post: Astoundingly Bad Reporting On Ed Snowden: Claims He Said The Exact Opposite Of What He Said

  

  Tom ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2014 @ 10:35am

  Re: Snowden the Assassin

  Oh god, thanks for showing me this website. They're not exactly pro-Snowden, but at least they're hilarious:
  
  http://www.duffelblog.com/2013/12/nsa-watching-masturbate-right-now/#!U2VXO

• On the post: EFF Tells Court That The NSA Knowingly And Illegally Destroyed Evidence In Key Case Over Bulk Surveillance

  

  Tom ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2014 @ 07:27am

  Re: Re: mike masnick eff etc

  I gotta jump in, in this guy's defense. Whenever referring to an abbreviation of an organization in a journalistic article, the first instance of the abbreviation should be expanded/explained in brackets, or serve as a hyperlink to the referred organization. It's just a good writing habit, and his question is perfectly legit. Folks shouldn't have to Google to figure out what an unexplained abbreviation or acronym means.

• On the post: Techdirt Is Now 100% SSL

  

  Tom ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2014 @ 10:45am

  Uh... hate to rain on the parade, but...

  http://www.wired.com/2014/06/heartbleed-redux-another-gaping-wound-in-ssl-uncovered/
  
  Yeah.

• On the post: Astoundingly Bad Reporting On Ed Snowden: Claims He Said The Exact Opposite Of What He Said

  

  Tom ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2014 @ 10:31am

  I wager this article will now rapidly re-appear verbatim in a dozen other media sources. I invite you all to track its spread.

• On the post: Astoundingly Bad Reporting On Ed Snowden: Claims He Said The Exact Opposite Of What He Said

  

  Tom ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2014 @ 10:30am

  This isn't bad reporting, it's propaganda.

  Not only that, it comes straight from the White House and/or NSA.

• On the post: Glenn Beck Claims Watch Dogs Is Teaching Children How To Hack The Public For Realz

  

  Tom ( profile ), 03 Jun, 2014 @ 06:07am

  Beck is right.

  Why, my kid picked up Watch Dogs, and he's already crashing Gibsons and hacking the planet. I'm OK with it though, as he's also started hanging out with a young, booby Angelina Jolie.

• On the post: Google Asks Users To Demand Congress Pass Real Surveillance Reform

  

  Tom ( profile ), 30 May, 2014 @ 05:36am

  Dear Google.

  You have a chance now, to prove that you are an ethical company. Google has amassed an archive of data on its users that the NSA probably raids without your knowledge.
  
  It's time to make this archive disappear, lest it be used against people by an evil government that obeys no laws.

• On the post: Actual Former Government Official Makes Totally Ridiculous Argument That Snowden's 'Harms' Are That Other Countries Are Angry

  

  Tom ( profile ), 29 May, 2014 @ 04:18pm

  Well...

  No wonder Snowden has become a hero to the world.
  
  Damaging evil nations is a heroic act.

• On the post: White House Accidentally Reveals CIA's Top Spy In Afghanistan

  

  Tom ( profile ), 27 May, 2014 @ 07:53am

  Re: Brace for it

  The right is still firmly entrenched in BENGHAZIIII!!!!111oneone mode.

• On the post: Google Fiber: You Know How Comcast Is Making Netflix Pay Extra? We Don't Do That Kind Of Crap

  

  Tom ( profile ), 22 May, 2014 @ 08:53am

  Nice PR move...

  But Google are still NSA collaborators.

• On the post: Snowden Ran A Major Tor Exit Relay, Hosted CryptoParty In Hawaii While Waiting For Greenwald To Reply

  

  Tom ( profile ), 21 May, 2014 @ 12:44pm

  Re: It doesn't matter what his motivations were

  It must chap you NSA boys something fierce that Snowden became a global hero.
  
  Hint: if someone becomes a hero to the world for defying your nation, you just might be the bad guys.

• On the post: A Media Shield Law That Wouldn't Protect Glenn Greenwald Is Not A Media Shield Law; It's A Joke

  

  Tom ( profile ), 20 May, 2014 @ 04:41pm

  I thought there was already a media shield law...

  ... otherwise known as the first amendment?

• On the post: Keith Alexander: We Need More Spying In The Future Because All Of Our Previous Spying Has Only Increased The Number Of Terrorist Attacks

  

  Tom ( profile ), 20 May, 2014 @ 12:44pm

  Hey Keith?

  It's great that your NSA purports to stop terrorists. But the moment I begin suspecting your NSA of conducting total surveillance, your value as terror-stoppers ceases to exist, and you become a source of terror yourselves. Terrorists, at best, kill thousands. Fascism kills millions.

• On the post: Keith Alexander: We Need More Spying In The Future Because All Of Our Previous Spying Has Only Increased The Number Of Terrorist Attacks

  

  Tom ( profile ), 20 May, 2014 @ 09:42am

  This is precisely what they want.

  More terrorism = more NSA funding.
  
  More NSA funding = more terrorism.
  
  NSA and Al-Qaeda, sitting in a tree...
  
  (There's a reason why, as we speak, the CIA is arming and funding Al Qaeda in Syria. They're courting another repeat of 9/11. All it will take to silence USGov's critics, and turn Americans into unquestioning patriots for a few more years, is another spectacular terror attack on US soil. Then the NSA and CIA will have free rein for another while, to expand their powers, until their momentum is once again undercut by the sheer number of atrocities they commit.)

• On the post: The Three Big Lies: How The Federal Government Kept Its Post-9/11 Spying On Americans A Secret

  

  Tom ( profile ), 14 May, 2014 @ 09:40am

  Re:

  Because none are more enslaved than those who believe themselves to be free.

• On the post: Florida Lawmakers Aim To Restore Childrens' Rights To Openly Carry Pop Tart 'Guns' On Campus

  

  Tom ( profile ), 14 May, 2014 @ 09:47am

  For god's sake, the warning...

  ... is right there on the package!
  
  "Once you pop, you can't stop!"
  
  Gentlemen, we are witnessing the beginning of a terrible new pastry arms-race. We laugh now, because pop tart pistols do not threaten us... but soon, children will be forced to equip themselves with high-capacity assault pastries, baguette-warheads and sticky-bun-bombs!

• On the post: Mexican Activists' Stop-ACTA Victory: 'We Did It First, And We Did It Better'

  

  Tom ( profile ), 14 May, 2014 @ 07:14am

  Every few years...

  ... There's some new proposal from the government to curtail our online freedoms. We defeat one, another pops up in its place.
  
  Anyone get the feeling like our government is trying to erode our will to resist? We are constantly thrown bones to fight over, while the collar gradually tightens around our necks.
  
  At what point do we decide that maybe it's time for a new government?

• On the post: You Can Thank The CIA For The Return Of Polio, Even Though The Media Conveniently Ignores This

  

  Tom ( profile ), 12 May, 2014 @ 12:14pm

  Re: CIA Achievements

  Hey now, that's not fair. The CIA was perfectly proficient at flying plane-loads of coke and heroin into the US to finance itself.
  
  Well, except for those two drug planes of theirs that crashed.

• On the post: Don't Expect To See The Declassified Senate Report On How The CIA Tortured People Any Time Soon

  

  Tom ( profile ), 09 May, 2014 @ 04:57pm

  Democracy...

  ... cannot exist without an informed electorate. Therefore, state secrecy and democracy cannot coexist.

• On the post: Head-In-Sand Approach: White House Bans Current & Former Intelligence Staff From Discussing Any Media Leaks

  

  Tom ( profile ), 09 May, 2014 @ 12:34pm

  Just keep in mind, folks...

  Now that the intelligence community has been forbidden from contacting the media, we can rest assured that *ANY* information coming from said intelligence community, that appears in the media from this point onward... is state-sanctioned propaganda.

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