Not exactly helpful to Snowden or the cause. McAfee is unfortunately an embarrassment.
I am rather surprised people assume this. The only evidence we have of the decision coming from Intel is a rather tangential comment from the Bletchley Park management. I am not sure what level the decision to sponsor would be taken in Intel but I am pretty sure that whoever took the decision would not be the type who would lecture the former head of MI6 on what was appropriate to put in the display.
Intel would hardly be the origin of the concern, if they did intervene it would be because of pressure from the NSA. Now why on earth would the NSA try to influence the former head of NSA through Intel when Alexander, Clapper and the rest have known him personally for decades?
And why would the NSA care so much about an exhibit in the UK anyway? Wouldn’t it be rather more logical to go after people like me who are writing crypto schemes that are designed to negate the NSA programs? Its not like they are unaware of what we are up to.
Boing Boing has a habit of going off with less than a full analysis of the available facts. The approach seems to be that if it should be true, it must be true. The narrative of big corporation censors exhibition is well established so they assume thats the right one.
The problem with the NSA spying is that it is indiscriminate and not focused on terrorism. It is a dragnet that pulls up everything and the people at the top of the organization are military officers who have a noticeable contempt for civilian politicians. Even if Alexander and Clapper aren’t up for introducing martial law in the US should the opportunity arise, their predecessors in office engaged in a series of coups that did nothing for US security and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.
