Not that it proves that it is real, but it’s probably not as odd as it seems. At least here in the UK you do get GCHQ-org ads everywhere from the local newspaper to the tube. I don’t think the contents of this ad are actually remarkable enough for it to be fake - it could have been a LOT funnier if that was what someone was going for (I don’t actually think it’s remarkable apart from the ‘top rated employer’ bit, which I don’t gather is why it was posted).
Same as the vast majority of business awards. Even rating bodies normally charge a ‘membership fee’. The barrier to entry for most certification isn’t compliance.
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Cyndi™ and Cy™ from the CyberTwins™? They’re so hip™.
Um, why can’t we get angry at them too for their lack of restraint? Or, indeed, morals, for working for those fucks in the first place?
Let’s be honest here: cryptography is a tool almost as old as history. The discipline is not the problem – in fact, people like Snowden and Schneier keep repeating a simple truth: the discipline itself is the only thing you can trust, the only factor that can save us and take us out of this horrible total-surveillance nightmare. In this sense, people should get acquainted with it as early as possible. The NSA reaching out to kids or minorities is not a bad thing per se.
As @d_r said, the problem here is not with crypto itself; the problem is about specific political and military ideologies driving institutions trusted with handling crypto and communications in general. The problem is Keith Alexander lying to the people. The problem is James Clapper lying to the people. The problem is Dianne Feinstein lying to the people. The problem is a system that let them get away with lying to the people for decades, because doing so helped powerful interests – from Hollywood to Lockheed and Rapiscan.
Oligarchies want total control; it’s the responsibility of working democratic systems to keep them from achieving it. These systems have failed spectacularly in the last 20 years and we need to address that, one piece at a time. The first step would be to legally forbid NSA and equivalent European organisations from touching internet traffic.
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I could think of better ads:
“Wondering what your ex is getting up to? Our employees are allowed 10% of their time to work on their own projects.”
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Sigh. OK, /rant on
I think your point is sometimes summed up as - “People always get the government they deserve.”. Unfortunately secrecy, media control, and powerful paramilitary have made that statement much less true than it once was, at least in the US.
Not merely yearly, not merely monthly or weekly, but DAILY we see common citizens - everyday joes and janes - have their house raided by paramilitary police in search of drugs. A 16 member SWAT team is deployed to a 70 year old mans house, he is shot many times, and the result of the inquiry? No problem, 1 gram of marijuana was found in the house. In New York, you (yes, YOU dear reader) can be stopped and frisked for absolutely no reason. Thats right, an officer can stop you and demand to run his hands all over your body. Object strongly to this at the time? You risk death. Sounds like hyperbole, but it is an actual hyperbole-free fact. Los angeles - a slow moving truck is riddled with bullets due to a threat made by a former member of the LAPD. The result? Zero. Zip, nada, zilch. Already gone and forgotten. The list goes on and on and on - if you have the capability to read my words here, you are likely familiar with similar incidents.
And the outcome of this, which should in “the home of the free” be immediate rebellion and insurrection? Nothing. Occupy this, whine about that. Citizens don’t need guns. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
So I guess we are getting the government we deserve? Except that term was coined by Alexis de Tocqueville 100 years before paramilitary in body armor with assault rifles became the face and fist of the government.
As for political leaders… who? Who is going to “fix” it? How? At some point I have to believe that the system is so far gone that putting new faces into the system does no real good, regardless of how nice the words that come out of those faces are.
So in my mind this isn’t the same old “get what they deserve” debate. The US deserves better. The question is, can it be fixed by the people when the people can be victimized to the point of death with overwhelming force without repercussion?
/rantoff
TL;DR If you aren’t cop, you’re little people.
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I find it remarkable when folks blame the citizenry for the actions of a government, when even the leader of the government maintains little control over actual policy.
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Meanwhile, the radio in Texas is lit up with govsecwest ads. http://govsecinfo.com/events/govsec-west-2013/home.aspx
Didn’t you know? If a state maintains even the basic outlines of a representative democracy and/or democratic republic, the citizens fuse into a collective hive-mind of collective guilt. (It’s like Hobbes said; but with more psychic assimilation powers).
Note to self: Save this for Boing Boing’s April Fool’s prank next year.
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I had a former boss who used to give himself awards all the time. I mean really give himself awards - buying trophies and plaques. That’s not the craziest part. He listed them on his resume. When asked about a “president’s award” he had once, he answered, and I swear I’m not making this up (I’m not that creative) that “since I’m the president, and I gave myself the award, it is a company awarded award.”
That’s a special kind of special.
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please don’t go out and try to be a “big man”. there is no excuse for either the abuse of authority or ability. accountability is important. consequences develop with or without responsibility.
i happen to like little people, however you might mean that phrase. doesn’t bother me in the slightest to be one of them. shouldn’t bother a cop either.
I was just thinking those with a defective moral compass…
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They were pretty much doing what they were told to do, namely develop new security technology, develop ways of penetrating the security technology of others, and build infrastructure to permit the collection and interpretation of the intelligence of others. After 9/11 they were specifically instructed to do this more.
There is nothing intrinsically immoral about working for the government (or “these fucks”, as you call them). As a progressive I personally am a believer in government, when it is done right, and national security is certainly a reasonable function of one’s government. There are many things I don’t like about what our government agencies do, starting with meddling with everyone’s business in every little country in the world, but I don’t call soldiers amoral for joining the army, I don’t blame our generals for fighting as best they can, and I don’t blame the NSA employees for doing their job or for taking pride in their technological accomplishments (as witnessed by things like smiley faces on their scribbles).
I don’t want my generals having final say in how we conduct foreign policy, I want to reserve that authority to myself through my agents in Congress and the White House. Edward Snowden is a national hero, not because he revealed the extent of NSA penetration but because he revealed how broken our government is w/r to control of the security apparatus.
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It’s a movie quote from the dystopian Blade Runner.
and?
capable of reading your words. not a joiner or a whiner. been a while since i saw that Dick movie. friends of mine might still say “hard to find good Dick, good Phillip K. Dick that is.” then again, maybe they got sick of it.
so was your point that these real world news events were movie inspired? that they are entertaining? that i am privileged to be able to see your take on them? or do you find the constant parade of violence in our media to be almost as tragic as the events themselves?
seriously, mr. i’vebeenemployedatabetterjobthanthensafor35years didn’t get it either. they shouldn’t advertise with my tax dollar. congress shouldn’t give money to private businesses that then collect private information on americans (or anyone). there are no leaders responsible for those companies, just corrupt politicians giving money away, just businesses contributing to non-profit political campaigns, just networks of acquaintances passing around enough money to bankrupt the global economy. no leaders, no direction, just any excuse will do.
here’s the fun part. used to be a world without a digital record of financial transactions. now in order for those misused funds to be valid tender, that nascent digital record is the only proof. history happens, and hopefully it won’t take too much longer before it happens here.
Government agencies shouldn’t be allowed to advertise open positions?
No, I just believe that the US political process is broken beyond repair - it can no longer be fixed by working within the system.
“If you aren’t cop you’re little people” was fiction - but it didn’t stay fictional. It’s now the reality a US citizen lives with (did you see the article about the guy who got pulled over for a traffic violation and got anal probed?). At some point that is either going to change, or become a fact of life the citizenry can not change. Given the ongoing militarization of the US police forces into what amounts to a domestic army and the lack of consequences to state officials at all levels, I fear it is going to be the latter.
