Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/08/16/snowden-explains-the-shadow-br.html
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In a new technology cutting-edge hacker-types are calling “paragraphs”
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This is why twitter is fucking worthless for anything other than snarky one liners, vapid social comments, and alerts something happened/is new.
Why not have a blog where you can, you know, write a coherent explanation, and then twitter “Hey guys, I wrote a coherent explanation to this NSA hacker thing. Go here.”
Or wait, it would be more like, “Learn how the hackers got the NSA’s most dangerous weapons with this one weird trick.”
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Nice that it was paragraphized, because I just skip over tweet storms. I figure they don’t want readers.
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If I had to guess, a blog may be less safe for Snowden to use than Twitter.
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Or breaking news. I typically see news reported on Twitter before any major news service.
Or instant communication of ideas, like Snowden’s posts. What he should’ve done is link to a blog post rather than use a series of tweets. But with one tweet he can reach millions of people almost instantly.
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Use of Twitter also obfuscates his location and the tools he uses to communicate. Posting to a blog would, to my non-hacker mind, offer an easier target for figuring out his ways and means.
Although I would expect it to be second nature to him by now–all that looking over your shoulder stuff would get real old, real fast.
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I.e., for most purposes for which it is used, Twitter is fucking worthless. This is also why, however, it’s the perfect vehicle for Trump to communicate, because he’s pretty much intellectually limited to snarky one liners and vapid social comments. It also forces everyone down to his level if they try to respond to him within Twitter.
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Less safe how? You think twitter wouldn’t give up what ever IP information they can glean? I am positive he is using VPN or something else to make his posts untraceable. And if he can do that there, then he can do it through something else. I mean John Oliver got an interview, so it isn’t like people don’t know where he is.
Perhaps I am wrong about security, but my point goes far beyond Snowden, where 99.99% of the people tweeting aren’t in fear of the CIA watching them. For someone else wanting to post anything longer than 140 character either have to make multiple, disjointed posts, or link to another site.
Right, which is why I said, “alerts something happened/is new.” But there is zero depth or substance. Even during something horrible like the Paris terrorists attacks, I am not really sure it is useful beyond, “OMG, something bad is happening right now.” as the important and true info is mixed in with the false, non-important, and half-true info.
Like I said, great way for Snowden to let people know he had information, too limited to allow people to actually SHARE that information.
Maybe they should make a sister sight, singer, where you can easily link tweets to songs - long form posts for whole stories.
It is fucking worthless as a meaningful communication tool. It is a great tool for alerts and making things go viral.
What if all the trollies on twitter are really from the future, trying to destroy it before it is used to help elect Trump?
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So what you’re saying is – Twitter is terrible at communicating anything but short, 140-character bursts of information.
Well, yeah. It was designed to send out tiny mini-messages instantly. At that, it’s terrific. Headlines, AP alerts, concise bits of information and ideas, quick thoughts, or viral messages can all spread quickly, and (for better and worse) it lets everyone communicate on the same level, whether you’re a trolley or the President. It’s a great tool when used smartly for what it’s designed for.
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The revolution will be typed in 140 characters.
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By that point, the masses will have lost the ability to read.
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If you’ve got a better medium for publishing snapshots of your food I’m all ears.
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Unless I get to eat it too, I really couldn’t care less about people’s photos of their meals.
If the US government doesn’t already know exactly where Snowden is staying in Russia I’d be very surprised.
However, there’s not much chance that they could kidnap him successfully from the middle of Moscow, and killing him would be worse publicity than leaving him alive, so for now they’re probably just keeping an eye on him, and who he communicates with.
Use of Twitter notwithstanding, I must say Snowden is an excellent technical writer. Clear and to the point without glossing over details. He should have a bright future.
Sadly, yes. He should have.
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