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Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Waterluvian on Sunday October 10, 2021 @05:41PM (#28822237)
When Facebook failed to stay online, there was someone who shared a lot of internal info before deleting their Reddit account.

When I worked for company B I had learned through friends some really really juicy intel about competitor A (which I never shared).

Through that experience and seeing all of these other examples, I’ve come to realize that there is an intoxicating effect of having info that can make you a “hero for a day” in the eyes of some audience.

Has anyone else ever felt this allure before?

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by krisoft on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:49PM (#28823032)
The traditional model of psychological factors behind leaks is called MICE. Each letter describes a potential reason why one would leak secret information. M stands for money, I stands for ideology, C stands for coercion, and E stands for ego or excitement.

I believe this last one, the E covers what you are talking about. People who know something special can share it and thus appear in the specific circumstanc as special themselves. This strokes their ego which motivates them to share more.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by worik on Monday October 11, 2021 @12:40AM (#28824718)
What about accident?

In this case the person just shared a work anecdote that was relevant to the discussion, arguably.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Cthulhu_ on Monday October 11, 2021 @05:07AM (#28826303)
Well, why were they sharing a work anecdote? I'd say that's also because of ego or excitement.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by cutemonster on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @12:38AM (#28836107)
Maybe in rare cases a leak can be by accident -- AMICE then?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by noodlesUK on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:58PM (#28823447)
It sounds like you are knowledgeable about this topic. Where might I be able to read more?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by krisoft on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:50PM (#28823777)
Thank you, but I’m not. I just play a knowledgeable person for internet points. (Yes :) that is the same Ego we are talking about.)

This is the document I was using: https://cyberwar.nl/d/fromCIA.gov/Burkett-MICE%20to%20RASCAL...

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by disposableuname on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:10PM (#28823523)
In every intro book on espionage. MICE is the short-hand for why people become traitors / how to turn people into assets.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by crdrost on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:38PM (#28823708)
Very surprised that they never added one that started with R so that the acronym could be CRIME.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bigiain on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:09PM (#28823904)
"Coercion, Reddit-karma, Ideology, Money, Ego"
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by smnrchrds on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:24PM (#28823986)
MICE has a nice sound to it, because it's what makes people rat.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by killingtime74 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:14PM (#28823927)
religion? revenge?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by jdub on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:15PM (#28823935)
That's just ideology.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by jjk166 on Monday October 11, 2021 @03:01PM (#28831698)
Revenge isn't typically an ideology. It can be under certain circumstances (e.g. we will make the filthy Americans pay for all they've done!) but often people want revenge for a specific transgression with no underlying general belief (e.g. Bob banged my wife, now I'll destroy his career, fuck you Bob!).
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ffhhj on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:49PM (#28824109)
Money is a social construct, it's ideological too. Let's call it ICE.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by worik on Monday October 11, 2021 @12:37AM (#28824709)
Money is not ideology

Being a "social construct" is not the same as being ideology.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by fourampers on Monday October 11, 2021 @06:43AM (#28826819)
Can you please recommend which book should I read about this topic? Don’t remember if I’ve seen any.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by wiz21c on Monday October 11, 2021 @04:47AM (#28826191)
so a traitor is one that doesn't share another one's ideology :-)
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by maccard on Monday October 11, 2021 @04:54AM (#28826229)
No, you can share an idealogy but be motivated by money, or coerced. A traitor is a label for actions, not motivations.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by manquer on Monday October 11, 2021 @01:13AM (#28824915)
I guess in this classification, whistleblowing is idealogoical.

Not sure am fully comfortable with that idea. Not all whistleblowing is idealogoical, some just expose straight up illegal activities or corruption

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by xmodem on Monday October 11, 2021 @08:09AM (#28827422)
"Don't do crimes" or "see something, say something" is a good ideology that should be encouraged, but still an ideology. Companies that don't want whistleblowers to leak stuff should consider not doing crimes.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by manquer on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:27PM (#28831304)
Keeping silent when seeing a crime commited, could make you accessory to it as well. It is not just about what feels right, it also about following the law.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by cutemonster on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @12:41AM (#28836127)
> could make you accessory to it as well

Wouldn't this fall under C, Coercion: the state threatens with prison, unless you "leak" info about the crimes?

(Could be a good kind of coercion? How unusual)

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by manquer on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @03:29AM (#28837020)
Saying it whistle-blowing is coercion is also an uncomfortable classification !
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by samhw on Monday October 11, 2021 @07:22AM (#28827088)
> Not all whistleblowing is idealogoical

Is it true that not all whistleblowing is idealogoical? In order to be idaealogoical, it must be motivated by idaealeogoy. Whistleblowing is definitionally motivated by opposition to the leaked activities, making it ipso facto idaealogoiacal. Why do you think it's not idaealaogoiacal?

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by manquer on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:23PM (#28831269)
Everything is ideological if you frame it in that context. By your logic, following the law is ideological.

Not whistle blowing on illegal activities in some jurisdictions is in itself illegal and makes you accessory to the crimes being committed. I wouldn't think that kind of whistle-blowing as ideological.

P.S. Yes, I made a spelling mistake while typing a comment on the phone, I regret that and happy to learn when pointed out.

Do keep in mind not everyone's first language is English, making fun of that is not a good way to encourage people to learn the language better, if new speakers stop putting in the effort to improve because the feedback is negative you( and we) don't get to interact with speakers from distant lands , learn new and interesting ideas.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by samhw on Wednesday October 13, 2021 @10:53AM (#28852918)
> Everything is ideological

Pizza isn't ideological. Birds aren't ideological. Things that are explicitly in the domain of ideology are, yes, ideological.

There's no such thing as 'no accent' just because you have the dominant accent, and no such thing as 'no ideology' just because you follow the dominant ideology. Your rationale is a bit like people who consider climate change protests to be 'political', but themselves, and their desire to ignore them and go to work, to be ... well, just, normal. Or something like that.

> Do keep in mind not everyone's first language is English

This is fair enough. I wasn't intending to mock your English, I just thought it was a funny accidental property of your message. I've absolutely made the same mistakes myself in the past!

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by jjk166 on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:49PM (#28831546)
The belief that laws ought to be followed is an ideology. There are also plenty of people who refuse to obey laws for ideological reasons.

There are non-ideological reasons to follow laws as well, such as avoiding punishment, but that would presumably fall under coercion.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by manquer on Monday October 11, 2021 @03:58PM (#28832350)
If refusing to obey laws for ideological reasons they are doing some form of civil disobedience, that is still obeying the "law"[1]. Even when refusing to follow a specific law you still follow the Law, the point is that you willingly accept the consequence of your (in)action as per that law, i.e. that usually means go to jail. Thoreau's seminal essay or Gandhi or King's(and many others) writings talk about the topic in length . King actually frames civil disobedience as the expression of highest respect for the law.

All behavior is motivated by either seeking gratification/pleasure or for avoiding pain, however such a reductive mental model is not useful work with in this context. Coercion in the context of leak (MICE) usually is understood as unwilling participant who is being blackmailed to leak. Money, Ideology and Ego are voluntary, Coercion is forced is the idea i believe.

---

[1] I am talking about the conventionally held definition of Civil Disobedience, non-violent and public are generally accepted qualifiers . It is not really required under many definitions.

Ellmann states that covert lawbreaking is just valid way of expressing your morality ( ideology ) as public disobedience. There are similar arguments for revolutionary and violent variations as well. It boils down does common(yours) morality allow deceit or violence under this situation. Morality being more subjective( you may agree violence is justified someone else will not) most popular commentators try to stick to non-violent and public conditions to make their case stronger and widely supported. Whether that public or non-violent is a component or not it doesn't matter.

The point I am trying to make is: if is ideological then consequences will be readily accepted, otherwise it just common crime.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by jjk166 on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @10:04AM (#28839786)
I meant more like people smoking a bowl in their own home despite the fact it's technically illegal because they don't really give a shit. Maybe you jaywalk to stick it to the man, but most do it to get across the street faster. Many, I'd wager in fact most people won't do things or avoid doing things simply because it's the law. Consider Kohlberg's stages of moral development[0].

I would say if you're only doing something to avoid being imprisoned or killed, you're an unwilling participant being forced to perform the action. Even if the entity threatening to imprison or kill you has a monopoly on force, it's still a gun to your head. I don't know how it could be called money, ideology, or ego.

[0] https://courses.lumenlearning.com/teachereducationx92x1/chap...

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by OneTimePetes on Monday October 11, 2021 @08:00AM (#28827356)
The ideological opposite to corruption is the set of all correct behaviours. This is like a opposition to law and order being seen as a political stance, meanwhile its a society per-requisit.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by samhw on Monday October 11, 2021 @09:32AM (#28828118)
I was mostly writing this comment just so I could continue the comical tendency for 'ideological' to get more and more misspelt every time it was used.

That said, I don't think I agree with this idea that the dominant ideology is no ideology at all. It seems a bit like the tendency to think that one's own accent is no accent at all.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Armisael16 on Monday October 11, 2021 @08:14AM (#28827452)
Many requirements for society are political stances; they just aren’t interesting ones because basically everyone agrees with them.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by pc86 on Monday October 11, 2021 @09:02AM (#28827838)
At the most basic level maybe, but at some point they're not worth talking about at the same level. Saying that someone thinks we should exterminate a race of people may be a "political stance" by the most strict definition of the word, but calling it that casually elevates it out of the heinous area in which it belongs to something similar to people arguing about infrastructure spending priorities.

There are certain "political stances" which cannot coexist with a peaceful, modern society.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bbarnett on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:35AM (#28825425)
But the last two are ideological.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by rawoke083600 on Monday October 11, 2021 @01:50AM (#28825154)
Could add 'F' for frustration ! Either because:

1) Lack of service delivery

2) Lack of corrective action (i.e ignoring for months or years reported security holes)

Sure there are many more examples.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bbarnett on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:34AM (#28825413)
That's I...
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by FeepingCreature on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:47AM (#28825497)
That doesn't seem how people usually understand I.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bbarnett on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:53AM (#28825533)
Some people put profit over ethics. This is an ideology.

"investors are counting on us", "people will lose their jobs", are examples of how people fit this ideological stance, into their morals, their ethics.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by FeepingCreature on Monday October 11, 2021 @07:19AM (#28827060)
That still doesn't seem to be how people usually understand I.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bbarnett on Monday October 11, 2021 @09:31AM (#28828110)
Well, it is how I have always understood, I... and others I know. I do not see a discontinuity, when looking at the dictionary either.

Maybe your local area / country has co-opted it, to only mean a subset?

If you look at the dictionary, I think you'll see that it is not defined as 'radical' or 'extremist' only.

What is your objection to my usage? How do you see it misused?

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by FeepingCreature on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @03:55AM (#28837202)
Well, when I try to imagine the mindset of the military people who coined the MICE acronym, and I imagine what they see as "ideology", I don't think that "commercialization" would be in there. Hence why "money" is a separate entry. I'd assume they mean "I" to stand for "religion and things like religions", preachers, holy texts, deep convictions. In my model, they'd understand profit maximization as "just sensible behavior" and "I" as a set of deviations from such behavior.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bbarnett on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @11:16AM (#28840763)
They could have used a more restrictive term if they desired, yet did not.

And frankly, political stances have caused more losses to state secrets than religion. EG, "commies!", or alternatively state ideological "long live the king, for the kingdom!".

Democracy, and capitalism are alternative ideologies. The means for profit is on the list, and all the nuances in between.

Take profit over health (cigarettes companies), profit over culture/society (facebook), this is an ideological stance.

Profit above all else.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bbarnett on Tuesday October 12, 2021 @03:49PM (#28844230)
Also, if the above looks like I'm stomping on your def, I'm not, just trying to get across why I see it as more generic...
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by LanceH on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:53PM (#28824137)
You miss the possibility that it being leaked professionally, on purpose by the "victim".
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by gostsamo on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:57PM (#28824162)
This would fall under the "money" part of the abbreviation.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by LanceH on Sunday October 10, 2021 @11:56PM (#28824493)
I mean it is released as part of a counterintelligence operation. While it is done professionally (for money), MICE refers to why someone would be lured to do the "wrong" thing.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by gostsamo on Monday October 11, 2021 @01:28AM (#28825011)
Then it is not a leak, it is an authorized counterintelligence operation.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by LanceH on Monday October 11, 2021 @03:24AM (#28825721)
Common usage of leak includes deliberate action by the owner of the information, not just misappropriation.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by gostsamo on Monday October 11, 2021 @05:22AM (#28826387)
So what? MICE is meant to help with listing the reasons why someone would betray the confidence of the organization, not to match your idea of common usage. You can leak information by mistake and this is also a valid case, but it is not included, because we are talking human resources management, not operational security or counterintelligence practices.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Talanes on Sunday October 10, 2021 @11:18PM (#28824280)
Or "ideology," depending on the motivation.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ChuckMcM on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:09PM (#28822783)
As you surmise it is not uncommon. It is talked about in some of the security briefings I've been required to watch and FSO's (facility security officers) have a bunch of stories of this effect facilitating a security leak.

When I was at Google a TechStop employee couldn't "help themselves" and shared a picture of an unreleased Android phone. Apparently it wasn't hard to figure out who it was and they were subsequently fired and everyone got a lecture at the Friday meeting.

I have not seen much literature on whether or not there are ways to mitigate that "feeling." (sure there are the 'you'll be fired if you tell anyone') but this comes up in all sorts of scenarios like seeing a VP from your company out on what looks like a romantic date with someone who isn't their spouse.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by tornato7 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:09PM (#28822445)
It's amazing how some people will risk their job, their clearance, and potentially their freedom, just to impress some random dudes online for a few minutes.

I tell people this whenever I'm asked about something I'm not supposed to reveal. "You want me to risk my _ just so you can satisfy your curiosity?"

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by babuskov on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:23PM (#28822530)
> It's amazing how some people will risk their job, their clearance, and potentially their freedom, just to impress some random dudes online for a few minutes.

Maybe they just feel alone, depressed, underappreciated and like nobody cares about them?

Revealing it to total strangers somewhat obscures potential negative impact, while still getting them to feel important for a day.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by nwallin on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:44PM (#28824083)
As a formerly alone, depressed, underappreciated TS clearance holder who nobody cared about, there was never a moment in my life where telling classified information to the public ever seemed like anything other than a first class ticket to a tremendous amount of misery.

I only speak for myself, and I no longer have a clearance. But the idea that depression excuses disclosure of classified information... that's not how depression works. That's not how clearances work. It's anathema to me. If depression is an excuse for disclosing classified information, then depression is cause for denying a person a clearance. It is cause for revoking a clearance from a person who seeks mental health assistance. No thank you. It is much better to prosecute depressed people who violate their clearance agreements and to continue to permit depressed people to gain clearances than it is deny a clearance from every depressed person.

I support giving clearances to depressed people, and I support sending depressed people who violate their clearance agreements to prison.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Talanes on Sunday October 10, 2021 @11:21PM (#28824302)
No one was saying depression was a valid excuse for the behavior, just a reason someone might do it. Attempting to understand a motivation doesn't automatically mean excusing it.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by hutzlibu on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:32AM (#28825403)
"I support giving clearances to depressed people, and I support sending depressed people who violate their clearance agreements to prison."

I see your point, in not trying to worsen things for depressed people - but don't you think on a general base, a mentally unstable person is more liklely to disclose something? And when you are really, deeply depressed - you don't care about anything anymore, except if it makes you feel better in that moment.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ludston on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:49AM (#28825513)
I don't think you should make prejudiced generalisations or finger in the air guesses about how depression affects people's behavior.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by hutzlibu on Monday October 11, 2021 @06:45AM (#28826832)
Well, maybe I do not make finger in the air guesses, but know something about the subject?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ludston on Monday October 11, 2021 @06:34PM (#28833854)
My good sir. I presume that you don't mean to be offensive, and I am not the kind of person that is offended by unintentional gaffs, but let me clarify for you why your line of speaking, is, in fact offensive.

First, reread everything that you wrote, and substitute "depressed person" for some racial minority. Most of what you have said is still valid and there is a possibility that it is even true. However, you must see that this would be so offensive that your post would be flagged.

Instead of fostering predjudice against people of a racial minority, you are (probably unintentionally) fostering predjudice against people with mental health problems. Do you not see why this is offensive?

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by orestarod on Thursday October 14, 2021 @01:41PM (#28867448)
Mental health problems, as said, is not a race. And not everything is prejudice. Racism is supposed to be prejudice because "You can't say there's causal relationship between the race and another specific trait". It is prejudice because it is deemed IRRATIONAL i.e. logical conclusions involving race fail at their very foundational base, race, and are thus logically incorrect. Mental instability though? It is the trait itself. It IS a valid base for logical conclusions regarding the human affected by one. You can claim one does not know enough of a mental illness to make conclusions for one's behavior. But one who does know, can then judge (not pre-judge) accordingly, and logic and truth are by definition not offensive.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by hutzlibu on Monday October 11, 2021 @08:18PM (#28834586)
Erm no. Not everything is racism.

Lack of caring for elemental things, including life, is a common trait of depression, not race.

But I did not say, depressed people should not have any clearance. I say, mentally not stable persons can simply not be trusted with every tasks. No generalisation. It depends on the task. So I doubt, you would offer the guarding of the red button for example, a suicidal person. And deep depression, is mostly combined with suicidal thoughts. There was a pilot some years ago, piloting a full plane to join him along his suicide. So much for extreme examples.

And as for the secret new release of the hot new game console x? I don't care about their security. But I see, that companies would want stable persons there, too.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by wolverine876 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:19PM (#28822841)
My guess is that it's merely the common human trait of valuing immediate emotional desire over the intellectual knowledge of future consequences. People do it all the time when they eat, cheat on their spouses, press the snooze button, drink, or spend time posting on Hacker News.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by eurasiantiger on Monday October 11, 2021 @01:41AM (#28825088)
You assume all choices are rational and wilful
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by wolverine876 on Monday October 11, 2021 @07:04PM (#28834105)
Perhaps I miscommunicated? I'm saying it's often emotional. But yes, you make a choice - not a carefully examined, systematic one, but you make a choice to hit snooze, commit adultery, etc.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ethbr0 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:16PM (#28822484)
It begs the inclusion of "How much time do you spend online? And how much do you value the opinions of online communities?" as security clearance questions. Are they, now?

Historically, they'd be very interested in what you'd say to your friends, family, etc. But the allure of internet fame would seem to have a more pursuasive effect.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by SkittyDog on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:46PM (#28823756)
If you read some historical accounts of spies, I think you'll notice there is already a massive ego/excitement boost to be had, without involving Internet fame... It's not ay l clear whether online activity would move the needle, in terms of predicting leakers.

But more importantly... Participating in online communities, and caring about one's online presence, is statistically normal behavior for working-age people in first world countries with Internet access... Moreso the younger you get. But the point is, it's massively normal behavior.

So if you tried to use your questions to predict potential leakers, you're just playing the "Most serial killers eat bread" game.

In order for your question to be a useful predictor, it would have to have low rates of both false positives, and false negatives. That doesn't seem very likely.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ethbr0 on Monday October 11, 2021 @06:02PM (#28833603)
> "And how much do you value the opinions of online communities?"

Seems a more difficult question, but a more indicative one, which is why I included it.

Per my experience, you can easily find individuals who spend similar amounts of clock time in online communities, but are very different in how much the community can influence them.

F.ex. HN could offer me dang's karma count, and I wouldn't feel any compulsion to leak classified information here.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by eganist on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:35PM (#28822604)
> Are they, now?

They're not included in Standard Form 86, latest revision November 2016: https://www.opm.gov/forms/pdf_fill/sf86.pdf

That's not to say it's excluded from polygraph questions; I can imagine a world where online associations are very relevant to an agency in need of a CI or full scope poly for compartment access.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by jdavis703 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:14PM (#28822814)
SF-86 doesn’t ask any questions like this. They’ll send out agents to collect more in-depth questions that may probe situations like this. They’ll also ask friends, neighbors, family etc about all sorts of things. This isn’t really the kind of question a self-reported form can answer (except for the most obvious questions like debt problems). It takes a human who can synthesize various statements to get pictures like “this person could be blackmailed” or “this person can’t keep a secret.”
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Waterluvian on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:16PM (#28822826)
Wait. Some people still get put through a complete nonsense pseudoscience polygraph test for clearance?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Spooky23 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:45PM (#28823003)
It’s a polite way of saying that you’ll be randomly interrogated.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by User23 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:31PM (#28822921)
It’s like the FAANG interview process. Everyone knows it’s suboptimal, but nobody knows how to do better at that scale.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by atatatat on Monday October 11, 2021 @12:17AM (#28824619)
Close.

It's similar because there are lots of false negatives, but few false positives.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by alksjdalkj on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:19PM (#28823582)
My understanding is that it's used as an "interrogation" technique and that they don't really care what the machine tells them.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by belkinpower on Monday October 11, 2021 @12:23AM (#28824651)
They do, I had a clearance rejected because the examiner was convinced I had previous involvement in drug manufacturing. I don’t. I’ve never even used them. Hell, I barely drink. I ended up getting a much better non-clearance job offer elsewhere so it didn’t ultimately negatively affect my career, but it’s still irritating.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by evilduck on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:24PM (#28822877)
It’s a standard practice for a tier of Top Secret security clearance.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by smabie on Monday October 11, 2021 @12:34AM (#28824693)
Is this a rhetorical question?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by wdb on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:51PM (#28823038)
And of course your family gets checked too like for the anti-bribery check. E.g. how likely is it that your siblings can cause you to get bribed. Had a few of those as a sibling
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by aeturnum on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:21PM (#28823219)
It's a good reminder to be realistic about our security models. People sometimes do things without thinking them through that clearly (or they just think very differently than you might hope).

An intelligence agency get more intel per dollar spent goading active duty people into revealing military secrets on obscure forums than you do with traditional bribery.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by selestify on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:38PM (#28823311)
Source on the intelligence agency thing? Sounds really interesting
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by hutzlibu on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:13PM (#28823925)
If it would be real information, he would leak classified information, to boost his importance, too ...
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by User23 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:16PM (#28822488)
Reminds me of the Google SRE who got literally frog-marched out of the Kirkland office for reading the messages of a female acquaintance. He got busted, because creep that he was, he tried to impress her by revealing that he did. And the Internet never forgets[1]. Persons, especially young persons, really need to be cautioned about the stupidity and consequences of this kind of behavior.

[1] https://www.ecampusnews.com/2010/09/15/google-engineer-fired...

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by withinboredom on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:47PM (#28822676)
How did he think that conversation would go?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by klyrs on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:16PM (#28823564)
Option 1, he thought he was some cassanova and that she'd be impressed by the effort he put into stalking her. Women who fall for this... exist, but not without significant childhood trauma. The relationships (two) I've seen form under such conditions have been passionate, short-lived, abusive, and eventually involve the police.

Option 2, he has a humiliation/degradation kink and got exactly what he wanted.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by edoceo on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:19PM (#28822845)
Folk like that always see themselves the hero.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by dylan604 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:55PM (#28823069)
Getting a date and maybe more later?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by temp8964 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:40PM (#28822633)
Hey, not just "impress", that's tons of upvotes!
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by csa on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:07PM (#28822777)
Upvotes have limited utility for an account that stands a good chance of being deleted.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by edoceo on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:18PM (#28822835)
We'll always have the screenshot
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by dylan604 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:54PM (#28823062)
wouldn't being in possession of the screen shot be evidence?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by edoceo on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:49PM (#28823773)
Of course. My point is the mind of the actor is like "hurr durr, I did it for the lulz"
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by richardw on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:02PM (#28823470)
In really important environments, just the last part is good enough to be useful to an adversary. Someone now knows you know something and all they need is the leverage. Go with “no idea”

The only upside to anything more than that is to impress or feel important.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by gambiting on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:00PM (#28822741)
Sure. I work in game dev, we work with highly NDAd stuff that a lot of people would love to know about(things like console devkits way before anything about the hardware is made public, or just details on unannounced games). The temptation to "be the hero" as you said is always there but it would literally cost you your job and most likely your entire career as I can't imagine you'd ever find employment after doing such a thing. It's really hard to resist when you read comments and someone says "oh I bet Sony would never do X in their next console" and you actually know the truth but can't say.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by devwastaken on Monday October 11, 2021 @01:40AM (#28825082)
Rest assured, if it gets leaked the vocal internet gamers that spend more time on Twitter and reddit will rarely be happy, and instead will use the leak to make it look bad. It's too bad we live in the digital age where you can't just tell someone "sora is the next character in smash, nobody is going to believe you." And then walk away. Everything's recorded and saved somewhere.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by vvanders on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:26PM (#28822889)
Yeah, I think in game dev there was also a culture of understanding that leaking that stuff just hurt whoever was working directly on it.

Back when I was in industry we all knew what everyone else was working on including big IPs and next gen console stuff. That might have also been a factor of how small and tight nit of an industry it was.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by monkeybutton on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:21PM (#28822511)
I've definitely been in that position before (though the stakes were much lower) and spilled the beans to my personal audience. It was so very exciting! Then I regretted it. Not because I was caught or suffered any consequences, but because I felt childish and attention seeking. The allure is gone for me now. I wonder if others come to the same conclusion?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by 101008 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:28PM (#28822557)
Same here. Posting an exclusive online is not satisfaying anymore. Maybe because I grew up on times where other websites used to link to your website as Source? Now "influencers" will copy your exclusive on Twitter and Instagram without giving any credit.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by armchairhacker on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:48PM (#28822678)
There's an intoxicating effect of just contributing to a conversation, saying something interesting to other people.

But there's also shyness and paranoia: what if whatever I say makes me look bad? What if it comes back to screw me over later?

The Internet dilutes the latter a bit because you're anonymous. But you can still get caught e.g. if someone goes through your post history and recognizes you.

Some people are very paranoid and don't like to share anything because they're afraid somehow it will affect them later. I guess on the other hand, there are people willing to share confidential information for attention without protecting themselves adequately (or at all!).

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by pyuser583 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @11:04PM (#28824196)
Think of how many legal rights you sign away by participating on Facebook/Twitter/etc. everything you say becomes IP of a for-profit company and you get paid zero.

Why do it? Because people like sounding off.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by swayvil on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:53PM (#28822702)
I know (from a forum) a guy who is VERY paranoid.

His ideas are strange.

His conversational style is combative.

He published a book. He used his forum nick as the author name.

He won't let anybody even know his age. Forget occupation or nation.

Par. A. Noid.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ta988 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:01PM (#28822744)
I wonder how much you could find by correlating subjects and way of writing. Not so many people hide their writing style as well.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by cassonmars on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:24PM (#28822872)
There’s some folks who will run their sentences through google translate and back between languages with poor translation coverage to strip identifying writing styles.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by geoduck14 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:22PM (#28823227)
>There’s some folks who will run their sentences through google translate and back between languages with poor translation coverage to strip identifying writing styles.

Hi Google! It's Robert Hackerman, here with the County Search Engine Inspector Office.

Google: Hi Bob! How can I help you?

Robert: I have a bunch of phrases passed through your Google Translate, can you help me find the IP that submitted them? Thanks.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Sebb767 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:50PM (#28823399)
Well, if they can get through to Google Support, what can a mere Human do to hide? ;)

On a more serious note, if you're going to that level of security, you're probably using something like TOR anyway (otherwise they simply ask the site the text was posted on for the IP). Additionally, you can use multiple services for each translation, obscuring the trail further. Good luck getting that data from Yandex.

Lastly, I'm not sure whether Google (and others) really log every sentence entered, but as described before, you can easily avoid that. Or read the privacy policy.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by int_19h on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:41PM (#28823725)
I wonder if you could ask GPT-3: "rephrase ...".
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Y_Y on Monday October 11, 2021 @04:05AM (#28825952)
Absolutely. However, if I were to do this I'd go more direct. If you have an NN that assesses writing style then you can do a "style-transfer"-type GAN that ensures that it will classify as some chosen style other than your own.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by swayvil on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:22PM (#28822861)
Oh no doubt. The technology definitely already exists. A wonderful algorithm that all the security agencies use.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by weeblewobble on Monday October 11, 2021 @03:23PM (#28831976)
This is how they caught the unabomber
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by samsonradu on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:03PM (#28822388)
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by dillondoyle on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:54PM (#28822708)
That story is wild!

First: this leaker simply mailed a packet to a random foreign government address which allowed usps to flag it?! Otherwise seems pretty shot in the dark they found it. 1234 Russia KGB, Russia ;)

Second: the FBI either got the cooperation of said unknown country, or was able to somehow make a signal looking like it originated from their embassy (maybe as comical as we'll fly our countries flag, which happens to always be flying). Maybe it's an ally?

Third: this person had a good amount of access? It sounds like schematics/info on the small nuclear reactors in the subs? Maybe that's not super valuable info?

So much I want to know! Would make a good dramedy someday if it's as dumb as it sounds.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by weare138 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:10PM (#28822791)
Definitely need the Coen brothers to make that movie. It's like something right out of Burn After Reading.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Telemakhos on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:53PM (#28823058)
> 1234 Russia KGB, Russia

The foreign country has not been identified, but Russia is not the one on most rumor-mongering lips. There's precedent (Pollard, Nozette) for Israeli intelligence interest in US Naval secrets.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by dillondoyle on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:07PM (#28823893)
I was making a joke! But I would LOVE to know what country it is?! What's the rumor you're hearing?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by boomboomsubban on Monday October 11, 2021 @12:55AM (#28824806)
From the thread about it, France seems like the most likely possibility.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28823344

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by baybal2 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:27PM (#28822549)
> Toebbe allegedly asked for $100,000 in cryptocurrency, saying “I understand this is a large request. However, please remember I am risking my life for your benefit and I have taken the first step. Please help me trust you fully.”

Well, that not not even funny, more of cringeworthy.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by vmception on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:14PM (#28822816)
> “Your thoughtful plans indicate you are not amateur,” the FBI wrote to Toebbe. “This relationship requires mutual comfort.”

LOL, I like to play with salespeople because I know their responses are scripted. So although I like being commended on my intelligence, I change my job title and pedigree just to see if that gets the same accolades

“You’re a lightbulb repairman so I know you’re smart, you can see this offer is the best for you” says the person making an offer that is not the best for me.

Helps me keep a clearer head in negotiating

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by geoduck14 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:19PM (#28823207)
>You’re a lightbulb repairman so I know you’re smart

If you can provide for your family by JUST repairing light bulbs, you are probably REALLY good at it.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by sunshineforever on Sunday October 10, 2021 @11:59PM (#28824507)
You might be surprised to learn that a lot of meth smokers are into very basic glassblowing.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by vmception on Monday October 11, 2021 @03:42AM (#28825827)
A perspective, but the sales person really wants the financing commission from the shadiest high interest rate lender instead of whatever they’re actually selling, if you cant afford full upfront payment. So if by provide you mean how miraculous it is for someone to be approved for subprime credit and make the interest payments for awhile, then sure, ok, low bar but ok.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by newacct583 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:04PM (#28822396)
Exactly. Note that the same analysis can work in reverse, too. The lack of leaky corroboration for a juicy, tempting-to-believe theory is a really high quality prior that it just isn't true. (With, maybe, an exception for very tightly controlled intelligence organizations. But in general anything juicy in the civilian world isn't going to stay hidden.)

For example: this is my #1 for why COVID Was Not A Lab Leak. The incentives for someone involved to blab are just way too high. If there was an incriminating email anywhere, we'd know. (Edit: and right on cue multiple people want to storm in arguing why this principle is not applicable in this particular situation. That's how you know it's "juicy", not how you know it's true!)

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by tgsovlerkhgsel on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:42PM (#28822648)
It depends on a) how many people know about it b) how much they have to lose if the information gets out. The latter is a particularly powerful deterrent if it will hurt the person who shares it even if the leak isn't traced to them.

For the tank manuals a) is likely hundreds of thousands of people, and b) is zero unless the leak is traced to them, and they possibly don't expect much even if it is.

For the lab leak, b) is a strong deterrent - every virologist working on even moderately risky research would face trouble (in the form or stricter restrictions and possibly bans on the category of research) if the theory got confirmed, and for the people working in the Chinese lab, embarrassing the Chinese govt is probably pretty far up on the "mistakes you don't get to make twice" list. a) is less clear: They might not even be aware of a lab leak if it was one. However, one piece of sensitive info that could leak would be "we worked on something that was more similar to SARS-CoV-2 than the previously known sample", and I'd expect that to be reasonably well known at a research institute.

However, that adds a third aspect: Verifiability of the leak. Even if a drunk scientist sat in a pub in Wuhan, telling his friends that it totally was a lab leak, and someone overheard that - what then? They post on Twitter "I heard some people talking that it totally was a lab leak"? Even if their friends say "hey, I know someone from the place and it totally is a lab leak", it'd at best be yet another unconfirmed and unconfirmable rumor that would be unlikely to make it far.

Just because there are many leaks, doesn't mean there isn't also a lot of spicy information that never becomes public. These leaks are news because they're rare, even when hundreds of thousands of people have access to a piece of info. Reduce the circle of people in the know to 100, and the probability of a leak drops drastically.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by newacct583 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:48PM (#28822680)
I don't buy that. The kid who leaked those tank manuals is likely going to jail. Anyone with evidence of a cultured covid ancestor gets a free ticket to any academic position in the west they want. Remember that all those folks at WIV aren't cloistered prisoners of a totalitarian system, they're educated scientists in a worldwide community. Most of them probably hold degrees from western institutions. They're extremely mobile and well connected.

But tank kid is going to jail for sure.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by dfadsadsf on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:43PM (#28822995)
They need to get out of country first to apply for academic position. I would not be surprised that anyone with first hand knowledge (and their close relatives) is already under 24/7 surveillance with limited mobility and strictly controlled Internet access. Are you not surprised that there are no interviews with employees at facility?

If they somehow escape from country (very unlikely) China government may threaten/disappear/imprison/kill their relatives in the country. China can also take hint from Russia and kill them abroad.

Stakes for leaker are much much higher than short prison sentence like in west.

Besides no major western university will touch this person - there are consequence for crossing China. (from protest from Chinese students to economic consequences).

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by newacct583 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:14PM (#28823170)
> is already under 24/7 surveillance with limited mobility and strictly controlled Internet access

You're deflecting by invoking another juicy, tempting-to-believe conspiracy that, by this same principle, would seem to be trivially easy to verify because someone who knows about it would have said so...

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by TomVDB on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:17PM (#28823199)
I once attended a press briefing, as a supporting demo engineer, that started with a very stern “Under NDA” warning, followed by some pretty mundane technical disclosures.

Not 10 minutes later, one of the attending journalists was blabbing about it on Reddit under a user name that was linked to his publication.

Another 10 minutes later, said journalist was walked out of the room, well before the really interesting stuff was talked about.

I wonder how he explained that to his editor. What an idiot…

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ogurechny on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:43PM (#28822651)
Quite the opposite. People naturally feel more “important” and “knowing” when they have access to internal or “secret” information, while in fact they perform the work of a cog in the system. In 100 years — often much less than that — none of that secret stuff would matter, and it will become clear that someone's life was wasted on transitory things for the benefit of some bureaucracy or corporation.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by jollybean on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:12PM (#28822808)
Every cog is required in order for the system to run. Even when parts of the system are not materially utilized, i.e. tanks that never see action, they have important strategic value in terms of deterrence and optionality.

It's probably understandable that people want to 'feel important' for a moment, but if they had the 'big picture' they'd realize that 'doing their job' is the most important thing they could do. It's easy for regular people to lose sight of that, just as it's easy for some people in power to take their roles a bit too seriously.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by grepfru_it on Sunday October 10, 2021 @05:51PM (#28822313)
>When Facebook failed to stay online, there was someone who shared a lot of internal info before deleting their Reddit account.

back in the day you would be tainted if you had read any of this material. today those lines have been blurred and even my employer, who was known to viciously keep tainted people out of the kernel, is nowhere near as strict

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ClumsyPilot on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:15PM (#28822482)
"back in the day you would be tainted if you had read any of this material"

For most jobs, if you've worked in the industry for 20 years, you have seen 'secret sause' of several companies. They often look remarcably similar. Indeed thats kind of the value of an experienced hire?

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by BeFlatXIII on Monday October 11, 2021 @03:28PM (#28832018)
How would a company reasonably enforce a rule against no tainted applicants? Ask Reddit for admin logs on the applicant's account(s)? Honor system?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Zababa on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:02PM (#28822381)
What do you mean by "tainted" and "the kernel"?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by tgsovlerkhgsel on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:23PM (#28822531)
Tainted = aware of non-public information that must not be incorporated into the product, so it's easiest to just not let those people work on it at all.

By only allowing people who don't know anything secret to work on a product, you keep the product safe from allegations (justified or not) of illegally incorporating third party material.

If you don't do it, you risk that a competitor claims "your product contains our proprietary material, pay us royalties or we'll sue your customers". Even if you're 100% in the right, until you've had that decided in court, your customers have to worry about getting sued, and you'll lose business (and also spend a lot of money on lawyers).

The model is particularly known/used in reverse engineering: One team (that is not tainted with knowing any NDA'd materials, I assume) looks at the product you're trying to reverse engineer, and writes a specification. Another team (not tainted by NDA'd knowledge or knowldege of the code of the original product) then implements the spec. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_room_design

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by anamexis on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:16PM (#28823194)
Wouldn't the liability only be with the company that allegedly stole the secrets? How would the customers be implicated?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by grepfru_it on Sunday October 10, 2021 @08:28PM (#28823262)
Many avenues lead directly to the customer. Linksys used gpl code illegally and when they were found out they had to release updates across all of their products, causing some of their lines to be end-of-lifed earlier than expected. Customers are definitely impacted by that.

How about security secrets which directly impacts the customer?

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Talanes on Sunday October 10, 2021 @11:35PM (#28824387)
The question wasn't how could the customer be impacted. None of those scenarios have to do with the customer being held legally liable for the IP violations of a vendor whose product they use.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by morcheeba on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:06PM (#28822422)
That's a reference to clean room design - you don't want to be accused of stealing a competitor's design, so anyone with knowledge of that design is considered "tainted" and not allowed to work on your core systems ("kernel").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_room_design

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by mhh__ on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:41PM (#28822640)
SIS (MI6) literally have a page on their website for sharing dirt with them "securely"

https://www.sis.gov.uk/contact-us-form.html?lan=en

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by fnord77 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:46PM (#28822665)
imagine sharing classified information via an https webform. Yikes!
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Consultant32452 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:12PM (#28823546)
Just take a picture with your phone and text it to me.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by dejawu on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:47PM (#28822675)
I believe that's exactly how intelligence agencies will compel people to spy for them and betray their own nations: they make them feel smart and special for sharing information.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bserge on Sunday October 10, 2021 @05:58PM (#28822363)
Yes, it is incredibly alluring to share something only I know and either see people be amazed, surprised or not believe it, which gives the best feeling imo. Really hard to stop myself sometimes, especially when drunk.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by EamonnMR on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:14PM (#28822473)
I've spent an inordinate amount of my life chasing that high, not by leaking information but by trying to be the guy who finally remade the game everyone liked.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by bmsleight_ on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:40PM (#28822635)
I liked the game http://flythrough.space/
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by shepardrtc on Sunday October 10, 2021 @10:56PM (#28824155)
Gaben?
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Bertio on Monday October 11, 2021 @01:29AM (#28825018)
Yes. Quite a few times I’ve had some exciting inside info from my industry and I would love to spill it in my pseudo anonymous online hangouts! But then when I compose something that doesn’t give anything away I realize I’ve said nothing and don’t submit.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Pxtl on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:47PM (#28823760)
Yup. I work in health research, but as a software developer. I know I'm not a scientist or a doctor so I shouldn't shoot my mouth off about medical issues and pretend I'm an authority on the matter, but it gets hard.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by nomel on Monday October 11, 2021 @02:51PM (#28831573)
I suppose I'm the opposite.

I feel excited by the trust and camaraderie that goes with having secrets. I'm protecting something with real value, that we all worked hard for, rather than destroying it.

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by iratewizard on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:47PM (#28823762)
When I snitched on Google for doing messed up things in the name of "equity" I felt much better about taking on the project in the first place.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by agumonkey on Monday October 11, 2021 @12:08AM (#28824563)
Yes, when I was 12 I spoiled someone's secret.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by 1270018080 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:32PM (#28822575)
Isn't preying on that allure the mark of successful journalism? Getting info from unofficial channels etc.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by wolverine876 on Sunday October 10, 2021 @07:21PM (#28822859)
I can imagine many other motives and methods. Many people are torn between risking their careers, freedom, and/or safaety, and doing the right thing by blowing the whistle.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by ren_engineer on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:42PM (#28822644)
it's in human nature and in every industry. It's just a variation of gossip, which is what the majority of the news industry is based on. Almost all the news is "sources" giving a peek behind the curtain for everybody else, or at least the illusion of a real glimpse

humans are curious by nature

Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by Andrex on Sunday October 10, 2021 @09:18PM (#28823574)
Yup. Video game "leakers" are some of the thirstiest clout chasers I've ever seen.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by notimetorelax on Monday October 11, 2021 @01:11AM (#28824892)
I think you get accustomed to it. Just fight the urge the first few times.
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by tinus_hn on Monday October 11, 2021 @07:08AM (#28827000)
The adult version of ‘my dad work at Nintendo’
Re:Classified tank specs leaked on War Thunder game forums a... by rootbear on Sunday October 10, 2021 @06:04PM (#28822397)
I have only been in that position once or twice, but yeah, knowing some secrets can be exciting.