News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on U.S. NSA domestic phone spying program illegal: appeals court. Parent comment

Re:U.S. NSA domestic phone spying program illegal: appeals c... by rl3 on Thursday May 07, 2015 @08:18PM (#9509294)
If an oppressive regime is created or perpetuated by Cold War-era anti-communist policy, that's certainly a bad thing. Especially so if the regime then commits atrocities (e.g. as in Indonesia).

That said, I fail to see how such history should have any bearing on whether or not Indonesia is a valid signals intelligence target today. If anything, it provides compelling justification to continue such programs.

In my opinion, countries that have terrible human rights records generally lose their right to complain about privacy when spied on by countries with significantly better records.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:U.S. NSA domestic phone spying program illegal: appeals c... by beedogs on Friday May 08, 2015 @02:43AM (#9510298)
Not sure what you mean by your last sentence; the US has a pretty abysmal human rights record, as well.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:U.S. NSA domestic phone spying program illegal: appeals c... by rl3 on Friday May 08, 2015 @03:36AM (#9510419)
Relative to most other western democracies, the human rights record of the US is obviously profoundly deficient in certain areas. When compared to Indonesia however, in terms of how citizens are treated, I'd argue it's actually quite good.
[ Parent | on HN ]