Snowden Docs: British Spies Used Sex and 'Dirty Tricks'

[Blue_Tires]

64. So making a message board crash is an infringement of free speech?

That's a bit of a stretch....I get what you're saying, but I don't know how anyone could ever make a legal case out of it...

And I hate to make these overly simplistic worst-case scenarios; BUT -- If they targeted a message board heavily used by a child porn ring, is it still an infringement of free speech? Do the regular everyday users of that site who *aren't* involved in child porn have a right to complain? I'm just asking...When Anonymous shut down the PlayStation Network for a month over the pettiest of bullshit grievances, could I sue them for interfering with interstate commerce??

As to the "they don't have clear lawful authority to launch attacks”, let's be frank -- If intelligence services (in any country) always waited for "clear lawful authority" before proceeding, they'd never get anything done...Look at the CIA (especially the earlier years) and tell me that oh, say 100% of their activities were not completely illegal...People who still pretend to be shocked ask "Why do intelligence services do these sorts of things?" and the answer is always the same: Because they can...

I'm disillusioned because I used to think Greenwald/Snowden were systematically building a case for the massive downscaling if not outright elimination of the intelligence community in the U.S. in the hopes that other major countries would follow suit...But Greenwald/Snowden have repeatedly said they're happy with the status quo after a few tweaks and reforms are applied... So again I ask; aside from the occasional "gotcha" and the release of true-but-embarrassing-and-not-really-surprising info, what has been the point of this whole charade??