

Hackers Stole Secrets of U.S. Government Workers’ Sex Lives - 001sky
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/24/hackers-stole-secrets-of-u-s-government-workers-sex-lives.html

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mindslight
"U.S. Government Stole Secrets of U.S. Government Workers’ Sex Lives"

Public understanding needs to shift to condemning those who collect and
aggregate such data. Once it's aggregated, the question isn't _if_ but _when_
it will be copied wholesale.

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bketelsen
Came here to say the same thing. Why is the government collecting secrets of
its workers' sex lives? Why is it being stored? All data is subject to theft.
The bigger question is why it was collected and stored in the first place. The
government is responsible here.

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Someone1234
So they'd have blackmail material to use against potential leakers or
defectors. They certainly did in the Edward Snowden case (remember the whole
"girl is a stripper" thing that was meant to damage him but backfired?).

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ianstallings
These are investigations for clearances. They ensure that the candidate
doesn't have anything that can be exploited by a foreign government. The
article mentioned this. Before you get a clearance you'll have to go through a
_very thorough_ background check. In the case of top secret information
they'll dig into your entire life and even give you what's called a "full
lifestyle polygraph", meaning no topic is off limits.

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Someone1234
I was more answering their second question: "Why is it being stored?"

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Someone1234
> Asked specifically what information the hackers had obtained, Seymour told
> lawmakers that she preferred to answer later in a “classified session.”

Does anyone get the sense that often times "classified" is just a cover for
"embarrassing?" Essentially information they know their political opponents
have, but really wish to conceal from the American public?

The whole American intelligence machine is (and related, like secret courts)
is very creepy. Definitely starting to wonder if the whole thing can be kept
under any kind of control with the levels of indirection.

Congressional oversight is a nice theory, but when the people who do the
overseeing are either former spooks or in the pockets of monied corporate
interests who sell kit to the spooks, you really have to question how powerful
oversight is in this case (and if negative reports will too be "classified").

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Tangokat
In case anyone was wondering the SF86 form that many people apparently had to
fill out is available here:
[http://www.gsa.gov/portal/forms/download/116390](http://www.gsa.gov/portal/forms/download/116390)

It's the single biggest form I have ever seen. Storing this information along
side "information about workers’ sexual partners, drug and alcohol abuse,
debts, gambling compulsions, marital troubles, and any criminal activity."
seems insane. The arrogance required to think this is a good idea blows my
mind.

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tdaltonc
This is the consequence of the NSA/CIA/etc preference for an insecure
internet. They'd rather keep there offensive edge as opposed to contributing
to a secure web that improves everyones defense. Perfect security is
impossible, but things could be a lot better. This might not have happened if
the US intelligence system were dedicated to making the internet a more secure
platform.

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ljk
doesn't government workers have all the intimate details of every U.S.
citizen?

