I’ve read several blogs making hay about the NSA cryptographer who made this post on zd net. There was even a response by John Gilmore of the EFF. I’m not going to rehash all of that, except to say that I don’t really believe the NSA guy. Sure he may think what he writes about, on the other hand, his colleagues don’t appear to think the same. BUT, he does make a good point. That is what I want to write about.
As this national dialogue continues, I look to the American people to reach a consensus on the desired scope of U.S. intelligence activities. If it is determined that the rules should be changed or updated, we at NSA would faithfully and effectively adapt. My NSA colleagues and I stand ready to continue to defend this nation using only the tools that we are authorized to use and in the specific ways that we are authorized to use them. We wouldn’t want it any other way.
He’s right when he looks to “the people” (through our representatives) to change the law, if we want. If we want. IF. Yes, we the people must let our representatives know that we don’t like this and expect them to change it. If we don’t tell them, how are they supposed to know? If they don’t know we want it changed, they’ll go on “making it up” and doing what they way.
Image from uwwresnet via flickr