Ron Wyden
1 HN recommender · recommended in 5 months, 2013–2023
7:07 · 144K views · Mar 12, 2013
Senator Ron Wyden asks DNI James Clapper in a March 2013 Senate hearing whether the NSA collects data on millions of Americans, and Clapper answers 'No, sir... not wittingly.' The question became notable after the Snowden revelations later that year.
HN cites it as the key piece of evidence that intelligence officials misled Congress, and as a reported breaking point for Snowden.
7 comments from Hacker News
I've lived under surveillance before, so I feel my perspective might be somewhat appropriate. I won't comment on the specifics (uninteresting and irrelevant, had to do with where I was living). I won't even make a statement about whether it's justified in my case or in general. I'd just ask everyone here to do one thing: Watch this, then ask yourself how you feel (if it doesn't go directly to 6:40, fastforward to it, then watch for 30 seconds): this video I understand about various interpretations of "collect", "intercept", "analyze", etc. Just watch the video, and ask yourself how you feel. Please know that I'm not telling you how to feel, just providing a small snippet of a conversation. Why do you feel that way, and what does that feeling say about you, or your society? Originally found in a comment: [LINK]
Snowden sacrificed his extremely lucrative career, his access and his ability to live in his own country to expose the illegal and unconstitutional conduct being carried out by the NSA. He put himself in extreme legal jeopardy to expose this illicit government activity and the lies of government officials like James Clapper, who perjured himself before the Senate when asked directly about these activities. In direct contrast to Snowden and his unselfish, principled actions are people like you, who spread blatant falsehoods, such as your suggestion that Snowden gave the Russian government intel. The Constitution is the highest law of the land. Those in government and in other official positions who have violated our Constitution are the real enemies of our country, not the people who expose their crimes. Sanctimonious babble about, "national security" does not excuse them, lessen or mitigate their crimes in any way. Hopefully the release of Snowden's book will rekindle interest in the unconstitutional, illegal surveillance that continues to be carried out in the name of, "national security" so those lawbreakers and criminals in the "intelligence community" can be put behind bars where they belong. this video
Maybe. That said, he was one of the few people, who actually made Clapper lie in front the of the entire world. Reportedly, this lie was a breaking point for Snowden who saw the exchange between Clapper and Wyden[0]. While I would be willing to accept your suggestion that is basically just Kabuki theatre, it seems even more cynical than I am willing to contemplate now. I am saying this, because Wyden visibly pushed Clapper ( apparently knowing that he was lying ). [0] this video edit: Come to think of it, if Wyden was a genuine threat, I am sure security apparatus would have tried to take him down by now. But no dead hookers, no unsavory hobbies, no character assassination.. your suggestion makes more sense than I initially thought it had.
This is the guy that, when asked by congress (I assume under oath) if the NSA was collecting data on US citizens, he responded "No sir." That was just 3 months ago. So... not sure what his statements are worth now... this video (starts at 6 minutes 10 seconds)
Wyden is far removed from the part of the government which engages in surveillance. He's the same person who was questioning James Clapper in Congress about mass surveillance before the Snowden leaks [1]. [1] this video