Greenwald Addresses Reddit

Greenwald and Gibson recently answered questions on a reddit thread. That said there are no startling revelations.

When questioned on the need for redactions as per the specific encryption technologies subverted in one of the first documents leaked Greenwald responded that the NSA has subverted many products and to list only those two would not be representative of actual fact. I question the need for any redactions except for operational information that may endanger the lives of witnesses or embedded operatives. Clearly the concern here is not focused on welfare but on maintaining the public image on the two companies who were unfortunate enough to be mentioned.

Even if the document only identifies two of the supposed large number of companies who have been collaborating with the NSA then the two names should be released. At least those companies which are identified can be boycotted and held to account by the community for egregiously damaging the security of their paying customers. Whether these organizations complied willingly or were somehow coerced is irrelevant. We have seen with Lavabit and Cryptoseal’s actions how principled organizations respond, even at the expense of destroying their income stream to protect their customers from subversion.