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Government Surveillance: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

LastWeekTonight

10M subscribers • 5 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 5 people: 5 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2016 to 2021.
  • Presented by John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight
  • An opinion. It argues one side of a question engineers disagree on.

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

38M views11 years ago5 recommendations

SecurityPrivacy and surveillanceCryptography

John Oliver interviews Edward Snowden about NSA surveillance, framing complex privacy issues through the lens of personal photo security.

There are very few government checks on what America’s sweeping surveillance programs are capable of doing. John Oliver sits down with Edward Snowden to discuss the NSA, the balance between privacy and security, and dick-pics. Connect with Last Week Tonight online... Subscribe to the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens: www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight Find Last Week Tonight on Facebook like your mom would: Facebook.com/LastWeekTonight Follow us on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news: Twitter.com/LastWeekTonight Visit our official site for all that other stuff at once: hbo.com/lastweektonight Connect with Last Week Tonight online... Subscribe to the Last Week Tonight YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens: www.youtube.com/user/LastWeekTonight Find Last Week Tonight on Facebook like your mom would: Facebook.com/LastWeekTonight Follow us on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news: Twitter.com/LastWeekTonight Visit our official site for all that other stuff at once: hbo.com/lastweektonight

Why it's here

5 people recommend this, 2 dispute it

What people say. Highly recommended as an effective, accessible way to explain the real-world importance of digital privacy to non-technical people.

harryfon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ex-Facebook insider says covert data harvesting was routine”

Last Week Tonight did this bit brilliantly when they interviewed Edward Snowden - link to this video - in essence we need to get dramatically better at telling this story so everyone understands.
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LinuxBenderon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: How to explain to others why privacy matters?”

…ne was monitoring the pictures and videos (sexting) between they and their spouse/partner. When that topic came up, the nearly unanimous answer is that they would be furious if someone was watching their sexting content. 1 So in summary, I believe the answer is to find something that people actually wish to keep private when discussing it. 1 - link to this video…
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tyreon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Apple files final response in San Bernardino iPhone case”

…ur dick-pics, then they start to understand what is at stake. In many people's minds, what the FBI is saying makes sense. What's the big deal? They want to access a single iPhone from a terrorist . Teach people that it means their nude photos could be accessed by any law enforcement official and I think you'll find that people really do care. 1: link to this video…
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TeMPOraLon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Britain passed the “most extreme surveillance law ever passed in a democracy””

John Oliver's "Dick Pics" seem like a pretty good argument that can reach average citizens. link to this video
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jerfon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Amazon Echo Look”

…nt yourself to show this; take 5 non-techie/non-HN people and explain to them exactly what this thing does and how it works. You'll find people's attitudes change, rationally or otherwise, which I present only as evidence that they haven't thought about this and incorporated it into their worldview, not that they are right or wrong. Or watch this: link to this video John Oliver on Government Surveillance. Perhaps ironically, mere nude photos of myself aren't really what I'm worried about. I mean, I wouldn't be happy if they got out, and since I'm not in the habit of texting them about I have questions about where they came from, but by and large, nobody would care and it would affect my life only brief…
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keymoneon Hacker News • Disputes

On “Snowden calls on France’s Macron to grant him asylum”

have you seen jon oliver trying to interview him in moscow 0? i think it's naive to believe his actions aren't strictly controlled and approved by russia's intelligence agency. 0 link to this video
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game-of-throwson Hacker News • Disputes

On “U.S. Treasury sanctions virtual currency mixer Tornado Cash”

You can tilt any poll any way you want with exaggerated language. Surely you know this, and it's why you biased the question the way you did. > Should phone carriers be required to divulge text messages to law enforcement who have obtained a proper court order? vs. > Should government workers be allowed to spy on your dick pics? link to this video
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Decadeon Hacker News • Mentions

On “The network is hostile”

…without trial with lots of collateral damage. But hide all of that in a veneer of: the experts say we need this, the government says it’s fine, and look at this cute puppy and the weather is beautiful and who is the latest celebrity and our sports team is doing… and I can understand why most Americans don’t do anything about mass surveillance. 1 link to this video…
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sampoon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Denmark confirms US sent rendition flight for Snowden”

> Most people don't care about NSA surveillance or they agree with it. John Oliver went to the streets with the question, if people have ever send a naked photo of themselves with a cellphone or email, should the government have the right to collect and look at those photos? None of the people agreed that the government should have that right. link to this video
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ryanmarshon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Answers to your questions about Apple and security”

Our forthright discussion on this issue on HN, while valuable, will not help the broader problem of educating the voting public. It's kind of like John Oliver's interview with Edward Snowden1. This issue needs to be translated into "pics of my junk" and become a sort of meme. Is the issue being framed wrong more of a problem than it not being framed at all? 1. link to this video
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hfsktron Hacker News • Mentions

On “The US Government has no credibility to compel anybody to weaken security”

link to this video I assume this is the same episode everyone was talking about but it's the Snowden one and the street interviews are pretty sad (as they always are).
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nickpsecurityon Hacker News • Mentions

On “'State of Surveillance' with Edward Snowden and Shane Smith [video]”

One of his failures is that he didn't understand how things work. He's an idealist and technical person. I was a technical person that dug my head into how things work as well in terms of media and whistleblowing. Thing is, they often don't. The corporate media in the U.S. that dominates most coverage is about anything that holds audiences' attention to get them to look at ads. That means more noise and theatrics than signal. Their owners even benefit from the power structure in the U.S. that financially and politically favors elites. Their media organizations, if they play ball a bit, even get interviews with elites in government or on boards of those in business. Finally, they maximize att…
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denzil_correaon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Vibrator Maker to Pay Millions Over Claims It Secretly Tracked Use”

> People very much care about the privacy of their sex life. Relevant Plug : John Oliver Interview with Snowden (23m45s) link to this video Also, the "You have got nothing to hide" argument fails.
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msimpsonon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Why ‘I Have Nothing to Hide’ Is the Wrong Way to Think About Surveillance”

> ...this knowledge was hidden from the vast majority of people who rely on TV news... They seem so much more enlightened now: link to this video > "Blow the lid off" doesn't mean the first person to reveal something... Which is probably why you remember Riegner, yet give no mention of Leon Feiner. > ...it refers to an explosion that can't be ignored. Sure, or an artful twist to facilitate some hero worship.
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dandelion_loveron Hacker News • Mentions

On “Leaked NSA Malware Threatens Windows Users Around the World”

> I just want to get some insight into what the 'average American' thinks about Snowden. link to this video
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gruezon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Don't close your MacBook with a cover over the camera”

Probably because it's more concrete than some abstract threat like the ad industry building a dossier on you, or the NSA spying on your web browsing habits and phone records. John Oliver uses this to great effect when talking about NSA surveillance: link to this video
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