👤matthewsimon🕑12y🔼48🗨️11
(Replying to PARENT post)
I wonder why the first line of Mr. R's letter ends with "requestof" instead of the "request of" seen in Mr. Cavalletto's letter.
That kind of variation is unusual in a form letter like this.
👤Stratoscope🕑12y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
Goes to show that humans are always* the weakest link in information security.
*For anyone who doesn't like absolutes, consider it a rounded statement
👤pchander🕑12y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
Should the that fact that he made two simple spelling errors[1] "beaurocracy" and "undemines" leave us to wonder about the veracity of his statements? Everyone makes mistakes. Before he received the second letter did he think NSA was infallible?
[1] And/or the questionable use of "the letters' assurances."
👤dfc🕑12y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
The weird part is that the envelope was printed twice. I could get accidentally putting the second letter into the same envelope, but this seems more like a system error than an individual mistake
👤bobbles🕑12y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
Like 2 years back, i was trying to manage the montly ISP calculations for my parents, and i had to talk to the customer service to get the data. Talking on the phone, i got a customer-Nr and a PW and log in to the account. Just a sec. later i realiced there was something wrong.. the account i just got the credentials to wasnt from my parents. Mistakes happens all the time, and i guess not only at my ISP.
👤sweedy🕑12y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
You mean mistakes sometimes get made ? Shock horror.
Now what is this doing on HN again ?
👤threeseed🕑12y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
Wow, just wow
👤IceyEC🕑12y🔼0🗨️0
(Replying to PARENT post)
And now that you've exposed his gender, initials, part of his address, and part of his phone number, and his profession and employer, so can anyone else who knows how to locate people through databases (I do, but I didn't). I'm a little mystified about why you only half-redacted his information - did you need to include his apartment #, which in combination with his zipcode allows me to eliminate a large number of addresses from that neighborhood immediately, or the area code on his phone, which tells me where he used to live, or his place of employment? As someone who used to live in the same area, I even have a pretty good idea of where to find him at specific times of the day.
You're right to critique the NSA for its carelessness, but I'm at a loss as to why you would then go ahead to magnify their error by posting some of his PII on the Internet and publicizing it on HN.