Schneier on Security

echo • February 6, 2024 3:42 PM

Reading through that FOI was an interesting look into bureaucracy and reputation management!

In contrast the New York Times is deleting employees internal Slack messages critical of Pamela Paul’s transphobic disinformation. Employees are complaining about a “hostile work environment”.

https://www.nsa.gov/Press-Room/News-Highlights/Article/Article/3429130/authenticity-and-pride-in-the-workplace-traviss-nsa-journey/

Authenticity and Pride in the Workplace: Travis’s NSA Journey

And:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ny-times-fires-off-warning-to-staffers-after-trans-coverage-brouhaha
NY Times Fires Off Warning to Staffers After Trans Coverage Brouhaha

https://translash.org/transcript-capturing-the-new-york-times/
TRANSCRIPT: ‘Capturing The New York Times’

Presumably the NYT would throw a fit if someone brought a glitter ball into work. In which case email trails of “don’t put it in email” and “shut up” would look condemning.

https://www.nytimes.com/editorial-standards/ethical-journalism.html#ourDutyToOurReaders

The Times treats its readers as fairly and openly as possible. In print and online, we tell our readers the complete, unvarnished truth as best we can learn it. It is our policy to correct our errors, large and small, as soon as we become aware of them.

[…]

Staff members who plagiarize or who knowingly or recklessly provide false information for publication betray our fundamental pact with our readers. We will not tolerate such behavior.

And:

Times readers apply exacting standards to the entire paper. They do not distinguish between staff written articles and those written by outsiders. Thus as far as possible, freelance contributors to The Times, while not its employees, will be held to the same standards as staff members when they are on Times assignments, including those for the Times Magazine. If they violate these guidelines, they will be denied further assignments.

Snort.

You would expect the NSA to be careful because if they’re not people die.

You would expect the media to be careful because if they’re not people die.

One takes the job seriously. The other does not.

echo • February 6, 2024 7:10 PM

GCHQ is excluded from FOI requests. You can ask for environmental information but that has a public interest threshold. Subject Data Access Requests have national security exemptions.

This article is old but still relevant.

https://www.ft.com/content/ccc68ffc-7c1e-11e9-81d2-f785092ab560

Five years ago, Rob, a 38-year-old father of two, was fitting kitchens and bathrooms for a living. Now he is a digital spy. As one of GCHQ’s army of cyber analysts, he monitors global counter-intelligence targets in countries he cannot disclose for national security reasons.

[…]

One of the ways GCHQ hopes to attract new hires and convince existing staff to stay is by publicising its willingness to embrace people from a wide range of backgrounds. In 2015, the Cheltenham “doughnut” was lit up in rainbow colours to support the LGBT community, and the agency is trying to recruit more black and Asian staff. It also actively seeks people who class themselves as neurodiverse, with conditions including autism, Asperger’s syndrome and learning difficulties such as dyslexia, dyspraxia or dyscalculia.

Officials believe people with such conditions can approach difficult problems from completely different angles. GCHQ even has a well-established club, the Think Differently group. Its chair, Mike, a senior project manager, says he landed his current role despite being both dyslexic and dyspraxic and having problems with his short-term memory.

Mike says his memory problems can turn routine tasks, such as remembering how to get to a certain meeting room, into an ordeal. But he adds: “I’m great at problem-solving.”

A steady job without getting crap from the boss is a good motivator. Another plus is all these far right leaning states and organisations do is create a workforce more motivated to take them down.

Does he ever feel guilty snooping around someone’s digital profile? “No. Because everything you do is for a reason. I trust in the organisation and the wider government to be correct in that process.”

Steve, a senior security official who sits in on a number of my interviews to ensure no one breaks the UK’s Official Secrets Act, chips in: “People think we’re cowboys and we’re not.”

I cringe to think what’s in mine. It’s one reason why I’d never apply for a job there. I’d die of embarrassment.