[liberationtech] Adam Curtis on the nature of espionage

[Gregory Foster]

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BBC Blogs (Aug 8) - "BUGGER: Maybe The Real State Secret Is That Spies
Aren't Very Good At Their Jobs and Don't Know Very Much About The
World" by Adam Curtis:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/posts/BUGGER

It's really nice to see Adam Curtis weigh in on recent events from his
high-bandwidth cybershell plugged directly into the BBC archives
mainframe.  As usual, the documentary filmmaker and media maestro
presents an unconventional take on events in long form that will leave
you confused or better informed and often both.

In this installment, his long arc points out the manner in which
secrecy breeds confusion, suspicion, and treachery; and contrasts that
with the open force of love most of us are more familiar with.  Or as
he puts it,

> In fact in many cases [the history of spies] is the story of
> weirdos who have created a completely mad version of the world that
> they then impose on the rest of us.

He also has some trenchant warnings for journalists who tend to enjoy
hearing and relaying fantastic stories: they may be serving to
reinforce and perpetuate illusions of hidden power and secret
knowledge, keeping intelligence budgets high even though the
recipients are unable to demonstrate results (that's a state secret).
 More succinctly, Curtis cites one historian's description of a
particularly credulous journalist's relationship with anonymous
government sources:

> "[He was a] kind of official urinal in which ministers and
> intelligence and defence chiefs could stand patiently leaking."

I'm reminded of AP reporter Adam Goldman's statement during the
confusion sown by the Daily Beast's reporting on a top sekrit AQAP
"Legion of Doom" conference call that turned out not to be a call at all:
https://twitter.com/adamgoldmanap/status/365115189709910016

> As one former senior CIA official once told me: "Who says we can't
> lie to reporters? It's not a crime."

Yet despite the punking, Curtis leaves a piece of cheese for
journalists at the end of his maze.

HT Eugen Leitl via Cypherpunks (thanks!)
gf

- -- 
Gregory Foster || gfoster at entersection.org
@gregoryfoster <> http://entersection.com/
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