Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Since this isn't immediately clear to commenters - this is designed to be ironic. I don't know if all the people volunteering tweets know that, but it's clearly described in the website linked on this Twitter account[1].

I highly recommend you go there for further reading, it presents a lot of useful data about the FBI and the United States' breach of privacy and constitutional rights recently and historically.

The author is trying to send a message ironically and rally people against the NSA's abuses and the corollary fallacy of "If you have nothing to hide, why do you care?" which has also been debunked by Bruce Schneier[2].

Just wanted to put that out there.

[1]: http://danielsieradski.com/nothing-to-hide/14572

[2]: https://www.schneier.com/essay-114.html




> I don't know if all the people volunteering tweets know that

They're not volunteering tweets are they? Surely the retweeting is without their knowledge or approval.

> The author is trying to send a message ironically and rally people against the NSA's abuses

A worthy goal, but I wonder if it might be self-defeating. It portrays this data-gathering as something a huge amount of people simply do not mind.


They're writing the tweets, I wasn't speaking to the tweets then being retweeted.

I also wonder that, it seems eerie how many people are "acting" as though the Twitter is not ironic.


Sadly another example of why irony does not work well in writing. You need the body language and facial expressions to sell it. My sense of humour tends to include a lot of irony and I have had to learn that lesson and now rarely express it on line.




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: