After 9/11, I thought if 2 planes could hit the towers, the government obviously doesn't have the sort of super-secret technology I thought they did. Then, we learn about PRISM; so maybe we do. And more importantly, given the nature of big data and technology, maybe I could help...but should I. Since I couldn't answer the question for myself, I thought I'd put it out to you all.<p>What do you think?
I have zero interest in assisting the government spy on people. Some spying, e.g. during wartime such as the work done at Bletchley Park, may be legitimate, but given our current ongoing state of emergency and war against a non-state enemy, it is far more prone to abuse—as we've been seeing lately.
As a student of both mathematics and computer science, I was seriously considering starting my career at the NSA. (I actually interviewed at a conference once and applied to their summer program. My academic advisor even connected me with an old student of his who worked at the agency.) Now, I am really glad that I decided against pursuing that track; heading to SF next week to work in industry. (In the past year, my primary interests fell away from academia, and I was mostly interested in the federal loan-forgiveness program, since I have a lot of those.)
What is not published, and never will be, is how many real terrorist threats or sleeper cells have been taken out because of PRISM intelligence gathering?
All the public are wanting to see is "USA IS SPYING ON ME" however I will say I think the public would be outraged if there was no PRISM and if terrorists kept attacking the country.<p>You either spy on your own country (because sleeper cells live in your country) and defend it better or you don't and you get attacked... people want the best of both worlds, life doesn't work that way!
Certainly if you're good at math, or languages, or computers, or analysis, or some bits of electronic engineering, then working at GCHQ / CESG is interesting work with skilled people. And Cheltenham is a nice enough place to live.<p>They do have a <i>lot</i> of computer stuff.