[codex]

Not necessarily. Snowden took mainly metadata: PowerPoint presentations and the like. I have not heard tell that he took any actual intercepts or personally identifiable cell phone data. I suspect the latter is what is audited.

[joelrunyon]

Don't worry - from what I've heard - metadata isn't all that useful anyways. Which is why we're collecting massive amounts of in in a center in Utah.

/s

[tptacek]

You're playing a game with the definition of "metadata" to refute a point the parent comment didn't make.

[greenyoda]

I don't think we can draw any conclusions about NSA security practices by looking at what Snowden did or did not take. His goal was to expose the NSA's domestic spying programs by turning evidence over to newspapers, so why would he want to walk off with tons of raw tracking data? Taking anything other than what he needed to make his case would just have strengthened the arguments of the people who say he's a traitor who wanted to harm the U.S.

[jfoutz]

I think it's pretty safe to say, the NSA can't secure data against an one person working alone. Therefore the NSA's security practices don't have a prayer at keeping out a determined nation state.

That's probably not the conclusion you're looking for though.