I'm sorry, I know many people like the Guardian and all... but ah crap, they're penning stories like this one about Cookies and the NSA web site.
The journalist knows practically NOTHING about what they write of, but uses lots of quotes and references to make it seem like they do. It is the fundamentals that count, not the hype, people. Those cookies DO NOT REPRESENT A PRIVACY OR SECURITY THREAT. The story is a NON-ISSUE. Try reporting on something that actually matters.
Perhaps to placate the likely irritating journalist's panicked and breathless telephone queries, an FAS representative responded thusly:
"This illustrates the principle that unchecked authority goes astray. In this case, it's a relatively trivial infraction," said Steven Aftergood, of the Federation of American Scientists.
In other words, "you're a mindless clone of a journalist who is revealing your ignorance and I know I can't get you to give up your profession upon which you bring great dishonour, so shut up and leave me alone, so I can get drunk and wonder about the state of ignorance in this world, pointedly illustrated by your phone call."
Oh and by the way the journalist mentions googlewatch.org as a source of information. I checked out the site. It is a domain-spam landing page. Nice goin' there aardvark.
Phew. I feel much better now.
Thanks.