Actually, they probably do. GCHQ has direct access to a lot of information in NSA databases (and probably others like the CIA). I'm guessing that goes both ways.

DS9 but I had to Google it :)

No. Are you an asshole?

Show me in the article where it says they cracked it at the same time. Go ahead, I'll wait. Just because it was announced at the same time doesn't mean it was cracked at the same time. And, frankly, based on the rest of your post you're pretty much a raving lunatic so we're done here.

lol...what exactly makes it a toy? Because it doesn't run your Windows apps? Because that means every linux machine is a toy...and fyi...iOS is based on BSD linux just like OSX.

So you have no evidence other than arguments from other /. posters. This guy's post is just as ridiculous as what he says is ridiculous. First, he states that because different newspapers have said different things, it's bullshit. Uh, since when news papers have to say the exact same thing? Can we also say that any story that isn't worded the same way by all newspapers bullshit? Sorry, but that's not evidence. Different papers have different sources and people don't tell the same story the same why. Big shocker!

Then he goes on to say it's bullshit because Snowden hasn't mentioned anything about MI6 staff records. Snowden himself said he's only looked at a small percentage of the documents. He has no idea what the fuck is even in there.

I could go on but it's pointless because neither of us is going to change our opinion today. That said...would it surprise me if the story isn't completely accurate? Nope. Does that mean it's complete bullshit? Nope.

While Snowden may no longer have the files himself, how could he possibly explain to the reporters he have the information to how to open the files? Makes no sense whatsoever. As for a foreign power cracking the code, they probably wouldn't need to. All they have to do is spy on the reporters that have the files and steal the code. Journalists are no match for top spies and spy tech -- nor are they trained to deal with that. Even people in the industry occasionally get fooled.

Also, the report doesn't say they cracked them at the same time.

No shit, sherlock. But we're not talking about the CIA. This whole thing was about Snowden's leaks, and last I checked, he stole data from the NSA not the CIA. Additionally, I was responding to a post about the "NSA hacking government databases". Also, what databases does the congress have?

What is sketchy and unbelievable? That it took him a long time to get all these documents or that the British found out that China and Russia cracked the data?

Not an excuse when the security the nation and it's allies is at stake. Also keep in mind that he accumulated this information over a long span of time. So he definitely had time to do some filtering.

Apparently reading comprehension isn't your forte.

Last I checked, the Congress isn't a database. Besides, that was the CIA -- not the NSA.

That "toy" operating system operates a lot cash registers these days. I guess your definition of toy and people who's livelihoods depend on it are a bit different.

lol...so Snowden gets to fuck us all over because he was mad that his complaints weren't respected? wow...just wow. And sorry, but the vast majority of the spying they do is, in fact. perfectly legal. Feel free to try and prove me wrong but there's actually very little that's been released so far that says otherwise.

A patriot? Seriously? At best, he's the most naive man on the planet. How could he possibly think it's ok to just grab ALL the information he could get his hands on and then distribute it to journalists around the world. If he would have filtered what he released to them to just the activities he thought were sketchy, you might have something but he didn't. I don't get how /. indiscriminately supports his actions regardless of how reckless they were. Two wrongs don't make a right.