you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 174 points 2 years ago (27 children)

How does this happen? Like people on the forum get into some argument about the turn radius of some tank and how they shouldn’t have lost a game, and then it escalates until someone posts the tank specs so they can be right on the internet?

  • source
  • hideshow 27 child comments
  • [–] 167 points 2 years ago

    Yes. This is apparently so much of a problem that US and other nations include this in security training for military personnel and contractors. They literally teach you not to get in arguments online about weapons capabilities and whatnot because they know people are dumb enough to post classified info just so they can be like "ackshually..." on an internet forum.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 97 points 2 years ago (21 children)

    From what I’ve seen it’s usually that Gaijin have something wrong about the vehicle and so people leak actual classified information because they want it to be corrected.

    MilSim people can be an odd bunch sometimes

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 21 child comments
  • [–] 60 points 2 years ago (18 children)

    And the devs are like "Are you fucking dumb? We won't use classified info in our game."

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 18 child comments
  • [–] 36 points 2 years ago (16 children)

    Well if it’s something like a turn radius, they can always claim that they just guessed right.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 16 child comments
  • [–] 30 points 2 years ago (15 children)

    Are they under any obligation to protect the classified information if they're not the ones who leaked it?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 15 child comments
  • [–] 53 points 2 years ago (8 children)

    Knowingly owning or using classified info without proper clearance is, in fact, a crime.

    That’s a large part of what Trump’s classified document raid was for. Former presidents usually have a lot of classified stuff to turn over after leaving office. It’s standard practice, (and perfectly legal) to simply send it back (via the proper channels) as soon as you discover you have it. But if you conceal it and refuse to return it (like Trump did) then that’ll land you in some hot water.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    It's my understanding that you're only required to protect the information if you've actually agreed to do so, which is obviously a retirement for being given access. Elected officials are a weird area where they have a much easier time getting clearance, but they've still made agreements to protect the information.

    Trump was authorized to handle classified information in the first place, which is why his mishandling was a problem. I haven't read the actual law, but I'm pretty sure ordinary people who happen across classified information have no duty at all in any direction. If you can show me an example of a random person getting in trouble for sharing classified information that they didn't steal or get others to steal, well, let me know.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    AFAIK it's part of being given some clearance. In most Western countries it's fine to republish already leaked material as a private citizen. How would the media do it otherwise?

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    No, his problem is that he was supposed to have access at some point wherein you agree to secure documents in certain ways. If you're given it or find it you do not have that duty. Defense secrets are much more protected but still not that much of you aren't supposed to have access.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 16 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    No. You can publish it if you like. This is how journalists work. You cannot get someone to commit a crime towards getting classified documents (Assange tried to teach people to hack shit and pled guilty to this). But accepting them and publishing them is fine and good.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    That is not what Assange plead guilty to whatsoever.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    “He pleaded guilty to conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States” - https://apnews.com/article/assange-wikileaks-plea-deal-39b72e6be6a775dae9b008728a46e595

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • It's sometimes this, and it's sometimes Gaijin just claiming something is classified for whatever reason.

    Sometimes, a British tank crewman posts technical specs from their manual for the Challenger 2. Sometimes, Gaijin claims that a declassified, internationally available manual for a Cold War era plane is classified. Or the Wikipedia article on a WW2 tank.

  • source
  • parent