This Brilliant Drawing Links NSA Spying On Google And The Vatican

On Thursday separate reports revealed that the National Security Agency may have spied on the Vatican during the papal conclave and infiltrated the clouds of both Google and Yahoo.

The revelations have separate implications in terms of the intent and extent of NSA snooping, but they share the common theme of the spy agency's extraordinary ability to obtain information it seeks despite barriers in the way.

Berkman Center Fellow Ryan Budish tweeted this fantastic drawing pulling the two stories together:

Comparing it to the original slide, it's clear that Budish nailed it.

The "Corporeal World," filled with sinners and cardinals, stands in for the "Public Internet" and its users while the "Ethereal World," filled with the spiritual entities and prayer, stands in for the "Google Cloud" (i.e., Google programs and traffic).

What stands out in both, naturally, is the distinctive nose on the celebratory smiley face.

NSA/WaPo