And now that you've exposed his gender, initials, part of his address, and part of his phone number, and his profession and employer, so can anyone else who knows how to locate people through databases (I do, but I didn't). I'm a little mystified about why you only half-redacted his information - did you need to include his apartment #, which in combination with his zipcode allows me to eliminate a large number of addresses from that neighborhood immediately, or the area code on his phone, which tells me where he used to live, or his place of employment? As someone who used to live in the same area, I even have a pretty good idea of where to find him at specific times of the day.

You're right to critique the NSA for its carelessness, but I'm at a loss as to why you would then go ahead to magnify their error by posting some of his PII on the Internet and publicizing it on HN.

That kind of variation is unusual in a form letter like this.

*For anyone who doesn't like absolutes, consider it a rounded statement

[1] And/or the questionable use of "the letters' assurances."

Now what is this doing on HN again ?