Of course it's possible for us to be "real" and still be part of a simulation. If we go deeper into philosophy and explore the concept of "free will", another question arises: Are we "real" if all of our choices and actions are preordained?
Of course this is way off topic, so I'll try to steer us back.
The NSA has a choice between improving domestic security by helping to improve standards and protocols, or choosing to deliberately weaken them so they can collect more. (As an aside, it is nonsensical to collect any more since they cannot even process what they are collecting now.) NSA has chosen to support and encourage the weakening of information security, and that has had serious consequences for both national and global security. One good example of the consequences is the Shadow Brokers dump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Brokers
Of course this is way off topic, so I'll try to steer us back.
The NSA has a choice between improving domestic security by helping to improve standards and protocols, or choosing to deliberately weaken them so they can collect more. (As an aside, it is nonsensical to collect any more since they cannot even process what they are collecting now.) NSA has chosen to support and encourage the weakening of information security, and that has had serious consequences for both national and global security. One good example of the consequences is the Shadow Brokers dump. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shadow_Brokers