[QUOTE=kladner;426568]The story is in regard to surveillance in Pakistan. The faulty technique used to "identify terrorists" is more broadly applicable.
[URL="http://arstechnica.co.uk/security/2016/02/the-nsas-skynet-program-may-be-killing-thousands-of-innocent-people/"][SIZE=2]"Ridiculously optimistic" machine learning algorithm is "completely bullshit," says expert.[/SIZE][/URL][/QUOTE]

A.k.a. field testing of experimental tech intended to be deployed more broadly (including at home) in the future. Ya can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs - or in this case pink-misting a few Pakistani wedding parties - right? Far-away conflict zones - and no risk of running out of those, just create new ones as needed - make for ideal beta-testing laboratories, just as is often done with experimental vaccines in Africa.

------------------------------------

[url=timshorrock.com/?p=2354]Cryptome’s searing critique of Snowden Inc.[/url] | TimShorrock.com
[quote]Cryptome raises serious questions that nobody else on the left or in the media want to talk about, including how Omidar has created a business from Snowden’s cache; what exactly Snowden may have been doing while he was working for the CIA prior to his time at NSA (and what else he may have been doing at NSA itself); and why Snowden and The Intercept continue to proselytize for Tor, the anonymization tool, despite its massive funding from the U.S. government, the Pentagon and the national security state.
...
Cryptome’s critique, as expressed in the interview, is not new. Ever since Greenwald first wrote about Snowden’s documents in The Guardian in 2013, the organization has been keeping careful track of the glacial pace of the documents’ release and The Intercept’s almost-total control over the cache. Their latest tally, posted this week, is 6,318 pages of what The Guardian first reported as 58,000 files.

From the start, Young and Natsios made it clear that they strongly disapprove of the fact that this cache has not been made widely available to the public and posted for all to see – as they have done with the tens of thousands of intelligence files they have released since the late 1990s (and as Daniel Ellsberg did with the Pentagon Papers).[/quote]
This strikes me as roughly equal parts valid concerns and internecine shitfight, but interested in other readers' opinions on it.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;426578]This strikes me as roughly equal parts valid concerns and internecine shitfight, but interested in other readers' opinions on it.[/QUOTE]
Language such as "proselytize for Tor" does not sound objective to me. In my conversations with the late Caspar Bowden, Roger Dingledine and others on the Tor project, I always found them knowledgeable and sincere.

Why Tim Cook is right to call court-ordered iPhone hack a “backdoor”
 

[URL="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/02/why-tim-cook-is-right-to-call-court-ordered-iphone-hack-a-backdoor/"]Another spook attempt[/URL] to be able to snoop on millions more. Who could possibly believe that they would use this court-ordered hack [U]only once[/U]?
[QUOTE]The order requires Apple to create a customized version of iOS that will run only on the iPhone 5C belonging to Syed Rizwan Farook. Along with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, Farook went on a deadly shooting rampage in San Bernadino. The FBI understandably wants access to the data stored on Farook's phone so investigators have a better idea of the events leading up to the deadly attack and whether the husband-and-wife team received support from unknown people. But so far investigators have been unable to unlock the device. Security measures Apple built into the iPhone limit the number of guesses they can make, and there's also concern too many guesses could cause the phone to automatically destroy the data it stores.

The special iOS version the court ordered would work around these restrictions. It would remove normal iOS functions Apple created to intentionally increase the amount of time it takes to repeatedly enter passcodes, and it would allow an unlimited number of guesses to be made without destroying any data. The Apple-produced software must also allow the FBI to submit PIN code guesses through the phone's physical device port or through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connections, a requirement that would allow investigators to use speedy computer scripts rather than manually enter each PIN candidate. Based on the wording of the order, the customized iOS version probably wouldn't be directly installed on the phone, but rather loaded into the phone's memory, in much the way OSes can be booted from a USB drive.

Because of requirements that iPhone software be digitally signed using valid Apple signing keys, Apple is the only company capable of installing the custom OS on Farook's phone without going through the extremely risky process of jailbreaking it. In essence, the order requires Apple to create software that bypasses all of these key security features it built into the iPhone.
[B][SIZE=3]Aye, there's the rub [/SIZE][/B]

[/QUOTE]

McAfee offers to crack iPhone for free
 

ArsTechnia just posted a story that they will crack the iPhone for free in 3 weeks or less using their staff of hackers using social media. The author thought McAfee was full of it. [URL="http://arstechnica.com/staff/2016/02/mcafee-will-break-iphone-crypto-for-fbi-in-3-weeks-or-eat-shoe-on-live-tv/"]http://arstechnica.com/staff/2016/02/mcafee-will-break-iphone-crypto-for-fbi-in-3-weeks-or-eat-shoe-on-live-tv/[/URL]

[QUOTE=tServo;426844]ArsTechnia just posted a story that they will crack the iPhone for free in 3 weeks or less using their staff of hackers using social media. The author thought McAfee was full of it. [URL]http://arstechnica.com/staff/2016/02/mcafee-will-break-iphone-crypto-for-fbi-in-3-weeks-or-eat-shoe-on-live-tv/[/URL][/QUOTE]
Haha, that is a good one. Actually, I read it to the end, and even googled "soylent farts" :blush:

[url]http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/02/18/nyt-china-apple[/url]

[QUOTE=xilman;426929][url]http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/02/18/nyt-china-apple[/url][/QUOTE]Either an intentionally smart move on NYT's part, or a dumb mistake. By deleting it they bring to everyone's attention. Once it is published, you can't un-publish it, this is the Internet, it never forgets.

It's possible that removing that part will allow the rest of the article to be read from Internet connections in China.

[QUOTE=retina;426930]Either an intentionally smart move on NYT's part, or a dumb mistake. By deleting it they bring to everyone's attention. Once it is published, you can't un-publish it, this is the Internet, it never forgets.[/QUOTE]
NYT..cough cough..Judith Miller....aluminium tubes

[URL="http://gizmodo.com/justice-department-forcing-apple-to-unlock-about-12-oth-1760749507"]Justice Department Forcing Apple to Unlock 'About 12 Other iPhones' Says WSJ[/URL][QUOTE]The unlocking of the San Bernardino iPhone may just be the tip of the iceberg. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Justice Department is currently trying to have Apple extract data from “about a dozen” iPhones around the country.

According to “people familiar with the matter,” the authorities are looking to extract data from these other phones in much the same way as the San Bernardino case. In each example, prosecutors have attempted to use the All Writs Act to force Apple to bypass the device’s passcode in order to extract data.

While the Journal hasn’t learned any exact details about the cases, it claims “they don’t involve terrorism charges,” according to its sources. Other than that, details remain scant.[/QUOTE]

A woman parked her car in Amsterdam and paid using her mobile phone, but mistyped her car registration number. She was subsequently fined, but fought her case all the way up to the (Dutch) Supreme Court - and won. The court ruled today that the law only allows a fine to be imposed if someone parks a car without paying.

Judgment (in Dutch): [URL]http://deeplink.rechtspraak.nl/uitspraak?id=ECLI:NL:HR:2016:316[/URL]