Government snooping, backdoors and #necessaryhashtags - Page 23

only_human · 2013-08-22, 20:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalsall

Wear a hat.

You mean perform a willful act of circumventing security?

ewmayer · 2013-08-22, 20:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalsall

Wear a hat.

Full-facial skimask style [and if that, with or sans fuzzy-ball topper? Reindeer-themed or not?] or top-of-head-only? Lined with tinfoil or not? Inquiring minds want to know.

And how long before the "practical advice on how to safeguard any shred of privacy" degenerates to "never leave your cave"?

chalsall · 2013-08-22, 20:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

And how long before the "practical advice on how to safeguard any shred of privacy" degenerates to "never leave your cave"?

The point I am trying to make here is no computer will be smarter than a human for at least quite some time. A smart human will always be able to beat a computer.

We all know we're being monitored 24/7 in ways we can't even begin to imagine.

So, therefore, one must act with up-most integrity.

Otherwise, "the Terrorists Win".

Edit: Or, perhaps, they already have....

xilman · 2013-08-22, 21:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalsall

Wear a hat.

Grow a beard (though I accept you may need hormone therapy to carry out this recommendation).

I have been told by people whom I believe know about what they are talking, that I'm almost indistinguishable from Osama bin Laden. Apart from not being dead yet.

18 months ago a wee brat on the Lausanne metro was convinced that I was Papa Noel and she insisted first on touching my beard and then holding my hand. One of the side-effects of being a pogonophiiac. A MersenneForum member can testify to the veracity of this story.

Paul

chalsall · 2013-08-22, 22:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by xilman

I have been told by people whom I believe know about what they are talking, that I'm almost indistinguishable from Osama bin Laden. Apart from not being dead yet.

I tried to stop myself from posting, but I just couldn't...

The last sentence is too funny (and ironic (and iconic)) for words!!!

ewmayer · 2013-08-23, 19:33

Friday Humor: The liar-in-chief sez!

Obama: surveillance safeguards worked, but must be improved: (Reuters) - Safeguards to ensure that U.S. surveillance measures are not abused have worked but must be improved as technology advances, President Barack Obama said in an interview with CNN that aired on Friday.

ewmayer · 2013-08-24, 22:43

Internet Architects Plan Counter-Attack On NSA Snooping: "Not having encryption on the web today is a matter of life and death," is how one member of the Internet Engineering Task Force - IETF (the so-called architects of the web) described the current situation.

Anyone care to lay odds that the PTB will actually let something like this happen without them being able to co-opt it to the point of effective nullification? I say 0, but that is one bet I'd dearly love to lose.

chalsall · 2013-08-24, 22:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Anyone care to lay odds that the PTB will actually let something like this happen without them being able to co-opt it to the point of effective nullification? I say 0, but that is one bet I'd dearly love to lose.

You do, of course, already have your public key signature?

To share, mine is 0xa88f9deccb95259c.

ewmayer · 2013-08-26, 20:18

NSA paid millions to cover Prism compliance costs for tech companies

Quote:

The National Security Agency paid millions of dollars to cover the costs of major internet companies involved in the Prism surveillance program after a court ruled that some of the agency's activities were unconstitutional, according to top-secret material passed to the Guardian.

The technology companies, which the NSA says includes Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Facebook, incurred the costs to meet new certification demands in the wake of the ruling from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (Fisa) court.

The October 2011 judgment, which was declassified on Wednesday by the Obama administration, found that the NSA's inability to separate purely domestic communications from foreign traffic violated the fourth amendment.
...
The disclosure that taxpayers' money was used to cover the companies' compliance costs raises new questions over the relationship between Silicon Valley and the NSA. Since the existence of the program was first revealed by the Guardian and the Washington Post on June 6, the companies have repeatedly denied all knowledge of it and insisted they only hand over user data in response to specific legal requests from the authorities.

Google simply needs a small tweak to their ever-more-of-a-sick-joke motto - here we go: "Don't be Evil - without proper reimbursement."
[You're welcome, Larry, Sergey and Eric - I'd forward a copy of this to you but I figure you're probably already reading it as I type it.]

U.S. spy agency bugged U.N. headquarters: Germany's Spiegel: BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.S. National Security Agency has bugged the United Nations' New York headquarters, Germany's Der Spiegel weekly said on Sunday in a report on U.S. spying that could further strain relations between Washington and its allies.

Quote:

Citing secret U.S. documents obtained by fugitive former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, Der Spiegel said the files showed how the United States systematically spied on other states and institutions.

Der Spiegel said the European Union and the U.N.'s Vienna-based nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), were among those targeted by U.S. intelligence agents.

In the summer of 2012, NSA experts succeeded in getting into the U.N. video conferencing system and cracking its coding system, according one of the documents cited by Der Spiegel.

"The data traffic gives us internal video teleconferences of the United Nations (yay!)," Der Spiegel quoted one document as saying, adding that within three weeks the number of decoded communications rose to 458 from 12.

Internal files also show the NSA spied on the EU legation in New York after it moved to new rooms in autumn 2012. Among the documents copied by Snowden from NSA computers are plans of the EU mission, its IT infrastructure and servers.

According to the documents, the NSA runs a bugging program in more than 80 embassies and consulates worldwide called "Special Collection Service". "The surveillance is intensive and well organized and has little or nothing to do with warding off terrorists," wrote Der Spiegel.

chalsall · 2013-08-26, 20:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewmayer

NSA paid millions to cover Prism compliance costs for tech companies

Sounds a bit like thirty pieces of silver to me....

kladner · 2013-08-26, 21:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by chalsall

Sounds a bit like thirty pieces of silver to me....

.....or hush payments to "plumbers".

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2013-08-23, 19:33	#248
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 19×613 Posts	Friday Humor: The liar-in-chief sez! Obama: surveillance safeguards worked, but must be improved: (Reuters) - Safeguards to ensure that U.S. surveillance measures are not abused have worked but must be improved as technology advances, President Barack Obama said in an interview with CNN that aired on Friday.

2013-08-24, 22:43	#249
ewmayer ∂²ω=0 Sep 2002 República de California 10110101111111₂ Posts	Internet Architects Plan Counter-Attack On NSA Snooping: "Not having encryption on the web today is a matter of life and death," is how one member of the Internet Engineering Task Force - IETF (the so-called architects of the web) described the current situation. Anyone care to lay odds that the PTB will actually let something like this happen without them being able to co-opt it to the point of effective nullification? I say 0, but that is one bet I'd dearly love to lose.