Government snooping, backdoors and #necessaryhashtags

[Brian-E]

Interesting interview. The English translation linked by Nick and quoted by only_human makes it sound, unfortunately, as if John le Carré is being slightly patronising towards Edward Snowden, translating "junger Mann" as "lad", but I don't think he is at all in the original German which comes across as deeply respectful towards Snowden. Ernst and/or others with deep knowledge of the German language please correct me if I'm wrong.

[only_human]

Originally Posted by Brian-E

Interesting interview. The English translation linked by Nick and quoted by only_human makes it sound, unfortunately, as if John le Carré is being slightly patronising towards Edward Snowden, translating "junger Mann" as "lad", but I don't think he is at all in the original German which comes across as deeply respectful towards Snowden. Ernst and/or others with deep knowledge of the German language please correct me if I'm wrong.

Hmm. I didn't get a feeling of patronism. Here is the online article URL -- I am looking at it through Google Translate. In Google's translation, they use "young man", which does seem better. I add that I was aware that John le Carré is over 80 years old, so it feels natural to hear him talk of almost anyone as young. Later in the article is his perspective of the modern era. I do wish the translation was a bit better:
When it comes time for treason

SPIEGEL: Has the world made ​​progress in the 50 years that you now write novels?

Le Carré: We still are basically similar problems: How far can we go in defense of our western citizens' rights without jeopardizing these civil rights in the core?

SPIEGEL: Your answer?

Le Carré: The so-called war on terror has much worse, and that we have learned from past mistakes, I can not say. I sometimes think they are the same men, only with better hair cut and smarter suits who tell us why medieval torture interrogation methods would be why the killing from the air is surgically precise and risk-free, although it is constantly "collateral damage" is why medicines in the developing world would have to be tested because there supposedly is one of a life not so much. And it gets me mad when our Foreign Secretary William Hague says the NSA affair, no one should worry about something if he had done nothing wrong - a sentence that would have been proud of the Joseph Goebbels!

[ewmayer]

Lad is defined as "boy or young man" so is technically correct, but subjectively, "young man" captures the tone of the German better here, and also avoids the "Britishism" sound.

Well said, JLC - one of those times it's good to be old and famous enough to speak truth to power without giving a shit about potential consequences, especially since the mainstream media in the US and UK are so disgracefully in the thrall of said power.

==================

Related Spiegel piece:

Shopping for Spy Gear: Catalog Advertises NSA Toolbox: After years of speculation that electronics can be accessed by intelligence agencies through a back door, an internal NSA catalog reveals that such methods already exist for numerous end-user devices.

When it comes to modern firewalls for corporate computer networks, the world's second largest network equipment manufacturer doesn't skimp on praising its own work. According to Juniper Networks' online PR copy, the company's products are "ideal" for protecting large companies and computing centers from unwanted access from outside. They claim the performance of the company's special computers is "unmatched" and their firewalls are the "best-in-class." Despite these assurances, though, there is one attacker none of these products can fend off -- the United States' National Security Agency.

Specialists at the intelligence organization succeeded years ago in penetrating the company's digital firewalls. A document viewed by SPIEGEL resembling a product catalog reveals that an NSA division called ANT has burrowed its way into nearly all the security architecture made by the major players in the industry -- including American global market leader Cisco and its Chinese competitor Huawei, but also producers of mass-market goods, such as US computer-maker Dell.

A.k.a. "BIOS hacks R Us".

[Nick]

A large number of academics from many different countries (including some big names) have signed the following declaration calling on all countries to stop mass surveillance.

http://www.academicsagainstsurveillance.net/

[ewmayer]

NSA developing computer to crack privacy codes: report

Best LOL line of the article:

In its report on Thursday, The Washington Post said that the NSA is trying to develop a so-called "quantum computer" that could be used to break encryption codes used to cloak sensitive information.

Such a computer, which would be able to perform several calculations at once instead of in a single stream, could take years to develop, the newspaper said.

No surprise that the NSA is hard at work on QC ... speaking of which, a friend forwarded this recent nice piece on QC coding environments by American Scientist's Brian Hayes. I was not aware that FFTs were among the class of algorithms subject to the exponential speedup of "ideal" QCs, but apparently they form the basis for the Shor factoring algorithm. Note 2self: Time to start a serious QC reading program.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Best LOL line of the article.

"If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the particulate."

[ewmayer]

Not to seem precipitous, but I was taught it this way: "...you are part of the precipitate."

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by ewmayer

Not to seem precipitous, but I was taught it this way: "...you are part of the precipitate."

Different teachers; different language.

The message was the same.

[Brian-E]

National governments and huge private companies may have differing reasons for spying on individuals without their knowledge or consent, but it's not hard to see that the big networking companies have plenty of financial incentive to spy on their users, whether they actually do so or not.

Facebook is now facing a lawsuit about alleged spying and passing on of private data to advertisers.

Facebook Sued Over Alleged Scanning of Private Messages

The scanning “is a mechanism for Facebook to surreptitiously gather data in an effort to improve its marketing algorithms and increase its ability to profit from data about Facebook users,” Michael Sobol, an attorney for the plaintiffs, wrote in the Dec. 30 complaint.

Jackie Rooney, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said the company regards the allegations as “without merit.”

[kladner]

Just pretend we're not here.....

[Nick]

The Dutch national public prosecutor's department is advising everyone to cover their webcams and disable microphones when not in use. They admit that our intelligence services will not like this advice, but say that the cybersecurity of citizens is more important.

Full article (in Dutch):
http://nos.nl/artikel/597896-justiti...webcam-af.html