NSA and Illusion of Email, Communication Security

[DeltaV]

And now we know why Backdoor Bill is a billionaire, why Microsoft survived the antitrust breakup attempt, why Windows has 90+ % of the PC OS market and why the biggest chip maker is named "Intel"...

[DeltaV]

Backdoors with a useful life span require the use of a programming language with a generous amount of unnecessary, intrinsic complexity. All the better for crafting truly Machiavellian obfuscations. C++ and its spawn fit the bill nicely.

The malware and hacker phenomena probably have their origins in these secretly-mandated backdoors.

[hanelyp]

Backdoors with a useful life span require the use of a programming language with a generous amount of unnecessary, intrinsic complexity. ...

More that that, they require the source code to be hidden from prying eyes. As they say in the Open Source world, "With enough eyes, all bugs are shallow." All the more reason to insist on software that is open to inspection for critical operations.



In related news:
http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/07/new-x ... h-you-247/

What Microsoft has not promoted, however, is the fact that you will not be able to power on the console without first enabling the Kinect, designed to detect both heartbeats and eye movement. and positioning yourself in front of it.
...
Perhaps the feature most worryisome to privacy advocates is the requirement that the Xbox connect to the Internet at least once every 24 hours.

It's been suggested that the worst part of this excessive surveillance is potential for corrupt government to blackmail political enemies, including private citizens, over matters that are legal but embarrassing.

[hanelyp]

Apparent blackmail from illicit snooping:
http://www.breitbart.com/InstaBlog/2013 ... um=twitter


Not that I expect many other governments to be any better on privacy, but,
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol ... =pm_latest
Could be a market for IT services structured to prevent 3rd party snooping even with cooperation of the service provider.

[mvanwink5]

Everyone has family. Even if you are spic and span clean... brother, sister, daughter, son, daughter-in-law, etc. Saddam was able to keep everything together through family linkage. Need a job, mortgage, business contacts? Remember those Republicans that lost their Government Motors dealerships? Remember Clinton having FBI files brought to his political operatives, and suddenly thing went smoothly in congress (until midterm)?

[ScottL]

The movie "Enemy of the State"
url: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120660/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
springs to mind with what is going on. This should frighten one and all, and I say that in all seriousness.

[quixote]

The movie "Enemy of the State"
url: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120660/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
springs to mind with what is going on. This should frighten one and all, and I say that in all seriousness.

Best line from that movie, imo:

Brill: The government's been in bed with the entire telecommunications industry since the forties. They've infected everything. They get into your bank statements, computer files, email, listen to your phone calls... Every wire, every airwave. The more technology used, the easier it is for them to keep tabs on you. It's a brave new world out there. At least it'd better be.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120660/quo ... =qt0298659

[choff]

I liked this quote from the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTYnejbZFkY

The more they create the technology to control us, the more weapons they provide to use back on them. Right now they have the problem of employing people smart enough to install, maintain, and employ all this spy gear, yet still be dumb enough to not rebel against them taking away basic liberties.

[paperburn1]

Most of the programs in place had their license to peek renewed in 2008. A lot of the tech has vast improvements to the process so I think that those in congress do not even begin to understand how invasive it can be.
http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/20 ... cords?lite

[choff]

You have to figure that for every Snowden there's at least ten other guys in the same position thinking about doing the same thing. If the authories get stupid and heavy handed dealing with him as an example for others it could backfire. These guys are in a position to dig up the dirt on politians and release to public.

[ScottL]

My stances is certainly pro-privacy. I believe the concept of privacy is inherently part of a common sense interpretation of the constitution and the fundamental principles this nation was founded upon. That being said, I'm appalled by some of the positions of my acquaintances from over the years. For instance, I have a friend who completed college shortly after me and then enlisted into the army. This friend has since gone on a tirade about how Snowden is a traitor and that quoting Benjamin Franklin (give up a little liberty for safety, deserve neither quote) is not practical for our time. I'm blown away by individuals willing to give up liberties for a false sense of security. This confounds me on every level. This issue isn't even partisan, it's common frick sense (excuse my language).

[paperburn1]

following a few of these measures can help
http://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comment ... _become_a/
duckduckgo isa great site for a google substitute or at least it was.

[hanelyp]

http://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/20 ... ul-revere/
Describes how network analysis can identify key influential figures in a large group. Applied to phone and email meta data it could pick out a relatively small number of highly influential persons in society.

[choff]

Found this while following the Snowden story, might be something about the timing of the disclosures.


http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2 ... king_group?


The whole case may be more complicated than we know about, there's internet chatter about Obama visiting China soon and bringing up Chinese hacking of western countries.