topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Tuesday March 19, 2024, 2:45 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Last post Author Topic: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.  (Read 354811 times)

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #675 on: December 31, 2016, 04:15 PM »
Historically, we know from their actions leading up to WW2, and their actions during the "Cold War", the Cuban crisis and the subsequent collapse of the USSR and the Berlin Wall, that the Russians would seem to have deservedly earned the reputation of being pariahs of modern "democratic civilization".

Then they harboured the "traitorous criminal" Snowden, who had fled to Russia to avoid being banged up in chokey for - likely as not - the rest of his life, for the SnowdonGate revelations published by the UK's Guardian newspaper, about the US NSA intrusively spying on what seemed to be just about everybody and in every nation and distributing information-gathering (hacking) viruses and whatnot across the Internet.

So it was not too surprising to me when I read the other day that Obama had apparently restarted the old Cold War practice of sending a bunch of Russian diplomatic officials home as punishment for some wrong the Ruskies were alleged to have committed - in this case the official reason was that they had apparently committed a "wrong" by hacking into US government-operated networks and leaking the information they had gleaned to WikiLeaks, or something, though I also gather from media reports that Julian Assange has stated the Russian government was not the source and the Russians have also denied it.
Then I read today in ARStechnica.com that:
White House fails to make case that Russian hackers tampered with election
... Sadly, the JAR, as the Joint Analysis Report is called, does little to end the debate. Instead of providing smoking guns that the Russian government was behind specific hacks, it largely restates previous private-sector claims without providing any support for their validity. Even worse, it provides an effective bait and switch by promising newly declassified intelligence into Russian hackers' "tradecraft and techniques" and instead delivering generic methods carried out by just about all state-sponsored hacking groups. ...

Historically, ARStechnica seems to have a record for its tendency, to push the politically correct line ad nauseam, so I reckoned this take on the JAR was probably a reasoned conclusion from some investigative journalism (for a change) and someone having read the report with their critical thinking cap on.

There seems toe be something hilarious in all of this, because, in the US government making the apparently unproven and unsubstantiated allegations/accusations about the Russian hacking (QED), and trying to take retribution for same, they have compounded themselves in a classic case of "the pot calling the kettle black", and they are also being hypocritical in this when in fact it is the US government (via the NSA) that would seem to be categorically the worst hacking offender on the planet - QED as per the published SnowdonGate revelations and which nobody has denied.

So is all this apparent BS about the Russians "fake news", or "truthism", or something?

Some people (not me, you understand) might say that, either way, it clearly creates a dichotomy which has the potential to demonize, stigmatize and antagonise the "evil" Russians, in what looks to be some kind of US government political cover-up whilst pointing the blame elsewhere, and it might thereby make it even more difficult to later reverse and give Snowden a pardon, but I couldn't possibly comment.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2016, 04:30 PM by IainB »

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #676 on: October 30, 2017, 08:02 AM »
Well, since @40hz's opening post on this thread, on 2013-06-22, 10:10:00 (over 4 years ago), the situation regarding Snowden's criminal status seems to have remained pretty much unchanged - i.e., still no pardon.

What he did was - at evidential risk of his own personal freedoms - to effectively pull the veil from over our collective eyes, so that we could all transparently see the breathtaking scope of the global activities of the US NSA and associated allied national/international state-sponsored spying agencies.
Some people (not me, you understand) might say that in doing do, he arguably performed a deed of general public (and democratic) good for the free world, but I couldn't possibly comment.

However, rather than his being protected under some kind of a supposed "whistleblower's charter" (ha-ha), he apparently remains demonized and criminalised by the US state and/or judicial systems.

I was reminded of Snowden's apparently unselfish generosity and self-sacrifice when I read on TechDirt about a seemingly serious article from the NYTimes:
 As U.S. Confronts Internet’s Disruptions, China Feels Vindicated

It's a stunning article in that it seems to be parroting what the "reporters" were being told by some kind of Chinese official, with little real journalistic input, comment or critique whatsoever, leaving one with the suggestion that what the Chinese are doing is a model that the US could perhaps consider adopting. For example, despite saying that:
...Besides Communist Party loyalists, few would argue that China’s internet control serves as a model for democratic societies.
______________________

 - they seem to be suggesting that that's somehow "O.K.", because they then add:
...At the same time, China anticipated many of the questions now flummoxing governments from the United States to Germany to Indonesia. Where the Russians have turned the internet into a political weapon, China has used it as a shield.
______________________

Before that, there's a presumably unintentionally hilarious (LOL) bit where they report the guy (a "Mr. Zhao") who seems to be a main source of official Chinese input:
“This kind of thing would not happen here,” Mr. Zhao said of the controversy over Russia’s influence in the American presidential election last year.
__________________________________
As some wag called Ben Thompson points out,
...the reason it won't happen in China is because there are no Presidential elections in China.
(Copied from the TechDirt post.)
_________________________________

Some people (not me, you understand) might say that it almost seems as though the media (NYT) aren't so much concerned with articles about ensuring/promoting the freedoms of whistleblowers like Snowden - and ultimately of all Internet users in the free world - as they seem to be with maintaining their "freedom of the press" to promote their own precious and peculiar propaganda and other nonsense or distortions of what they determine to be "the news" that we should read. However, again, I couldn't possibly comment.
It could be interesting if The Grauniad made some comment about this though, since they were the first to see the importance of and to publish the tranche of Snowdengate material.
« Last Edit: October 30, 2017, 08:07 AM by IainB »

Renegade

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 13,288
  • Tell me something you don't know...
    • View Profile
    • Renegade Minds
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #677 on: October 30, 2017, 09:19 AM »
Right now some great thing to watch are Julian Assange's Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/

He's ripping through people. Savage. Good on the Based White Wizard.

Also, James O'Keefe is destroying the NYT right now. It's very entertaining.

https://www.youtube..../user/veritasvisuals

Slow Down Music - Where I commit thought crimes...

Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong. - John Diefenbaker

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #678 on: October 30, 2017, 11:20 AM »
@Renegade: Thanks for the links. Interesting.

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden <--> James Risen.
« Reply #679 on: January 06, 2018, 01:23 AM »
I was reading a post on democracynow.org of the transcript of a 5th January 2018 video interview with Pulitzer prizewinner James Risen - an American journalist. The transcript is well worth a read, as it is quite educational, but the 15,000-word article referred to in the transcript - "The Biggest Secret" (see link in the quote below) - seems to be excellent journalism and provides a background as to what Snowden later revealed and the events leading up to Risen winning the Pulitzer, though it sometimes seems quite frightening in its implications for suppression of freedoms and especially freedom of the press to print the truth without punishment/retribution and to protect their legitimate sources, where Truth and the advocates of Truth are the main casualties in this, what seems to be, post-fact, post-truth, "truthism" and "fake news" era.

The link to the transcript is: The Biggest Secret: James Risen on Life as a NY Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror | Democracy Now!

I found the transcript very interesting, because it sheds light on the US government prohibition/suppression of reporting of US state-sponsored spying - which spying Snowden eventually blew the whistle on - including the warrantless wiretapping and the broader effort to gather email and phone records of Americans in a "massive program that we later learned was codenamed Stellar Wind."

The intro to the post is a good summary of its relevance (my emphasis):
We spend the hour with former New York Times reporter James Risen, who left the paper in August to join The Intercept as senior national security correspondent. This week, he published a 15,000-word story headlined “The Biggest Secret: My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror.” The explosive piece describes his struggles to publish major national security stories in the post-9/11 period and how both the government and his own editors at The New York Times suppressed his reporting, including reports on the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program, for which he would later win the Pulitzer Prize. Risen describes meetings between key Times editors and top officials at the CIA and the White House. His refusal to name a source would take him to the Supreme Court, and he almost wound up in jail, until the Obama administration blinked.

Copied from: The Biggest Secret: James Risen on Life as a NY Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror | Democracy Now! - <https://www.democracynow.org/2018/1/5/the_biggest_secret_james_risen_on>

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #680 on: January 25, 2018, 04:30 AM »
At first, I wasn't sure whether to put this under "Snowdengate" or "silly humour", then I figured it actually wasn't very funny.
NSA DELETES “HONESTY” AND “OPENNESS” FROM CORE VALUES
<https://theintercept.com/2018/01/24/nsa-core-values-honesty-deleted/>
Jean Marc Manach
January 25 2018, 1:29

THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY maintains a page on its website that outlines its mission statement. But earlier this month, the agency made a discreet change: It removed “honesty” as its top priority.

Since at least May 2016, the surveillance agency had featured honesty as the first of four “core values” listed on NSA.gov, alongside “respect for the law,” “integrity,” and “transparency.” The agency vowed on the site to “be truthful with each other.”

On January 12, however, the NSA removed the mission statement page – which can still be viewed through the Internet Archive – and replaced it with a new version. Now, the parts about honesty and the pledge to be truthful have been deleted. The agency’s new top value is “commitment to service,” which it says means “excellence in the pursuit of our critical mission.”

Those are not the only striking alterations. In its old core values, the NSA explained that it would strive to be deserving of the “great trust” placed in it by national leaders and American citizens. It said that it would “honor the public’s need for openness.” But those phrases are now gone; all references to “trust,” “honor,” and “openness” have disappeared.

The agency previously stated on its website that it embraced transparency and claimed that all of its activities were aimed at “ensuring the safety, security, and liberty of our fellow citizens.” That has also been discarded. The agency still says it is committed to transparency on the updated website, but the transparency is now described as being for the benefit of “those who authorize and oversee NSA’s work on behalf of the American people.” The definition of “integrity” has been edited, too. The agency formerly said its commitment to integrity meant it would “behave honorably and apply good judgment.” The phrase “behave honorably” has now been dropped in favor of “communicating honestly and directly, acting ethically and fairly and carrying out our mission efficiently and effectively.”

The new list of values includes the additions “respect for people” and “accountability.” But the section on respecting people is a reference to diversity within the NSA workforce, not a general commitment to members of the public. Accountability is defined as taking “responsibility for our decisions.” The one core value that remains essentially unchanged is “respect for the law,” which the agency says means it is “grounded in our adherence to the U.S. Constitution and compliance with the U.S. laws, regulations and policies that govern our activities.”

In response to questions from The Intercept on Tuesday, the NSA played down the alterations. Thomas Groves, a spokesperson for the agency, said: “It’s nothing more than a website update, that’s all it is.”

Copied from: NSA Deletes “Honesty” and “Openness” From Core Values - <https://theintercept.com/2018/01/24/nsa-core-values-honesty-deleted/>

Some people (not me, you understand) might say that "The USA would seem to be unequivocally "stuffed", but I couldn't possibly comment.

Stoic Joker

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 6,646
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #681 on: January 25, 2018, 07:11 AM »
Some people (not me, you understand) might say that "The USA would seem to be unequivocally "stuffed", but I couldn't possibly comment.
The NSA really is turning into quite the mad dog off its leash - Christ we are so screwed.

Then again we could at least try to appreciate they're finally being honest enough to admit their complete lack of honesty..  :-\ :D

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #682 on: January 26, 2018, 09:10 AM »
...Then again we could at least try to appreciate they're finally being honest enough to admit their complete lack of honesty..  :-\ :D
Well, yes, that would seem to be true, yet, though that is an amusing comment, the implications could be quite frightening: It would seem that the gloves are off and the intrusive spying is brazenly admitted to. It's an in-your-face middle digit sort of "How do you like them apples, buddy!?" to the American people at large (never mind the rest of the world).
This would effectively seem to be the State giving the finger to the American people, and others. No longer any attempt at concealment or diversion, it's an almost brazen insult - a fait accompli. - #SuckItUp.

Stoic Joker

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 6,646
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #683 on: January 26, 2018, 11:15 AM »
...Then again we could at least try to appreciate they're finally being honest enough to admit their complete lack of honesty..   -Stoic Joker (January 25, 2018, 08:11 AM)Well, yes, that would seem to be true, yet, though that is an amusing comment, the implications could be quite frightening: It would seem that the gloves are off and the intrusive spying is brazenly admitted to. It's an in-your-face middle digit sort of "How do you like them apples, buddy!?" to the American people at large (never mind the rest of the world).

Yepper... That's exactly what I was driving at with the (dark humor) wise crack. Hence the setup line above it. ;)

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #684 on: January 26, 2018, 05:49 PM »
@Stoic Joker: OIC. Yes, I saw the point as in "...the mad dog off its leash...we are so screwed", but perceived the "...they're finally being honest enough to admit their complete lack of honesty..." as simply bleak humour in a true statement.

This thing they have done - the changes to their website - I could be wrong, of course, but, whatever one calls it, it would seem to be a clear, deliberate and calculated move - seemingly a fundamental shift in formalized policy - motivated by what American citizens can only guess at, since the adjustment to the website has apparently deliberately been neither publicised nor explained, but merely slipped in whilst people were sleeping, with an offhand, dismissive - almost insulting - response, when the change was queried.
These would not seem to be the actions of a pukka civil servant per se, but rather the actions of the master, so secure in its position that it can overtly demonstrate a boorish/arrogant indifference to any public opinion/objection.

Maybe it's a first step in a process of desensitization of citizens towards a creeping erosion of rights and/or civil liberties - in the hope that, eventually, protest fatigue may set in and apathy take over.
Or maybe it's jumping the gun a bit? Speaking of which, at least in the US, the citizens still have the ability to ultimately protect themselves from the State in a worst case scenario, via the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution (i.e., the right to keep and bear arms), despite the seemingly ceaseless assault by the State, on those rights, at every opportunity.
Other Western democracies don't seem to have anything like that.
« Last Edit: January 26, 2018, 06:38 PM by IainB »

Stoic Joker

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 6,646
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #685 on: January 26, 2018, 08:19 PM »
These would not seem to be the actions of a pukka civil servant per se, but rather the actions of the master, so secure in its position that it can overtly demonstrate a boorish/arrogant indifference to any public opinion/objection.

Maybe it's a first step in a process of desensitization of citizens towards a creeping erosion of rights and/or civil liberties - in the hope that, eventually, protest fatigue may set in and apathy take over.

Hay! ...Now that's the page I'm on too! :D


Or maybe it's jumping the gun a bit? Speaking of which, at least in the US, the citizens still have the ability to ultimately protect themselves from the State in a worst case scenario, via the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution (i.e., the right to keep and bear arms), despite the seemingly ceaseless assault by the State, on those rights, at every opportunity.
Other Western democracies don't seem to have anything like that.

There's no doubt that the second amendment will get obliviated at the appointed time. It's just being left in place long enough to give the holdouts a false perception of accomplishment. With a war of inches it's just a matter of getting the other side to perceive events in a fashion that makes them beg for what you wanted to do to them in the first place. Kinda like the way everyone was cheering to destroy their own "right" to personal privacy on September 12th... It doesn't really matter who really perpetrated the 11th...(theories abound)...the point is the moment to strike because the audience was open wasn't lost on those that were looking to seize control ... And now here we all are (on fucking camera..).

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #686 on: January 26, 2018, 09:31 PM »
@Stoic Joker: Maybe you should alter the spelling of that rude word there, to put (say) a "#" in place of the "u".
Otherwise, you might risk potentially disturbing the virtuous equanimity of this "family-friendly" forum.
Or maybe you shouldn't bother. I just asked my 7 y/o son to read what you wrote, and he recognised the "rude F-word". I wrote it out but with the "u" replaced with a "#" and asked him if he recognized it now. "Yes. It's just a bit different.", he said.

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #687 on: February 18, 2018, 10:16 PM »
Regarding the "Five Eyes" per Snowdengate revelations, there is an interesting, if not somewhat ironic "news" item here: All Five Eyes Countries Formally Accuse Russia of Orchestrating NotPetya Attack
By Catalin Cimpanu
February 18, 2018 05:50 AM
"All the countries part of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance — the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand— have made formal statements accusing the eussian Federation of orchestrating the NotPetya ransomware outbreak." (...more)

Copied from: All Five Eyes Countries Formally Accuse Russia of Orchestrating NotPetya Attack - <https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/all-five-eyes-countries-formally-accuse-russia-of-orchestrating-notpetya-attack/>
That settles it then. If all "Five Eyes" countries are in consensus, then it must be true - right?    :tellme:

Love the cartoon of the 5 children with their magic rings, each representing one of the "Five Eyes", by implication.
"But none of the Five Eyes are Asian countries Dad, what's she doing there?" observed my Asian daughter of the Oriental-looking girl in the cartoon.
She could have a point, or maybe its just "cultural appropriation", or an attempt at feel-good "diversification of the consensus", or something.
Either way, those pesky Russians would seem to have a lot to answer for, if all Five Eyes are in consensus. It seems that there is no end to Russian interference and spying in Western democracies and other countries' affairs.
It's not as though those democracies interfere in, or spy on Russian or other countries' affairs either. Oh, but wait...
« Last Edit: February 19, 2018, 04:19 AM by IainB, Reason: Punctuation. »

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #688 on: March 23, 2018, 04:08 PM »
Some good freedom-loving legal moves and which at least may seem to underscore an explanatory reason as to why Snowden can't/mustn't be forgiven as a whistleblower - i.e., if he were to be forgiven, then that could risk the implication or default inference that the state's data-gathering spying practices that he exposed were, in and of themselves, necessarily wrong/illegal, by definition, whereas the reality would seem to be that they are apparently categorically not only not wrong/illegal, but also are vital and necessary to national security and probably need to even be expanded in "the war against terror" and the pursuit of ordinary criminals, like fraudsters, hackers, scammers, and more, or something. Obviously, the state would not want to have its hands tied in that regard, otherwise it would be frustrated in its commitment and obligation to protect the citizens of America.

I presume that Snowden's opinion was anarchistic/misguided and illegal in that he didn't appreciate/accept that rather obvious and important fact, and thus - regardless of any public sympathies for his case - his independent choice of actions on this matter would presumably have to be regarded as being (say) traitorous by definition (in hindsight).
It is heartening to see that, rather than (say) the NSA just going ahead and independently implementing the CLOUD Act practices without telling anyone, this new legislation has been correctly put through the proper legislative channels, whereupon it has promptly been approved of by the legislators in the US Congress, and by a sizeable majority vote (256-167), so everything is pukka and aboveboard.
(Copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images.)
US Congress Passes CLOUD Act Hidden in Budget Spending Bill
By Catalin Cimpanu 
March 23, 2018 09:22 AM 1
 US Congress

The United States Congress passed late last night a $1.3 trillion budget spending bill that also contained a piece of legislation that allows internal and foreign law enforcement access to user data stored online without a search warrant or probable cause.

The legislation is the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (CLOUD Act), a bill proposed in mid-February, this year (S. 2383 and H.R. 4943).

Lawmakers use toddler trick to pass controversial bill
US officials never discussed the bill, but merely appended it to the Omnibus budget spending bill (page 2201) they introduced in Congress on Wednesday night.

The budget bill was deemed a priority and officials were almost forced to approve it in its current form to avoid a complete US government shutdown starting next week.

The budget bill passed a day later, Thursday, with a 256-167 vote in the House of Representatives, and a 65-32 vote on the Senate floor, including with the embedded CLOUD Act that got zero discussion, feedback, or modifications from regulators.

What is the CLOUD Act?
The unaltered and now official CLOUD Act effectively gets rid of the need for search warrants and probable cause for grabbing a US citizen's data stored online.

US police only need to point the finger at some account, and tech companies must abide and provide all the needed details, regardless if the data is stored in the US or overseas.

Further, the bill recognizes foreign law enforcement and allows the US President to sign data-sharing agreements with other countries without congressional oversight. The CLOUD Act will then allow foreign law enforcement to require data on their own citizens stored in the US, also without obtaining a warrant or proving probable cause.

Privacy groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation argue that in the US' hunt for criminals located in other countries, it might enter data-sharing agreements with countries known for human rights abuses and allow autocratic regimes easy access to their own citizen's data. Since there's no more need for a foreign law enforcement agency to obtain US warrants or prove probable cause, this opens the door wide open to political abuses.

But these data-sharing agreements might be a poisoned pill that could be employed for espionage and intelligence gathering as well. For example, foreign law enforcement could request data from their own citizens engaging in communications with US citizens. Tech companies will then be required to pass over that foreign citizens' entire communications, including his messages exchanged with the US person, potentially exposing details that an intelligence agency will consider valuable.

EFF: There was no need to backdoor the Fourth Amendment
Nonetheless, giving law enforcement access to data stored overseas could have been done by preserving the need for search warrants and proving probable cause, and without backdooring the Fourth Amendment, as EFF experts bluntly put it.

The reason why the CLOUD Act was proposed in the first place was to end any future litigations like the one put forward by Microsoft five years ago when it fought a US police's request to access a US citizen's data stored on a server in Ireland.

Regulators also argued the CLOUD Act will help with fighting terrorism, albeit its most important impact will be in going after ordinary criminals, like fraudsters, hackers, scammers, and more.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2018, 04:14 PM by IainB »

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #689 on: May 04, 2018, 10:24 PM »
What is "undesirable" in the eyes of the State?
As to what Snowden revealed - here's a very interesting post by Falkvinge: (Note that the term "undesirable" was used in an undated document, from GCHQ's internal wiki information site, viewed by and reported on by Guardian journalists Spencer Ackerman and James Ball on Fri 28 Feb 2014.)
(Copied below sans embedded hyperlinks/images.)
Analog Equivalent Rights (19/21): Telescreens in our Living Rooms
tags: Privacy
Rick Falkvinge
MAY 4, 2018 • UPDATED APRIL 29, 2018 • BY RICK FALKVINGE

Image: cctv-camera-security-on-wall-background-in-room-picture-id478644146

PRIVACY: The dystopic stories of the 1950s said the government would install cameras in our homes, with the government listening in and watching us at all times. Those stories were all wrong, for we installed the cameras ourselves.

In the analog world of our parents, it was taken for completely granted that the government would not be watching us in our own homes. It’s so important an idea, it’s written into the very constitutions of states pretty much all around the world.

And yet, for our digital children, this rule, this bedrock, this principle is simply… ignored. Just because they their technology is digital, and not the analog technology of our parents.

There are many examples of how this has taken place, despite being utterly verboten. Perhaps the most high-profile one is the OPTIC NERVE program of the British surveillance agency GCHQ, which wiretapped video chats without the people concerned knowing about it.

Yes, this means the government was indeed looking into people’s living rooms remotely. Yes, this means they sometimes saw people in the nude. Quite a lot of “sometimes”, even.

According to summaries in The Guardian, over ten percent of the viewed conversations may have been sexually explicit, and 7.1% contained undesirable nudity.

Taste that term. Speak it out loud, to hear for yourself just how oppressive it really is. “Undesirable nudity”.The way you are described by the government, in a file about you, when looking into your private home without your permission.

When the government writes you down as having “undesirable nudity” in your own home.

There are many other examples, such as the state schools that activate school-issued webcams, or even the US government outright admitting it’ll all your home devices against you.

It’s too hard not to think of the 1984 quote here:

The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized. — From Nineteen Eighty-Four

And of course, this has already happened. The so-called “Smart TVs” from LG, Vizio, Samsung, Sony, and surely others have been found to do just this — spy on its owners. It’s arguable that the data collected only was collected by the TV manufacturer. It’s equally arguable by the police officers knocking on that manufacturer’s door that they don’t have the right to keep such data to themselves, but that the government wants in on the action, too.

There’s absolutely no reason our digital children shouldn’t enjoy the Analog Equivalent Rights of having their own home to their very selves, a right our analog parents took for granted.

(This is a post from Falkvinge on Liberty, obtained via RSS at this feed: <http://feeds.falkvinge.net/Falkvinge-on-Infopolicy>)
For more info, go to the actual post to follow the various links/references. (I have only embedded a couple here, for convenience).
« Last Edit: May 04, 2018, 10:46 PM by IainB, Reason: Added confusing date of post. »

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #690 on: June 09, 2018, 09:49 AM »
Well, well, well, this is a surprise... (NOT): (iF True)
Copied from: Google Removes “Don’t be Evil” Clause From Code of Conduct – easyDNS Blog - <https://easydns.com/blog/2018/05/21/google-removes-dont-be-evil-clause-from-code-of-conduct/>
Google removes “Don’t be Evil” clause from Code of Conduct

Google has removed its famous motto “Don’t be Evil”, which used to be the very first thing in its Code of Conduct and reiterated twice more within the first few paragraphs has quietly replaced this simple phrase with generalized references to “ethical business conduct”. “Don’t be evil” is now only mentioned once in the 6,313 word document, toward the end, seemingly as an afterthought “And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!” (Emphasis added, ‘cause when you think about it, that’s exactly what got James Damore fired).

Further, as previously reported here, the internal revolt at Google over Project Maven, its JV with the US DoD to build military drones continues, with about a dozen employees quitting and over 4,000 signing a petition to cease the project.

wraith808

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 11,186
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #691 on: June 09, 2018, 10:31 AM »
That happened many years ago for Alphabet when they spun off to be the parent company.  It also meant very little and was just words- as shown when employees questioned Google about their drone work and quoted it, and had no effect on their policies.

IainB

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2008
  • **
  • Posts: 7,540
  • @Slartibartfarst
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.
« Reply #692 on: November 11, 2018, 05:18 PM »
espionage /"EspI@nA;Z, -IdZ/
· n. the practice of spying or of using spies.
– ORIGIN C18: from Fr. espionnage, from espionner ‘to spy’, from espion ‘a spy’.
Concise Oxford Dictionary (10th Ed.)

I have Scott Adams' Dilbert.com Blog in my Bazqux feed-reader. I used to read it fully, as it nearly always seemed to be good content and good thinking, and I could skip over the (for me) dreary US politics. Some time ago, he stopped writing the blog, replacing it with a podcast. I tried listening to the podcasts, but abandoned that as I find them tediously sloppy, drawn-out affairs, not helped by the fact that he seems to be (sounds like he is) mentally slow in his speech/thinking - which may be because he smokes pot "for medicinal reasons". Anyway, I am too impatient to listen to the ruddy podcasts, so I don't (it's my loss). However, what he does is usefully provide a list of topics he wants to cover in each podcast.
For the Episode 296 post/podcast, his list was:
Episode 296 Scott Adams: Wildfires, The Tucker Test, Forgotten Black Voters, SNL, The Abortion Ad, Broward
Topics:
* “Bad forest management”, President Trump vs. Alyssa Milano
   - Should it be illegal to report how segments of the population vote?
   - Reporting creates an “us vs. them” frame
   - Reporting sides, causes people to take sides
* Boxes of votes keep getting “found”
   - CNN correctly reports no proof of voter fraud, true, but…
   - Fox and conservatives say look at all the suspicious stuff
   - Suspicious stuff isn’t proof of crime, just like Russian collusion
   - Why do all the found votes always favor Democrats?
* Are Democrat run things less competent than Republicans run things?
   - Republicans are more system process oriented, follow rules
   - Democrats are more goal oriented, less rules oriented
* SNL had Crenshaw on for “free punch-backs” at Pete Davidson
   - Dan Crenshaw brought respect for veterans in his appearance
* Pro-Choice commercial, my view…it’s fake IMO, from a mole or hoax
* “The Tucker Carlson Test”
   - IF an article doesn’t include reasons, just links to the reasons
   - THEN the reasons don’t exist or are a misinterpretation
* Mueller’s “dozens of sealed indictments”
   - What would he do if he possesses info that could cause a civil war?
* Alexa, who is Scott Adams?
   - Some funny person changed Alexa’s response to be Scott Dale Adams
* Macron statement about need for France to protect themselves from America
   - Fake news ignores that statement refers to cyber defenses

Most of that stuff (above) seems to be about US national/local politics and in which I have little interest. (Quite frankly, I find it depressing and hard to understand/believe that the US population really is dumb enough to be suckered into having/sustaining a kind of tribal political antithetical dichotomy which results in one large portion of the population literally hating another large part of the population, due to their beliefs, or something.) However, the last (emboldened) items in the above list are obvious and of international interest:
  • Of course France and other not-5-Eyes nations would have been well-aware (since the advent of SnowdenGate, at least!) that USA and the other 5-Eyes nations are brazenly committing espionage against them.
  • Of course France and other not-5-Eyes nations would have been already taking serious counter-espionage steps against the USA and the other 5-Eyes nations.

Thus, to seemingly suggest that this counter-espionage idea is actually somehow a "new" idea for a cyber defence initiative would be preposterous and, if true, it would surely be a mark of gross incompetence on the part of the not-5-Eyes nations' secret services - i.e., they would already have adequate and well-established cyber defence practices/processes in place.
Obviously, the US would never present a military threat to the not-5-Eyes nations, but supposing the media narrative were to help/encourage France and the not-5-Eyes nations to justify bolstering their military defences...surely that could present a potential surge in demand and a golden opportunity for the US military equipment production machine...hmm. No flagging sales there.    :o

wraith808

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 11,186
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member