This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
The NSA Has Inserted Its Code Into Android OS, Or Three Quarters Of All Smartphones
Over a decade ago, it was discovered that the NSA embedded backdoor access into Windows 95, and likely into virtually all other subsequent internet connected, desktop-based operating systems. However, with the passage of time, more and more people went "mobile", and as a result the NSA had to adapt. And adapt they have: as Bloomberg reports, "The NSA is quietly writing code for Google’s Android OS."
Is it ironic that the same "don't be evil" Google which went to such great lengths in the aftermath of the Snowden scandal to wash its hands of snooping on its customers and even filed a request with the secretive FISA court asking permission to disclose more information about the government’s data requests, is embedding NSA code into its mobile operating system, which according to IDC runs on three-quarters of all smartphones shipped in the first quarter? Yes, yes it is.
Google spokeswoman Gina Scigliano confirms that the company has already inserted some of the NSA’s programming in Android OS. "All Android code and contributors are publicly available for review at source.android.com." Scigliano says, declining to comment further.
From Bloomberg:
Through its open-source Android project, Google has agreed to incorporate code, first developed by the agency in 2011, into future versions of its mobile operating system, which according to market researcher IDC runs on three-quarters of the smartphones shipped globally in the first quarter. NSA officials say their code, known as Security Enhancements for Android, isolates apps to prevent hackers and marketers from gaining access to personal or corporate data stored on a device. Eventually all new phones, tablets, televisions, cars, and other devices that rely on Android will include NSA code, agency spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines said in an e-mailed statement. NSA researcher Stephen Smalley, who works on the program, says, “Our goal is to raise the bar in the security of commodity mobile devices.”
See, there's no need to worry: the reason the NSA is generously providing the source code for every Google-based smartphone is for your own security. Oh but it's open-sourced, so someone else will intercept any and all attempts at malice. We forgot.
The story continues:
In a 2011 presentation obtained by Bloomberg Businessweek, Smalley listed among the benefits of the program that it’s “normally invisible to users.” The program’s top goal, according to that presentation: “Improve our understanding of Android security.”
Well one wouldn't want their bug to be visible to users now, would one...
Vines wouldn’t say whether the agency’s work on Android and other software is part of or helps with Prism. “The source code is publicly available for anyone to use, and that includes the ability to review the code line by line,” she said in her statement. Most of the NSA’s suggested additions to the operating system can already be found buried in Google’s latest release—on newer devices including Sony’s Xperia Z, HTC’s One, and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S4. Although the features are not turned on by default, according to agency documentation, future versions will be. In May the Pentagon approved the use of smartphones and tablets that run Samsung’s mobile enterprise software, Knox, which also includes NSA programming, the company wrote in a June white paper. Sony, HTC, and Samsung declined to comment.
Apple appears to be immune from this unprecedented breach of customer loyalty, if only for now, although open-sourced Linux may not be as lucky:
“Apple (AAPL) does not accept source code from any government agencies for any of our operating systems or other products,” says Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for the company. It’s not known if any other proprietary operating systems are using NSA code. SE for Android is an offshoot of a long-running NSA project called Security-Enhanced Linux. That code was integrated a decade ago into the main version of the open-source operating system, the server platform of choice for Internet leaders including Google, Facebook (FB), and Yahoo! (YHOO). Jeff Zemlin, the executive director of the Linux Foundation, says the NSA didn’t add any obvious means of eavesdropping. “This code was peer-reviewed by a lot of people,” he says.
But that's not all:
The NSA developed a separate Android project because Google’s mobile OS required markedly different programming, according to Smalley’s 2011 presentation. Brian Honan, an information technology consultant in Dublin, says his clients in European governments and multinational corporations are worried about how vulnerable their data are when dealing with U.S. companies. The information security world had been preoccupied with Chinese hacking until recently, Honan says. “With Prism, the same accusations can be laid against the U.S. government.”
In short: the (big brother supervised) fun never stops in Stasi 2.0 world. Just buy your 100 P/E stocks, eat your burgers, watch your Dancing With The Stars, pay your taxes, and engage in as much internet contact with other internet-addicted organisms as possible and all shall be well.
Oh, and from this...
To this (courtesy of @paradism_)
»
- 89712 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
If a citizen spies on the governmenet it's called "espionage"
When the government spies on you it's called "safety"
When you lie to the government it's called "perjury"
When the government lies to you it's called "politics"
These fucking niggers. I'm sick of these cunts stealing my liberty.
You forgot to mention we are all niggers now...
All of us except Trav, of course.
*Snort*
<chuckle> Now, THAT'S funny !
Not so sure. I always kind of figured he was the blind Chappelle klan leader.
Let's not forget, those bastards "work" for us, we "pay" them to rob us blind & steal our liberty. Pretty sure things are not going to change as long as We The People allow this to go on.
You be sure to tell that cop beating you with a baton that he works for you while you protest being spied on.
When is enough enough. How much cof this statist bullshit can We the People take?
Tell me some people are awake.
I'm AAA.
Awake, Angry and Armed
The Four Rs
Rejection: Quit paying, quit obeying.
Revolution: Be prepared.
Retribution: Is there really any place for these sociopaths and criminals in a restored civil and Constitutional society?!
Restoration: Restore the Constitutional republic.
When is enough enough. How much cof this statist bullshit can We the People take?
Tell me some people are awake.
zzzzzzzz......zzzzzz...snort...shcmutttt...prhmenmg.....whut? Tell you what......zzzzzzzz.zzzzz
Personally, I want Nuremburg like trials for the IRS, NSA, State Dept., Dept. of Labor, EPA and anyone else that has credible evidence of harassing and oppressing their fellow citizens. I am seriously angry on two counts. First, the usual BS defense of "I was just doing my job.", "What could I do?", and "I cannot recall." don't cut it. In the military you are trained never to follow an improper order. This IS the path to an autocratic society and your typical passive, overpaid, CYA government drones are the enablers. They are as guilty as the Nazi's or commies collaboraters who oppressed and killed their fellow citizens.
Second, I am angry because I know these agencies protect each other starting with Commander in Chief. Criminal statists like Holder will make sure there is heat, noise and no action on anything. They will go Vince Foster on your ass. Anyone seen Corzine lately? Probably on Kerry's yatch. So, government has become it's own mafia protection racket and it will not take long for them to become self-aware and start pressing their power. There are plenty of willing future autocrats in our government to facilitate it.
As I said, I want public trials and the most severe penalties possible. I want jail time and seizure of personal assets and homes for these government assholes. And if the NSA is monitoring on behalf of the government...fuck you fascist bastards who sell out your country. You are among the many nameless shits of history who sell out their fellow man for personal gain...good pay, benefits and a fat retirement paid for by the same people you "monitor". I hope someone goes Robespierre on your asses. If we all have it wrong, then come out publicly and explain our ironclad protections of liberty. Yeah, right.
Media too. Public trials of media moguls/ execs and Little Eichmanns for RICO collusion to mislead and endanger the Republic.
Get out of my phone you cunts.
And about that mic in the cable box?
The advantage to being totally paranoid is that stuff like this doesn't surprise me in the least. Turns out it wasn't paranoid at all. Be proud tinfoil troopers.
The advantage to being totally paranoid is that stuff like this doesn't surprise me in the least. Turns out it wasn't paranoid at all. Be proud tinfoil troopers.
That's why I long Reynolds Wrap, Alcoa, and Gulf Coast Supply for my tin roof.
'tin' or aluminum foil has limited screening capabilities. You really need 5mm lead shielding for minimum protection and shielding
Copper kettle over the head and ears...especially the EARS....all good until someone sneaks up behind you and bangs on it. For that you need Depends.
One of my favorite sayings is, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!"
I think we have somehow arrived at this idea. Our whole society is monitored and recorded from the local red light cameras, to your anal-rectal IRS forms and NSA constant wire taps. The last phase will be cameras in your homes for your good and to protect you from the bad guys. The same pervs who grope you at the TSA will be monitoriing your sex life...but it will be remote and only used if necessary, of course.
right there with ya bzzzzz - always pays to be skeptical, and avoid conned-sumer bandwagons.
Damnit, I knew my Xperia was winking at me. I thought it was just the drugs.
Damnit, I knew my Xperia was winking at me. I thought it was just the drugs.
It was the drugs.....and it WASN'T your Xperia winking at you.
Smell the freedom.
My guess is that BB10 has this too. Oh well, at least it runs fast and my life is boring. <wink>
pods
Google will make an excellent short one of these days ;-)
Tehrist. ;)
lol...I self identify all the time...and I can't even get a Medi-Vac chopper to fly over my house...I'm like the loneliest, most disrespected terrist on the planet ;-)
I was chased by one many years ago while riding a motorcycle. Totally lame. I think he ran out of gas or something because after about ten minutes or so of cross country action I looked around and it was gone. I waited for it to come back but it never did. They buzz my house sometimes lately but they are always looking for someone else. The thrill is gone. :sigh:
Yeah I know, it feels like the whole world is after me sometimes and when I turn and confront it...it evaporates in the mist...lol.
I know who the enemy is and it ain't us ;-)
Have you considered decaf?
I suspect I'll be selling those shares slowly into "all time new highs" very soon. There will be a corporate price to pay for this collusion.
Not all Americans are lazy, burger eatin', tv watching fools...and I suspect damage control on this issue will not be an easy task for Google.
Duckduckgo anyone?
Guess you can still have a face to face conversation and expect a little privacy as long as you don't live in an actual city or anywhere on Google Maps.
It gets better.... now Obama orders federal employees to spy on each other:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/07/09/196211/linchpin-for-obamas-plan-to...
When he said most transparent administration in history he wasn't lying....he wants to see everything.
Marxist con man.
WASHINGTON — In an initiative aimed at rooting out future leakers and other security violators, President Barack Obama has ordered federal employees to report suspicious actions of their colleagues based on behavioral profiling techniques that are not scientifically proven to work, according to experts and government documents.
The techniques are a key pillar of the Insider Threat Program, an unprecedented government-wide crackdown under which millions of federal bureaucrats and contractors must watch out for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers. Those who fail to report them could face penalties, including criminal charges.
Obama mandated the program in an October 2011 executive order after Army Pfc. Bradley Manning downloaded hundreds of thousands of documents from a classified computer network and gave them to WikiLeaks, the anti-government secrecy group."
They're becoming just a shade unhinged to the paranoid side...lol...but who will really watch the watchers ;-)
"Federal employees and contractors are asked to pay particular attention to the lifestyles, attitudes and behaviors ... of co-workers..."
Attitudes such as criticizing the president or administration policy.
Relax, we're not the Stasi....really, we are not...
OT: NMEWN, where are you at (generally) in FL?
Picture an inverted pyramid, with the base anchored to Tally & Jax and the apex at Ocala.
Somewhere in there ;-)
Fucken funny how the state sponsored free market media has been beating the shit out of the Chinese for cyber attacks, when in all probability it is mostly true, but also mostly done in response to the cyber attacks we dont hear about in the state sponsored free market media.
I always figured we have some of the best hackers in the world, along with the Russians. We invented all this crap so I figured it should not be hard to retalitate or shoot it down.
I'm back to a dumb phone and have been for awhile. It doesn't stop them from gathering and tracking, but why make their job easier?
The single best and most secure form of communication, beside face to face speaking, in this hitech hifalutin age: the written note.
Delivered by...... the US Post Office. You think they don't scan the letters?
Yes, they scan the outside, and if it is on the watch list, they intercept it and open it and copy the inside also, before sending it on its way to the original destination, or not, if they wish to keep it for themselves.
Let's all call each other and discuss liberty and the need to destroy the global elite corruption that's wrecking the US economy.
Big fucking deal.
Now give me my security clearance. Yeah, YOU. I am a patriot and a very NORMAL person. Heck, I am an ordained Presbyterian deacon. Doesn't get any cleaner than that.
But I do loves me my Republic, yes I do, and I am not laying down.
"Heck, I am an ordained Presbyterian deacon"
That's not going to help, if you're talking about convincing .gov that you're a "regular guy." And the "patriot" thing means you're a right-wing-extremist in their world.
Now, if you were a former unionized state social worker faking a bad hip to collect SS diability, food stamps, an EBT card and carrying an Obamaphone, then you'd be a "regular guy."
Daaamn, being a regular guy is hard work!
YOU are among the most dangerous. First, you believe in something higher than the State. That won't do and means you would not be a reliable collaborator in some future autocratic state. It is not an accident that it is generally religious people who help others escape from N. Korea or ran the underground railroad before the Civil War. Second, it is much harder to intimidate you when you believe in a higher power and afterlife. You probably also have some sense of honor which did not come from government controlled schools. You are not invested in the modern relativism of good intentions and the infallibility of government.
Yup, you are most certainly going to be "monitored" for national safety. The simple offer of collective government is "Do everything I say and I will give you everything you want." Sound like anyone else you've heard of?
I am with you.
What is being added to Android is a port of the very old and well-understood SELinux (Security Enhanced Linux) the NSA decided to share back into the Linux community, which actually is how GNU works.
SELinux has been around forever. This "NSA code" is open source, anyone wants to can look at it and see what it does. Because it came from a spook factory it is just maybe the most reviewed piece of Linux code ever commited into the open source framework.
I'm not too worried.
Not worried? How about sick and tired of being lied to by our own representative government? This is tyranny in it's purest form. No American should take their freedom for granted any longer.
I'm not too worried because in this matter they are choosing to operate in the open. This time, we can watch what they do.
If you don't understand that, fine. It doesn't matter. Someone will be watching them, and that's how I like it.
Technically, several million private contractors were watching the NSA's PRISM, Endgame's Bonesaw, etc. and who knows how many other surveillance programs for years, and nobody said, or grasped what was actually going on, anything until a month ago.
And let's not bring up the "rating agency" cog dis phenomenon: when everyone expects someone else to actually do the work, and just because it works everyone assumes someone else has done the work.
Then again you are probably right, and the NSA is merely spending taxpayer money to benefit private shareholders.
That's simply because they were all true patriots.
Everyone knows a real patriot never asks questions.
People usually go with the money. They sign on to do dishonest shit everywhere, just look at all the monstrous evil taking over the financial sector. But it applies to big pharma, big ag, everywhere.
In technology there will always be bad kids ready to do the blackhat dance for personal gain. But if you intend to burn them you have to smuggle their work out on a USB drive, past security checks. None of that work ends up in the public checkout of any open source project, and wouldn't be intended to. Unless that really is the target. If some open project is obscure you could check in something bad and imagine that nobody is going to care, so long as you didn't leave "NSA CONFIDENTIAL" all over the comments.
... besides, for everything else there's FOTA.
You don't think there is a difference between a (top) secret program with employees whose jobs depend on keeping quiet, and the open source linux OS coders that belong to the Electronic Frontier Foundation with a definite libertarian and loud mouthed attitude?
You obviously don't know much about the linux OS if you're trying to dismiss it as a "rating agency" phenom. Other open source programs, sure, but not the OS. Y'all seem to be forgetting one of the NSA's jobs is to increase security of government computers, many of which use linux. This post seemed to me like sensationalism, is it blog sweeps week?
Yes, Yes. Well, well. I'm surprised none of the, ahem, extraordinarily vigilant (read "paranoid") ZH-ers that Tyler has such fun working into a froth posting articles with "NSA" and "gold" in the title noticed that the headline to this very article changed, with "Bugging" replaced with "Or" (original headline still visible at the moment on Finviz.com, News section). Wonder why. Perhaps a call from the President? Or Mr. Android? Or, perhaps it's the Google doubleclick cookie (described in ZH's cookie policy) that changed it only for me, because I'm one of the 15% of readers who haven't used "gold bitchez" or "fuck you Bernanke" in a post, so not only ads, but headlines, are served by this "spying". Not sure how serious many of you are in various posts, or if it's just a style within the rubric of the site, but I come here solely for the great investment stuff, and find the conspiracy theories rather silly. Means I skip about 85% of the site and comments, as some of you seem far scarier than anything on my phone :)
I have a suggestion. Why don't you go and post a comment like this on the Bloomberg source article. Obviously the "paranoia" (an interesting word given all that has come to light recently) started there. In fact, why don't you make it your mission to do so on all the MSM outlets that have suddenly jumped on the privacy bandwagon, three years after the suggestion that these sorts of things were happening first surfaced here.
And fuck you Ben Bernanke!
Hey electricpartot - Means I skip about 85% of the site and comments, as some of you seem far scarier than anything on my phone :)
If so, than what's your post doing here?? If so, why don't you skip on out of here?
Edit - How'd you like the LIEBOR conspiracy theory????
It's a minefield that demands eternal vigilance... Look at Suricata - it raises the question of whether .gov dollars corrupt the code product, and where from a business perspective the baggage of the union of strange bedfellows like a pair of concrete shoes dragging down overseas growth from its potential.
As someone who's had a patch accepted into the main linux kernel and follows this sort of thing with more than a passing interest, in this single particular instance, I wouldn't be worried.
The NSA does a small amount of legitimate security work, SE linux and the changes they made to IBM's lucifer algorithm to form DES have both been proven to be security-enchancing.
Unfortunately this is the lipstick on the pig that is the rest of the NSA, which is up to no good. I am far more worried about the relationships NSA established with the google team than just this likely benign code submission. Given the Microsoft head's up on bugs, the same relationship likely exists for google. An even bigger deal than this code is the recent code-signing fiasco: http://threatpost.com/android-vulnerability-enables-malicious-updates-to... as well as high-profile hacks of security certificates -- I strongly suspect the NSA is behind these types of events.
Hey Tylers, here is a bone for you which my buddy at Google confirms: they're coming out with retail space to sell the Glass, like Jobs pushed for (against sharholder wishes) with Mac stores. NSA is gunna have a ball with this footage like Batman's machine in dark knight rises. My M.O. is to stay low profile (outta trouble/politics) so that no one gives a fuck about me, but cant wait for my friends to constantly be filming me getting shit faced at giants games!
Technically, you are correct.
In reality, there are rabidly paranoid fools like myself that like to keep one little corner carved out for themselves.
I can't know everything that happens, but I do know how to read code, and have reviewed as much of my OS of choice as I have been able to. There could be backdoors, sure- but the reality is that there is a whole lot of low-hanging fruit, and there's not much reason for the spooks to try and break down a solid steel door when they know that all it really takes is for them to look at friends and relatives posts on Facebook.
When it comes right down to it, I doubt that the NSA et al are doing any sort of low-level hacking to exploit chip archetecture and obscure OS code. Because simply put, they don't have to- all they need is social media, and most folks will rush in to record every aspect of their daily lives for all to see.
I'm all for a reasonable level of security. I'm also for usability- the reality is that 99.9% of what I do with a computer already either belongs to the government because they paid my employer to tell me to make it, or it's just general entertainment.
When something important needs to be said, there are ways to do that- whether on a computer, or (preferably) face-to-face. The government can look at how I read some articles on the onion or Zerohedge all they want, and all it will do is skew their picture of me.
Can't have it both ways- either gov employees are lazy leeches in it for a fat payday, or they're super Bauer-esque mega-hackers and crime fighters. If it's the former, you can relax and use some common sense before you reveal your manifesto on wordpress, and if it's the latter, you're fucked anyhow.
When it comes down to it, it always ends with boots on the ground anyhow, so just assume someone's watching and speak accordingly. If you're afraid of a firefight, keep quiet- if not, let your freak flag fly. Even when you stand and shake your fist, they still don't really care- like as not, they have a twenty-year backlog at this point, and you'll be dead of old age before any offical agent reviews your imflammatory comments here and there.
holy SHIT! TYLER is WATCHING US!
History reminds me that "them" is their political opposition. Them Tea Party, catholics, and conservatives that's who "them is" to this Marxist group in the WH.
This is what worries me: http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/netflix_facebook_and_the_nsa_theyre_all_...
And this new revelation is just an example of what is floating under the tip of the iceberg.
Furthermore, what worries me is those people selling these devices that convert our privacy into trillions of bytes of data and the software that runs on them, don't seem particularly concerned about guarding the constitution. They have a much different set of priorities that align with the people who love to fuck our 401ks.
I am with you, Everbody's. What bothers me is the desire on the part of government to monitor, visible or not. Red light and speed cameras are in the open and no more pleasant for it. What is open can quickly be turned secret and most people, including me do not have time to know every possible thing the government may be doing to me. What may seem harmless and even helpful now can and probably will be used for the opposite in the future.
as the bad ass software developer that i am, i would like to say that you sir, are an idiot. one can write code that writes code.
I doubt many Linux users compile their own source code. Instead they rely on a "honorable" few who compile on their behalf. Most just check the md5sum's... as if that's verification...
Do smartphone users even have the option to load their own compiled version of Andriod?
On rooted phones, yes. There's a pretty avid community of DIY ROM builders.
That said, I would not trust any platform that has a closed and remotely managed communications link -- at this point I have to imagine the cellular modem hardware likely has the ability to access the application processor side of the phone independently, meaning regardless if you used a clean ROM or not data, encryption keys and anything stored on the phone can be remotely compromised. You're better off using the phone as a dumb modem on the outside of a PC/tablet firewall for internet access if security matters.
Yup, the SELinux enhancements are actually good things ... it's like what a magicican does with his free hand. Here, look at this, whilst I rummage around under the table with the other hand.
If they want to patch your phone, they can just do it later on, over the air with FOTA. You'll hardly even notice it updating your system.
Throw your phone away and short the stock into the ground if we're still free to do such a patriotic display. Meanwhile we are being told the FISA court will only be used in rare cases for surveillance needs. Certainly it does not sound like it. Unreal, how far off track we have gotten in just a few years time.
Credibility of headline is zero. Just because there's NSA code - derived from SELinux, in android doesn't mean it's a backdoor. Read the code, then make that claim. I know for example, that SE linux doesn't have a backdoor (that they use) via the simple use of wireshark, which allows me to see any machine on my network putting out any data it puts out. Windows "phones home" constantly...dunno about apple since I don't have any. Linux doesn't.
I don't see android doing it either, on my tab (not a phone). And I'd know. Ask any other competent IT guy about this.
This is why we use open source, and why networks are generally open to packet surfing.
In open systems it's pretty hard to hide anything nefarious for very long, at least away from anyone who knows their shit from shinola. If the NSA had wired up something sneaky that would be petty and a waste of time. They'd have been nailed for it on day one and not given another chance.
Besides, if I was the NSA and I wanted to inject some backdoor code, I sure as hell wouldn't do it as the NSA. Shit, I'd work with a guy working on some obscure part of the network stack (like some kind of video streaming optimization thing) and have him inject something that nobody would ever know was there unless they found a bug and started snooping around and ran across it.
It's always going to come from where you least expect it.
Uh....
Like stuxnet or flame?
"This is why we use open source, and why networks are generally open to packet surfing."
And that is why the cell network is probably the preferred network for spooks.
A backdoor might not do anything until activated. Just because no one is using yours at the moment doesn't mean it isn't there.
It's open-source code. Looking for a "phone home" routine is the easiest thing to do. If it's there, someone will find it, and in the first 10 minutes after it is released into the developer community.
Otherwise this stuff isn't magic.
It is possible to put extra stuff even into "clean" open source code:
http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html
I don't see android doing it either, on my tab (not a phone). And I'd know. Ask any other competent IT guy about this.
Uhh....ever been pushed an update to ...hmmm...well.....A N Y T H I N G ....on your Android tablet or Android phone? Then it is INDEED phoning SOME home to see if that piece of software or feature is out of date and a new one available.
How do you expect Google to make A N Y money on free shit like Android? They are the NSA of the corporate world looking at your habits to show to advertisers in order to push you ads.
Oh Yeah....it's phoning home alright.
Of course not, the NSA code is there only to display animations of skittle shitting unicorns.
There is more than likely a hidden vulnerability in the underlying libraries. Java is pure shit, and who knows what the linux system underneath is running. I'd bet almost anything their code is designed to look clean, and would be, if it weren't for the underlying ready to exploit backdoors which are the reason it was made.
All your data are belong to us - sincerely, the NSA
They got all our data from the telcos, starting 30 years ago.
WHAT THE FUCK!
Look at drudge.
This is such Hitler/Stalin kind of shit.
Someone other than Snowden needs to grow a fucking conscience.
I remember reading 1984 in high school and college and thinking man, that would would be horrendous. THIS IS IT. Orwell couldn't have written this story better - and this is real life, we are living it!!!
This is impeachable imo if any Republicans still have any balls.
"I promise to preserve, defend and uphold the Constitution"
Where in the constitution does it delegate the authority of the Federal Government to spy on EVERYONE?
AND to attack political opponents with Federal institutions like the I.R.S?
ANNNND to abolish our right to a free press by spying on journalists?
INSANE.
Now THAT'S funny.
Rep vs Dems
Genovese's vs Gambino's
Both will break you legs if you don't pay protection/Tax money.
Gotcha, unimpeachable.
I wonder if reporter Michael Hastings tried to make an emergency call from his android phone when he saw some strange dudes approaching him. Imagine how surprised Hastings must have been when he found his cellphone was jammed in the shut off position. Hastings knew nothing about backdoors in android phones that make the cellphone subject to remote operation.
NSA is trying to find Snowden’s whereabouts by side loading a new dingleberry jailbreak hack. Phone alert notification [beep].. Sideload our new app to explore the innovative features in connecting with your NSA friends.
/Sarc
NEW and IMPROVED ways to disconnect your soul from your body....
The government has the best of both worlds - dumb people with smart electronics. Need to reverse that.
Thanks for reminding me why I keep all my really private information on a second computer system with absolutely no connection to the internet whatsoever.
That's right NSA, you aren't the only ones who can classify shit.
And yes, that is my bare harry ass you're watching through my computer camera right now.
Let me insert my own code into the works:
The Four Rs
Rejection: Quit paying, quit obeying.
Revolution: Be prepared.
Retribution: Is there really any place for these sociopaths and criminals in a restored civil and Constitutional society?!
Restoration: Restore the Constitutional republic.
/NSA/null
so what
if you have nothing to hide !
Honest people have nothing to hide until a dishonest person looks at them. Religious people have nothing to hide until another religion confronts them. It is a matter of who is holding the pen.
In 500 years, the potential for the path to end of a world of misery and want is so fucking high that I cannot believe you have the nerve to suggest we ACCEP THIS AS NORMAL.
we are doing this for the future, 500 years, not those who are trying to save their meager fortunes and vacant, easily amused lives today. but the people who will be here in the distant future.
When I used read Philip Dick's novels I enjoyed travelling to those places of madness and then coming back to a less mad world.
Looks like I'll be seeing his dystopias in reality the way it's going.
Kallisti!
Can't wait for WB7's satrical rendition of the green "Droid" robot icon.
Growth on his green forehead? "NSA" labelled antennae? Winking left eye with a bug on his head? Wires leading out of his ears and crotch leading to General Alexander's head?
Hentai tentacle monster raping Lady Liberty, is my bet.
Um ... All of the above is massively NSFW. Google with care.
You must not have seen my "email" to my "Mom":
"Dear Mom,
I planted some petunias yesterday, they are the bomb, a beautiful red, Abdul at the nursery said they are called 'Allah's Beard'.
I fried some chicken using the pressure cooker you sent me for my birthday over the 4th of July weekend, I had it on a timer just like you said. It came out perfect, the kids loved it, and all that was left was bones.
Thanks for the great recipe and card with the code from Amazon to buy something, I think I'll ship it FedEx this time as the driver in my area is a stunning redhead, UPS driver is a guy with a beard.
Love You,
EB
p.s.- How is my Brother in Afghanistan doing? I haven't communicated with him since that last operation where they had a black-out. It's like he's trapped in a dark prism over there, or trapped in a cell."
JOHN HANCOCK
You would think if the NSA is dependent on getting info from all of your computing devices,
At least they would develop a anti-virus to fix all of our gadgets and save us all the headaches when our stuff crashes.
And if they're OVER reliant on technology then they're not looking out for people who've truly gone off-grid, but then again I think that's more in the realm of some of the other Alphabet Soups: CIA, FBI, ATF, etc.
Who's ready to join me in encircling the White House in an opening protest action against our completely corrupt and vicious Gubmint?
As long as we put our backs to the Imperial Palace, drop trow', and moon it in unison.
Frankly, I don't think anything will change until we stop sending corrupt politicians back to DC term after term after term.
The politicians enabled all of this and paid for it with our tax dollars.
Now they are beginning to act as defenders of our constitutional rights?
Give me a fucking break.
Hearings will be held, officials will be called to testify and every type of showmanship imaginable wil be rolled out.
Then they will all meet for apri-hearing cocktails at Off-The-Record, 701 or Art and Soul and yuk it up.
It will only last a few more news cycles they will tell each other, then something else shiny and blinky will distract everyone.
No, that won't help. It's the legions of people who AREN'T elected who stay at their post election come election go. Division heads in CIA, NSA, XYZ. Who really carry these things out year after year regardless who is elected.
Blow up the CFR during one of their big meeting would do more than anything one you could elect.
While you at it also hit the "Foundations" at the same time. Starting with the Rockefeller Foundation.
This article is a discredit to ZH's usual work.
The NSA designed and implemented SELinux, an open source kernel with something called "mandatory access control" which is provides an extreme level of security in an operating system. Another example is TrustedBSD, a set of modules for BSD based systems. Much of that tech has been incorporated into Android.
The NSA may have its fingers in a lot of pies, but articles like this expose critics of spying to discredit by being so wildly inaccurate.
Thanks for standing up to a stupid herd, regardless of which "side" it thinks it's on. What they're doing is judging a book by its "cover."
All of the code in Android is open-source, meaning that anyone who wants to can inspect it.
All the NSA contributions are marked as to their authors.
It used to be that in order to use a computer you had to have some basic computer literacy but that's no longer so. Now any idiot can use a computer, but that doesn't mean they understand what "code" is, or what it means to inspect and test said code.
I'd bet any amount that the NSA contributions received extra scrutiny to guard against something inscrutable having hidden functionality.
If any part of the code is unreadable, then it's bad code and has no place in an open-source secure OS regardless of how "nifty" it seems. Good code is readable by eye but it can also be taken out and tested, because code inspection is notoriously unreliable for finding bugs. Testing is absolutely essential, and anyone who wants to do so can do it. If they can't do it themselves, they can find a competent third party to do it for them. There are plenty of highly-skilled programmers in the world who work for cheap. I used to find them on getafreelancer.com.
Anyone who uses Android can recompile it from the source code if they have a Linux/unix system and standard compiler and make utilities. I'll say that again so it can be understood by the non-literate.
ANYONE with an Android phone doesn't have to install pre-compiled software. They can compile and build everything themselves before putting it into their phone. Android is a simple Linux for smartphones. If you make yourself root, which is always open to everyone, then you have total control over the machine.
You can't do that with M$FT software because they never release any of their source code.
Individual modules of anything from GNU can be taken out and tested with inserted stub drivers to make sure they don't have any subtle effects.
All of the tools needed to do that are the standard workbench for GNU software developers.
Paraphrazing Fearless Leader "You didn't compile that".
"It used to be that in order to use a computer you had to have some basic computer literacy but that's no longer so. Now any idiot can use a computer, but that doesn't mean they understand what "code" is, or what it means to inspect and test said code."
What a pompous geek- twit you are. It used to be you needed some mechanical competence and skill to repair and maintain your car. No longer. Now an idiot like you turns the key and has no idea what makes it all work. Same for most of the rest of technology you use. So revel in your knowledge of code. Other than that I suspect you can't even grow a tomato. Trust me, your sense of superiority is delusional.
the backdoor was called "nsa.dll"
Heh. Well on the Windows mobile platform it probably is.
On linux it would be something like "milkduds" or "pimphand". No 8 char limits, and no extensions, and mad props for randomness. You don't know what any of this shit does unitl you open it up.
The point is that you CAN open it up and not just look at it, but you can run it "live" inside of an interactive debugger that lets you step through the execution and stop at breakpoints and let you see the everything in memory and every read/write to disk or RAM. Open source == open book.
Try to reverse-compile a DLL from M$FT. It can't be done. Interactive debugger? Gimme break.
I downvoted you because within the .NET framework, you CAN decompile a .DLL file (using something like .NET Reflector - I've personally done it). Any language in the .NET realm gets compiled (using the term loosely) into a common language (CIL) for deployment, and then at runtime, that language is compiled again for runtime on a given system.
If you're trying to get at DLLs written in C++ (usually Windows OS files), then of course that's difficult to do. Commercial apps using the .NET framework - easy.
Check this out.
OBAMA ORDERS FED WORKERS: SPY ON EACH OTHER
Linchpin for Obama’s plan to predict future leakers unproven, isn’t likely to work, experts say | McClatchy
If people can't conclude that this president is evil upon hearing this story then we our country is forever lost.
"Objects are closer than they appear"
"I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you
Tell me, tell me, tell me, come on tell me the answer
You may be an owner but you ain't no shooter.
For troubleshooting new Android Bar file uploads, click here to receive further customer service assistance.
Apple is of course lying.
All cell phones are required to have NSA access.
Google granted access to Android at the very beginning to the NSA.
Anything less would be un-American.
Google has been a government spying tool for many years.
Google IS the NSA.
Only part of it.
"Anything less would be un-American."
That's what happens to Huawei and ZTE when they try to sell their hardware in America. I do believe they don't try hard enough to make good friend to the NSA ;)
No access no permission to sale!
Just want to toss this in to remind the NSA that we remain a country of laws. The will to enforce them, however, is tenuous at best (which is why we have a second amendment).
AMENDMENT IVThe right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Ubuntu for phones is almost ready. I'm sure Mark Shuttleworth would NEVER do something creepy with his phone OS just to make money or gain influence.
HA HA HA HA
You mean like develop a national operating system based on linux for the Chinese government type of creepy.
Without any objection from Google is key.
And this kind of ubiquitous back door electronic spying is precisely one og the things Assange has warned about in his book.
This weekend I read the transcript of Eric Schmidts interview of Assange. Most interesting. First of all, Schmidt is a techno lightweight compared to Assange. Second, it is obvious from Schmidts book as well as his Bilderberging, that this revelation is part of Googles great benevolent future for Borg Mankind.
We really don't know if they objected, or how strenuously. Most of this is opaque due to Patriot Act gag orders and secret courts. Only gets out via leaks.
I think imagining that they objected is a stretch.
Don't...........Stop.............
That's how I'm imagining it.
Schmidt is a schtool.
Wir sind so geshtup.
Only a matter of time until white hat hacker types create an open source OS like Linux for smart phones and instructions on how to root the phones to replace the pre-installed OS' on them.
It's called Android, nitwit. Anyone can compile it from source before installing it in their phone.
That is Mr nitwit if you are nasty. Let me clarify an open source OS that is not developed for profit by any corporate entity. And yes Android is a for profit OS the whose business model is profit through advertising among other revenue streams like government subsidies to insert malicious code and access to their data.
If you don't think this isn't already hardwired in all phones then you're the nitwit.
Who needs a "smart"phone anyway? To trade in the stock market? LOL.
Also especially in the tech sector, all research and innovation are highly compartmentalized so that any departments or groups only work on some tiny piece of the whole puzzle often not even knowing how their piece may fit into the big picture or whole puzzle.
You mean that if I text my wife that I just won a million bucks ... the Irs will come to my door to collect ... I think I'll do it right now to test it out
Gomer Pyle Quotation....
Surprise Surprise Surprise
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6_1Pw1xm9U
Perfect
I heard that sound clip is standard (on the factory ROM) on all the DHS & LE MRAP PA systems.
Forget about the code it is the apps you really need to watch out for..........
Malware and virus equivalent types of apps that are government subsidized.
APPS don;t get me started on APPS
read this shit about Bouncies squeeze Mr. Carter
it that dude a MOFO - worse much worse
scum of the effing earth is Jay-Z but da hoez they don't know it
www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/arts/music/jay-z-is-watching-and-he-knows-you...
Who can you trust?
On a good day, yourself.
Except for days were you drink heavily and wake up next to a fat chick naked with a batman cape on and don't know how you got there or how you met her.
I try to be a little more careful!
+1
This happen often Dewey?
Only on every 5th Sunday of the month.
Wait - I'm unclear as to whom is wearing the cape...
For fucks sake, you do not get to be as big as Google, or Microsoft without gettin' cornholed by Uncle Sham.
Yea, no NSA code in Apple's OS. Pull my fucking finger asshole.
Yup
"OBAMA ORDERS FED WORKERS: SPY ON EACH OTHER"
I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hahahahahahah Keep em busy, I can't wait until they start "S.W.A.T.ting their own co-workers.
The Beast will now finally begin to feed on itself.
Bon Appetite'
Actually, the purpose behind that is to craete a cadre of political officers, mush as in the old USSR.
Security is not the primary concern anymore; it is political loyalty.
Just like they are trying to disarm vets, they are now going after certain people for their political beliefs so they can deny clearance.
It is only going downhill from here.