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NSA Whistleblower Speaks Live: "The Government Is Lying To You"
Just a month ago we raised more than a proverbial eyebrow when we noted the creation of the NSA's Utah Data Center (codename Stellar Wind) and William Binney's formidable statement that "we are this far from a turnkey totalitarian state". Democracy Now has the former National Security Agency technical director whistleblower's first TV interview in which he discusses the NSA's massive power to spy on Americans and why the FBI raided his home. Since retiring from the NSA in 2001, he has warned that the NSA’s data-mining program has become so vast that it could "create an Orwellian state." Today marks the first time Binney has spoken on national TV about NSA surveillance. Starting with his pre-9-11 identification of the world-wide-web as a voluminous problem since the NSA was 'falling behind the rate-of-change', his success in creating a system (codenamed Thin-Thread) for 'grabbing' all the data and the critical 'lawful' anonymization of that data (according to mandate at the time) which as soon as 9-11 occurred went out of the window as all domestic and foreign communications was now stored (starting with AT&T's forking over their data). This direct violation of the constitutional rights of everybody in the country was why Binney decided he could not stay (leaving one month after 9-11) along with the violation of almost every privacy and intelligence act as near-bottomless databases store all forms of communication collected by the agency, including private emails, cell phone calls, Google searches and other personal data.
There was a time when Americans still cared about matters such as personal privacy. Luckily, they now have iGadgets to keep them distracted as they hand over their last pieces of individuality to the Tzar of conformity.
Part 1 - Exclusive: National Security Agency Whistleblower William Binney on Growing State Surveillance
William Binney's shocking facts start at around 15:00...
Part 2 - Detained in the U.S.: Filmmaker Laura Poitras Held, Questioned Some 40 Times at U.S. Airports
The Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Laura Poitras discusses how she has been repeatedly detained and questioned by federal agents whenever she enters the United States. Poitras said the interrogations began after she began working on her documentary, "My Country, My Country," about post-invasion Iraq. Her most recent film, "The Oath," was about Yemen and Guantánamo and follows the lives of two past associates of Osama bin Laden. She estimates she has been detained approximately 40 times and has had her laptop, cell phone and personal belongings repeatedly searched.
Part 3 - "We Don’t Live in a Free Country": Jacob Appelbaum on Being Target of Widespread Gov’t Surveillance
We speak with Jacob Appelbaum, a computer researcher who has faced a stream of interrogations and electronic surveillance since he volunteered with the whistleblowing website, WikiLeaks. He describes being detained more than a dozen times at the airport and interrogated by federal agents who asked about his political views and confiscated his cell phone and laptop. When asked why he cannot talk about what happened after he was questioned, Appelbaum says, "Because we don’t live in a free country. And if I did, I guess I could tell you about it." A federal judge ordered Twitter to hand over information about Appelbaum’s account. Meanwhile, he continues to work on the Tor Project, an anonymity network that ensures every person has the right to browse the internet without restriction and the right to speak freely.
Part 4 - Whistleblower: The NSA is Lying–U.S. Government Has Copies of Most of Your Emails
National Security Agency whistleblower
William Binney reveals he believes domestic surveillance has become more expansive under President Obama than President George W. Bush. He estimates the NSA has assembled 20 trillion "transactions" — phone calls, emails and other forms of data — from Americans. This likely includes copies of almost all of the emails sent and received from most people living in the United States. Binney talks about Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and challenges NSA Director Keith Alexander’s assertion that the NSA is not intercepting information about U.S. Citizens.
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Fuck off, wannabee! Get your own identity...you're just a lowly thief.
It's becoming too easy... And old.
i puke (dog) and Dr.wanabe (Engali)! Both douchebag Morning fodder! Keep up the good work Slewie!
You two ass clowns should vet the G/20 this weekend! MORONS!
That's not Slewie ... In case you can't figure that out. I'll forgive you. By the time stamp on your post it was probably past your bed time and you were too tired to tell the difference. That probably explains your crankiness too.
LOL ... I've always known that he wasn't over-bright.
junkyardjack said:
They must be snagging a lot of SEC "communications".
Not true. Everyone has a skeleton or two hiding in the closet, given the myriad of laws criminalizing everyday life.
These serve as leveragable pressure-points to demand support of, and conformity to, the dictates of the regime du jour..
Companies already do that, has Google hit you up yet for your questionable searches to make you click on more links? If you are really worried about that you shouldn't be on the internet at all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6e7wfDHzew
francis_sawyer is pure as the driven snow...
Oh yeah? Why did we find this on your computer?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP8nnCqK4gE&list=FLeGAOM7ibPwtPLGNel9UVBA&index=21&feature=plpp_video
(if you are not a breast man don't click the link...you can turn the sound off any time...)
I could watch all but the last 20 seconds of that all day. The only thing that would make it better is a trampoline.
OMG!!!!
Now watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxSj_R_Z16U&feature=related
(shameless plug for whatever)
Dedicated to Barry's Secret Service agents everywhere.
Once someone has enough data on you, it can be assembled in any way the gatherers desire to support their view of YOU. Sure, you might not be doing anything wrong, but if you run afoul of the wrong people later on, watch out.
Excellent points, Dr. K, similarly, when the DoD began that DNA collection program in conjunction with blood supply centers around the country a few years back, once one's DNA is on file, virtually any type of false crime scenario is conceivable (planting your DNA at the scene of the crime, etc.).
It doesn't matter what incriminating digital information they mave HAVE on any of us, since if they need any, they can just as easily (if not moreso) simply make it up. Do everything you can to make sure no kiddie porn gets on your computer? Doesn't make one lick of difference, because if they want something that heavy on you, they will just put it there themselves. It's all just electrons, and electrons don't have any moral compunctions.
Suspecting a raid , one could burn all manuscripts.
Wrong burn, any evidence found left will be turned against you and anything you say anyway , so don`t shut up until this very day .You and yourself will be charged anyway `Me against myself and I` is all the witnesses they need, so please don`t care about the evidence produced, if any.
If you choose to stay in the fascist American police state it is improper to own any digital storage devices. This includes modern video game systems that have internet connectivity. They can plant porn, or make it out like you were trying to chat up kids on xbox live.
Then again, if you ditch all of that they'll just frame you for drugs, or something else.
Either be a good little sheep, or leave the U.S. Those are your choices.
DNA is now collected from every child born in the US. Look up the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act of 2008.
Gotta start plugging data into the database early for the new American. The slave's metrics will be tracked from birth to death. Data analyzed, compared, and conclusions formulated. And when a member of the elite becomes a victim it will be easier to catch the perpetrator. Naturally these systems will not be used to protect a member of the peasant class.
The tyrants that run the Anglosphere are hell bent on creating one world government and want as much data as possible to fully control and scientifically manage all of human existence.
preemptive baptism bitches! .... coming to a database near you soon.
Haddock,
"Flounder" might be a better handle for you.
^ nice
My comment was just asking why we should care about the surveillance of people who don't care. Don't put me in that 'School' just yet...
o.k., thanks for the clarification; I would say even if they don't care "we" should care.
Haddock it is.
"Old George Orwell got it backward. Big Brother isn't watching. He's singing and dancing. He's pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother's holding your attention every moment you're awake. He's making sure you're always distracted. He's making sure you're fully absorbed... and this being fed, it's worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what's in your mind. With everyone's imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world." - Chuck Palahniuk
and anyways: the NSA knows I'm an anarchist homophobe. big deal.
the vast majority have nothing of interest to be discovered about themselves, so why should we care?
Ah, what a good little sheep you are: Happy to be penned, tagged, shorn and slaughtered... and disdainful of all who resist.
Its quite revealing how some people don't mind being watched by voyeurs and think you shouldn't mind either...I mean, thats where we're at here.
The government is one big ass Peeping Tom and the Snookie crowd see's no problem at all.
True. It behooves me when these people say, "Well, that's fine because I'm not doing anything wrong anyway....."
Really? C'mon people!!!!
I actually have to agree. What do they NOT already know about me?
You don't get it. In big brother's eyes we are all criminals. It's just a matter of to what degree.
Conformity = maximum efficiency, for our rulers to suck the life out of us.
The NSA couldn't find their ass with both hands.
Thats not the point.
As long as they can find yours when they want to, is the point.
I could be more graphic, but i think you are getting the point.
They have all the money in the world to throw at google, facebook, defense contractors, etc., to find their ass for them...and wipe it too.
Why do these Democracy Now types (ie: lefties) always need such obvious signs of State power growth to start freaking out ? The state is too big and oppressive when it simply exists at all... Good luck tying it down with a bunch of papers written by old dead men.
Those of you who turn everything into Conservatives vs. Liberals will never fully understand the truth, because you will always filter the truth through your moronic, dualistic ideology. So-called Liberals and so-called Conservatives... you are a joke to me.
It is called the Tyranny of the Discontinuous Mind - Either/Or pathological thinking: Democrat/Republican, Gay/Straight, Bush/Obama, With us/Against us...we all have a tendency to it and it is used to manipulate the shite out of us.
I don't mind the erroneous conclusion of these boring people as much as I do the certainty with which they state their case, usually claiming higher moral grounds. It is a clear sign of a mind lacking wisdom or a whiff of reflection, and it threatens our very ability to govern ourselves. It prevents the person so afflicted from seeing the larger problem that affects us all. They lose their ability to build a foundation.
If the murderers come for me, and I sincerely doubt that they will, but if they do, then I didn't want to be here anyway.
You could leave before your murderous fascist government comes for you.
Did I just blow your mind?
No, you didn't.
My point was that if someone puts a gun to my head and orders me to change my behavior, I'll pull the damn trigger _for_them_ before I do what they say. That could happen anywhere.
old news, the gov't reads every post on this site as well as where you came from your IP address, location and server. They also listen into your cell phone calls, home phone and all internet sites that you have visited. Fuckin perverts
Murdoch is sooo jealous
old news..
So was the holocost in 1942.
You wish us to shrug it off and not care?
Heard this on the radio this morning. Binney's analysis is spot on.
When the ATT fiber tap operation in San Francisco was exposed, there wasn't anyone in tech who thought that was the only tap--it was just the only one you heard about. Now here we are years later and they've intercepted so much damn data they're building a complex to store it all, in broad daylight.
Goodbye privacy, hello Big Brother.
http://www.theonion.com/video/cias-facebook-program-dramatically-cut-agencys-cos,19753/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_wind_(code_name)
During the Bush Administration, the Stellar Wind cases were referred to by FBI agents as "pizza cases" because many seemingly suspicious cases turned out to be food takeout orders. Approximately 99 percent of the cases led nowhere, but 1 percent bore fruit.[2] One of the known uses of this data was the creation of suspicious activity reports, or "SARS", about people suspected of terrorist activities. It was one of these reports that revealed former NY governor Elliot Spitzer's use of prostitutes, even though he was not suspected of terrorist activities.
was not prosecuting wall streeters a terrorist activity?
To: November Sierra Alpha
~~~
I "stellar wind" in your general direction...
To:No Such Agency
FTFY
To: Neon Smegma Aliens
wtf
Something like this?
"#42, 101 and 124."
"That'll be 20 24 ... be there in 15"
Suspected centre of international terrorism turns out to be a local chinese restaurant, when all along they should have been checking out the local hookah lounge.
I blame Ollie North.
I blame Nixon for closing the gold window...................because the only thing these sociopaths have to protect is PAPER...........which we all know is going to ZERO because ''on a long enough timeline...''
I blame it on Pee Wee Herman. None of this would have happened if he wasn't maturbating in the movie theater.
Takes one to Know one! Just Stating a fact!
I think somebody's developed an infatuation.
Hell, I blame John Hancock for signing the Declaration so prominently. No, wait, I blame the Virginia House of Burgesses for not hanging Patrick Henry when he. said,"Give me Liberty or give me death!" No, wait. I blame King John for signing the Magna Carta.
I blame all those bastards for giving us false hopes that we could live as free-born men with rights and privileges not subject to encoachment by an all powerful and unaccountable Sovereign.
I blame us all for letting these bastards push the envelope out until the letter inside is nothing but a ransom note.
The USA has been a totalitarian state for DECADES. We just have a high enough standard of living that no one cares.
The bugging and wiretapping and everything else is a bit of a drag. I remember trying to discuss the subject back in '05 and getting a pretty universal answer: "If we have to do this to prevent another 9/11, I guess it's ok."
Nothing's changed. That was 7 years ago. The system rolls along just fine, doesn't it?
As long as you use your brain while you're plotting which government building to bomb, you'll probably be just fine.
Oh, dear. I up-voted you before I read the last sentence.
Dear NSA,
I do not approve of the last sentence.
Sincerely,
Your biggest fan
Dear NSA: I don't know either of these guys. I was just standing here. Honest to god.
Blu
Dear NSA, I thought this was a porn site cause someone posted something on the SEC
You know, I don't approve of my last sentence either! I'd rather we ditch all the talk of hangings and shootings and firebombings get serious about the practical steps to make life better.
How about we all hire Italian ships named Costa something, and all go aground together, creating an instant island refuge, I propose the name Tylers Island, who's in?
I actually would be up for that. But most of these pussies are rather comfortable in their chains. They are weak and not up for a challenge either.
Oh, dear. LOL
I guess Mr. Binney (and/or), any (current/future) family members are off the RSVP list for {Bilderberg and the Bohemian Grove} get togethers.?
DOJ,NSA,CIA,FBI,ATF,DEA,TSA etc., these wacko blowhards been violating the US Constitution and the rule of law too fucking long, getting away with too much shit.
Arrest and prosecution of these Nazi scumbags is imperative, anything less we're screwed!
Arrest and prosecution of these Nazi scumbags
Better still, leave them behind in the dustbin of history, along with the states that support them.
Start building better things.
everyone calls them Nazis.. they are Bolsheviks!!
press button receive bacon
http://youtu.be/Kcux_BYo2L4
The government of O blah blah and Barney Frank is a joke. They will have to use torture just to get me to stop laughing at them. Can The NSA read? Do they like female hookers, or male?
best way to screw with the NSA is a mountain of dis-information. Overwhelm them with data that has buzz words but no real information, nothing actionable. This is a wasteful expense, it is only when they have an individual in the spotlight that they can dig up 20 years worth of data to make a case, or just put you away. Too much data requires more expensive computers, better programs and more analysts to sift through the junk. Stupid stalinist move.
If you went up to the Canadian border in a van with tinted windows and Ron Paul for President stickers on the bumper with a buddy, and then got a couple of throw-away phones and set them up with numbers from LA and Miami; and then made a bunch of calls on the US and Canadian side using code words for various drugs, it would be interesting if Inspector Clouseau showed up with his Keystone cops!!! I don't think those donut-fed squad car riders know how to catch the bad guys.
Computers can be set up to spam the net full of worthless info.
Computers can be set up to spam the net full of worthless info.
Damn!!!, and here I thought they already had..............sorry SOB's.
96 a day is already pushing it!
Way ahead of you there buddy. -cnbs et al
So...this underground database of insanity will be what is known about the human race millennia from now when everything else is gone. Hell of a legacy. Ugh.
Hell, that's all I use mine for.
I've often thought that this is the mpaa's and riaa's best strategy for counteracting piracy. instead of bitch and moan in court and buy off congress, if they spammed the net with trillions of fake/unusable copies of media, people might get fed up with piracy and have to purchase their content.
Personally, I think the way better approach is to hack the collected data.
The "beauty" of the current monitoring system is that they've got info on EVERYONE. No, really--EVERYONE.
That means there's gigabytes of crap about what Obama and Reid and your county sheriff and the judge who fined you $50 for speeding and your mother-in-law....all in ONE CONVENIENT LOCATION.
They scrub it just like Google, Bing etc...if you can't find it on the net it never happened right? ;-)
Here, before YouTube scrubs this...Pelosi don't like free speech or sumpin...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW43_9cRxfE
Apples and oranges. "Scrubbing" the web actually means "unpublishing" stuff you don't like. The information isn't deleted--it's all still there.
Nobody scrubs their own databases. Trust me on this. Once you've got the data, you don't let go of it unless you absolutely positively HAVE TO.
Centralization of datamines is a disaster waiting to happen, and the funniest part is that the potential harm to big institutional players is FAR GREATER than the potential harm to any individual.
Yeah, its still there in public search engines alright, result number 5,867,468,206.
And an admission...
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/03/20/white-house-admits-it-directed-effort-to-scrub-malia-obama-spring-break-story-from-the-web/
Has anyone figured out what Pelosi does like? She shit's on the Constitution and wipes that nasty old ass with the bill of right's.
Sounds like you found out what she likes.
Yep. Remeber the Trove of cool stuff that came out of the Stasi files when the Ostdeutschland went under?
When the time comes, we capture the place intact!
We find out where the spaceship from Roswell is!
And, how they pirated all the alien tech, like alternate Kirk did on the Star Trek episode where he had the killer app in his cabin.
When all's said and done a mark 1 eyeball is still required to evaluate the mountains of date those computers pour out. No wonder they have to store it as it'll take years to evaluate.
best way to screw with the NSA is a mountain of dis-information.
Sorry, it isn't that easy anymore. There is no easy way out.
There are still a lot of "Mr. Binneys" working at NSA. Patriots. Not all is lost, so have a little bit of faith.
Same for all other forces, military and civilian.
Ultima Ratio.
Not all is lost, so have a little bit of faith.
Nope, I'm done. Zero fiath in the state or its agents.
No more benefit of the doubt either.
Eat that Saul Alinsky, we'll use your own tactics against you.
Who is going to mine all that data? Has anyone at the(NSA) looked at the Trillions of debt this country is in? The government can't even keep track of the POTUS keepers. It's all smoke and mirrors. The IRS can't enforce tax code, and every entitlement program is rife with fraud!
Perhaps the NSA should look into the belly of the beast first? Unforunately the beast is a giant SOCIOPATHIC/ HYPOCRITE!
When the masses get hungry enough ( literally). The NSA will be canabilized literally!
Who is going to mine all that data?
Ever heard of Super Computers?
Will they ( super computers) disseminate the information ? Is the "SINGULARITY" that close?
Terminator IV ? I'm not picking on ya Dos Zap. Super computers are extremely expensive to maintain! ( they are great for chess matches)
The pretext to my post was, the country is " bankrupt"!
You do not need a "warrant" to intercept phone conversations at all. While working as a phone systems operator I listened in on multiple phone conversations. Asking for a warrant was never even mentioned. Although the process was creepy and I avoided it if possible, it was as easy as typing a couple numbers into a computer screen and instantly being able to hear the conversation without being heard. These academics needs to leave their hovels once in a while
The corporate telecommunications industry is all too eager to GIVE government agencies whatever they want--no questions asked. That's the beauty of the symbiotic relationship. Fascism, remember?
The only way any totalitarian state survives is with the consent of the populous. STOP CONSENTING....
;)
What populus? The totally uneducated, brain damaged, American idol retarded one?! The redneck dickheads? The "intellectual" suburb asholes?!?! Git serious Bubba!!! Once hunger and extrem poverty strike that will be THE DAY, until then it's dancing with the "stars"!!!
You mean "populace," oh knowledgeable one?
(The jokes just write themselves.)
OH YOU GOT HIM! CALLED HIM OUT ON HIS MISPELLING!
ZZzzz... red herring.
Yeah, that was my goal. To dismantle the subtle fury of his "argument."
See how clever we all are?
I hate tan people.
He could mean Populi, but mistakenly used the singular ... Latin is hard!
The idiots will probably quietly starve to death in front of their big screens. "Where the HELL is that Domino's guy. We called him last Tuesday!!!"
The tiny scab that is "the rest of us" will be using the knowledge, resources and contacts we're acquiring right now to keep our butts out of the nasty fire of the great unraveling. Or at least, that's the operational mode here at the compound.
Was in a somwhat large city during a recent trip. Stopped in to Walmart to grab some ammo (hear that NSA? AMMO, AMMO, AMMO) as its cheaper there - so if we're in town and its in stock we're there.
Ever look around a Walmart for several minutes? I suppose this is true for many stores...but it is scary...positively scary - the future of the population of the USSA is not looking too good. These vacant-eyed, sheeple-people can actually vote...
I recently moved south and when the SHTF, I'd rather have most of the good southern folks I've met on my side than a bunch o' banksters, etc.
If they can't use the information effectively to catch thieves, then I seriously wonder if all their information gathering is worth anything.
http://www.quatloos.com/Q-Forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8330
Coin dealers have been robbed at an alarming rate and the government has been useless with all their high-tech information gathering:
http://www.numismaticcrimes.org/
You think they're interested in regular thieves!!??? Seriously?
Thieves are no threat at all to them. Theft just makes people clamor for more government.
The perps they care about are those few humans who still know how to think independently.
They want you to know that they know everything about you - it makes you self-censor and stop making problems for them.
20-30K/week? In one small geographic area?
That is a serious problem.
It could represent an attack by a nation-state.
I'm not going there.
Dude, it's not a problem, it's "Alternative Liquidity"... Sheesh... :-)
I upped you for that one!
Stop using pathetic nicknames. It's futile.
Have you squirreled your gold away? Pointless!
Eh?
I was thinking the same thing?
I was thinking WTF? but I guess I'll just go outside and paint some squirrels gold...
That was funny! Looks like the KOOKs are awake. Junking everything that posts, on their way to SNAP office! keep it snarky! +1
Pointless? Priceless!
This data center won't help much when the lights go out.
Theirs or ours? They have backups to backup power supplies.
This data center will require so much power it will be the cause for the lights going out.
Traitors posing as heroes... sums up most of the bureaucracy especially these secret agencies.
I sense a " Guest Post" via Tyler on Z/H in your future.? I see a man with a story to tell! +1
I feel like some of this going-around is "fighting the last war".
I work with networks. I work with secure applications running on networks. We are rapidly approaching a point where network traffic of interest is either encrypted when in the public cloud, or is running over private networks, or is running in virtual networks. All of these border on being invisible IMO. Virtual networks perhaps a bit less so, since some hosting services can probably be arm-twisted into tapping their own vNets. For example, I'm coding up a new web-based service right now that will encrypt data moved between machines when on a virtual network. I guess that makes me a terrorist. Yay me.
Email is a particularly odious network application. Nobody should be using email for anything important, personal or corporate. Period.
I don't have much faith in the public switched network (old fashion phone) nor the digital carrier networks (cell phone) and as with email no business of importance should take place over either. NSA branched the phone systems hardcore a few years ago. Everyone knows about it.
Facebook. Yahoo. Google -- danger Will Robinson. Use these resources with the understanding that 100% of what you enter or click on goes to the NSA with your fingerprints all over it. They probably ignore it, but they get it anyway and they might not ignore it some day. I suspect they are still doing aggregate analysis (trends) because the computational throw just isn't there yet to store and analyze in real time something like a couple petabytes of continuous real-time data. Though the day may come. Give it a few years maybe, if their budgets don't get the ax. Though even then, the answer is real-time two-way encryption. Nothing they can do with that. Nothing.
Zerohedge. Well what can I say. I would guess the site is scraped from end to end probably five times a day and the contents run through a text analyzer. Yeah it's funny to think about, what they must be getting from that exercise.
I don't think we are this close to a turn-key totalitarian state. In part because I'm not sure what that means, actually. And in part because I don't see there being one key to turn. More likely, we are close to a day when someone with a dictatorial bent (think, J Edgar Hoover-ish type) will be able to learn enough about key individuals just from a Google search and some branched emails to haul them off to Gitmo on a whim. But that would likewise assume Amerika had already crossed the police state Rubicon without a big fight from right, left and center.
Sure, you'll say we've already lost that battle. Not really. When there are uniformed jackboots with badges hanging on the corners looking for people to harass for pocket change, then yeah. But I think we'll see that coming at us (I hope so) and put a stop to it.
Shameless self-promotion: I'm writing a story about this very outcome, actually. Nearly done, maybe this weekend. It's fiction, it's a little fantastic, but it's along the right lines. And it's about Fascism and the lure of gold. Fun stuff. The bad guy gets his head handed to him of course, but it doesn't alter the trajectory of events; war looms over the horizon. But I like having my characters kick ass probably because I'm not able to do that myself. It's therapeutic if you follow me. Coming to a ZH comment thread near you.
in the public cloud, or is running over private networks, or is running in virtual networks. All of these border on being invisible IMO.
I don't really want to talk tech, but there is an important difference between reading content and knowing the context: who talks to whom, and precisely when and how often.
Context is almost as important as content, and often of equal value.
This is a good point. I think they want to know the connections between people, and watch for people organizing.
The biggest threat to the Power Elites is serious and genuine organizing by the masses. This is why we will continue to see the race-baiting and such, which are Elite tools to keep the masses bickering between one another. Look how they co-opted the Tea party and now doing the same with OWS.
This is certainly true, and it is good point to bring up. It's called a network graph and has nothing to do with digital networks. It's the chart of all the connections between nodes in a communicating cloud.
But as a practical matter, it's hard to glean much from points of origin alone. A network packet is made of an address header and a content frame. Think of it like snail mail, where the envelop outside has only the address, and the contents are separate inside. Encryption can hide the contents but not the address of origin nor the destination, so yes a snoop could notice who is sending messages to whom even if the contents remain secure. However a lot of network traffic thee days is originating behind stateful firewalls with NAT (network address translation), and some is associated with ephemeral IP addresses like DSL, and some more is coming in via mobile platforms grabbing IP addresses on the fly from a cloud-based WiFi network. It's becoming increasingly difficult (more so with each passing day) to look at a packet on the wire and know for sure which human originated it. If the contents are encrypted, that is. If they can open your packets and read about your private life and all your plans then all bets are off.
Tor can be used to further obfuscate the graph by looping packets over countless layers of misdirection.
Everyone needs to understand the importance of these concepts. In the end it may not matter, all this might blow over and we'll laugh about it over beers. Or it might matter a great deal. It is better to know what your options are. It is better to prepare and then not to have needed to.
Poison the water supply...
"Think of it like snail mail, where the envelop outside has only the address, and the contents are separate inside."
I just got a new roll of postage stamps ;-)
They are already doing that. It's called fluoridation.
Dirty bomb...
As you can see I'm "post marking" all my comments to the NSA ;-)True dat...fluoride is not meant to be ingested...as in drinking water.
But the sheeple remain convinced everything is done in their best interests as they wave and cheer at the motorcade wizzing by their traffic jam.
(Deep sigh)
You are back! That's the Z/H nmewn I remember from a year ago.
Never get (P)olitically/(C)orrect dumbed down!
I've watched you take the best of them on. That ( DEEP SIGH) was well deserved!
You are one of the 5! Do your lips ever stop FLAPPING? Do you have any gainful employment?
Jesus Christ, I'm tired of your endless BULLSHIT every day! Give it a rest, (ya Limey or what ever) POS!
I'm glad I made it into your top five, you don't even rate to me. Who are you? Anybody of significance to me ? I think not. Just another anonymous face who attacks people for no reason behind the safety pseudo name.
DPI - ALLT
"I would guess the site is scraped from end to end probably five times a day and the contents run through a text analyzer."......blu
Maybe this site was set up the NSA to concentrate the anti-establishment types. I think it worked.
Unlikely but possible. Never underestimate the enemy as they say. But you know what none of us here count at all. We're just points on a graph of public temperament .
Sometimes it's good to be nobody important.
I don't know about all this, the "Stellar wind" thing sounds so absurdly easy to defeat I can't believe that the government is blowing so much money on it. Do they even have a third-rate computer science guy there telling them the workarounds?
If everyone encrypted all of their communications, all of the computing power in the universe could not tackle the problem, even with their new code-breaking machines. Internet traffic can also be encrypted in realtime. Also a new flavor of fidonet / uunet peer to peer networking over wi-fi can run in theory without ever touching a backbone, at least (for now) in urban / suburban areas. This means an illegal zerohedge server in mid-town can reach the entire new york megaopolis without touching a backbone.
This is just off of the top of my head without even thinking too much about defeating it. Don't even get me started on the "fun" you can have with toys like emp guns and such, which exist now, and can be used to take out, for example, grids of cameras in a public place just to mess with the Fascists.
People get freaked out about internet security because 1) they feel like they have to use it to survive, and 2) they don't understand how easy simple security really is.
A word to everyone, file this away for future reference: TOR
Stands for a project called The Onion Router. Routing network traffic via scores or even hundreds of anonymous hosts, in the process creating onion-like layers of misdirection. Think of it as a virtual network running on the internet itself.
Tor runs on virtually all OSs including smart phones (though you might have to root your phone, not advised).
Point being, the gears are already in place to create misdirection networks, and encryption is already baked into the cake at many critical points. So long as TPTB don't start nuking Tor packets and blocking SSL ports, we'll manage.
And even if they do, we'll still manage.
TOR has LOTS of problems. You have to stay current with malicious nodes, configure ALL programs to use it, etc, etc.
TOP is not something that just everyone can use.
Everyone wants an easy fix to this. There is none.
True enough. But technical problems can be overcome with another layer of technology, sometimes. Look at the world wide web and SSL (and even SSL-VPN) as an example of what can be pulled together from elementary priniciples.
It's important that these projects exist in advance. Their imperfections can be overcome quickly in a pinch, especially if they become mainstream rather than marginal services. At some point we may really need them, warts and all, and then people like myself with security, code and design experience will show up and set it straight.
Everyone keep these concepts in mind. There is digital armour imperfect as it is. With it you might be able to go forward, a little ways. Without it you may not go anywhere.
Blu,
Lately I have been giving more thought to online security, and would like the thoughts of you or others here.
Occasionally I buy used laptops... wherever. I have a guy with the savvy to clean'em, and reload a browser, and basic security. Total cost, one to two hundred bucks. Now here's the question.
As long as I :
(a) use an e-mail account (multiple) created on publicly used equipment, say an internet cafe, or public library up to 100 miles away from home,
(b) never use the device in a location traceable to me, like home or work.
(c) maintain strict discipline in regards to pulling the battery from the device when not in use.
(d) treat the device as a throw-away item, never to be used or found in connection with a "safe" location. (potentially only to be used while mobile).
Would this scheme be able to provide one with discreet communications for a limited time ? Think battle field comms.
OMG - plant or laughting out loud!
meh... a trip to Gauntanamo seems to be passing from the realm of mere possibility into likelihood with alarming rapidity.
True enough. But technical problems can be overcome with another layer of technology, sometimes...
Please don't think that I am against TOR - I am not.
My point was that it is not the simple, free fix that so many people want.
The problems CAN be solved, but not fast, free and easy.
You can either spend time getting educated and using - always - things like PGP and TOR, or you can PAY a quality outfit like Cryptohippie to do it for you.
But... no one is going to give us all a free fix.
Sorry if I was unclear.
technology can mitigate issues but never completely solve problems in the end.
You want private conversation? Go have lunch with that person and pay cash.
That's how wall streeters do insider tips trading. they don't call, email, txt, tweet. Just good ole conversation.
facebook and google are multi billiondollar corporations because they fooled people into giving up their privacy for free!
yes there is (an easy fix). like mentioned in the "USPS" post comments, and now in the featured video: it's SNAIL MAIL, good old fashioned letters. opening them on the scale now done with electronic communications, inspecting content, scanning it, to put in a database, without the recipient knowing, and without raising too much attention (doing this would need manpower) would be a logistical nightmare.
also.. for any organisation or souverign state, it's possible to assemble an intranet physically disconnected from anyone else. I guess that's where it's headed? Or maybe security is "obsolete"? I don't know.
online information freedom can work, if the government is on the same technical level as the citizens. i have no insight in what the balance is in this regard.
that NSA guy in the video is really fukking brave. I guess that's what's needed: many brave people.
Long carrier pigeons.
I get your point; why revert to a slower form of communication, when we use fast, efficiënt electronic networks?
I'm saying there should remain a backup system, like the regular post, snail mail, and in order to keep that efficiënt, more ppl. should use it.
The USA is now a police surveilance state, email and mobile communication has been compromised.
I don't really know anything about computer science, but I've read that with enough computing power, you can overwhelm any encryption with brute force: i.e. just trying all the combinations until it works. Yes, there are lots of combinations, but that's why it takes lots of computing power - like the kind that fills a multi-billion dollar facility in Utah perhaps?
And I think we non-insiders should also keep in mind that whatever we think is cutting edge is almost certainly obsolete. We live in the past, if you catch my meaning.