Prism and Verizon surveillance discussion thread

[Junkenstein]

HA HA
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25118156

The US authorities have studied online sexual activity and suggested exposing porn site visits as a way to discredit people who spread radical views, the Huffington Post news site has reported.

It published a document, leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, identifying two Muslims said to be vulnerable to accusations of "online promiscuity".

An official said this was unsurprising.

HA HA HA

Privacy International said: "This is not the first time we've seen states use intimate and private information of an individual who holds views the government doesn't agree with, and exploit this information to undermine an individual's message."

Book recommendation - Stasiland.

[Cain]

Here is the most important part of the article:

None of the six individuals targeted by the NSA is accused in the document of being involved in terror plots.

One target's offending argument is that "Non-Muslims are a threat to Islam," and a vulnerability listed against him is "online promiscuity." Another target, a foreign citizen the NSA describes as a "respected academic," holds the offending view that "offensive jihad is justified," and his vulnerabilities are listed as "online promiscuity" and "publishes articles without checking facts." A third targeted radical is described as a "well-known media celebrity" based in the Middle East who argues that "the U.S perpetrated the 9/11 attack." Under vulnerabilities, he is said to lead "a glamorous lifestyle." A fourth target, who argues that "the U.S. brought the 9/11 attacks on itself" is said to be vulnerable to accusations of "deceitful use of funds."

So in other words, they're looking at the porn habits of people who are speaking out against America.  Not suspected terrorist recruiters or financiers.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Thought criminals? Quelle surprise. Also

A fourth target, who argues that "the U.S. brought the 9/11 attacks on itself"

Stating the obvious is thoughtcrime under the new regime

[Junkenstein]

This feels very related:
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/11/smart-tv-from-lg-phones-home-with-users-viewing-habits-usb-file-names/

The unidentified blogger, whose twitter profile described him as a "developer, tweaker and Linux enthusiast" living in UK county of Yorkshire, said the LG Smart TV model is LG 42LN575V and was manufactured May 2013. He provided screenshots of data packets he said he captured showing the information his TV sent unencrypted over the Internet. The data appeared to show a device ID unique to his set, along with the name of the channel it was tuned to. In his tests, the information was sent in the clear every time the channel was changed. Even more remarkable, he said, the smart TV sent the data even after he waded through the system preferences and set the "Collection of watching info" setting to "off" (it was on by default).

But the logging didn't stop there. Included in the traffic sent over the Internet were the names of files stored on a USB drive connected to the LG television. For dramatic purposes and to ensure he chose a file name not likely used by the firmware, he created a mock video file called Midget_Porn_2013.avi, loaded it onto a USB drive and plugged it into his TV. Sure enough, the file name was transmitted unencrypted in HTTP traffic sent to the address GB.smartshare.lgtvsdp.com. In some cases, he said, file names for an entire folder were transmitted, and other times nothing at all was sent. He never determined the rules that controlled when data was or wasn't sent.

According to DoctorBeet, LG representatives made no apologies when he brought the monitoring behavior to their attention.

"The advice we have been given is that unfortunately as you accepted the Terms and Conditions on your TV, your concerns would be best directed to the retailer," the representatives wrote in a response to the blogger. "We understand you feel you should have been made aware of these T's and C's at the point of sale, and for obvious reasons LG are unable to pass comment on their actions."

Implications. Implications everywhere.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Guhfuh?


I think they need to remove "paranoia" from the next DSM. There's nothing you could possibly suspect that's awfuller than the truth at this point.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Guhfuh?


I think they need to remove "paranoia" from the next DSM. There's nothing you could possibly suspect that's awfuller than the truth at this point.

You People just aren't serious about having a good time.  Why "Cracked" says this is the new heaven.

Granted, it was wearing its little sister's jeans at the time.

[Junkenstein]

It's great isn't it?

At this point you could go full hermit somewhere stupidly remote and a google drone will probably fly past and photograph you within 5 years.

[Cain]

his TV sent unencrypted over the Internet

GAH!

This is the other thing that people don't seem to be grasping about the NSA/GCHQ thing.  It's not just that they're spying on you, they are putting backdoors in networks and systems which degrade overall security levels for everything.  Sending unencrypted personal data on the internet?  It's not like anyone can intercept that with a man-in-the-middle attack or anything.  Backdoors which the NSA can access can also be accessed by China, criminal syndicates and terrorist groups.

So thanks again, NSA.

[Junkenstein]

That's pretty much it. Practically every new electronic "entertainment" device seems to have this kind of shit bolted into it now. If you were feeling suspicious, you could look at the rise of gaming, particularly online and console gaming as another area where this shit is being pushed.

Data has always been valuable. For example, a sales lead for a house with no double glazing in the UK in the early 90's was worth £20 easily. Considerably more if they had expressed any kind of interest it in.

I wonder what your full personal profile with all the associated personal information and entertainment preferences is actually worth.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The only solution I can think of is to try to organize a flood of bad data.

OCCUPY YOUR CPU.

[Cain]

I wonder what your full personal profile with all the associated personal information and entertainment preferences is actually worth.

This might give you an idea.

[Cain]

Amusing.  Dianne "full potato" Feinstein and Mike "can't say 'good morning' without lying twice" Rogers have been scaremongering about Scary Syrian Jihadists, and how the NSA snooping is justified by the risk they pose.

Turns out they voted to give said scary Syrian jihadists billions in US arms.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Amusing.  Dianne "full potato" Feinstein and Mike "can't say 'good morning' without lying twice" Rogers have been scaremongering about Scary Syrian Jihadists, and how the NSA snooping is justified by the risk they pose.

Turns out they voted to give said scary Syrian jihadists billions in US arms.

Wait.  I think I've heard this joke before.   

[LMNO]

Well, that's certainly amusing.  For a given value of "amusing".

[Cain]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tracking-cellphone-locations-worldwide-snowden-documents-show/2013/12/04/5492873a-5cf2-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html

The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable.

The records feed a vast database that stores information about the locations of at least hundreds of millions of devices, according to the officials and the documents, which were provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. New projects created to analyze that data have provided the intelligence community with what amounts to a mass surveillance tool.

The NSA does not target Americans' location data by design, but the agency acquires a substantial amount of information on the whereabouts of domestic cellphones "incidentally," a legal term that connotes a foreseeable but not deliberate result.

One senior collection manager, speaking on the condition of anonymity but with permission from the NSA, said "we are getting vast volumes" of location data from around the world by tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. Additionally, data are often collected from the tens of millions of Americans who travel abroad with their cellphones every year.

So long as the NSA makes no effort to actually find out if they are tapping American cellphones, they are technically not in violation of US law.  Ignorance is no defense...unless you are the NSA, and ignorance is part of the plan.