Just run this, my computer is clear, maybe.

Just run this, my computer is clear, maybe.
Released by Amnesty International
Detekt: New tool against government surveillance - Questions and Answers
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/detek...ers-2014-11-20

Read an article on that; just checks for a short list of known government spyware. Probably useful if you're helping Tibetan refugees or something like that, but compared to the benefits of an antivirus program, hardly worth the effort for most of us.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/11...ther_both er/

Still, nice to know your computer is Clear. But when will it make it to OT VII?

John Savard

Quadibloc:

Read an article on that; just checks for a short list of known government
spyware. Probably useful if you're helping Tibetan refugees or something like
that, but compared to the benefits of an antivirus program, hardly worth the
effort for most of us.

Particularly considering that there is no known (U.S.) government
spyware. At least, none that is known among people who have not been
subjected to sexual abuse by aliens in UFOs and who are not
involuntarily wearing government spy transmitters in their brains.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Saturday, November 22, 2014 4:14:42 AM UTC-7, wrote:

Amendment IV of the US Constitution reads:

"The 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."

Obviously, listening in, scanning emails, etc., is forbidden by the US
Constitution without a warrant.

It's actually unclear to me if tapping telephones (and the like) is even
*covered* by the Fourth Amendment, at least if the Supreme Court were to apply
a narrow literal interpretation to it. At least if the tap is applied at the
switchboard and not on customer premises.

John Savard

In RichA
wrote:

Do you honestly think they are listening or reading your every word?

Do you honestly believe that the surveilance is done by live people
actually listening in real time?

...
As long as you aren't discussing bombing an airline at length on the
phone to a friend, you're probably not being observed.

As long as you have "nothing to hide," you don't mind having all your
calls and all your Internet traffic recorded? Perhaps you wouldn't mind
having your house periodically searched as well?

You've probably committed several crimes, even felonies, since you got
out of bed this morning.

--
St. Paul, MN

Bert:
As long as you have "nothing to hide," you don't mind having all your
calls and all your Internet traffic recorded?

That's a nonsensical question. No one who isn't a terrorist suspect is
having all their phone calls and Internet traffic recorded. You will
know that NSA is monitoring "all" calls and Internet traffic when you
learn that NSA has ~one billion employees.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Sunday, 23 November 2014 00:30:12 UTC+1, Davoud wrote:
Bert:
As long as you have "nothing to hide," you don't mind having all your
calls and all your Internet traffic recorded?

That's a nonsensical question. No one who isn't a terrorist suspect is
having all their phone calls and Internet traffic recorded. You will
know that NSA is monitoring "all" calls and Internet traffic when you
learn that NSA has ~one billion employees.

You are obviously unaware of the vast collections of personal files collected by the many paranoid communist dictators. Most of these files were hand written or typed in a pre-computer age. Every citizen of the entire Soviet Block was recorded in depth somewhere.

The real danger of mass communication scanning of ordinary citizens lies with four quite likely possibilities:

A) A hard line US political leadership with mentally weak leaders elected by a mentally weak electorate duped into believing any old crap they are fed by the corrupt and mutually-parasitic US media: Tea Party gone bad perhaps? Responding to another jihadist atrocity on American soil would really bring the hard liners out of the woodwork and swing the electorate hard over to the lunatic Right. Mass global immigration is an increasingly serious issue which can easily destroy an incumbent society's integrity. Responding to increased nationalism and security is the cheapest vote in the book of magic spells for gaining dictatorial leadership.

B) Hacking of the NSA files and those of other secret services by an enemy bent on mischief. Russia [i.e.Putin] or an increasingly jingoistic China are the most obvious candidates. The typical jingoism of secret service employees does not guarantee inter-service loyalty! Inter-service competition for brownie points and funding could seriously unravel many layers of imaginary, internal security.

C) Spies, sleepers and misaligned subcontractors are obvious dangers. Even if you avoid another Snowden et al, blackmail and human frailty are the oldest tricks in the book for gaining insider information and connections.

D) The shortly expected arrival of AI and quantum computing. Computer scientists are a presently falling over themselves to teach computers [and the robots they control] all the strengths and weaknesses of the human race. A non-aligned scientist with enough information and the right tools and funding could really mess things up for idealistic reasons. The division between genius and mental illness is as thin as a track on an AI chip. Morals are not universally recognised attributes of the gifted.

Basically, it all comes down to human weakness and its [easy] exploitation.

Davoud:
That's a nonsensical question. No one who isn't a terrorist suspect is
having all their phone calls and Internet traffic recorded. You will
know that NSA is monitoring "all" calls and Internet traffic when you
learn that NSA has ~one billion employees.

Chris.B:
You are obviously unaware of the vast collections of personal files collected
by the many paranoid communist dictators. Most of these files were hand
written or typed in a pre-computer age. Every citizen of the entire Soviet
Block was recorded in depth somewhere.

Despite what extremists on all fringes of the political spectrum may
think, the U.S.A. is a loooong way from being a dictatorship. As for
citizens recorded in depth, they are so recorded in every civilized
society. Voter lists, national insurance, automobile registrations,
personal and property-tax lists, veterans' lists, et al.

The real danger of mass communication scanning of ordinary citizens lies with
four quite likely possibilities:

A) A hard line US political leadership with mentally weak leaders elected by
a mentally weak electorate duped into believing any old crap they are fed by
the corrupt and mutually-parasitic US media: Tea Party gone bad perhaps?

The Tea Pee can't go bad

B) Hacking of the NSA files and those of other secret services by an enemy
bent on mischief...

That is the least likely of your scenarios. There is no chance that
NSA's operational computer systems are connected to the Internet.

C) Spies, sleepers and misaligned subcontractors are obvious dangers. Even if
you avoid another Snowden et al, blackmail and human frailty are the oldest
tricks in the book for gaining insider information and connections.

The threat remains what it has been since The Beginning--a traitor
within, a Snowden bent on damaging the security of the Western World.
You may rest assured that the doors that Snowden used have been locked
tightly. And every right-thinking civilized person should be glad that
Snowden was unable to gain access to cryptographic systems (NSA's
/other/ job).

D) The shortly expected arrival of AI and quantum computing. Computer
scientists are a presently falling over themselves to teach computers [and
the robots they control] all the strengths and weaknesses of the human race.
A non-aligned scientist with enough information and the right tools and
funding could really mess things up for idealistic reasons. The division
between genius and mental illness is as thin as a track on an AI chip. Morals
are not universally recognised attributes of the gifted.

The NSA is without question the greatest reservoir of mathematical and
computer expertise on the planet. The SIGINT services in Britain and
the U.S. were the first to apply computer technology to the difficult
problem of cryptology. I know that the NSA and our allies will continue
to use their expertise to the benefit of civilization and to the
detriment of the enemies of civilization.

Basically, it all comes down to human weakness and its [easy] exploitation.

As it was in the Garden of Eden.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

Davoud wrote:
Davoud:
That's a nonsensical question. No one who isn't a terrorist suspect is
having all their phone calls and Internet traffic recorded. You will
know that NSA is monitoring "all" calls and Internet traffic when you
learn that NSA has ~one billion employees.

Chris.B:
You are obviously unaware of the vast collections of personal files collected
by the many paranoid communist dictators. Most of these files were hand
written or typed in a pre-computer age. Every citizen of the entire Soviet
Block was recorded in depth somewhere.

Despite what extremists on all fringes of the political spectrum may
think, the U.S.A. is a loooong way from being a dictatorship. As for
citizens recorded in depth, they are so recorded in every civilized
society. Voter lists, national insurance, automobile registrations,
personal and property-tax lists, veterans' lists, et al.

The real danger of mass communication scanning of ordinary citizens lies with
four quite likely possibilities:

A) A hard line US political leadership with mentally weak leaders elected by
a mentally weak electorate duped into believing any old crap they are fed by
the corrupt and mutually-parasitic US media: Tea Party gone bad perhaps?

The Tea Pee can't go bad

B) Hacking of the NSA files and those of other secret services by an enemy
bent on mischief...

That is the least likely of your scenarios. There is no chance that
NSA's operational computer systems are connected to the Internet.

C) Spies, sleepers and misaligned subcontractors are obvious dangers. Even if
you avoid another Snowden et al, blackmail and human frailty are the oldest
tricks in the book for gaining insider information and connections.

The threat remains what it has been since The Beginning--a traitor
within, a Snowden bent on damaging the security of the Western World.
You may rest assured that the doors that Snowden used have been locked
tightly. And every right-thinking civilized person should be glad that
Snowden was unable to gain access to cryptographic systems (NSA's
/other/ job).

D) The shortly expected arrival of AI and quantum computing. Computer
scientists are a presently falling over themselves to teach computers [and
the robots they control] all the strengths and weaknesses of the human race.
A non-aligned scientist with enough information and the right tools and
funding could really mess things up for idealistic reasons. The division
between genius and mental illness is as thin as a track on an AI chip. Morals
are not universally recognised attributes of the gifted.

The NSA is without question the greatest reservoir of mathematical and
computer expertise on the planet. The SIGINT services in Britain and
the U.S. were the first to apply computer technology to the difficult
problem of cryptology. I know that the NSA and our allies will continue
to use their expertise to the benefit of civilization and to the
detriment of the enemies of civilization.

Basically, it all comes down to human weakness and its [easy] exploitation.

As it was in the Garden of Eden.


And now the NSA and GCHQ are applying their expertise to monitoring all our
communications. As you said they have a huge reservoir of mathematical
expertise (the best scoring maths pupil at my daughter's school recruited
into GCHQ).


Privacy seems to be slipping away.
From the BBC News Website:


A law forcing firms to hand details to police identifying who was using a
computer or mobile phone at a given time is to be outlined by UK Home
Secretary Theresa May.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-30166477

On Sat, 22 Nov 2014 18:30:10 -0500, Davoud wrote:

That's a nonsensical question. No one who isn't a terrorist suspect is
having all their phone calls and Internet traffic recorded. You will
know that NSA is monitoring "all" calls and Internet traffic when you
learn that NSA has ~one billion employees.

Of course. But we can still oppose any warrantless monitoring.
Personally, I'm happy that technology will soon make the majority of
monitoring impossible (or at least not feasible). I really don't care
if law enforcement is unable to monitor criminals and terrorists. I'm
willing to accept that minor inconvenience in exchange for them not
being able to monitor me.