On 10/08/13 17:38, Richard Thornton wrote:
I am not flippant enough to say that the NSA revelations do not matter,
but what are we supposed to do? The Middle Eastern terrorism threat is
real and we need to be able to stop them anyway necessary.
All it takes is one of them to hit every Walmart in the neighborhood,
buy every pay-as-you-go phone they have, then pass them out to their
friends in every Mosque. Now you have a new terrorism threat. So,
welcome to the real world my friend, and wake up.
Seriously, after everything I've said so far (I see you just replied
privately to my most recent post), you're suggesting that *I* wake up to
the real world? I suggest you take that message to the ignorant,
complacent, apathetic masses. Please.
Take a look at the prime-time TV lineup on the major US networks, and
the "cable" stations like Showcase, HBO, etc. What are their plots
mostly focussed on? Terrorism. Top-rated shows like NCIS, NCIS: LA,
and the like: Terrorism. My point is that the media is feeding the
viewers a non-stop diet of potential terrorist plots. It's ridiculously
pervasive, and the fear is taking over peoples' minds.
Why do you think Bruce Schneier calls the TSA's actions "security
theatre"? They're reactive, not proactive. Maybe the NSA/CIA/FBI are
trying to be proactive, but what's their track record?
The intelligence agencies each had a piece of the 9/11 puzzle. Due to
infighting and protecting their respective turf, they didn't share
information, and 9/11 happened. Hindsight is 20/20, but it was revealed
that if they had only cooperated, 9/11 could have been prevented.
Look at the Boston bombings. The FBI received intel from the Russians,
of all people, beforehand that the two brothers were up to something.
How did that work out for them?
The Times Square bomber was stopped by a curious NYPD cop, not an
three-letter agency.
How about those US soldiers that converted to Islam, raising red flags
with their unusual behaviour and behavioural changes, going on shooting
rampages? How did the FBI do there?
Maybe they have foiled attacks, but you'd think they'd be shouting that
from the rooftops saying, "Look! We're doing good! Our Billion dollar
budgets are justified!" People know about PRISM now, but even if they
wanted to keep the source of their intel under wraps, I'm sure they
could find a way to "parallel construct" a plausible explanation without
revealing too much.
Like you said in a fresh post, maybe the NSA was helpful in stopping the
potential attacks on Toronto and various rail lines. Who knows. Read
my previous paragraph again.
And for the record, both you and Ze Loff should stick to facts and
rational discussion. Bigots and morons are best defeated with those,
and they'll show their true colours, debasing their own opinions.
There's no need for insults and ad hominem attacks.
You feel that Snowden is "quite the jerk"? You're entitled to that
opinion, but there are a great many people, myself included, that think
he is a hero for exposing blantant lies and violations of the law and
constitution. Snowden, and some other previous NSA employees, saw the
insanity of this, and the future of it. They were appalled, and went
public. They are heroes.
Privately, you casually dismissed Wolf as "another blow hard", "the
liberal version of Ann Coulter". Maybe so, but attacking her personally
does not negate the validity of her points. Watch the video, and think
about it with an open mind, if you can.
You asked, "What are we supposed to do?" There are no easy answers
here. I fully realize that there are shades of grey involved. But you
aren't looking at the thin end of the wedge; we've long passed that
point, and you are ceding your rights to allow it to not only continue,
but to expand. Remeber what Ben Franklin said: "Those who would give
up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve
neither liberty nor safety."
His point in that quote speaks directly to the nature of government. It
hasn't changed since then. Government will take a mile when you give
them an inch. You've probably heard the glib comments that more people
in the US have died from choking on fishbones/car accidents/etc. in the
last 12 years than have died from terrorism.
But at what price, both financially (military spending) and in terms of
rights in a growing surveillance state? Where does it end, and what is
the logical conclusion?
I just don't have the answers, but I can repeat the suggestions of Bruce
Schneier: Trust the math. Trust the crypto. Be careful with the
implementation. The NSA isn't so much working on breaking the crypto
(for now), as they are attacking the end points. That's why they hacked
the "Tor Bundle". That's why they control so many Tor exit nodes.
Stick to known trusted OSes, like OpenBSD. Avoid proprietary software,
especially software developed in the US. Avoid this "cloud" nonsense;
house and be resonsible for your own data and security. Why on earth
anyone or any company would trust a third party with their data is
beyond me. Utter lunacy, to save a buck. And if you really /must/ use
some cloud storage service, encrypt your data using a FOSS OS, again,
preferably OpenBSD, before putting it out there.
You don't know me, you shouldn't trust me (of course), so I suggest you
do your own reading and homework. Bruce Schneier (google him) is a
seriously respected cryptoanalyst in the industry, so start by reading
his papers, articles and comments.
Sometimes our Theo lets fly with a few interesting comments. Pay
attention. He's a good man and fine leader; listen to him. I'd love to
buy him some pizza and beer, and pick his brain for what he thinks is
coming down the road. Unfortunately, Calgary is a three-day drive away
for me, and I'm not silly enough to discuss such things via email. :)
Remember, your security is *your* responsibility. It's now established
that you cannot trust the government or any major US firms. Make that,
"any US firms", period. Schneier has written many papers on how poorly
people evaluate risk, and risk assessment. Read up on those old papers
through the lens of the Snowden revelations, and make your own decisions.
I don't know what the future holds. My crystal ball is broken. I have
my suspicions, and I'll bet more than a few of them will be borne out by
future Snowden revelations.
As long as known insecure OSes like Windows, (who cooperate with the
NSA), run horribly insecure software, like anything from Adobe (Flash,
Reader, Acrobat, Shockwave), Oracle (Java), or Apple (iTunes,
QuickTime), continue to dominate the market, we're screwed. It just
takes one 0wned end point, which the NSA is very specifically attacking,
and the best encryption in the world falls down due to vulnerable end
points.
You sent emails with the tagline "Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone
on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network." BlackBerry/RIM, a Canadian
firm located just a few hours west of me, bent over and grabbed their
ankles for the Indian government, so that government had a back door
into the "secure" BB devices. (Hey, wasn't "proper security" a big
selling/marketing point for them? Oh yes, it was.) I wonder who else
they've grabbed their ankles for? And Verizon? Ah yes, it's now been
documented that they cooperate with the NSA too. So, like I said to my
friend with his Galaxy smartphone: Enjoy! I'm sure you're "not that
interesting".
Think. Read. Listen. Even to those you don't typically agree with.
Listening to contrary views will help give you a balanced opinion and
thought process. Look at the writing on the wall, that is, patterns.
The patterns of history, wrt current patterns. Try.
PS: I'm sure this is much to your consternation, but Ze was correct:
Your post did validate my current sig. Which is sad, really. But
you're off to a good /start/, you're using OpenBSD on at least some
devices. (You are, right?)
Thanks for listening, everyone.
--
Scott McEachern
https://www.blackstaff.ca
"Beware the Four Horsemen of the Information Apocalypse: terrorists, drug dealers,
kidnappers, and child pornographers. Seems like you can scare any public into allowing
the government to do anything with those four." -- Bruce Schneier
