I'd just like to point out that the CIA has gone so far as to have a meme warfare department. CIA agents posting on HN is well within the realms of possibility.
Don't take everything you read here at face value
CIA malware and hacking tools
881–890 of 1001 posts
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#882Earlier quoted context omitted.
> because they've never published anything that wasn't verified to be true Mr Assange repeatedly claimed that Podesta's gmail password was 'password' in interviews, which was false: http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2017/jan/06/...
This is a far, far cry from the kinds of quality journalism that Wikileaks does. It appears that the claim the password was 'password' wasn't a story in and of itself but an anecdote relating to the weakness of Podesta's password (which is true). Compare that to Clapper, Director of National Intelligence stating for the record under oath that national intelligence does not have a surveillance operation targeting Amer…
You are missing the point that the "p@ssw0rd" was for a Windows 8 account, not the gmail account. There was no evidence that the gmail account password was a variant of password. It would still be disingenuous even if he claimed it was a 'variant' of password, because there is no evidence to suggest it was.
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#883Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is absolutely correct. Plus, what they did may not be illegal per se, but we might not want them in the country. For example, I'm not aware of any U.S. law that specifically makes it illegal to have been Nazi concentration camp guard. But we don't want people like that in the country and want to deport them if they are ever found here. Hence the purpose of the immigration form.
Unless they are really good rocket scientists...
Nazi concentration camp guards weren't building rockets.
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#884Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strongly concur. Ask any military officer who is a ring knocker; telling a 100% truthful narrative in such a manner as to provide a false narrative is still grounds for breaking the spirit of the honor code, and thus grounds for disenrollment.
can concur, the honour code definitely cares more about intent than truthfulness
Intent matters. That's why the law will put you in prison for fewer years for texting and killing someone with your car than if you planned out the murder.
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#885Earlier quoted context omitted.
For the purpose of devil's advocate in this, I think it's possible to state truths and still be misleading and/or distracting from another narrative. Just because something is true doesn't necessarily explain what the motive is for releasing that information. It's certainly healthy to have at least a shadow of a doubt as to what WikiLeaks's motivations are when it's already shown that it can either restrain itself fr…
Assange outlined his goals [1] a while ago in regards to exposing secrets, and I think Wikileaks is staying in line with those rather well. It essentially states that they'll leak whatever they receive, and try to enforce a kind of 'secrecy tax' on governments/parties/organizations that refuse to be transparent via forcing them into less effective means of communication and overall less use of technology. Additionall…
Why are leaks from the Russian Federation so conspicuously absent? When it comes down to it, WL is a public relations and marketing agency for leakers who want the media to notice their handiwork.
If you leaked something (document dump style) today there's a fair chance nobody would pay any attention to your claim to have this or that trove of documents so you'd need an agent. Who are you gonna call?
I find it impossible to believe there are never any significant leaks from the Russian Federation. I think the problem is the dominant PR agency in that space won't work with you if you're doing anything that might harm Russian interests.
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#886Earlier quoted context omitted.
The insane, continued obsession over Hillary's emails and the phrasing of the social media accounts is definitely not congruent with the clear-headed logic and essays that Assange has written in the Wikileaks manifesto, "Cypherpunks", and others. The Wikileaks Twitter handle just used a Fox News video as evidence for something. You could say the man's gone insane, but the theory of these accounts and the WL org being…
What are you talking about. Julian absolutely hates Hillary, and for good reason. Hillary and the Obama administration hardcore went after him. Of course he hates them. So him being biased is completely expected.
So does every government for which the have leaks. They have tons of enemies and yet they have never shown the ridiculous, singular obsession. It is just not congruent with the rest of their reasoning.
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#887Earlier quoted context omitted.
Where everyone = every American that knows very little about foreign affairs (and probably couldn't even point Iowa on the map), but believes all the crap they see in mainstream media, from WMDs to the latest "Russians hacked our elections" -- and always roots for the current "enemy du jour" of the establishment. Aside from the constant pressure and threats, and the constant military presence around its borders, few…
>Seriously, why don't people just get a passport and try to talk to people around the world to see what they actually think? Have you done this? A lofty goal.
Yes. I'm from Europe, and I've been to over 20+ countries, including all around the states many times.
We have a tradition of paying more attention to international affairs in this here parts (Europe at large) -- and being quite more mindful of geography and history in general. With the US the only international affairs that people talk about is mainly the current enemy du jour or philanthropic cause. And it's not like they know a lot of the background of those things (or even basic elements of them) when asked.
Not to mention we are actually learning/speaking foreign languages and even reading foreign movies and media (the people at large: not e.g. some art-cinema watching hipsters).
A European online would read US media AND his country's media. And often of 1-2 other countries where he shares a language or speaks their language. An American? Not so much from everything I've seen and read.
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#888Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's possible there just aren't Russian leakers though. Russia can do some shady things to retaliate against leakers US not so much.
People with leaks about Russia don't need Wikileaks. They just go to establishment media. Also, US responses to Manning and Snowden seemed rather shady.
Huh? Could you give some examples of Russian leaks that got legs through talking to the establishment media? And by the way, who are the establishment media you're talking about in this context? It can't be Russian State Media such as RT so you must be talking about U.S. media such as the NYT and Wahington Post though I'm not sure.
Also, wasn't it this same establishment media that worked with WL to leak Snowden's documents? So why was WL needed at all since the media ultimately did the publishing that people saw in that case?
People might forget that WL depended on "media" to actually publish the documents as WL has not always been the sort of household name it is now. They were just the agent now they're a publisher and a PR agent all in one.
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#889Earlier quoted context omitted.
They are not neutral. I don't think it's even controversial to say they're working against the United States. They clearly are. It's an observation not a political statement to point this out. If they were neutral you'd see big releases of Russian secrets, etc.
It's possible there just aren't Russian leakers though. Russia can do some shady things to retaliate against leakers US not so much.
Really? I find it hard to believe that there haven't been any significant Russian leaks since WL started their work. I am pretty sure they've declined to release information damaging to Russia.
And I'd have to disagree that leakers have it easy in the U.S. For example, if Snowden comes back he's facing life in prison and the trial they've offered him isn't exactly what we would call a fair trial. My understanding is the only concession they've offered him is a promise not to execute him.
He'd get a closed trial and no due process. Snowden's trial would not look unfamiliar to a Russian at all.
Re: CIA malware and hacking tools
#890The technology used by the CIA and NSA is all stuff people on HN can totally grok. That's kind of exciting and disappointing at the same time. Some people on this site could probably do better than the CIA and NSA is doing. Some people here probably wrote some of leaked stuff. Hah! I like the way the teams are broken up by device target but I think they should probably have an even more decentralized setup. Or maybe…
> The technology used by the CIA and NSA is all stuff people on HN can totally grok. Yep, the typical stuff: CentOS, Debian, Ubuntu, Python, Ansible, Packer(.io), vim, Sublime Text, SourceTree, Git, ... Plenty of references to Stack Overflow, Reddit, and such too.
And this whole thing seems to be a Confluence dump.