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Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

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Re: Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

#211

Post by MichaelGG »

DanBC wrote: post #99
andy_ppp wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You make it sound as if the article was written by a journalist, not a person who had been leaked to and is a part of the story. Anyway, that whistle blower and the leaker could both get 14 years under proposed anti-whistleblower laws: The Guardian failed to point out in its report that new legislation proposed by the Law Commission would make the author of the anonymous letter, Jones herself, and the journalists at…

> and the leaker could both get 14 years under proposed anti-whistleblower laws: No, that's not a proposal of the Law Commission report (which isn't a proposed new law). Here's the document. It's over 300 pages long. The consultation is still open. http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/project/protection-of-official-data... The report gathers information about all the whistleblowing protection law in the UK; all the secrecy prote…

>English "Official Secrets Act" maximum sentence (currently 2 years)

> This is the same maximum sentence available for an unauthorised disclosure that, to take one example, damages the capability of the armed forces to carry out their tasks.

I had to look that up - that's incredible. For all the fuss made about it 2 years seems very short. I was under the impression these kind of things carried passive penalties. Though I guess there's extra charges if you reveal secrets to an enemy or something.

Re: Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

#212

Post by geofft »

zhte415 wrote: post #199
geofft wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm. Thinking realistically about threat model, a well-known law firm is obligated to behave ethically or will lose the ability to conduct business. If someone who can prove that they're from a reputable law firm - AND that they're acting on behalf of a former Deputy Mayor of London and current member of the House of Lords - comes to me and asks me for my email password with a good reason why they want it, it's not c…

Thinking realistically, the chance of a law firm asking for passwords, or any kind of personal information, would be a wise time to defer to legal council, compliance office, or whoever has expertise.

Yup. If this were my work account (or an account I use for work), I'd go in person to IT security and also to our legal counsel, say "Hey, this law firm contacted me because they think that the government has stolen my email password, should I work with them," and follow their advice. And I'd expect "Yes, we know them, they're good folks" to be a potential answer.

Re: Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

#213

Post by SubiculumCode »

coldtea wrote: post #33
SubiculumCode wrote: post #19

Outrageous. I worry we in the USA are going this direction too.

Have you seen the FBI files on people like MLK and Malcom X? In fact this goes as far back as the 19th century if not more, with workers rights activists, human rights activists and others. And doesn't stop at collecting data.

You are correct to point those cases out, and I am aware of them. It was also outrageous to infiltrate the MLK movement. Not to downplay those cases, but there is a distinction between these cases with the FBI and the current case with London police: The London police is a local enforcement agency. When local police forces start actively hacking citizens there is a different kind of danger than when a federal agency does so, mainly because they have different enforcement interests and powers. When a local enforcement agency begins to spy and hack, that is a new level of harassment and violation of civil liberties.

Re: Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

#216

Post by mmjaa »

noir_lord wrote: post #209
mmjaa wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Until the people of the UK stand up and do something about the criminal factions that have usurped their government, I remain of the view that it is really a very cowardly society. There is simply no other excuse for the inaction and disregard for these heinous crimes. Not to mention a significant portion of the society appears to be perfectly aligned with the need for a total surveillance state, due to an endemic na…

> due to an endemic national fear that, perhaps, the imperial acts committed in their name will come home to roost.. Not sure how you arrived at that conclusion, most people I know don't know much about what we did during the age of empire and the rest broadly think Empire was a good thing for the countries we conquered.

I'm not talking about some foregone era of the foggy, distant past.

I'm talking about here and now.

But you're right, nobody knows about that, either.

Re: Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

#217

Post by garyfirestorm »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #170
dTal wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, at the very least, "the sixth was nearly a match" is pretty damning. "Nono, you've got it wrong, MY password is hunterTHREE - you see there was this incident..."

For those who don't get this brilliant reference: http://www.bash.org/?244321

this is the funniest thing i have ever read!

Re: Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

#218

Post by 6stringmerc »

cmdrfred wrote: post #133
dTal wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Obviously the people hacking accounts are the baddies. But I don't think it's inappropriate to note that, seemingly, someone literally phoned them up, asked for, and received their passwords - and that's not even the main story!

I still can't believe the "humans are generally trusting and helpful to strangers" vulnerability has yet to be patched. http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=2526

It is a wonderfully effective platform for compelling fiction, however! See: O. Henry.

Re: Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

#219

Post by snovv_crash »

candiodari wrote: post #154
snovv_crash wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the peaceful transition in South Africa. Do you think that would have happened if the old government thought they could keep hanging on?

People have a funny way to look at how violent a transition and especially leaders are or aren't depending on whether they agree with the outcome. The ANC ... well ... in the words of the Apartheid museum [1] (ie. The South African government's own words): "Demonstrations against the killings followed in many parts of the country and led to the banning of the main African opposition organisations, the African nationa…

I said a peaceful transition, not a peaceful protest.

A non-peaceful transition of power is what happened in Zimbabwe, or Mozambique, or DRC or so many other African countries when the colonial forces let go of the reigns.

Re: Whistleblower uncovers London police hacking of journalists and protestors

#220

Post by snovv_crash »

24gttghh wrote: post #140
snovv_crash wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at the peaceful transition in South Africa. Do you think that would have happened if the old government thought they could keep hanging on?

The campaign of the ANC* was peaceful? *edit: I don't know what I thought ANG was...

No, but the transition was peaceful. FW de Klerk freely gave the power across instead of being murdered in his bed or trying to set fire to "the homelands".

Since then, despite the high crime rate, there hasn't been any ethnic cleansing or large scale retribution. Beyond generic Africa-standard corruption, the country has mostly taken the high road.

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