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The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

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Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#51

Post by myrandomcomment »

KorematsuFred wrote: post #20
myrandomcomment wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, because not having an Intelligence agency is a great idea for national security. You know the LAPD beat a man a few times. We should totally get rid of them also. A rational proposal for over-site and control would be a useful comment.

If you do not like LAPD it is very simple for LA residents to decide how to fix them. Part of the reason why SFPD does not simply shoot many of the hobos dead it because SF population has neccessary oversight on these cops. CIA on other hand runs amock. It is the biggest supplier of weapons to Islamic terrorists who have eventually turned on USA.American citizens have very little control on CIA.

If the only reason the cops in SF are not shooting hobos is oversight then society is doomed.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#52

Post by morpheuskafka »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #35
morpheuskafka wrote: post #11

The CIA should be completely abolished. Unlike the FBI, it does not seek to enforce any laws whatsoever; instead, they operate with absolutely zero oversight, there only rule being that they're not supposed to be involved in domestic matters. I wouldn't be surprised if they tag-team with other friendly agencies like MI6 to spy on each other's domestic targets so as not to violate that rule.

> they operate with absolutely zero oversight There is extensive oversight of the CIA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Com... > there[sic] only rule being that they're not supposed to be involved in domestic matters There are extensive rules, law, regulations, and executive orders governing the CIA. Many are listed or referenced in this document. https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/privacy-and-civi…

Per your first article, the President has the discretion to limit reporting of intelligence activities to only eight members of Congress (all of whom, by definition, belong to the two major parties). That means most of the representatives and senators who we elect to actually vote on the laws governing and funding the CIA don't even get access to briefings on all of its activities (meanwhile, nearly 5 million Americans have a security clearance).

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#53

Post by jwhite »

sirmoveon wrote: post #32
johnhenry wrote: post #29

Aside from wanting to protect its citizens from foreign spying; I have to wonder if another reason for the US's curtailing Huawei is to simply eliminate the competition?

People with technical knowledge at this point shouldn't doubt this perspective anymore. No evidence of wrong doing was published, and the claim of the possibility of the Chinese government making Huawei do their bidding at some point, is no different from what other governments have been doing, including the U.S. (and getting caught in the wrong doing). There's no shame in the hypocresy. It's a blatant attempt to dam…

I don't disagree with the general realpolitik you describe, but it's not clear that damaging Huawei isn't damaging the USA as well. American companies supply Huawei, and their business is being harmed; and American consumers buy Huawei equipment -- if Huawei is excluded from the US market then presumably that may have an inflationary impact on substitutes, so American consumers will be paying more for certain goods.

Wouldn't this also have been considered as part of the decision to ban Huawei? And yet the administration proceeded anyway.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#54

Post by pessimizer »

dsl wrote: post #42
deehouie wrote: post #40

This piece challenges the current narrative you read in the press. China is an evil surveillance state that spies on its citizens and the rest of the world. Now we know. The greatest democracy of the world also spies on its citizen and the rest of the world.

This is just extreme whataboutism. There is a vast difference between China spying on and locking people up for being the wrong religion, and the CIA secretly recording a conversation about the planning of a bombing.

That's true, but there's also a vast difference between the CIA spying on and locking people up for being the wrong religion, and China secretly recording a conversation about the planning of a bombing.

Similarities between the two governments are that they would both characterize their spying on, imprisoning, and torture of religious minorities as preventing potential bombings, and characterize their counterparts as oppressive police states. China might have the stronger case, as they have about a quarter of the prisoners per-capita that the US does.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#55

Post by itake »

ei8htyfi5e wrote: post #45

I gave a talk in China 5 years warning about this. http://tech.qq.com/a/20140527/035512.htm I asked vendors to make changes to their products, such as planned obsolescence so if the manufacturer goes out of business and a device doesn't hear from the mother ship for awhile, all internet connections are killed for good. Also, to set smart defaults so that even when not configured, it won't allow this behavior. There s…

(Un?)Fortunately, a few countries made planned obsolescence illegal :-/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42615378

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#56

Post by Bendingo »

johnhenry wrote: post #29

Aside from wanting to protect its citizens from foreign spying; I have to wonder if another reason for the US's curtailing Huawei is to simply eliminate the competition?

The western governments (in this case the UK) don't seem serious about the Chinese security scare, when they allow Chinese company to take part in the F-35 program.

[1] https://www.rt.com/news/461918-chinese-company-f35-parts/

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#57

Post by discordance »

ei8htyfi5e wrote: post #45

I gave a talk in China 5 years warning about this. http://tech.qq.com/a/20140527/035512.htm I asked vendors to make changes to their products, such as planned obsolescence so if the manufacturer goes out of business and a device doesn't hear from the mother ship for awhile, all internet connections are killed for good. Also, to set smart defaults so that even when not configured, it won't allow this behavior. There s…

As long as this sort of planned obsolescence only kills the connectivity feature, and keeps the rest of the device functioning/useable that sounds good

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#58

Post by WillPostForFood »

morpheuskafka wrote: post #52
WillPostForFood wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they operate with absolutely zero oversight There is extensive oversight of the CIA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Intelligence_Com... > there[sic] only rule being that they're not supposed to be involved in domestic matters There are extensive rules, law, regulations, and executive orders governing the CIA. Many are listed or referenced in this document. https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/privacy-and-civi…

Per your first article, the President has the discretion to limit reporting of intelligence activities to only eight members of Congress (all of whom, by definition, belong to the two major parties). That means most of the representatives and senators who we elect to actually vote on the laws governing and funding the CIA don't even get access to briefings on all of its activities (meanwhile, nearly 5 million America…

the President has the discretion to limit reporting of intelligence activities to only eight members of Congress (all of whom, by definition, belong to the two major parties)

1: that's not "absolutely zero oversight"

2: It seems like a reasonable way to maintain critical secret information while still informing members of the opposition party. That means at least several of these members are being briefed:

Dianne Feinstein - California

Ron Wyden - Oregon

Martin Heinrich - New Mexico

Angus King - Maine

Kamala Harris - California

Michael Bennet - Colorado

If something goes totally off the rails they can provide oversight.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#59

Post by xvector »

stcredzero wrote: post #8

On the Max Headroom TV show, it became illegal for people to turn off their TVs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_(TV_series)#Plot Would it be outlandish for the tech industry to lobby that Smart TVs and computers be given a 911 style emergency calling system, then for emergency dispatchers to have access to surveillance information, then for such devices to be required to be turned on all the time?

I mean it's not like your TV ever truly turns "off", is it? A lot of them power on at least the red/green LED light showing that it's "off" and who knows what else.

Re: The CIA Spied on People Through Their Smart TVs, Leaked Documents Reveal (2017)

#60

Post by pharrington »

craftinator wrote: post #48
ohithereyou wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The CIA is not the only intelligence agency that the US has. Furthermore, most of what the CIA does should be the duty of the State Department. On a more pedantic point, shutting down the CIA is the ultimate in oversight - you don't have to watch for crimes from an organization that does not exist.

The operations of the CIA would just shift to another agency. Do you really think they would just throw away all personnel, equipment, and data, and cancel all operations?

Moving current CIA operations to the other national agencies with the appropriate remit would be part of the whole point.
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