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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)

#71

Post by tptacek »

freeflight wrote: post #25
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.

> Yes, because not having an Intelligence agency is a great idea for national security. It's not like the CIA is the only intelligence agency the USG has. Without the CIA there'd still be 16 other intelligence agencies left [0]. [0] https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-17-intelligence-agencie...

Do you know what those other agencies do, and how they're staffed, and which functions they serve, as compared to the CIA? For that matter, how well do you feel you understand the high-level functions of the CIA?

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

#72

Post by astazangasta »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #67
astazangasta wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The oversight is a joke. The CIA tortured people throughout its history, including following 9/11; what oversight did they face as a result? What were the consequences? More funding for running their drone program?

Torture was the official policy of the government. Oversight wasn't the problem, it wasn't rogue CIA black ops. Don't confuse lack of oversight with policies you don't like.

Torture is illegal under international law, and it is unconstitutional. It cannot be the official policy of the government, which is why they tried so hard to pretend they weren't doing it.

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

#73

Post by jmalkin »

I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast, or preferably, a laptop hooked up to a TV.

And I've lost a lot. My TV is slow. When I try to control the volume, sometimes I have to wait multiple seconds.

And things stop working all the time and require a reboot.

I hate the damn thing. It even comes with bloatware for some reason, games I'll never play that it insists on updating forever.

And with the privacy concerns on top of all that, I wish I had a dumb TV.

My shit cube TV from the 90s was better!

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

#74

Post by WillPostForFood »

noelsusman wrote: post #69
WillPostForFood wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are begging the question. What laws have been broken? Which CIA leader should have been charged? Nobody is impartial, but you have Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee who seem pretty hostile to the CIA who can fill that role. The last big CIA scandal was Iran/Contra, and four from the CIA ended up indicted: Joseph Fernandez, Alan Fiers, Duane Clarridge, and Clair George. The CIA director, William Casey…

The last big CIA scandal was the Bush torture program, and nobody was indicted over that. They even burned tapes of the interrogations as part of a coverup and saw no consequences for it.

Note your own phrasing: "the Bush torture program". The torture program, if you oppose it, wasn't CIA oversight failure, it was a policy failure originating in the executive branch. There was plenty of awareness and oversight. Also, there was an indictment and conviction - David Passaro. He was sentenced to 8 years for the death in custody of Abdul Wali.

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

#75

Post by justinclift »

ggg2 wrote: post #61
discordance wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

except they will be (very) easy pickings for malware that do their own thing. e.g. Mirai botnet. it's very backward to suggest planned obsolescence as a security feature instead of open software/standards

The open software / standards would need to cover every aspect of a given product, such that external people / enthusiasts / (etc) would be able to generate fixed firmware and upload it after the manufacturer ends support.

That might work for _some_ devices with extremely large user bases.

Devices with specialist properties or a low number of users sound like they'd be very tricky to have that approach work reliably.

That being said, if there's wide adoption of "known good" base level firmware (eg powering on, init device capabilities) then maybe the specialist stuff could be add on's or something. eg modularising things might be a way to get closer to the goal

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

#76

Post by throwaway743 »

noelsusman wrote: post #69
WillPostForFood wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are begging the question. What laws have been broken? Which CIA leader should have been charged? Nobody is impartial, but you have Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee who seem pretty hostile to the CIA who can fill that role. The last big CIA scandal was Iran/Contra, and four from the CIA ended up indicted: Joseph Fernandez, Alan Fiers, Duane Clarridge, and Clair George. The CIA director, William Casey…

The last big CIA scandal was the Bush torture program, and nobody was indicted over that. They even burned tapes of the interrogations as part of a coverup and saw no consequences for it.

Smuggling guns from Benghazi to Syria, using the embassy in Benghazi as a means of cover, was the lastest I heard. Sey Hersh did a whole investigation and report on it

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

#77

Post by GuiA »

jmalkin wrote: post #73

I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast, or preferably, a laptop hooked up to a TV. And I've lost a lot. My TV is slow. When I try to control the volume, sometimes I have to wait multiple seconds. And things stop working all the time and require a reboot. I hate the damn thing. It even comes with bloatware for some reason, games I'll never play that it insists on updating…

Don't buy it.

(Older TVs of excellent quality can be found second hand for very cheap)

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

#78

Post by throwaway743 »

tptacek wrote: post #71
freeflight wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, because not having an Intelligence agency is a great idea for national security. It's not like the CIA is the only intelligence agency the USG has. Without the CIA there'd still be 16 other intelligence agencies left [0]. [0] https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-17-intelligence-agencie...

Do you know what those other agencies do, and how they're staffed, and which functions they serve, as compared to the CIA? For that matter, how well do you feel you understand the high-level functions of the CIA?

Seeing that your posts throughout this thread whole heartedly defend their practices and ignore mentioning them taking any amount of accountability for their actions, would you care to provide your insights as a means of sharing knowledge with those of us you imply are ignorant regarding the matters of this topic?

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

#79

Post by igivanov »

myrandomcomment wrote: post #14
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.

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.

what has intelligence and national security to do with the things the CIA is best known for: endless subversive acts, overthrows of governments, creating and enabling terrorists, assassinations, torture programs, extraordinary renditions? if anything it's quite the opposite.

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

#80

Post by agotterer »

jmalkin wrote: post #73

I've gotten nothing out of my Smart TV that I couldn't have gotten from a Chromecast, or preferably, a laptop hooked up to a TV. And I've lost a lot. My TV is slow. When I try to control the volume, sometimes I have to wait multiple seconds. And things stop working all the time and require a reboot. I hate the damn thing. It even comes with bloatware for some reason, games I'll never play that it insists on updating…

I also hate my Samsung smart tv. On a fresh “turn on”, before I can load any app I have to wait for the tv to “sign in”. This can take up to 20 seconds.
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