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AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

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Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#161

Post by intended »

randallsquared wrote: post #126
intended wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May I suggest that the current US political debate is virulently polarizing and unproductive? Perhaps the issue Good Governance vs Bad Governance would be effective/useful? (as opposed to the current axis of big vs small) As was said by Deng Xiapong "it doesn't matter if the cat is white or black.."

Joe's Good Governance is Bob's Bad Governance. People fundamentally differ on what the government should do; there's no "right answer" that everyone could agree on if only they'd sit down and discuss it reasonably.

True for debates on Governance, but it can't be completely true for specifics and tactical matters. Matter of fact its pretty much the only way you can bring intelligence, experience, vision and ability to bear. True, some things are not clear cut, at which point you can debate.

Besides, even what you said is a sensible start, yet most of America seems far from having a sensible debate about Governance. From outside, every thing that happens is twisted into some sort of attack vector for ... I don't know what.

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#162

Post by sabat »

asciilifeform wrote: post #141
pdenya wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This phone doesn't exist because there's not a market for it. I definitely wouldn't buy that. I, like a lot of others, don't have anything to hide from the government so even though I oppose the wire-tapping i'm not going to inconvenience myself to keep arbitrary data and idle chat secure.

We'll meet in the labor camps one day and have a good laugh at each other's expense.

As if they'd let you live.

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#163

Post by sabat »

mburns wrote: post #74
phlux wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So after applying to YC today (worried that I borked my app) I had the following idea - which is an evolutionary idea from the one I applied to YC with, I dont know if this is possible - but I want to throw it out to HN: I would like to see mobile end-to-end secure communications apps that allow for users to have completely encrypted message passing. I had the following idea - please tell me if this would work: You h…

Freenet, Phantom or Tor. Pick one and make it easier for people to use. Designing a whole new system isn't what we need, a "just works" system is.

I know of Freenet and Tor, but haven't heard of Phantom. Because the word 'phantom' returns a huge number of irrelevant Google results, I haven't been able to find the project. Care to throw us a pointer?

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#164

Post by Glide »

joelhaasnoot wrote: post #96
cookiecaper wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found that most baby boomers have this mentality. They trust the government to do the right thing.

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, oh yes, the government always does the right thing...

As korean american, I would love if you would qualify your statement about Korea.

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#165

Post by nir »

joelhaasnoot wrote: post #96
cookiecaper wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found that most baby boomers have this mentality. They trust the government to do the right thing.

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, oh yes, the government always does the right thing...

Indeed, baby boomers have been famous for trusting the government. Especially on Vietnam.

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#166

Post by aantix »

fingerprinter wrote: post #21

One thing I see people saying on here is that people should care....and I do...but I don't know _what_ to do with it! Can someone show/tell me what I, an average person, can do? It feels a bit overwhelming and things like this point out how powerless we really are. I hope I'm wrong and there are things we can do...I just don't know what they are. EDIT - Asking two more specific questions: 1. What can we do technicall…

#2 - What about writing some sort of client that sends data with sensitive phrases to overwhelm the system with false positives?

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#167

Post by Semiapies »

sabat wrote: post #64

... but corporations are A-OK. It's the government that's the problem. Right?

Usual pattern:

1) Massive government abuse

2) "Look, over there, corporations!"

It doesn't even matter that a company is involved. AT&T could go out of business tomorrow, and the government would lean on someone else to give them what they want.

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#168

Post by mseebach »

nir wrote: post #165
joelhaasnoot wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, oh yes, the government always does the right thing...

Indeed, baby boomers have been famous for trusting the government. Especially on Vietnam.

Baby boomers were anti-establishment, right up until they became the establishment. That's where the "neo" in neocon comes from.

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#169

Post by tjarratt »

aantix wrote: post #166
fingerprinter wrote: post #21

One thing I see people saying on here is that people should care....and I do...but I don't know _what_ to do with it! Can someone show/tell me what I, an average person, can do? It feels a bit overwhelming and things like this point out how powerless we really are. I hope I'm wrong and there are things we can do...I just don't know what they are. EDIT - Asking two more specific questions: 1. What can we do technicall…

#2 - What about writing some sort of client that sends data with sensitive phrases to overwhelm the system with false positives?

That could be construed as a denial of service attack and would be illegal (or at least in a very murky legal grey area).

Also you seem to have forgot that most AT&T customers have bandwidth caps in place that would make it difficult for them to run this attack in the first place.

Re: AT&T has a fiberoptic splitter copying our data to NSA

#170

Post by borism »

pedalpete wrote: post #44
fingerprinter wrote: post #21

One thing I see people saying on here is that people should care....and I do...but I don't know _what_ to do with it! Can someone show/tell me what I, an average person, can do? It feels a bit overwhelming and things like this point out how powerless we really are. I hope I'm wrong and there are things we can do...I just don't know what they are. EDIT - Asking two more specific questions: 1. What can we do technicall…

Yes to Petition your government, contact your congressperson, and support the EFF. The problem with making yourself 'technically safe' is that it realistically leaves most non-technical people exposed. The only way to 'protect' everybody is to cure the cancer, not just your symptoms.

The problem with making yourself 'technically safe' is that it realistically leaves most non-technical people exposed.

then lets make everybody safe technically. it's hard, but doable. if everyone ran tor and 10% of users ran tor relay, that should be a hell to track, no?

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