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Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

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Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#121

Post by temp8964 »

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #91
ed25519FUUU wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a US citizen you still have some semblance of rights under the constitution that dictate what the government can do.

Snowden's leaks showed that the NSA was simply ignoring the 4th Amendment, and that the secret FISA court was letting the NSA do so. Theoretically, the Constitution protects you. In reality, the intelligence community acts largely in secret, and there's very little preventing them from violating the Bill of Rights. Citizens don't even know what rights they've given up until someone like Snowden spills the beans.

No. You need to understand what you are comparing to. The question is comparing US and Russia. No. It’s not the same.

But you turned this question into comparing US to perfection. Yes, you are right. US is not perfection.

But there is a big difference between 70 to 10, even both are not 100.

What Snowden revealed does not make 70 to 10. If you think that way, you don’t understand how bad an authoritarian regime is.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#122

Post by MikusR »

older wrote: post #60
mohamez wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC Telegram is banned in Russia, and its CEO is not in good terms with the Russian government.

It is not only not banned but "found a compromise" and agreed to co-operate with FSB according to Russian MP (google translated article from tjournal.ru): https://tjournal-ru.translate.goog/news/562296-durov-nashel-...

According to Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russia has no intention to invade Ukraine

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#124

Post by JabavuAdams »

Maursault wrote: post #54

Ok, let's cut the crap. Is Kaspersky a dirtbag or not? I suspect not, but it is an unfortunate accident he was born in and runs his company from Russia, the government of which is a dirtbag, so, correct me if I am wrong, Kaspersky must be a dirtbag by association, but especially for discovering Stuxnet. Believable, but I think the real reasons Kaspersky is persona non grata is due to having discovered Stuxnet, and Ka…

The problem is: how do you run a business that has offices and physical assets in Russia, without being at least partially beholden to the Russian government? They have demonstrated that they are not shy about using gangster tactics.

One could say that the same is true in the US, but I believe the degree matters. Although the US government and intelligence agencies will and do try to overreach, there is a strong legal and cultural tradition of exposing, resisting, and fighting these overreaches in the US. I don't see that in Russia.

So, I would not be surprised to see the US strong-arming US companies, but they would do this with sham/flimsy legal cover. The result of non-compliance would be at worst asset seizure and/or imprisonment. Both of these can be examined and contested. I imagine that the penalty for non-compliance in the Russian system would max out at having an unfortunate accident. Gangsters all, but the level of gangsterism and possibilities for investigation/redress matter.

All that said, I'm not a US citizen (although in a Five-Eyes country), so I do worry about using US-hosted services.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#125

Post by libraryatnight »

older wrote: post #66
Maursault wrote: post #54

Ok, let's cut the crap. Is Kaspersky a dirtbag or not? I suspect not, but it is an unfortunate accident he was born in and runs his company from Russia, the government of which is a dirtbag, so, correct me if I am wrong, Kaspersky must be a dirtbag by association, but especially for discovering Stuxnet. Believable, but I think the real reasons Kaspersky is persona non grata is due to having discovered Stuxnet, and Ka…

Kaspersky graduated from The Technical Faculty of the KGB Higher School in 1987. That was a definition of a dirtbag in Soviet time.

I can't find the actual profile on Wired anymore, but I found it on the internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20140423055434/http://www.wired.... and also a sort of response to it https://web.archive.org/web/20140426095603/http://www.wired....

After I read that profile I decided I'd never use the software. I remember before news spread of the Russian troll farms being real, people talked about it like "who would do that?" Russia would.

I don't think it's their quote - but I remember Penn of Penn & Teller saying about magic something to the effect that the magician does the things that people think "It could be... but who would do all of that work?" This is how I feel about Russia. They will or already are doing the things you think they won't and nothing is beyond being a tool for the state.

I don't really like feeding the image of the Russian super villain, but I don't consider it overly paranoid to avoid installing software from hostile nations. Yes I used this same logic to convince my wife to uninstall tiktok.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#126

Post by dragontamer »

confiq wrote: post #100
MattGaiser wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depends on the country. Unlike Russia, the government in the USA is not all powerful.

except when it comes to force companies out of the USA because of "security reasons". I think Russia is using similar tactics, does it?

Try saying the words "Ukraine War" in Russia. That alone is grounds for getting arrested, possibly disappeared and/or tortured.

You have to say "Ukrainian Special Security Operation".

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#127

Post by omgmajk »

Jamie9912 wrote: post #49
CWuestefeld wrote: post #37

I spent Sunday researching alternatives, then uninstalling KIS and trying to install BitDefender. From this I conclude that the current state of AV/Security apps is dismal. Researching alternatives is difficult, it falls directly into the cesspool that is web product recommendation in 2022. Trying to weed out the garbage articles, I find a handful of apps that are consistently rated that the top. I discarded the reco…

Did you take a look at ESET?

I run ESET for the only reason that it was offered to me cheaply and has worked fine over the years without feeling intrusive.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#128

Post by older »

mkbkn wrote: post #101
older wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kaspersky graduated from The Technical Faculty of the KGB Higher School in 1987. That was a definition of a dirtbag in Soviet time.

What he could have done then at that time? To not study? To remain illiterate?

You really think the choice was to go to KGB school or remain illiterate? There were a lot of other options to study. Much better options if your want to do science. For one thing, education in Soviet Union was decent and free for everyone. Going to KGB school was a choice, very specific one.

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#129

Post by dblohm7 »

the_snooze wrote: post #33

Is there any point in using antivirus these days anyway? I'm open to being wrong here, but I'm under the impression that antivirus exists only to tick boxes in outdated security compliance checklists. How big of a threat are viruses compared to, say, rogue antivirus products themselves?

I used to work on the team at Mozilla that got stuck with dealing with all the terrible shit that AV programs do to web browsers. My recommendation for Windows users is to just use Defender.

All that other crap does the exact same stuff to other programs that malware does, except they do so in the name of "security."

Re: Kaspersky is declared a US national security threat and is banned by the FCC

#130

Post by older »

MikusR wrote: post #122
older wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not only not banned but "found a compromise" and agreed to co-operate with FSB according to Russian MP (google translated article from tjournal.ru): https://tjournal-ru.translate.goog/news/562296-durov-nashel-...

According to Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russia has no intention to invade Ukraine

In this case we have evidence. Telegram is not banned in Russia, and now we have an explanation about why.
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