This is all a steaming pile of horseshit. It won't pass proper journalism.
German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
31–40 of 67 posts
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Also, we decided to detect it. How generous...
The ability of commercial anti-virus vendors to decide what end users are protected against is a good argument for open source anti-virus that crowdsources detection patterns.
This is a very good point. I have always been a bit sceptically on the anti-virus companies. The market looks a bit odd to me - different from many other software markets. A lot of regional market domination. Norton in the US, Kaspersky in the RU or ANTIVIR in GER. Looks almost like certain nations prefer having their "own" anti-virus company structures in place.
Are there any serious anti-virus open source alternatives available?
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ability of commercial anti-virus vendors to decide what end users are protected against is a good argument for open source anti-virus that crowdsources detection patterns.
This is a very good point. I have always been a bit sceptically on the anti-virus companies. The market looks a bit odd to me - different from many other software markets. A lot of regional market domination. Norton in the US, Kaspersky in the RU or ANTIVIR in GER. Looks almost like certain nations prefer having their "own" anti-virus company structures in place. Are there any serious anti-virus open source alternati…
There is ClamAV, although I don't know if it supports on-access scanning these days (it always used to be manual scanning). I also don't know how the definitions are sourced.
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#34And it's things like that that will make even more people vote the Pirate Party. Luckily the German public is by and large opposed to surveillance. (for historical reasons)
Opposed? You might live in a different Germany than I do. The German public is mostly law and order.
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#35Probably a stupid question, but does this target Windows?
Yes. And why? Probably because the majority of the personal computers of German citizens use Windows as their operating system.
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#36German newspaper, clueless as ever, show a MacBook
http://www.faz.net/polopoly_fs/1.1486520.1318104289!/image/3...
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#37So much win. I am really thankful that the CCC has such a strong standing in Germany. I am looking forward to the news tomorrow :)
No reason to wait, its already the FAZ top story [1]. Same with the Die Zeit [2]. Interestingly Der Spiegel has apparently not picked up the story yet. [1] http://www.faz.net/aktuell/chaos-computer-club-der-deutsche-... [2]
Der Spiegel has now picked it up [1], but of course some people driving around in circles are more important, so it's not in the top spot on the front page :-)
[1] http://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/netzpolitik/0,1518,790756,00....
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#38And it's things like that that will make even more people vote the Pirate Party. Luckily the German public is by and large opposed to surveillance. (for historical reasons)
Opposed? You might live in a different Germany than I do. The German public is mostly law and order.
Exactly. From where I'm standing it looks like "the public" is nothing short of obsessive when it comes to compliance with rules. Any rules.
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#39Unfortunately, it is, it was and it will always be necessary to spy on people who are suspicious of committing a crime. Proper surveillance has saved uncountable lives.
Years ago, police was using cameras and directional microphones. But as technology evolves, the methods to prevent crime have to envolve as well. To not allow the police to use the same technology as the criminals would actually endanger stability of the society. If you don't agree, have a look at what happened and happens in Africa all the time as an extreme example to what happens it mankind lives without proper regulations.
The key point that needs to be discussed is not whether this kind of technology should be used, it's how and who is allowed to use it. Countries need a proper separation of powers. And the use of surveillance should only under any circumstances be approved by the independed jurisdiction.
Personally, if you can get one pedophile or terrorist I wouldn't care if the whole police of Germany would share my Jena Jameson collection.
Re: German Chaos Computer Club analyzes and releases government malware
#40And it's things like that that will make even more people vote the Pirate Party. Luckily the German public is by and large opposed to surveillance. (for historical reasons)
Opposed for historical reasons? The fact is that the citizens of Germany, and most other Western nations formerly known as the "free world" are today under more intense surveillance than the Stasi could have ever dreamed of. The German public in general is just mildly less apathetic about this as the rest of us. The only thing that makes a real difference in Germany is the constitutional court, that appears to suffer…
> [western world citizens] are today under more intense surveillance than the Stasi could have ever dreamed of [...]
I keep hearing that, and I'm sorry, but it's pure sensationalist bullshit.
At the end, the Stasi employed one secret informer per ~90 citizens (!), and one official employee per ~180 citizens. That was the (proportionally) biggest secret service that ever existed. The Stasi kept tabs on more or less anything happening in the Eastern German society, down to what individual people had for lunch, and had infiltrated every organisation within its reach.
I can understand disagreement with things like this Bundestrojaner. But spouting ridiculous, sensationalist comparisons like these only harms a legitimate issue by painting its adherents as raving zealots.