31–40 of 62 posts
This- to put it mildly- is Not Good. I'll quote David Carr's tweet[1],which best sums up my feelings on the matter: Lemme see, IRS going after political opponents plus DOJ tapping AP reporters. Nixonian optics on "the most transparent admin in history." I do wonder what kind of a legacy the Obama administration will leave to history when these kinds of events are stacked up. [1] https://twitter.com/carr2n/status/3340…
Are there currently any VOIP+Tor type technologies that could reasonably replace existing telephone services and prevent this sort of thing in the future?
VOIP is just as easily snooped as regular lines. It's not as easy, but you can do it with the right tools.
Wait, is it just as easy or not as easy?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No we don't. Most of this is already reported, if you want to look for it. If you're worried that citizens of your country aren't interested in those stories, you should get out and make more people aware.
This is about agenda setting. Media coverage determines what gets covered and what not. Scandals like these make government's ongoing privacy intrusion a real, tangible issue. If I go around spreading the gospel, I am just an internet tinfoil head. If it is the headline on a national newspaper, it is a real issue that needs discussion.
Maybe my memory's failing me, but I can't think of a similarly-sized press surveillance operation by the Bush Administration. Keep in mind that under Obama, more alleged government leakers have been prosecuted than all of his predecessors combined: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-18/obama-pursuing-leak... This includes administrations that oversaw such problematic eras as the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the McCa…
Have you ever thought of the fact that perhaps people behaved themselves because they were more afraid of Bush than Obama? It's easy to say, under "Obama's Administration" as if they called Obama for permission and he stamped approved on it. That's akin to blaming the President of a company for something an intern did. Sure, in the overall picture, the President is responsible for everything that happens underneath h…
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/us/politics/accidental-pat...
But to your point: it doesn't matter if Obama personally investigated the cases himself or if a witchhunt is led by a middle manager. He is the top executive, what he says or implies trickles down the chain of command. If he passed along the word that these prosecutions weren't worth the time and effort, then the immense work that goes behind building these cases would, quite likely, dissipate.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
VOIP is just as easily snooped as regular lines. It's not as easy, but you can do it with the right tools.
> VOIP is just as easily snooped as regular lines. It's not as easy, but you can do it with the right tools. Wait, is it just as easy or not as easy?
Let's not forget the IRS having authority to pull all electronic communications from an entity without any kind of oversight at all (because they are a "special" agency) and now word that some of the documents they've been pulling, perhaps against policy, were leaked to the press. I tried to post an analysis of why the IRS story was important to hackers everywhere earlier. It was killed. Beats me why. Some wag said i…
That said, I do agree with the point you're making that there can be a larger context to our work. Indeed, it can give meaning to our work.
I don't begrudge anyone who enjoys writing iPhone apps; but the prevalence of things like Stuxnet, and Chinese cyber spying, and Bitcoin (in particular the political philosophy behind its origin), and Facebook (and its implications for privacy), and now the AP subpoena, is increasingly telling me that there's a huge opportunity to use tech skills to make a difference in the world. And the people most suited to do it are people who understand both politics and technology.
Let's not forget the IRS having authority to pull all electronic communications from an entity without any kind of oversight at all (because they are a "special" agency) and now word that some of the documents they've been pulling, perhaps against policy, were leaked to the press. I tried to post an analysis of why the IRS story was important to hackers everywhere earlier. It was killed. Beats me why. Some wag said i…
As far as I can tell, there was no real "intercept" in this case other than the government asking for records of calls. So the software involved was probably just a SQL query. That said, I do agree with the point you're making that there can be a larger context to our work. Indeed, it can give meaning to our work. I don't begrudge anyone who enjoys writing iPhone apps; but the prevalence of things like Stuxnet, and C…
Maybe my memory's failing me, but I can't think of a similarly-sized press surveillance operation by the Bush Administration. Keep in mind that under Obama, more alleged government leakers have been prosecuted than all of his predecessors combined: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-18/obama-pursuing-leak... This includes administrations that oversaw such problematic eras as the Cold War, the Vietnam War, the McCa…
Is there anything that can reign them in? Or should I say convince them to reign themselves in. I don't think so.
Sorry for the rant.
Advice for press: Get trained in spycraft (throw away cell phones, false names, strong file and email encryption, Tor...). but most of all don't become too cozy with our leadership.
How does the government "secretly" obtain information? Did they hack the AP? Was it an inside job? Better yet, if it was so secret, how did the AP even find out that the DoJ obtained their records? Something doesn't add up...
The AP was with "notified" in a letter... From the article, "News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants phone records and enter into negotiations over the desired information. In this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption to those rules..." and then, "It is unknown whether a judge or a grand jury signed off on the subpoenas."
This is the May 2012 story the AP claims to have set off the investigation, the writers of which were allegedly the targets (linked from Business Insider): http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-05...
In any event the operation was going to be announced a week later. Perhaps the real offense was spoiling a triumphant press conference.