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Stellar Wind (code name)

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Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#131

Post by matteodepalo »

kunai wrote: post #28

What is truly a scary thought is if the vast, mindless mass of people easily swayed by consumerism, advertisement and buzz, talk about this for about two weeks and then forget the whole thing, screaming "We have NOTHING to hide!" as a logically flawed and incredibly poor excuse. The entire premise that democracy would work is flawed. Take Turkey. A ravaged, torn, depressed state, brought back to life by a fucking dic…

"I've got nothing to hide" isn't the only argument that is used to counter privacy advocates, and I agree that this argument is wrong to some extent. A more valid argument might be that when I think of government agencies looking at data from Google I know I'm just a number, unless they want to investigate, in which case they may look at my personal info. But I have to guess the number of investigated people is pretty low and there must be valid reasons to start an investigation, just like they need a warrant to get inside a house. It would simply be impossible to investigate every one of us in detail.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#132

Post by ch00 »

mindcrime wrote: post #104
ihsw wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> what's new about what is breaking in the news right now? That they no longer operate on a cloak-and-dagger basis, and that all three branches (judicial, executive, legislative) are demonstrating an unprecedented level of cooperation -- the "checks and balances" we so hold dear in democracy are now null and void. Previously, plausible deniability and "neither confirm nor deny" public relations policies dominated the…

the "checks and balances" we so hold dear in democracy are now null and void. Well, there's one check / balance aspect that is still "in play" at least in theory: the 2nd Amendment.

2nd Amendment is probably the check and balance with the least potential efficacy these days -- pro-gun supporters who tout right to bear arms to protect against government tyranny are living a fantasy. Realistically there is 0 chance an armed citizenry rising against the establishment would pose any threat to them -- the cards (and methods of control) are stacked wildly in their favor.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#133

Post by nrivadeneira »

kunai wrote: post #45
rayiner wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is truly a scary thought is if the vast, mindless mass of people... This is why privacy advocates (and libertarians more generally), can't get more popular traction: the incredibly derisive and arrogant tone with which they address their fellow citizens, and their flippant, dismissive attitude towards democracy. Why should I listen to the opinions of someone who calls my parents, most of my friends, my in-laws…

Mindless with respect to political issues, is quite appropriate, I think. When my mom or my dad or my grandma says, "I have nothing to hide" (and they do, whenever I call them about some privacy concern), my respect for them with regards to political issues, drastically drops. Perhaps "mindless" is harsh, but they certainly aren't being insightful or politically educated. I'm not trying to launch ad hominem attacks o…

Do you always consider people with differing opinions "mindless"?

Everyone has different levels of privacy needs. I imagine you are OK with people seeing your face, knowing your name, or generally overhearing your conversations on the street. This is simply a different level of openness than being OK with people knowing what websites you visit or hearing your telephone conversations remotely.

In the same way that I don't care if some random guy at a coffee shop sees me visiting HackerNews or watching cat videos, I don't really care if the government sees it either. How does that make me mindless?

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#134

Post by chris_mahan »

rmc wrote: post #128
demallien wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I would be very wary of any article claiming that a religious group is preferred by a government because of their righteous lifestyle. It's just so many more opportunities for blackmail. You'd have to screen those candidates so carefully, and you couldn't even do the usual thing of asking their family, friends, neighbours etc, because these are precisely the people they are hiding their quirks from. If you have…

You'd have to screen those candidates so carefully I doubt that's even possible. How do you detect if a candidate is actually homosexual if they've been lying to themselves, their family and friends for decades? They're only homosexual activity might be the odd shame-filled masterbation session every few months, or the rare hook up. All it takes is one of those hook up people to blackmail the candidate.

Every few months? Well, a six months surveillance using his cell-phone, kinect, or laptop camera should provide for adequate "leverage" material.

Oh, like you don't think the U.S. government knows how to turn on your cell phone camera without you knowing?

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#135

Post by 0xdeadbeefbabe »

jdale27 wrote: post #109
austenallred wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll go ahead and contribute to this discussion, since, well, I'm a Mormon. I was a little bit shocked to see this be the top comment. I served a mission in eastern Ukraine (Донецк, Харьков) from 2008-2010 and there learned to speak Russian fluently. Since returning home I've had probably a half dozen offers to work for the FBI or other government offices. Every now and then the highest level Russian classes at BYU w…

That's the reason Adobe, Microsoft, Novell, eBay, Overstock.com, Goldman Sachs etc. have all started to put up shop in Utah Off topic, but one of those things is not like the others... Novell was founded in Utah more than 30 years ago.

I've heard Mormons live outside of Utah too.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#136

Post by demallien »

rmc wrote: post #128
demallien wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I would be very wary of any article claiming that a religious group is preferred by a government because of their righteous lifestyle. It's just so many more opportunities for blackmail. You'd have to screen those candidates so carefully, and you couldn't even do the usual thing of asking their family, friends, neighbours etc, because these are precisely the people they are hiding their quirks from. If you have…

You'd have to screen those candidates so carefully I doubt that's even possible. How do you detect if a candidate is actually homosexual if they've been lying to themselves, their family and friends for decades? They're only homosexual activity might be the odd shame-filled masterbation session every few months, or the rare hook up. All it takes is one of those hook up people to blackmail the candidate.

Weellll, as long as it's only a thought-crime, you probably can't really blackmail the person. It's only when they act on things that they become vulnerable to negative social consequences, and hence blackmailing to avoid said consequences.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#137

Post by jauer »

bascule wrote: post #73
brown9-2 wrote: post #16

It's useful when discussing this topic to break the word "spy" down into more discrete terms to understand exactly what we are discussing. I found this article to be useful in differentiating the various terms: On its face, the document suggests that the U.S. government regularly collects and stores all domestic telephone records. I use the caveat because there are several ways to interpret it, assuming it is real. (…

We know exactly what's being collected: all the Internet traffic they can get their hands on. They have installed beam splitters on Internet backbones at facilities around the country: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A And are funneling all of the traffic to a datacenter in Utah with "yottabyte" scale capacity, with the goal of having enough capacity to archive the data for 100 years: http://www.wired.com/threat…

The mythos of Room 641A is troubling as it relies on the idea that spying at 10 or 20 such sites across a handful of providers actually sees enough internet traffic to build a useful picture of US internet activities.

AT&T is just one of ~15 Tier 1 providers, never mind large number of tier 2 providers that carry the majority of internet traffic. There would need to be 1-10 such rooms in every NFL city and metro area in the US to do that owing to peering (public & private) and regional traffic. IMO that's simply too big of a undertaking to happen in secrecy.

Far more likely that it happened to be a handy place to watch traffic from transpacific cables or non-US IP traffic from non-US Tier 1. Actually, going by 10-20 sites I'd put my money on spying on non-US Tier 1 provider traffic.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#138

Post by betterunix »

pekk wrote: post #121
lostlogin wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given this administrations record with leakers, brave is an understatement.

As opposed to the Bush or Reagan administrations' records with leakers?

I think you'd have to go all the way back to Nixon to find an administration that has as bad a record with whistleblowers as this current one.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#139

Post by betterunix »

cglace wrote: post #125
harryh wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's also the stupidity. You know you're going through this ordeal that could be easily circumvented by even a moderately clever attacker. It just seems like such a waste.

Just curious. If it could be circumvented by a moderately clever attacker. Why hasn't it been?

Maybe there just are not that many clever attackers trying to board our airplanes?

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#140

Post by [deleted] »

eli wrote: post #31
JPKab wrote: post #19

My brother worked for years in the intelligence community. One of the common stereotypes within the IC regards the fact that Mormons are heavily overrepresented, for various reasons that involve foreign language skills from mission trips, a reputation for respecting authority, abstinence from drugs/alcohol, family connections, ease of gaining security clearances, etc. The stereotype in the IC regarding Mormons is the…

Utah also has cheap land and really cheap electricity.

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