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Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

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Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#11

Post by zaqokm »

SCdF wrote: post #6

This has been asked before, but I'd love to hear from a dev (anonymously of course) who actually helped build this NSA madness. Is it like The Cube, where no one really knew what each piece was for? Is it that they are morally pro the NSA's attitude toward personal and corporate privacy, or do they just not care either way?

William Binney in an interview suggested that the tech he built for spying on foreign countries was simply retrofitted and used to spy internally.

I am gathering not a lot of people actually knew what was happening at the beginning, and the tools they were using for "valid" purposes were just refocused.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#12

Post by babar »

cromwellian wrote: post #5

It's ironic that when the Chinese attack against Google occurred, we thought the Chinese government was the most hostile state actor threat to worry about, but it turned out to be the US and UK government.

Why do people assume the Chinese government is not able to use similar techniques?

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#13

Post by wmf »

babar wrote: post #12
cromwellian wrote: post #5

It's ironic that when the Chinese attack against Google occurred, we thought the Chinese government was the most hostile state actor threat to worry about, but it turned out to be the US and UK government.

Why do people assume the Chinese government is not able to use similar techniques?

I would assume they use similar techniques within China and perhaps allied countries like North Korea and Cuba, but the US is performing wiretapping in at least the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Also, how much non-Chinese Internet traffic passes through China?

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#14

Post by pavs »

babar wrote: post #12
cromwellian wrote: post #5

It's ironic that when the Chinese attack against Google occurred, we thought the Chinese government was the most hostile state actor threat to worry about, but it turned out to be the US and UK government.

Why do people assume the Chinese government is not able to use similar techniques?

More importantly, whats the difference between Chinese and American government when it comes to privacy?

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#15

Post by tantalor »

babar wrote: post #12
cromwellian wrote: post #5

It's ironic that when the Chinese attack against Google occurred, we thought the Chinese government was the most hostile state actor threat to worry about, but it turned out to be the US and UK government.

Why do people assume the Chinese government is not able to use similar techniques?

The Chinese were targeting specific journalists and critics. Presumably to harass them.

I'm not saying the US doesn't do that, but the evidence is not as clear.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#16

Post by poxrud »

The NSA must have somebody working on the inside at google. Otherwise it would be extremely difficult to reverse engineer the RPC protocol that was used by google's servers to communicate between each other. Even on an unencrypted network I can image it would be very difficult to reverse engineer the protocol without any help.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#17

Post by PakG1 »

zaqokm wrote: post #11
SCdF wrote: post #6

This has been asked before, but I'd love to hear from a dev (anonymously of course) who actually helped build this NSA madness. Is it like The Cube, where no one really knew what each piece was for? Is it that they are morally pro the NSA's attitude toward personal and corporate privacy, or do they just not care either way?

William Binney in an interview suggested that the tech he built for spying on foreign countries was simply retrofitted and used to spy internally. I am gathering not a lot of people actually knew what was happening at the beginning, and the tools they were using for "valid" purposes were just refocused.

There still have to be technical people involved for refocusing software. You don't simply drag and drop an icon to get something redeployed for another purpose, and definitely not for something of this complexity.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#18

Post by bcoates »

Is information about disruptions to the US PSTN collected anywhere?

The discussion of cable tapping and the NSA's apparent taste for doing things the expedient way instead of the legal way makes me wonder if the "vandalism" domestic underground fiber cuts in the years after 9/11 form an interesting pattern.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#19

Post by grey-area »

babar wrote: post #12
cromwellian wrote: post #5

It's ironic that when the Chinese attack against Google occurred, we thought the Chinese government was the most hostile state actor threat to worry about, but it turned out to be the US and UK government.

Why do people assume the Chinese government is not able to use similar techniques?

China doesn't have agreements with BT, AT&T etc which allow it to tap fibre in our countries at will. I'm sure they try some tapping, but they can't do it on the scale that GCHQ and the NSA have been outside China.

Re: Google Security Team Member on NSA: "Fuck These Guys"

#20

Post by dragonwriter »

poxrud wrote: post #16

The NSA must have somebody working on the inside at google. Otherwise it would be extremely difficult to reverse engineer the RPC protocol that was used by google's servers to communicate between each other. Even on an unencrypted network I can image it would be very difficult to reverse engineer the protocol without any help.

Or, they could have just hired an ex-Googler familiar with the protocol. No need for someone working for the NSA "on the inside" at Google, and no need for reverse engineering.
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