31–40 of 55 posts
“turns out I’m really good at killing people.” The president added, “Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.” Ironic words for a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
actual_hacker: you've been hellbanned. You only have two comments.. so I'm guessing someone didn't like your nic(?)
>>"The NSA geolocation system used by JSOC is known by the code name GILGAMESH. Under the program, a specially constructed device is attached to the drone. As the drone circles, the device locates the SIM card or handset that the military believes is used by the target." >>"The agency also equips drones and other aircraft with devices known as “virtual base-tower transceivers” – creating, in effect, a fake cell phone…
Within a few years you will probably be able to buy such a drone for $1000 on the internet. Everyone is going to want one.
"Citizens of [major urban area]. Do not use your cell phone, rogue foreign agents are spying on us with a drone cell tower. Please wait until further notice - the bogey will be shot down shortly."
Or perhaps more likely:
"All employees are advised to use landlines and encrypted channels for the foreseeable future instead of mobile devices, we have reports of drone cell towers for industrial espionage."
I'm exaggerating, but only slightly. There's been enough Orwellian nightmares come to fruition lately to make these projections seem sane.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know anything about how they target their victim, but I am assuming the have very little time between seeing the victim and deciding to execute him/her/them. So I suspect an algorithm makes the call.
None of it is "seconds", it's all minutes or higher, and there is almost certainly at least a Colonel (20+ years experience), or a General, making the call. Every shoot probably goes through >20 people -- legal, various types of targeting, and technical/tactical "can the shot be made at all". The whole process is designed around getting approval for things like this rapidly. UAVs have many-hour loiter times, vs. comb…
Perhaps there is some philosophy at work that is just foreign to me?
Even the basis of this article strains credulity--the authors editorialize that any reliance on signals intel is bad. Assuming that drones are a useful military tool, wouldn't we want maximum information to improve targeting, leading to reductions in collateral damage?
Jacob Appelbaum has been saying this for a while already. They use NSA's data to do "signature strikes", i.e. strikes where they may assassinate someone only based on the "harmless metadata" they have on him. Talked to someone who may have talked to someone else from a "terrorist organization"? Well, you may now be on a drone target list. This is going to get exponentially worse as they move to automated drone assass…
War will always lead to the death and injury of people who do not fit within the political motivation of the action. By removing the passion of soldiers we see how bad a lot of the data is. The data was always bad, but that was overshadowed by the suffering caused by actual malevolence. If a war is justifiable for humanitarian reasons the risk to civilians is probably worth it. Soldiers have lots of unintended conseq…
Jacob Appelbaum has been saying this for a while already. They use NSA's data to do "signature strikes", i.e. strikes where they may assassinate someone only based on the "harmless metadata" they have on him. Talked to someone who may have talked to someone else from a "terrorist organization"? Well, you may now be on a drone target list. This is going to get exponentially worse as they move to automated drone assass…
War will always lead to the death and injury of people who do not fit within the political motivation of the action. By removing the passion of soldiers we see how bad a lot of the data is. The data was always bad, but that was overshadowed by the suffering caused by actual malevolence. If a war is justifiable for humanitarian reasons the risk to civilians is probably worth it. Soldiers have lots of unintended conseq…
Jacob Appelbaum has been saying this for a while already. They use NSA's data to do "signature strikes", i.e. strikes where they may assassinate someone only based on the "harmless metadata" they have on him. Talked to someone who may have talked to someone else from a "terrorist organization"? Well, you may now be on a drone target list. This is going to get exponentially worse as they move to automated drone assass…
War will always lead to the death and injury of people who do not fit within the political motivation of the action. By removing the passion of soldiers we see how bad a lot of the data is. The data was always bad, but that was overshadowed by the suffering caused by actual malevolence. If a war is justifiable for humanitarian reasons the risk to civilians is probably worth it. Soldiers have lots of unintended conseq…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know anything about how they target their victim, but I am assuming the have very little time between seeing the victim and deciding to execute him/her/them. So I suspect an algorithm makes the call.
None of it is "seconds", it's all minutes or higher, and there is almost certainly at least a Colonel (20+ years experience), or a General, making the call. Every shoot probably goes through >20 people -- legal, various types of targeting, and technical/tactical "can the shot be made at all". The whole process is designed around getting approval for things like this rapidly. UAVs have many-hour loiter times, vs. comb…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know anything about how they target their victim, but I am assuming the have very little time between seeing the victim and deciding to execute him/her/them. So I suspect an algorithm makes the call.
None of it is "seconds", it's all minutes or higher, and there is almost certainly at least a Colonel (20+ years experience), or a General, making the call. Every shoot probably goes through >20 people -- legal, various types of targeting, and technical/tactical "can the shot be made at all". The whole process is designed around getting approval for things like this rapidly. UAVs have many-hour loiter times, vs. comb…
Politicians have made a habit of abstracting themselves from the reality of the military and at the same time exploiting every angle of it for political gain.
But the sheer complexity and capability of the US military is dumbfounding.
Interesting how so many people now know so many things about the most secret organization in the world. There must be a lot of money in writing stories about it.