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Stellar Wind (code name)

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Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#121

Post by pekk »

lostlogin wrote: post #100
tomchristie wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald obtained documents from a leak that confirm the NSA has secretly been requiring Verizon (and presumably the same for other networks) to provide the complete information (location, duration, id) of every single call, national or international, on an ongoing daily basis. There is no discrimination - this is everybody, all the time. That's kind of a big deal. It's also pretty damn brave of who…

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

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

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#122

Post by pekk »

Swizec wrote: post #6

Sometimes I wonder what I'd have to write online to get a knock on the door. Then I remember I still want to visit the US some time. It pretty much kills all the best ideas.

Unless the best ideas involve terrorist groups, that's your problem

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#123

Post by epoxyhockey »

WestCoastJustin wrote: post #90

There is a interesting talk on youtube [1] by William Binney (a former U.S. intelligence official turn whistle blower) [2], where he talks about the tech behind ThinThread [3]. He describes how ThinThread uses Latent semantic indexing [4] to pull together all this metadata into a type of fingerprint. There are various reports (see google) that Stellar Wind was based on a component of the ThinThread capability or that…

Note that Binney resigned on October 31, 2001. While he may have been privy to planned initiatives, his knowledge is now 12 years old. We don't know what new tech has been developed since then.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#124

Post by scott_s »

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?

Yes. Under Obama, the Justice Department has prosecuted more leakers of confidential information than prior administrations. However, the number is 6, so whether this is due to a difference in policy or random occurrences is not clear to me.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#125

Post by cglace »

harryh wrote: post #105
rayiner wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Privacy advocacy is popular among the upper classes, because they really don't want anyone from the lower classes sticking their noses into their business. That is, in my experience, my friends' only real problem with the TSA (other than the hassle). They hate people with GED's bossing them around.

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?

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#126

Post by finnh »

willholloway wrote: post #33

Inevitably complete electronic surveillance of communications will be used for insider trading, implicating enemies/competitors in crimes, and suppression of journalists and politically unfavorable activists. Giant corporations competing for market share need to consider the operational security implications of bribable government employees having access to their trade secrets and strategies. The recent case of the N…

Exactly. Just look at the Spitzer thing - outed for political reasons based on data collected "because of the terrorists".

And do those who say "if you've got nothing to hide, it's not a problem," I ask the classic question: "so, why do you own curtains?"

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#127

Post by jackcviers3 »

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke

"The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him." -- Nuremberg Principle IV

Those that perform traitorous deeds to prevent traitorous deeds are traitors to their nation and themselves. -- Me

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#128

Post by rmc »

demallien wrote: post #119
rmc wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely a certain subset of Mormons are going to be very vulnerable to a certain type of attack that the regular (incl. more liberal subsets of) population would not be vulnerable to. A gay mormon (which is just as common as a gay catholic, or a gay atheist) will be likely to be in the closet. They would probably be ostracised by family and friends if they were outed, lots of people in the general community would…

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.

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#129

Post by harryh »

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?

Schneier wrote about this here:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2010/05/why_arent_ther...

Re: Stellar Wind (code name)

#130

Post by willismichael »

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?

http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/1b-of-nude-...

and the TSA's response:

http://blog.tsa.gov/2012/03/viral-video-about-body-scanners....

Draw your own conclusions.

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