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GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

theguardian.com

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Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#221

Post by DanBC »

user24 wrote: post #197
efuquen wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>We didn't have to experience a crisis of social, governmental, or financial instability. September 11th and the London train bombings? No argument against how disturbing this all is, but don't feel it's accurate to say this increased surveillance wasn't caused by a crisis. It's all being done in the name of preventing terrorism, significant acts of which have occurred in the last decade both on US and UK soil. So if…

The London train bombings were nothing in comparison to the years of IRA terrorism that London suffered. The argument that "these are strange times and require a new class of countermeasures" is exactly the lie they want to sell you.

The UK was doing weird things with privacy back then too.

Special branch wanted an informer on every street. They infiltrated many political groups and meetings.

Some groups were outlawed - we even prevented news organisations from broadcasting the voices of some people leadingnto their video being dubbed by actors.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#222

Post by dredmorbius »

rdl wrote: post #76

This is from people actively webchatting, but in general, for passive collection, I'm a lot more worried about my microphone than my camera. Even without tape over the lens, my laptop usually just sees my face or a blank wall, or a closed cover. It's not like I have my webcam aimed and lighted at my bed or shower or whatever, and in general, the level of compromising information from text or audio would be higher (su…

I've mused over a null or noise-emitting mic adapter to plug in.

A physically switchable circuit should exist though, yes.

Actually: thinking more about this, you should be able to ha k the sound card to feed noise into the circuit.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#223

Post by samstave »

w_t_payne wrote: post #134
samstave wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd wager that this is one reason homosexuality has been held as taboo for so long: it can be weaponized against your enemies for leverage and power.

It is no accident that socially conservative ideologies are correlated with right-wing / authoritarian politics. It is such an age-old instrument of manipulation and control that I am tempted to believe that it is innate and ingrained into our biology.

>tempted to believe that it is innate and ingrained into our biology.

Nurture vs Nature.....

I don't think this is anything but a negatively nurtured situation....

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#225

Post by okasaki »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #212
okasaki wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think those slides are talking about court order related activities. After all, all companies must comply with court orders, so why would the NSA single out the nine as their "current providers"?

As the companies have repeatedly explained and as the government's declassified documents show, it's because the companies built systems to automatically send new account data to the government for accounts under court-ordered surveillance as new IMs, emails, etc. came in. This contrasts with having an engineer manually send data dumps daily in some format the government has to figure out how to parse.

I don't believe that's true. Much of the controversy centered around the (highly xenophobic) fact that the NSA was unable to guarantee that it wasn't scooping up data belonging to US citizens. If this was only about court ordered surveillence then surely it could have done so?

And second, I specifically remember that all nine companies immediately denied the existence of the program. Then it became too big and it was time to "explain it"? As Bush Jr. would say, fool me once...

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#226

Post by liam_ja »

gress wrote: post #130
frenger wrote: post #2

Disgusting. A new low. Who the fuck do you think you are, UK & USA? You do not have the right to intrude the way you do.

Yeah - terrible. Other governments do nothing of the sort.

The difference is these countries pride themselves on the freedoms their citizens possess, yet they go behind their backs and surveil everything and anything they can about them, usually using technologies and platforms their own citizens helped devise.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#227

Post by w_t_payne »

rhizome wrote: post #141
w_t_payne wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is no accident that socially conservative ideologies are correlated with right-wing / authoritarian politics. It is such an age-old instrument of manipulation and control that I am tempted to believe that it is innate and ingrained into our biology.

Just to be clear, there is a such thing as leftist authoritarianism, and that its effects can also be cast as a kind of social conservatism.

Sorry ... I didn't mean to imply that right = authoritarian. Leftist authoritarianism clearly also exists.

Re: GCHQ intercepted webcam images of millions of Yahoo users worldwide

#230

Post by _ls7m »

wavefunction wrote: post #160
tzakrajs wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll cite a source for you: "If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives." (Leviticus 20:13 NAB)

Jesus' ministry replaced all previous commandments. Something Christians have forgotten and an agnostic has to constantly remind them of.

To be more accurate, Jesus' ministry and teaching was a fulfillment of the law (the previous commandments) and the Old Testament, not a replacement. The law is still a valuable resource for Christians in understanding the character and holiness of God, among other things.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Jesus speaking in Matthew 5:17

Jesus affirmed the law and called people further into true righteousness, which can never come from following rules, but requires a transformation of the heart that only God can accomplish. That is what He is talking about in the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5).

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