31–40 of 45 posts
The NSA deliberately weakened crypto keys/code. How is that any different?
Even if it were the same, it would still be news.
Of course, if you buy an iPhone in Europe, and you want to use it any significant manner, you're getting spied on by US agencies as well: - GPS: the wifi and celltower db queries that optimize the service are transferred into a foreign country. - use Siri: uploads your whole address book to US servers before use - use iCloud tabs: every URL you visit it uploaded to Apple's US servers - turn on the only cloud backup s…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What is speculation about this? - wifi and celltower db query servers are indeed hosted outside EU - Siri indeed uploads your whole address book - it even tells you about that beforehand! - iCloud tabs must upload every URL to a central server, it would not work otherwise - the mud puddle test* proves that iCloud backup is extractable from Apple servers by third parties. * http://www.magnir.com/2012/08/how-secure-is-…
The speculation is about whether it's accessible to US agencies.
I think the unresolved issue is if a normal warrant/subpoena can force a US company to hand over data from a EU subsidiary for a EU end user.
I'm currently using an offbrand Chinese Android phone, so this news has made me very very nervous.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The speculation is about whether it's accessible to US agencies.
NSLs exist, and is there any reason to believe they're not enforceable for non-US data? I think the unresolved issue is if a normal warrant/subpoena can force a US company to hand over data from a EU subsidiary for a EU end user.
Given the pains the NSA took (no matter how tortured the logic got), to keep trying to claim they weren't spying on Americans [except when they talked to non-Americans, or talked to someone when outside the US, or when an otherwise American communication got routed outside the US, or they accidentally included American data in a sweep "targeted" at non-American data, etc.]... I think we have plenty of evidence that the opposite is true.
Assuming the data is available in the US (so no other country can get in the way), it's easier to demand non-US data than it is to demand US data. Don't forget: part of the detestable legal rationalizations behind this surveillance is that non-US people have no Fourth Amendment rights - eliminating many classes of potential or actual legal barriers.
I wouldn't try to minimize this issue - it's terrible that the Chinese are trying to fit spyware into unbranded phones like this. Perhaps the bright side here is that when the Chinese do try to commit electronic espionage, they're pretty clumsy about it. BUT... Given the way smartphones everywhere are made - China and elsewhere - it's impossible for even technical users to know that their phones aren't spying on them…
False. The software running on your Android phone's application processor is not open source. A significant fraction of it is based on a closed source fork of AOSP. The rest (both the Google Mobile Services layer, and the manufacturers customizations) are all closed source and have never been open.
You're skipping over an important practical distinction: The precise software running on the application processor may not be open source, but it is closely related to usable software that is. Given that, it's possible to learn quite a bit by comparing the behavior of the closed-source fork and the open-source base.
Is that as good as "open source all the way down"? Of course not. But it is a hell of a lot better than the "opaque binary blobs all the way down" offered by most of the alternatives.
Of course, if you buy an iPhone in Europe, and you want to use it any significant manner, you're getting spied on by US agencies as well: - GPS: the wifi and celltower db queries that optimize the service are transferred into a foreign country. - use Siri: uploads your whole address book to US servers before use - use iCloud tabs: every URL you visit it uploaded to Apple's US servers - turn on the only cloud backup s…
How's that different from using an Android phone?
Or for that matter any brand of phone + the prevalent mobile surveillance of messages, locations, etc?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
False. The software running on your Android phone's application processor is not open source. A significant fraction of it is based on a closed source fork of AOSP. The rest (both the Google Mobile Services layer, and the manufacturers customizations) are all closed source and have never been open.
> False. The software running on your Android phone's application processor is not open source. You're skipping over an important practical distinction: The precise software running on the application processor may not be open source, but it is closely related to usable software that is. Given that, it's possible to learn quite a bit by comparing the behavior of the closed-source fork and the open-source base. Is tha…
I fail to see how. It's not like a partial binary blob is better than a full on binary blob. The opaque part might do anything too...
Of course, if you buy an iPhone in Europe, and you want to use it any significant manner, you're getting spied on by US agencies as well: - GPS: the wifi and celltower db queries that optimize the service are transferred into a foreign country. - use Siri: uploads your whole address book to US servers before use - use iCloud tabs: every URL you visit it uploaded to Apple's US servers - turn on the only cloud backup s…
Why single out iPhone? How's that different from using an Android phone? Or for that matter any brand of phone + the prevalent mobile surveillance of messages, locations, etc?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> False. The software running on your Android phone's application processor is not open source. You're skipping over an important practical distinction: The precise software running on the application processor may not be open source, but it is closely related to usable software that is. Given that, it's possible to learn quite a bit by comparing the behavior of the closed-source fork and the open-source base. Is tha…
> Is that as good as "open source all the way down"? Of course not. But it is a hell of a lot better than the "opaque binary blobs all the way down" offered by most of the alternatives. I fail to see how. It's not like a partial binary blob is better than a full on binary blob. The opaque part might do anything too...
The Carrier IQ software was installed on some Android phones, some iPhones and some Blackberry devices: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/print/9222319/AT_T_Sp...
Where was Carrier IQ found first? Why?