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I recomend you all read these documents and find out for yourself what the FACTS are. Educate yourself.

Economic espionage has caused serious harm to European companies in the past, Monyk said. "With this project we will be making an essential contribution to the economic independence of Europe."

Translated: "with this project, we can bribe third-parties without getting caught."

Or: "with this project, we will re-enable our large European multinational corporations to bribe rich but corrupt third-world governments without having to worry about Echelon-based 'allies' catching us."

(OK OK, don't take my cynical remarks too seriously. But if you haven't read about this angle, it is pretty close to the US position as outlined in this ex-CIA director's remarks on it here and here. Don't forget the ever-needed grain of salt with all things Echelon.)

--LP

Besides, with SCADA, CALEA, and all others kinds of junk, I'm more worried about someone posting worse news than just "Cisco has a default ***" messages. I'd be more concerned if Mae-East and Mae-West or some other backbone was accessed and THEN Cisco said something.

segment @ politrix

Sure it would need some tweaking, but to go after Joe Blow unsuspecting user who's machine is probably loaded with trojans is moronic. Even a good enough trial lawyer for the most blatant spammer could probably convince a jury that the culprits machine was infected if they tried. It's obvious CAN-SPAM and other moronic laws aren't working so why not take it to the next level?

Pentagon Plane Crash of 2000

Things look far more frightening, in fact. Genetic weapons could do more than destroy an ethnic group. They could kill according to a person's 'usefulness' or 'talents'. American journalist and bestselling author Thom Hartmann has argued that it would even be possible to kill those with the gene for attention deficit disorder. This means that if you are easily distracted and have a hard time concentrating (there could be other selection criteria as well), you could end up marked for destruction. The Mark of Doom Finally! A solution for those trolls

DARPA researchers are also at work on the "Brain Machine Interface" ("neuromics") project, designed as a mind/machine interface, allowing mechanical devices to be controlled via thought-power. Thus far, researchers have taught a monkey to move a computer mouse and a telerobotic arm simply by thinking about it. With arrays of up to 96 electrodes implanted in their brains, the animals are able to reach for food with a robotic arm. Researchers even transmitted the signals over the internet, allowing remote control of an robotic arm 600 miles away. In the future they hope to develop a "non-invasive interface" for human use. Says DARPA, "The long-term Defense implications of finding ways to turn thoughts into acts, if it can be developed, are enormous: imagine U.S. warfighters that only need use the power of their thoughts to do things at great distances." For years, the U.S. military has been improving its ability to reach out and kill someone. What's the mantra of the future? Maybe, if you think it, they will die. Wild weapons of DARPA

If you use PHP, for instance, as a frontend to your database, you might want to be sure that some "script kiddie" won't slip in some extra SQL in the form fields. This can easily be fixed using mod_security . Remember - for the PHPNuke/Postnuke, or any other content management based site - there needs to be a connection to your admin page at some point in order to manipulate anything. Another fix:

<Location /admin.php>
Order deny,allow
Allow from MY_IP_ADDRESS
Deny from all
ErrorDocument 403 http://www.disney.com
<Location>

Distance to Mars 34.65 million miles Original Rovers got there in 3 weeks according to NASA

3 weeks (21 days) 504 hours divided by distance? 69023 miles per hour

Those are some fast little 'ships' even if it took 6 months (180 days) it would have to travel at 8020.8333333333333333333333333 to get to mars. A year? Oh you get the point. It's a conspiracy I tell you

here is a pic of what: conspiracy I tell you

When will some of you guys learn it's not about the act, nor the group, nor the victim, nor the attacker. It's about the ability to control perception. The spookier the 'villain' the more money gets funneled to 'groups' like the Department of Homeland Insignificance. It's how they justify their budgets at the end of the year. "By golly Mabel them be terrorists, maybe we should pay more taxes to them mighty fine boys at the DOJ they be tough on terrorists" Nothing less, nothing more. It's about stats. Sure the guy was moronic, and now he will pay for being an idiot, and the sinful part is many - if he goes to a jury - will be blinded by pseudo sympathy spin on terror. To quote that old annoying song "It's all about the Benjamins baby"

When will some of you guys learn it's not about the act, nor the group, nor the victim, nor the attacker. It's about the ability to control perception. The spookier the 'villain' the more money gets funneled to 'groups' like the Department of Homeland Insignificance. It's how they justify their budgets at the end of the year. "By golly Mabel them be terrorists, maybe we should pay more taxes to them mighty fine boys at the DOJ they be tough on terrorists" Nothing less, nothing more. It's about stats. Sure the guy was moronic, and now he will pay for being an idiot, and the sinful part is many - if he goes to a jury - will be blinded by pseudo sympathy spin on terror. To quote that old annoying song "It's all about the Benjamins baby"

You know... For all those who troll about the USA PATRIOT ACT only being a law and You name me one example of the PATRIOT ACT doing something illegal!" trollers, let this be an example of what happens with laws when they're in their infancy stage, it leads to abuse. Sure I can see the need to want to stop abusers, but what about sites that could benefit from anonyminity. Sites such as a woman who's been raped registering a rape crisis like site, maybe she doesn't want society to know out of feeling guilt that she's been raped, surely she deserves privacy.

What about those who become Whistleblowers, exposing corruption, they place themselves in great danger, shouldn't they be allowed to have their anonyminity.

So far all I see is small talk and little actions coming from the majority. "Cry cry cry ... foo foo foo government government foo foo foo" But yet no one is willing to take a stand, and for those that do, instant ridicule. It's funny how perception works, being if this attitude was shown in the so called "Fair and Balanced" media, we'd have lesser gestapo laws coming into play, instead we have to depend on groups like the ACLU, EFF, and EPIC fighting for us, while again the majority close their eyes and whine "foo foo foo cry cry cry" Sure I see the need for halting certain crimes, but specify those crimes, instead of making it a broad law which can lead to abuse. Again, shall I point out how whistleblowers can stand to be held liable for speaking out of touch? Example Katherine Gun.

However, you can't have your cake and eat it too, so in order for the government to so called halt crimes, this means they have to take your liberties, and freedoms away... But do they really? How easy would it be for them to fix this law to affect solely those who would commit crimes. E.g., with my Politrix site, supposing I decided to carry information from someone who wanted to blow the whistle on some huge government corruption, I should be able to make the public aware of these crimes, however in doing so I would place myself at risk. Maybe I should remove my whois information... Wait I can't that would be criminal now. Get it?

How long will it be before it's pretty much a given that no one will have any more free speech, liberties before some of you wake up and say, "You know what, these laws really suck" and do something instead of "wah wah wah"

The chapters alone should tell you more or less what its about... "How to shape the public's mind and hope forget the truth 101"

1. War and perception: the battle to enable American power

1.1 The evolving American calculus of war

1.2 The media, casualty intolerance, and asymmetric warfare

1.3 The public information battlespace after 9/11

1.4 Perception management in support of Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom

2. Shaping the public discourse on civilian casualties: case studies

2.1 Spinning the Iraqi market place bombings

2.2 Framing the air attack on Baghdad Waging lawfare Strategic bombing and the illegality of air defense

3. Framework propositions on war casualties and collateral damage

3.1 Claims about "precision attack" and the "new warfare"

3.2 Claims about damage limitation efforts

There are too many to list. I have docs along these lines pertaining to compsec, ecommerce, you name it. I'm just too tired to look through my entire FOIA which is why I pointed this one out, it was just written last week. When I find it, if I remember when I wake up I'll post it for anyone interested in how the gov tries to shape your mind while they fiddle with policies, standards, and laws.

Considering the gov in the US started the entire FUD based game on hackers in the mid 80's and steroided it up, what do you see now...? Let me give you an example...

• High Performance Computers and Export Control Policy: Issues for Congress
• A Primer on E-Government: Sectors, Stages, Opportunities, and Challenges of Online Governance
• Computer Attack and Cyber Terrorism: Vulnerabilities and Policy Issues for Congress

So if you think it's about the DMCA only, or MS only, you're really short sighted. It's about anyone willing to kick up some cash for those in office. Hey one hand washes the other. And for those who don't believe or think it's some "tin foil on the head" -what you misconstrue and call - conspiracy, I suggest you look into the words perception management, cognitive dissonance on google. There are studies done daily in hopes of finding a way to make you believe whatever they'd like:

1.4. Perception management in support of Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom

With or without the OSI, the US Defense Department, State Department, and White House conducted large-scale "perception management" or "strategic influence" campaigns in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom as well as in support of the broader war on terrorism.

...

2. Shaping the public discourse on civilian casualties: case studies from the Iraq war

In the remainder of this report, we analyze key aspects of the US public discourse on collateral damage in the Afghan and Iraqi wars, with special attention to those concepts advanced by the US defense establishment to define and explicate the issue.

Considering the gov in the US started the entire FUD based game on hackers in the mid 80's and steroided it up, what do you see now...? Let me give you an example...

• High Performance Computers and Export Control Policy: Issues for Congress
• A Primer on E-Government: Sectors, Stages, Opportunities, and Challenges of Online Governance
• Computer Attack and Cyber Terrorism: Vulnerabilities and Policy Issues for Congress

So if you think it's about the DMCA only, or MS only, you're really short sighted. It's about anyone willing to kick up some cash for those in office. Hey one hand washes the other. And for those who don't believe or think it's some "tin foil on the head" -what you misconstrue and call - conspiracy, I suggest you look into the words perception management, cognitive dissonance on google. There are studies done daily in hopes of finding a way to make you believe whatever they'd like:

1.4. Perception management in support of Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom

With or without the OSI, the US Defense Department, State Department, and White House conducted large-scale "perception management" or "strategic influence" campaigns in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom as well as in support of the broader war on terrorism.

...

2. Shaping the public discourse on civilian casualties: case studies from the Iraq war

In the remainder of this report, we analyze key aspects of the US public discourse on collateral damage in the Afghan and Iraqi wars, with special attention to those concepts advanced by the US defense establishment to define and explicate the issue.

Considering the gov in the US started the entire FUD based game on hackers in the mid 80's and steroided it up, what do you see now...? Let me give you an example...

• High Performance Computers and Export Control Policy: Issues for Congress
• A Primer on E-Government: Sectors, Stages, Opportunities, and Challenges of Online Governance
• Computer Attack and Cyber Terrorism: Vulnerabilities and Policy Issues for Congress

So if you think it's about the DMCA only, or MS only, you're really short sighted. It's about anyone willing to kick up some cash for those in office. Hey one hand washes the other. And for those who don't believe or think it's some "tin foil on the head" -what you misconstrue and call - conspiracy, I suggest you look into the words perception management, cognitive dissonance on google. There are studies done daily in hopes of finding a way to make you believe whatever they'd like:

1.4. Perception management in support of Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom

With or without the OSI, the US Defense Department, State Department, and White House conducted large-scale "perception management" or "strategic influence" campaigns in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom as well as in support of the broader war on terrorism.

...

2. Shaping the public discourse on civilian casualties: case studies from the Iraq war

In the remainder of this report, we analyze key aspects of the US public discourse on collateral damage in the Afghan and Iraqi wars, with special attention to those concepts advanced by the US defense establishment to define and explicate the issue.

• Secret report warns of rioting and nuclear war
• Britain will be 'Siberian' in less than 20 years
• Threat to the world is greater than terrorism

'Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life,' concludes the Pentagon analysis. 'Once again, warfare would define human life.

rest of article

Don't be an asshole, sil@politrix.org

For those interested in what is going on in government behind the scenes, don't always think people who post the kinds of things I post are all conspiratorial stories aimed at bringing down government through chaos. Hell look at sites like FAS, Cryptome, Arms Control, and the multitude of others. Many people point things out but too many are concerned with menial things such as Janet's boobs, Sex and the Shitty, etc., to notice the rug being pulled from under them. Hell most Americans think CNN and Fox are the holy grail of news. Get out there and read, know what's happening in your country. Check out BBC, Observer, Greg Palast, AntiWar, Chomsky. These people aren't being controlled via advertisers, not political pressure. I write sometimes too kooky assed documents, that some might say aren't worth a pot to piss in. Maybe so, but there is a reason for me rambling on like a madman sometimes. I care about my privacy and liberty. I don't want my friends or family growing up in something out of "Escape from Alcatraz"

For those interested in what is going on in government behind the scenes, don't always think people who post the kinds of things I post are all conspiratorial stories aimed at bringing down government through chaos. Hell look at sites like FAS, Cryptome, Arms Control, and the multitude of others. Many people point things out but too many are concerned with menial things such as Janet's boobs, Sex and the Shitty, etc., to notice the rug being pulled from under them. Hell most Americans think CNN and Fox are the holy grail of news. Get out there and read, know what's happening in your country. Check out BBC, Observer, Greg Palast, AntiWar, Chomsky. These people aren't being controlled via advertisers, not political pressure. I write sometimes too kooky assed documents, that some might say aren't worth a pot to piss in. Maybe so, but there is a reason for me rambling on like a madman sometimes. I care about my privacy and liberty. I don't want my friends or family growing up in something out of "Escape from Alcatraz"

On a strictly legal basis, the legality of the war isn't clear. If you're to use the excuse, "to prevent an illegal act" you should be pretty sure it is actually illegal. We wouldn't want to use /. as a forum for this, so let's leave it at what I'm inferring from you, that no one pushed an illegal war. Everyone did all that was possible, and looked at all the ties.

Like many others engaged in civil disobedience. They choose to defy what they think is a bad law by breaking it. In and of itself, civil disobedience doesn't mean you're right. I can gather from your post you know your history, so why didn't it sink in that the world revolutionizes itself via some form of disobedience, whether via anarchy, or civil war. I applaud Ms. Gun (not to leave out she's cute) for coming clean on what she believed in. I argue points politically everyday, and say/do what I believe is right, what morally feels right. Before I say something/post something on my site I think it through thoroughly and add IN YOUR FACE headlines to grab attention. Am I wrong for fighting/saying what's on my mind? For instance I threw together two interesting cases (Downed spy plane) on my about page concerning a situation, with an explanation of my site. I really try to look at things from both sides, hell go through some of my -1 posts and you would swear I worked at MS even though I use solaris. Mrs. Gun acted on her intuition on what she viewed as an illegal act, and you know what, as the s**t is now hitting the fan, what's happening is a media scrub-down, anyone with common sense can see this.

I'm sure that members of the KKK think what they are doing is the right thing to do. Ever occur to you that the majority of klansters are groomed into this? There is a difference here. They're conditioned to be that way (read classical conditioning on any psychology based site) so you're comparing apples and oranges.

...

WASHINGTON (CBS.MW) -- When individual Americans are accused of helping terrorists, they're thrown in jail and their names are dragged through the mud.

But when major U.S. corporations are caught trading with the enemy, they get just a slap on the wrist from the government.

In the past two weeks, the government has revealed that 57 companies and organizations have been fined for doing business with terrorists, despots and tyrants.

...

Each year, the government investigates thousands of cases of U.S. individuals or companies for alleged violations of the Trading with the Enemy Act and other statutes and executive orders that restrict free trade. Each year, the government imposes millions of dollars in civil penalties and prosecutes 10 or so criminal cases.

We know why the companies are silent about what they've done. No one wants to be associated in the public mind with torturers, thugs and murderers, even if it's profitable to be associated with them in private. The companies' explanations, when available, show that even the most enthusiastic supporter of sanctions can run afoul of the law through no malice on their part.

Source

Intellectual Property template petition... I know someone can throw something together a hell of a lot better. Instead of critisizing it though, just do it. Sure it may sound lame, maybe banners should be posted, or something to signify that everyone can come together and have a voice against this type of bs. Yes I know sounds trollish to an extent, but hell an international group making noise is a lot more than a few people locally. Demographically this could affect everyone. Besides if thousands can come together under a free kevin like cause, certainly we all could come together for something more important.

Kissing your privacy goodbye...

• Real Names When Registering Domains?
• Yes, will decrease online crime!
• No, privacy intrusion!
• Don't know, I am a clueless mammal.

Although most take privacy as something only criminals doing dirty deeds would need... Here is an excerpt of a doc I wrote...

Well, did you know Choicepoint claims to have about 16 billion records on American citizens? 16 billion is a hell of a lot considering there are only about 300 million citizens, so average that out for yourself and ask yourself, what do they have on me? They claim they can track everything and anything known about someone: where they lived, how much money they made, what kind of car they're driving (insurance records), etc. Sure you signed some 'passport' disclaimer on some site that stated they wouldn't sell your information, did they implicitly specify they wouldn't sell your information, and if so to whom, and will they sell your information? Think about law for a second here. If someone stole your automobile in Texas, sold it to someone in Utah, who in turn sold it to someone in New York and you found it, do you lose the right to your car, even if the buyer purchased what he thought was legitimate? How can companies get away with redistributing the most sensitive and vital information of your life with ease? Every step you take...

But heck who the hell am I kidding... Only you, yourself are to blame for giving your privacy away. Instead of only whining about not having privacy, don't some of you think it's time to wag the tail instead of keeping it tucked under your asses. Write to your lawmakers, start complaining. Simply crying about it does nothing, and companies will continue walking all over you.

Considering most Americans gave their privacy away, nothing via way of RFID's nor laws should concern anyone.

Think about that outside the zealotry mode for a minute. I don't recall any follow up determining, "Hey this happened X_TIME ago, therefore clean programs should be reinstalled on your machine." Now I support the entire Open Source movement by all means, but think about how many include files, or other files could have been tweaked. Say low level include files, or something similar. There is no one, and I say this COMFORTABLY, no one that checks every program, every line of code on their machine. Sure you could lsof|grep -i listen every here and there to see what's what, but a covert chan can hide that. Look I don't want to get into a sysadmin/secadmin shootout here it'd be a draw and I don't care who you are, but... In my eyes, there is still a long way to go.

Take a look at cpan and some of the modules you have on your machine. How many are updated with normalcy? What about the whole sourceforge/freshmeat concept of 'sysadmining', where you find a neat program supported for what... a year? Maybe 2 if you're lucky... Sometimes it seems the cool Open Source gets, the more issues come out with it...

Every step you take... someone is watching you

Kiss your privacy goodbye thanks to... You

I would have to agree that some were filthy, just think about dudes doing the do, and leaving a booth here for a second...

Anyway as for the sharing, I look at the RIAA in political terms, they're the Neocons pushing for war via WMD intelligence... Shoddy intelligence, whereas on the porn industry side, they wouldn't mind being that they make tons of money, and perhaps they see that people do buy their movies after a sampling via P2P.

American Airlines flight 11 converation while hijacked

Aside from the article being a joke, I posted a serious question I actually had thought about for a while. Want to take a chance and sign your life away? I think I'll ask around this law group I post to, see if someone there knows...

How dare you claim the media would do such a thing as sway logic via news.

Let people distribute copies of your whole work for noncommercial purposes (for example, on a file-sharing network, or among friends)?

http://creativecommons.org/license/sampling

Sorry to say but this whole licensing scheme is getting out of hand. Not to troll about this but how many licenses are there? GPL, BSD, etc? Now another scheme? Now supposing I decided as an admin on one of the machines I -obviously ADMIN - I decide to go with the "non commercial" license. Say I run my own machine with 60 users. Friends, friends of friends, etc. Now I decide to host a domain for one of these friends, and he decides he's going to run something commercial then what? Am I breaking license standards here. Aside from that, what the hell difference would it honestly make these so called Licenses being they would have to be a worldwide universal license.

Just because you say it's law here, why should someone follow the laws of land A when they live in land B. Don't you think there is a huge window for abuse here. Not only by cheapskate corporations who can circumvent these laws, but by lawmakers who for one wouldn't understand computing as a whole, but would be quick to indict Average John for a quick hit in the paper on "How I cracked down on international program crackers who acted with disregard those terrorists."

Seriously, why is the community (Open Source) even waisting their time on another licensing scheme.

AmeriCONNED the Beautiful

PDF file (218 pages)

There's plenty of hardware software combinations to get it done...

In other government news... The government also wants to control your mind via psychotronics, and now back to Jennifer and Ben

PDF file (218 pages)

There's plenty of hardware software combinations to get it done...

In other government news... The government also wants to control your mind via psychotronics, and now back to Jennifer and Ben

The cocksucking jew bastard "STEPHEN SOLARZ" was the same motherfucker who led the charge for us going into Iraq in Gulf War 1 and if you can find a copy of the speech he made at congress..it will scare the hell out of you. We really have a ZOG! (source)

ZOG as in Zionist something something... shit people say things I write are conspiratorial, but man those liberty forums they have the right frame of mind... Run /.'ers

Wired magazine
02:00 AM Oct. 23, 2002 PDT

A surprise decision by the Food and Drug Administration permits the use of implantable ID chips in humans, despite an FDA investigator's recent public reservations about the devices.

The FDA sent chip manufacturer Applied Digital Solutions a letter stating that the agency would not regulate the VeriChip if it was used for "security, financial and personal identification or safety applications," ADS said Tuesday.

But the FDA has not determined whether the controversial chip can be used for medical purposes, including linking to medical databases, the company added...

...

Since 1996, Mr. Reid has served as president of Strategic Sciences, a Washington, D.C.-area consulting firm that specializes in marketing advanced technologies to the federal government. Mr. Reid has particular expertise in selling new, introductory technologies to government agencies, including the Departments of Defense (DoD), Energy (DoE) and State, as well as the agencies that have been incorporated into the Department of Homeland Security. (source)

Just think if they decided to do away with Social Security, or made this a standard for newer borns a-la vaccinations... Oh well that's why I'm glad I support the war on terror

I knew they would find him

here

Oh well... Bruce Schneier's old but well written doc always comes to mind when thinking of this topic: "Ten Risks of PKI: What You're not Being Told about Public Key Infrastructure By Carl Ellison and Bruce Schneier

Computer security has been victim of the "year of the..." syndrome. First it was firewalls, then intrusion detection systems, then VPNs, and now certification authorities (CAs) and public-key infrastructure (PKI). "If you only buy X," the sales pitch goes, "then you will be secure." But reality is never that simple, and that is especially true with PKI. (source)

Most people like fast content and often overlook security. Hell eBay out of all sites, billions in transactions, and SSL is an option! How sickening is that.

Had Mr Rugg just used rot13 he would've cracked the code long ago. Want Crypto?

Hey! >:| um Happy New Year and stuff

congressionally subpoenad and declassified Iraq documents

*yawn* You know something if you look at it from a realistic perspective ... Repulicants are under the highest form of scrutiny right now that if they breathed wrong someone is pointing the finger. Let me not go on into this but state this... Bush and his cabals are under a microscopic eye at all times... If he did something wrong illegally, what makes you think any party wouldn't have jumped out there and called for a special investigation? I know of plenty of beltway lawyers and prosecutors who would jump on this... Me a Bush supporter? Hell no ... Realistic thinker... hell yes. The whole Rebulicant/Dumbercrat thing is so tiring... Political affiliation... me? Republicant, but even I would not vote for Bush.

Although the older machines left no paper trail the one thing they did leave is physical paper, we all remember the moronic media following chad ballots on the highway. With e-voting there are far too many variables to whole heartedly trust a machine as opposed to turning on the news to see a trailer being escorted with paper.

Now, not to sound trollish, but supposing an OS is chosen and that OS is problem prone, viruses, reboots, etc., what safeguards can be guaranteed against this, a power outage, etc.? Not many. Paper is paper unless there's a fire. or... //INSERT_JOKE_HERE// unless someone forgot to bring the Charmin.

Still, auditing in some form would be a good idea now because we seem to be entering a period when electronic elections can be subject to voter fraud on a massive scale.

This is what I don't understand... How would accountability be a 'good idea'? It should be a standard across the board. When I read articles like this firstly I look for tell tale signs like this... auditing in some form would be a good idea now The tone says to me... Hello I'm still mad I don't see Al Gore.

As President Kennedy once joked, his wealthy father might be willing to buy him an election, but he wouldn't buy a landslide.

When will people ever realize that nothing is impossible. Money talks bullshit walks and it doesn't matter how you got it what matters is that you have it.

Agreeable to a certain extent. The party with the most votes *usually* wins, but by using different media outlets, if done correctly, this can be something to take seriously.

Consider that I would say about 70% of the GenX'ers and the others who follow us (well don't know about you but me) are online so much (me too much so), it's easier to reach us this way. Younger voters aren't sitting around watching TV, reading papers, they're out experimenting with life, parties, sex, clubs, etc., so it'd be much easier to reach this group either by email, WEP, Paris Hilton sex vid advertising, etc.. ;O

Did you say Politrix?

But today the NSA's snooping capabilities are in jeopardy, undermined by advances in telecommunications technology. Much of the information the agency once gleaned from the air waves now travels in the form of light beams through fiber-optic cables crisscrossing continents and ocean floors. That shift has forced the NSA to seek new ways to gather intelligence -- including tapping undersea cables, a technologically daunting, physically dangerous and potentially illegal task.

In the mid-1990s, the NSA installed one such tap, say former intelligence officials familiar with the covert project. Using a special spy submarine, they say, agency personnel descended hundreds of feet into one of the oceans and sliced into a fiber-optic cable. The mixed results of the experiment -- particularly the agency's inability to make sense of the vast flood of data unleashed by the tap -- show that America's pre-eminent spy service has huge challenges to overcome if it hopes to keep from going deaf in the digital age.

Details of the NSA cable-tapping project are sketchy. Individuals who confirm the tap won't specify where or when it occurred. It isn't known whether the cable's operator detected the intrusion, though former NSA officials say they believe it went unnoticed. Nor is it known whether the NSA has attempted other taps since. Efforts to intercept all sorts of signals -- ranging from military radar to international phone calls -- are among the most highly classified U.S. government operations. Leaking information about interception methods is a federal crime punishable by imprisonment.
[Source]

If the NSA supposedly managed to tap into fiber (light) what makes this guy so sure his studies would minimize/cut/halt the risk of eavesdropping? "Splice the line, and you cut off the light, at least momentarily," says Wayne Siddall, an optical engineer at Corning Fiber in Corning, N.Y. Even a second's interruption could be noticed by a cable's operator. Cable companies typically build systems with duplicate lines that take diverging routes, in case one of them is damaged or severed. One retired NSA optical specialist insists that the NSA devised a way to splice a fiber without being detected. "Getting into fiber is delicate work, but by no means impossible," the former specialist says. Neither he nor the NSA will discuss the matter further.

Spy agency taps into undersea cable

NSA Tapping Underwater Fiber Optics

And the list goes on and on. Bear in mind the NSA's date of achieving this, in comparison to the tech growth scale, I'd be willing to say that whatever Harvard is doing in being closely watched, if not already known.

There are so many variables involved with government, that they are the ones shooting themselves in the foot. Considering if you're using a machine right, and you know it's insecure, if you took it upon yourself to fix it, you could be charged with a crime. Hell slightly off topic but look at what the gov did with the so called chaplain spy (charged with downloading porn).

I'm sure gov's IT staff throughout the branches are overwhelmed with things, so it's a bit unfair to call them all clueless gimps or similar. However, and I will throw this out as a `story` someone stated they worked for a gov agency. Person stated the procedures for daily wipes to ensure things are wiped, etc., ... According to person he had never seen it done, because they never bothered with it.' Now imagine if one of these machines were thrown out and the machine had material on it that was highly sensitive. It happens more often than some think.

If they really gave a shit about the privacy of others etal, they would oust their logfiles entirely. Like Cryptome does, and many others do. They're not obligated to keep log files under any binding law, and now they're bitching about being targeted for user id's etc.. Here's a noble idea for those who want to protect the privacy of others ln -s /var/log/access_log /dev/null otherwise wake up and smell the coffee... You will be targeted... Some of my own logs? I parse them out, all I mainly get are gov visitors to my https://www.pol*/foia/ directories. I keep them in case some fscktard makes a move and I have to report something to an ISP, so it's a trade off for me. As for them they're not obligated to keep the logs, and they're not obligated to remove publicly posted information. What's Bestbuy going to do after, sue Google for keeping it cached... Get real

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