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Bavarian Police Can Legally Place Trojans On PCs
An anonymous reader writes "The Bavarian Parliament passed a law that allows Bavarian police to place 'Remote Forensic Software' (Google translation) on a suspect's computer as well as on the computers of a suspect's contacts. They may break into houses in secret to install the RFS if a remote installation is not possible; and while they are there a (physical) search is permitted too. The RFS may be used to read, delete, and alter data." The translation says that RFSs may be used in cases of an "urgent threat to the existence or the security of the Federation or a country or physical, life or liberty of a person... Even where there is a reasonable assumptions on concrete preparatory acts for such serious offenses."
If not, will they make Linux illegal?
but does the trojan run on linux?
Funny how the context allows a "does it run on linux" joke get modded up as insightful....
...What about the Soviet Russia jokes? Will they get mod as informative?
What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you and to hear the lamentations of their women.
Does this imply that they can install a virus on my PC in Canada if I'm talking to a suspect in Bavaria?
I hope not.
Will this code be safe? What if it opens the infected PC up to access by hackers and the PC is damaged or materials (virtual) are stolen? Is there any liability for the police?
Who stole my key?
I thought that the memories of the Geheime Staatspolizei made sure the germans would never approve of such things...
Most people who were alive to see World War II Germany have passed on. I think this allows the forgetfullness we see across the world -- and unfortunately is allowing history to repeat itself in the restriction of rights in many countries...
Yeah it's funny when you put it that way, but that's how it usually is. When a government takes an action under the guise of national security, the nation is actually less secure because a stronger government is a greater threat to liberty.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
WW2 was before my time, but I grew up during the Cold War. It's definitely scary to watch our country turn into the backside of the Iron Curtain that we worked for so long to tear down.
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
Oh sure and the US Patriot Act was only for terrorists. It'd never be used improperly or wrongly
The germans per se don't approve. Politicians here, however are on the same stupid anti-terror craze they seem to be elsewhere, too. You know what I mean, giving up a little liberty for a little more security... hell yeah, great idea. As someone living in Bavaria, i am sure pissed about this. Even if it does not run on Linux, still, everyone suffers from this loss of freedom. Seems for some of those security-crazy folks the gestapo might just be a nice example of how to do things right...
When I was in Munich I had a phone and a PC. The PC had voicemodem so it could act as a answering machine / fax machine. I got some cables to plug it into the phone socket. And the wierd thing is I could get the phone to work or the PC but not both. It turns out that German phone sockets will only allow one device to be connected. Someone said that this was to "prevent eavesdropping. In Germany this is regarded as important because of our experience of Nazism".
I said something like "if the Nazis tapped phones they presumably did it at the exchange, not by having some sinister dude in a leather coat, monacle and jackboots sitting in the spare room taking notes". The German guy explaining gave me a very dirty look.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
The "Bundestrojaner" will only be used as a last resort and in defense to terrorism
when the law that allows the police to monitor ALL communication (email, gsm, landline) at all times, without needing any warrant was passed here, (turkey) and gave the daily running of the operation to a small board that would be directly appointed by the prime minister and his cabinet, many idiots believed that 'only as a last resort and in defense against terrorism' bullshit too.
...
then somehow the private conversations of opposition party members who have had a strife with the administration have been leaked to the newspapers and media that were backing the administration. then the private conversations of state attorneys have somehow leaked to the same islamist newspapers. then suddenly the conversations of generals that are opposed to the islamist party (the military is tasked with ensuring the continuance of secular, western style republic, according to turkish laws) have somehow slipped to islamist newspapers backing the administration.
yea. there were idiots who were believing that it would only be used as a last resort and against terrorism here too
Read radical news here
If the software they install can delete and alter files, how can any evidence they procure be admissible in a court of law?
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
The best geography tutorial I've ever had was a game called Hearts of Iron 2. Nothing like learning about the names and basic geographical features of the world while moving various types of military units across the landscape. Cursing a province with mountains by name as your troops take months to march and/or roll through them makes it memorable, especially if you lose your beachhead because your goofy MechInf decides to take 2 weeks going a distance that would take them 2 days, if it were plains they are crossing.
Well, yeah, except that Wyoming isn't in the center of Europe (as Bavaria nearly is), doesn't have Munich as a capital, wasn't the site of Dachau concentration camp, and has in general been of no importance to anyone throughout western history. Trust me, even living in the U.S., not knowing where Bavaria is, is ridiculous.
These swine seem to come around just about every generation and attempt to throw individual rights into the nearest garbage can. What frightens me, though, is that each time, the technology to make their efforts more likely to succeed gets better and better.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
RFSs may be used in cases of an "urgent threat to the existence or the security of the Federation or a country or physical, life or liberty of a person...
Apparently, they are drawing on a century of experience that Germany has with intrusion into people's private lives, both under right wing and left wing extremist states. Even the language of the law itself is... classic.
Actually, it is possible that it does. This is an old article (2005), but it mentions the Bavarian government (at least in Munich) has converted to Linux.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4508897.stm
So much for freedom through obscurity.
Run Linux
Encrypt Boot and home disks.
Encrypt everything.
md5sum *everything*
Boot off a knoppix or install CD periodically.
Keep a spare motherboard around and/or change motherboards frequently.
Always buy a name brand ethernet card that is a different chipset than your motherboard.
Run wireshark on your laptop which you *NEVER* let out of your sight.
Remember, thieves will only steal your stuff. The government will steal your life and liberty if it is politically possible.
I said something like "if the Nazis tapped phones they presumably did it at the exchange, not by having some sinister dude in a leather coat, monacle and jackboots sitting in the spare room taking notes". The German guy explaining gave me a very dirty look.
The Nazis paid rewards for informers. Lots of people got turned in by people they trusted, including people they lived with, who found out that they were a jew.
Of course, telling secrets into a phone whose wire goes... where!?! It's just stupid anyway. But you can't expect people to be rational or informed at the best of times, and those weren't them.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
China has quietly been spending as much as the US on their military (without the outgoing expense of 2 theatres of war) for 10 years and has 2,000,000 soldiers in uniform. 10 years ago your view would have been stupid but nowadays it is worrying that people have not noticed how the world has changed. China is already stronger than the US and is growing while the US is in decline. Russia is already back in the frame and growing fast. The US could easily be in 3rd place in 10 years time if people do not wake up soon.
People talk about the 1990s as if Russia collapsed but it did not. It had 4 times the military that the US had and it could not cope with the cost. It cut right back at a speed which looked like collapse but they kept all the good stuff (titanium hulled subs etc.) and grew from that. They are back in the game and growing fast.
I was in China 10 years ago (I look forward to going back) and could see no reason why they would want to rise up against anything. The country is so different from the picture painted in our media that it was hard to recognise it. I was in Russia 5 years ago (and hated the place) and saw a people wholeheartedly behind their government.
If we, in the west, do not pull our heads out of our arses we will end up losing a major conflict soon as we will end up having to fight in Taiwan or North Korea and we could easily be on the losing side if we still think that Chinese missiles are 1950 models when they took our designs 10 years ago and improved on them.
I love stacking my barbecues in the shed at the end of summer - you can't beat a bit of grill on grill action.