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Bavarian Police Seeking Skype Trojan Informant
Andreaskem writes "Bavarian police searched the home of the spokesman for the German Pirate Party (Piratenpartei Deutschland) looking for an informant who leaked information about a government Trojan used to eavesdrop on Skype conversations. (The link is a Google translation of the German original.) There is a high probability that the Trojan is used illegally. A criminal law specialist said, 'The Bavarian authorities worked on the Trojan without a legitimate basis and now try to silence critics.' The informant need not worry since 'every information that could be used to identify him' is protected against unauthorized access by strong encryption. The Trojan is supposedly capable of eavesdropping on Skype conversations and obtaining technical details of the Skype client being used. It is deployed by e-mail or in place by the police. A Pirate Party spokesman said, 'Some of our officials seem to want to install the Big Brother state without the knowledge of the public.'"
Who would have thought that even a country like Germany could deteriorate into a police state?
I kid, I kid... I'm in the US...
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
Look! I 'drew' ASCII Hitler! It's OK, though, the Bavarian Gendarmerie already pre-Godwinned the topic!
(\:7=[
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
rj
"The price of Freedom is eternal vigilance." - who said that again?
Likes outdoor activities, pets, and long moonlit walks on the beach. Mild uniform fetish. Possible LTR. Call me soon - let's drink beer and eat Souvlakia on Walpurgisnacht!
The trends I've been noticing lately are very disconcerting.
Think about what you get when the following technologies converge:
-- IP Traceback
-- VOIP Interception
-- Keylogging
-- Deep Packet Analysis
-- Automatic Vehicle License Plate Identification
-- Public/Metro Transit Card Tracking
Everyone now has the potential to become their own "Poor Man's NSA." Even local governments, or relatively poor and/or developing countries.
Of course, if a private citizen used these tools to protect their *own* interests, they could be charged with all sorts of crimes, like illegal wiretapping, computer intrusion and abuse, etc...
Posting Anonymously to protect my job,
I have been working for a few months on software designed to extract skype calls from streams of captured packets. The software is highly distributed, and while I can't know the exact use, I'm guessing it will be installed near every network interconnect point. Interestingly, it has nowehere near the performance required to record every skype call on the internet, so it will probably only be used for certain targets.
The good news is that the project is failing badly due to funding issues and poor management, and probably won't be deployed for years yet.
Note that this IS with the help of skype engineers - we haven't reverse engineered the encryption.
Murder can usefully be outlawed, because it is a choice that an intelligent person makes. (In fact, if the killer is mentally deficient and incapable of making that choice, it is treated different legally.) A gun, knife, automobile, HCl etc, morphine, are objects of varying degrees of danger and usefulness.
Particular objects are reasonably controlled when the danger they present is not obvious to an ordinary person. Someone not familiar with chemistry may be tragically surprised by the destructiveness of a bottle of HCl (although warning labels help). Hence it makes sense to make it hard to get unless you know what you are doing.
A knife is an obvious danger. Even if you don't speak the language. Even if you just came from deepest darkest Africa and have never seen technology before. A gun is an obvious danger to someone exposed to any technology of the last 400 years. (Although apparently too many idiots don't think about the danger of it going off accidentally.)
So objects likely to result in accidental death are controlled, and hopefully still available with a license that demonstrates basic competence. (And where you draw the line depends on how stupid you think the average citizen is.) And deliberating causing death via any means is illegal - although most places allow for circumstances like duels, self-defense, etc.
Controlling an object/substance to prevent accidental death does *not* protect anyone from intentional death via that object/substance. Gun control may prevent some accidental home shootings, but it does not stop criminals from getting guns. Heck, if nothing else go back to basics and make a primitive weapon from steel rod and homemade gunpowder like they did in the 18th century. What next? Outlaw lathes? Outlaw metal cutting tools that could be attached to a homemade lathe? Outlaw fire since it could be used to forge and temper metal cutting tools?
For the first time in my life, I will attempt to post something informative on Slashdot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi_2.0
The, err, um, joke, is that the Stasi were the former East German secret police (1.0).
The major failure of the Stasi (1.0), was that they were collecting too much data, that they could ever dream of analyzing.
Has 2.0 deeper pockets?
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Comments from a German:
German history has in the past worked as a deterrent against giving the police and secret services too much power. But after 9/11 and with the generation that has lived under the Nazi regime gradually dying off, those lessons seem in danger of being forgotten.
The USA, however, have the "disadvantage" that they never had a dictatorship that was universally regarded as completely evil in hindsight. As a consequence, you guys over there have never learned these things the hard way and are (on average) way too trusting towards your government.
[Flamebait]
With stuff like arbitrarily detaining people ("illegal combatants" who are denied a fair trial) and torture of prisoners I think you are closer to a Fourth Reich than Germany.
C - the footgun of programming languages
In this they are incorrect. The beauty of the Orwellification of the Western world right now is that it is with the full co-operation of the general public.
Step 1. Create imaginary bogeymen -- "terrorists", "pedophiles"
Step 2. Create hysteria that gives the false impression that said bogeymen are common, rather than, in reality, very rare.
Step 3. Create economic crisis to fan the flames of hatred and jealousy.
And viola, the general public will help you light the gas ovens.
We have learned nothing whatsoever from history. Nothing. Not. One. Thing.
The so called "disadvantage" isn't a real disadvantage. Why? People forget, generations go past. Old people die, young people are born. World War II will be a lesson as long as people who have lived during that era can tell something about it. That may be possible now but in about 30 years almost all people who went through that period will have died. Then, nobody can tell us about the horrors of WWII, the brutalities, the bombing raids, the razzias.
World War II will become like World War I, a forgotten war. As a joke I always use "Wilhelm II" as my avatar on every forum I am a member of. Nobody knows who "the guy with the weird moustache" is. Nobody is offended because it happened before any of us lived. The shockeffect is gone. 40 million people DIED in that war and I bet not even 1% can tell you who fought who.
It's a tragedy.
And the tragedy will return, but as a farce.
Nobody is safe from failings, people thinking that they are immune to making mistakes are wrong. You WILL support the wrong guy and he will take away your freedoms. You WILL cheer for the soldiers sent into a useless and bloody war. And the lessons will be learned by you and forgotten by your children.
I feel sorry for humanity.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.