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Google and NSA Teaming Up
i_frame writes "The Washington Post reports that 'Under an agreement that is still being finalized, the National Security Agency would help Google analyze a major corporate espionage attack that the firm said originated in China and targeted its computer networks, according to cybersecurity experts familiar with the matter. The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack.'"
NSA: We need complete access to your gmail system.
Google: Alright! This is to help us with the recent China break-in, right?
NSA: Um, sure...
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Quid Pro Quo ... I wonder what the NSA could possibly want from a search engine the size of Google?
Google and the FCC could get in cahoooooooooooo crap hope I didn't give someone a bad idea...
This needs more cowbell!!!
As part of the agreement a new slogan to be used jointly by both Google and the NSA has been implemented:
"No Such Evil" ...
I can defend myself perfectly well, by using the correct tool for the job:
Self hosted mail server: Business, personal, anarchism.
Gmail: Fwding Lolcats.
The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack.
The objective is to better defend Google — and its users — from future attack by someone other than NSA and...
If anyone thinks this is the first collaboration between Google and the NSA, I've got a wall in China I want to sell you.
if ( Evil( Google + NSA ) Evil( China ) ) then Allow( NSA );
I find it hard to believe the NSA really has better computer experts than Google...the real question is, what is Google really getting out of this?
Can I mod something +1 Scary if it's true but I wish it weren't?
Google will save on security and the NSA will have more direct access to all the private information google handles, that's all. Neither care about you.
to the FrontOffice
We define whats evil!
then Google IS evil.
Dear Google:
If you become a subsidiary of the N.S.A., would you please
restore the balance of the BushCo White Bunker e-mails not released as a result of the law suit.
Yours In Astrakhan,
K. Trout
Microsoft?
Does google need that in a powerpoint slide via someone from Rick's rolodex?
Or does he only know CIA people
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
The Chinese people would love to hear about their bribes and mistresses. The NSA must have these if they exist.
Yeah that's an oldie alright.
Asshat.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
Ummmm, take a look at what he's wearing. The ONLY thing he's wearing right there on his left hand....
It cannot be Sting because Sting does not wear a wedding ring BECAUSE STING IS NOT MARRIED.
OK so part of me says well why don't all of us start off by blocking all IP addresses assigned to China ... oh wait isn't that what China wants to do anyway? Block their people from getting to the Internet ... kinda sorta.
It might not be a bad idea for networks with no intention of communicating with China.
Keep the Classic Slashdot.
I've said it before, but if Google's investigation points to Chinese government IPs, they must tread on careful ground because they have employees in China that could go to gulag if Google gets too curious.
Involving the NSA allows them a certain level of deniability/immunity, and let's face it, the NSA probably has been tracking Chinese Gov't IP's a lot longer than anyone, so I think it's not a question of 'better' experts, it more a question of experts experienced in doing what Google wants.
I still believe that Google is still holding cards to their chest. I mean, how many other corporate hacks have occurred where the corporation has publicly requested the assistance of the NSA?? I'm not aware of any (though I'm sure someone will post a link showing how little I know!). So I think Google already has very good evidence that the Chinese Gov't was behind it, but is afraid to make that information public.
Google has always been able to use the things people are looking up for evil: if someone using Apple's IP googles a particular microchip's specs, you might infer from that that they might be thinking of using that chip soon.
How about a Chinese IP googling "openssl 0.9.6 exploit".. especially if that IP was just visiting www.$SOMESITE.gov, where the HTTP-headers mention it's using "openssl-0.9.6". Or a Saudi Arabian IP googling for flight info inside the US, and a few seconds later, a Yemeni IP opening up the same URL (hmm, although without that site's cooperation, the NSA won't be able to see that, or are they..?)
Such powers would be interesting, for the wielder. Not so much for victims of its inevitable abuse.
What time is it/will be over there? Check with my iPhone app!
Do no evil, with a little help from Satan.
> If anyone thinks this is the first collaboration between Google and the NSA,
> I've got a wall in China I want to sell you.
You do? NICE!! PM me... :-)
Funny how this topic breeds anonymous coward trolls, and isn't it strangely coincidental that they're all of the same meme. Google is evil. US Government is a bad guy. China is a victim.
I'm sure it's only a coincidence.
http://www.beanleafpress.com
ATT routes all (yes all) their traffic thru the NSA
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2007/11/ex-att-employee-nsa-snooping-internet-traffic-too.ars
This move from Google is more political the security oriented.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
may i recommend detiny url expander a small add on for firefox https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/13140
which expands the above link to http://web.archive.org/web/20001202200100/http://---www.goatse.cx/ (If you really want to click it you will have to go to the parent post)
Blarney Quality Restaurant, Plants
...i thought Google is the NSA?
Thanks, thans. Do try the salmon.
(captcha, BTW is "specter" -- maybe Slashdot is the NSA after all. Head hurts)
Nice thank you
...came from the NSA in the first place, just to get them to the point where they ask for cooperation?
Wait a minute. I'm a manager, and I've been reading a lot of case studies and watching a lot of webcasts about The Cloud. Based on all of this glorious marketing literature, I, as a manager, have absolutely no reason to doubt the safety of any data put in The Cloud.
The case studies all use words like "secure", "MD5", "RSS feeds" and "encryption" to describe the security of The Cloud. I don't know about you, but that sounds damn secure to me! Some Clouds even use SSL and HTTP. That's rock solid in my book.
And don't forget that you have to use Web Services to access The Cloud. Nothing is more secure than SOA and Web Services, with the exception of perhaps SaaS. But I think that Cloud Services 2.0 will combine the tiers into an MVC-compliant stack that uses SaaS to increase the security and partitioning of the data.
My main concern isn't with the security of The Cloud, but rather with getting my Indian team to learn all about it so we can deploy some first-generation The Cloud applications and Web Services to provide the ultimate platform upon which we can layer our business intelligence and reporting, because there are still a few verticals that we need to leverage before we can move to The Cloud 2.0.
Why are we all being told to cut back and make do with less, when our leaders insist on taking more and spending more of our money?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100204/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_debt_limit
If you're too dumb to understand this basic inequality, then you have no business running for public office: if (money_in - money_out is less than 0) then (bad_things_happen). I keep wondering when China is going to cut up our credit card. Perhaps if we keep interfering with Taiwan?
The information gleaned from Google will probably give the US a little bit of an advantage in the coming cold war against China. Additionally, this kind of cooperation without divulging proprietary code or sacrificing anyone's privacy would serve as a much needed template for other US companies to share vital attack info with the US government. Right now every Chinese company probably gives the Chinese government full and unfettered access to their systems, a considerable advantage for the Chinese. Democracy/capitalism is probably to the US's considerable disadvantage when it comes to cyber warfare/security.
Of course, we know the US telcos have sold their soul to the NSA but maybe the information gleaned by having all US telco communications on tap is of limited use. That kind of info isn't much help when Google (or any other company with offices in China) is attacked from within China, attacks enabled by inside Chinese employees doing their patriotic duty.
This kind of issue is probably being very closely watched by any company with offices there - it probably goes without saying that if you keep your closely guarded proprietary code there, you might as well be giving it to the Chinese. I doubt they respect NDA's.
The NSA are experts in systems security. We use their hardening guidelines to secure our servers. They really contribute good stuff to Linux security. They really do want to keep US systems secure. I don't think anyone has ever seen them doing something truly shady, like injecting backdoors into popular software. As far as I can tell, they break codes in one department, and help secure systems in another department. These are the good guys (unlike the FBI, who are media-whoring, civil-rights-abusing porno-police).
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Or instead of another heavy plugin, you could just not click tinyurl links.
WTF Slashdot, why do I have to login 50 times to post?
I recommend ChromeMUSE for us Chrome folk.
When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
You can also turn on the tinyurl preview feature. http://tinyurl.com/preview.php
If they 'disappear' or outright arrest some of the employees of Google China, wouldn't that irreparably damage China's relations with other western tech companies?
wasn't their first cto or cso former head of nsa?
Microsoft saw that GMail was more secure than their systems, so they hired some Chinese guys to hack it, knowing that it would be in the news, though access to hotmale accounts never make the news (as it happens too often). Then as NSA used this as a excuse to get access to Google's data on "possible terrorists" all over the world, while they make sure not to let anyone know that they're selling all their data to NSA and others.
EVIL!!!!!
We shall all use Linux, and Linux only (or alternatively Plan 9).
qmail, for those who don't want their data on cloudy 3rd party datacenters.
Ads by Google
"Two Towers" would be a fitting tag, no?
If anyone thinks this is the first collaboration between Google and the NSA, I've got a wall in China I want to sell you.
I know you're joking but it's true, so really: The US has decided to publicly announce collaboration between Google and the NSA. It's Diplomacy by other means.
tomorrow who's gonna fuss
I wonder what the NSA's hourly rate is. Surely Google is going to be paying them, right? If the spooks are being paid by tax dollars and working for the public sector there is something shady going on there. I'm all for the NSA and Google working together to make Google a more profitable comapany... Wait, no I'm not! Given Google's current stock valuation, they can go right ahead and kick down some cash to the Treasury. We're facing a how many trillion dollar deficit?
Why would you click on an a tinyurl link, especially from an AC?
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law
"Want a simple fact about privacy? Privacy's Dead!" - Shepard Smith.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
[or else!]
You may assume google's motto is "don't be evil", but it is actually a simple command. Who that command is directed at, and who defines what constitutes as "evil" remain unknown.
I recommend ChromeMUSE [google.com] for us Chrome folk.
I thought you were called "Chromers."
... and then they built the supercollider.
Well, I never will again, that's for fucking sure.
NSA, I heard you are now securing businesses networks. Please come secure my networks. I manage small business networks and could use the help!
WTF? Just another example of the U.S. govt. mainly working for big money, not for the people.
why is a question modded informative?