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How Tech Vendors Help Governments Spy On Their Citizens

Posted by Soulskill on from the let-me-count-the-ways dept.

jfruhlinger writes "Most Slashdotters — even those living in democratic countries — would probably be unsurprised to know that their governments are spying on them. But most people are not aware of how complicit security vendors, who publicly work to protect the public from such electronic eavesdropping, are complicit in such monitoring. All this and more is revealed in the latest Wikieaks document dump, the Spy Files."

4 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ok. analyze THIS. by cobrausn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Most people I know (all over the political spectrum) don't say they haven't done anything useful. Most think they could have done their job better and the organization could be more successful if it was more about transparency and whistleblowing and less about Assange and satisfying his ego.

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    How does it feel to be a liar with pants constantly on fire?
  2. Re:Ok. analyze THIS. by forkfail · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's those who would shut it down that made it about Assange. His name was basically unknown compared to WikiLeaks until the bogus sexual harassment character assassination thing hit.

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    Check your premises.
  3. Re:Turnabout is Fair Play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now, consider that these days you, me, and every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there has access to virtually the same tech the governments and their corporate enablers do. Consider that even the cost factor for said tech is racing to zero. That is, the governments and companies are not using some secretly acquired alien technology that uses physics that the rest of the world doesn't grasp yet. You and I can understand the same physical laws and technology that the governments and the corporations in their employ do. And we do.

    Unlike the government, we don't have the ability to force ISPs and such to cooperate with us by coercion. "Give us your logs or you're going to prison" carries a lot more weight than "Give us your logs or I'll complain about you on Slashdot".

  4. Re:Really... by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just dont do anything to make them wanna fire/investigate you and you will be fine.

    Isn't this another way of saying, "do whatever your government tells you to, without objection"?

    I'm not sure that attitude is compatible with democracy. Sometimes the boat needs to be rocked.

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    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.