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FBI Cybercrime Director Comments On Hacktivism
bdcny7927 writes "In an exclusive interview with CIO.com, the FBI official in charge of cybercrime speaks for the first time with the media specifically about hacktivism. Here, Assistant Executive Director Shawn Henry describes the threats hacktivists pose, the challenges associated with investigating them, and the FBI's success disrupting these groups. He also delivers a special message to hacktivists."
The so-called special message: "My organization is a believer in civil rights and civil liberties, and the first amendment is something I hold very dear personally and professionally. I have no problem with people picketing and protesting in the street. I get all that. But the freedom for me to swing my arm ends where your nose begins. If you are impinging on others' rights, that's illegal."
Aww, nice little sound bite. Did your first year sociology professor come up with that one?
Grow up. Those three letter agencies you despise have done more to uphold your freedoms to whine than you can imagine. Sniping that the "police in general...want to ignore civil rights whenever it is convenient" is just silliness at best and a slap in the face at worst to men and women who literally put their life at risk to protect - go on, guess - you.
You're a pathetic little whiny brat.
Being able to board a train or bus without having my bag be searched (ostensibly for weapons, but really for drugs).
You can board a train or bus without being searched, if YOU OWN the plane or bus in question. If someone else owns it, then you are going to follow their rules or be denied service, just like you as the owner of a vehicle can refuse to give anyone you want a ride for any reason. Nothing here has changed.
Being able to post a video criticizing Universal Studios copyright policy with licensed music by famous artists without having it be taken down.
You can post a video on your own website that is critical of any company you want using whatever content you have legal right to publish. If it is youtubes website then you will follow youtubes rules or be denied service. If the criticism you post is baseless, you may be subject to lawsuits. Nothing here has changed.
Be able to play games on a decent computer without having that computer run software that spies on me and makes sure I'm not doing something the company would prefer I not do.
You can play games on a computer without being spied on. Disconnect it from the internet and write your own game code. If its someone elses game code, and they require internet for communication, and you agree to have info communicated, then accept the terms or don't purchase or play the game. Nothing here has changed.
Being reasonably confident that my representative cares more about what I and 50 of my neighbors say than what his or her corporate sponsor says (though that's been a serious problem for more than 20 years).
Have people who sought and gained and wielded power ever cared what the bum in the street thinks ? No. The bum in the street brings nothing to the table, and odds are high he speaks from a position of ignorance and irresponsibility, not from a position of success and responsibility, and this is why the street bums voice is ignored. He can't manage his own life, let alone national policies. Nothing here has changed.
Being sure that if Watergate happened again it would be exposed and the president forced to resign over it.
Politics and governance are dirty businesses, and society and the individual are at odds. It has always been this way. Scandals are swept under the rug if possible. If not possible, damage control plans are executed. FYI ... watergate was exposed, and Nixon did resign from office. Nothing here has changed.
In summary, none of the things you claim are different now, are any different than they always have been. You haven't lost anything that someone else wasn't gifting you in the first place. It was theirs to take away.