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Canadian Spying Case Proves Floppy Drive Isn't Dead Yet

Posted by timothy on from the who-spies-on-canada?! dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The details of a Canadian spying case are coming to light, including the method of copying the sensitive data from the 'secured' computer linking five countries and the Russian handlers: Copy Data into Notepad; Save File to Floppy Drive; USB Key; ???; Profit! For $3000/mo in prepaid credit cards and wire transfers."

11 of 148 comments (clear)

  1. Make fun of them all you want. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But frankly, the fact that they aren't blowing billions of dollars on having bases in the Middle East, supporting an "ally" that stabs them in the back every chance they get while still doing things that stir up trouible - like stealing other people's land, and the fact that I've never heard protestors in a Muslim country yell, "Death to Cananda!" or a Latin/South American say something bad about a Canadian.

    If it weren't for us, the US, I bet their lives would be much more peaceful.

    I'll take their problems anyday.

    1. Re:Make fun of them all you want. by interval1066 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada's_role_in_the_Afghanistan_War

      --
      Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
    2. Re:Make fun of them all you want. by Dishevel · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To be fair. It is not at all a forgone conclusion that if the US were to not do these things that other countries would not have to step up their defense spending.
      I think that the US having to spend all this money allows allies to spend considerably less.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    3. Re:Make fun of them all you want. by daem0n1x · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I live in one of those "other countries". As far as I'm concerned, we don't need any of your "defence spending", so feel free to cut it as much as you want. I'm pretty sure a few billion people agree with me.

      The only thing your "defence spending" is defending is the big pockets of the military-industrial complex.

    4. Re:Make fun of them all you want. by DarthVain · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We only told Bush to go to hell when they wanted us to help invade Iraq for weapons of mass destruction. When the US and the UN asked us to go to Afghanistan we agreed.

      However note, our current conservative government wanted to go to Iraq also but didn't have power then.

      As to the whole "Death to Canada" thing, I would like to think it is because we are nice people, but more than likely we are just insignificant compared to the US in world influance. :(

    5. Re:Make fun of them all you want. by Dishevel · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Again. You can agree with it or not.
      But if you live in Japan, Canada, Germany, France, Poland, Isreal, Taiwan or a bunch of other places if the US were to just go away tomorrow defense spending in those countries would need to go up.
      Maybe not France, they can give up for a very low cost in defense spending.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    6. Re:Make fun of them all you want. by dintech · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What exactly is the value of having allies with a tiny fraction of our military capability?

      Because not all conflict needs to be resolved militarily?

    7. Re:Make fun of them all you want. by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But if you think the mosquitoes are bad now. wait until the entire country is a pestilential swamp. You'll be begging for snow.

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  2. False flag? by Russ1642 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it just me or does the author not know what false flag means?

  3. Re:What secrets do the Canadians have? Maple syrup by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well put, Antipater. Nice to see someone who studies real history, not just the US classroom version!

    Although, you could have mentioned how we kicked Yankee arse in 1812.....

  4. Re:So... by flyingsquid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The internet has definitely changed the espionage game. If you think about it, the entire premise of Star Wars falls apart completely in an internet society. The movie starts out with Vader trying to recover the plans for the Death Star which are stored on R2D2, and then the entire middle of the movie involves trying to physically transport R2 to the Rebels to allow them to stage an attack. If the Empire had internet, then the rebel spies would have just uploaded the plans for the Death Star to the Rebel Alliance, and you'd skip straight to the final scene of the movie.