A Look at the NSA's Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool

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A Look at the NSA's Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool

Posted by samzenpus on Thursday March 13, 2014 @02:05PM from the big-gun dept.

realized writes in with a closer look at the NSA's QUANTUM system. "Today QUANTUM packs a suite of attack tools, including both DNS injection (upgrading the man-on-the-side to a man-in-the-middle, allowing bogus certificates and similar routines to break SSL) and HTTP injection. That reasonable enough. But it also includes gadgets like a plug-in to inject into MySQL connections, allowing the NSA to quietly mess with the contents of a third-party's database. (This also surprisingly suggests that unencrypted MySQL on the internet is common enough to attract NSA attention.) And it allows the NSA to hijack both IRC and HTTP-based criminal botnets, and also includes routines which use packet-injection to create phantom servers, and even attempting (poorly) to use this for defense."

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larry king defected? are we just all brotheruns.. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 14:12 · Score: -1

after all? it doesn't get much wackier,,, http://rt.com/shows/politicking-larry-king/dalai-lama-larry-king-politicking-254/ never ends hopefully we're all in agreement on that
I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 14:26 · Score: 5, Insightful

all these software engineers that work for nsa/gov , do they have any fucking morals? do they really believe they are securing the world from the evil guys? are they kept at gunpoint? are they just plain stupid? Fail to realize that us, the makers , have all the power is the worst mistake. Plant secret backdoors, failure modes, weaknesses. Be in charge. You don't owe anything to these black suits. Wake fucking up.
1. Re:I wonder by epyT-R · 2014-03-13 14:30 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  It probably pays well.
2. Re:I wonder by Arker · 2014-03-13 14:39 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  It depends, if you are an actual employee I understand the pay is not really spectacular. The benefits, however, are outrageous. And these days of course the government has gotten into outsourcing too, and most of their workers are contractors, not employees. The contractors are obviously paid well, and if theoretically they have less job security practically their programs are only set to expand. Anyway, regardless of position, you could probably make more money in the private sector if you are really motivated to go out and make the next big thing. But this sort of job is about more than compensation. It draws people that really believe in the cause (who eventually become disillusioned, and sometimes become whistleblowers) along with amoral sociopaths that get off on power. Unfortunate that the latter stand a much better chance of being promoted and the former of being waterboarded, seems backwards somehow, but oh well.
  
  --
  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
  Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
3. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 14:59 · Score: 1
  
  It doesn't need to pay well.
  Some people just get off on power, the rest just sell the secrets to the highest bidder.
4. Re:I wonder by tshawkins · 2014-03-13 15:35 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Its the same question that should have been asked of the doctors that assisted with the torture and stress programs, the psychologists that aided and abetted the threats made against detainees families. The aviation engineers that built remote controlled ariel death machines. The lawyers that twisted and bent the law to try to justify all the above. There is a tendancy for professions to remote themselves from the consequences of thier actions, and to adopt both the "obeying orders" and the "if we dont do it, somebody else will" defense. Scumbags the lot of them, there is a very hot place waiting for them all.
5. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 15:41 · Score: 0
  
  I'm not sure what country you're from, but in America, morals are for suckers and poor people.
6. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 15:49 · Score: 0, Interesting
  
  The problem is their not whistleblowers, Snowden (from what I've read) was a **maintenance** person. He had no business peeking into the data.
  If he was a person that monitors, and or scans through the data, he would've have been subject to signing a contract with the company, any information he sees, inner workings, and knowledge of his job would cause him/her to be seeing prison time and a lawsuit. And I would think, which would be 50/50 considering the government doesn't believe in security, those wavier contracts would need to be included for any private company that is seeking a contract with a government agency.
  Which is why your not seeing or hearing anyone that works for these companies, and agencies coming out to "blow the whistle".
  And a whistleblower to me, should be someone that can give an insight to the workings of lets say a secret society, ect., the information your reading and hearing over the NSA isn't a surprise. Nor has there been anything insightful. Everything their doing has already been widely known.
  What is surprising is how the FBI kept files over their spying and targeting of 'suspect' Americans, not only that but the were released to the public.
  I could give you a list of things the FBI had employed to targets, from smear campaigns, to implanting false evidence and charges, to blckmailing people around them, ect... The government has been using hacks for years, this latest NSA story is about 20-30 years old.
7. Re:I wonder by pcwhalen · 2014-03-13 15:55 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  I'm not sure what country you're from, but in America, morals are for suckers and poor people.
  You are wrong.
  I am an American, I am far from poor and I am no man's fool. I live by the moral compass taught to me by my parents, my church and my conscience and I have done very well in my 50 years on Earth.
  The most precious commodity is the ability to sleep at night.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
  
  --
  Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain with all your metadata.
8. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:05 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  No mans fool...Church...oops...
9. Re:I wonder by UnknownSoldier · 2014-03-13 16:10 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Riiiight, because your faith is magically better then his faith ???
  Grow the fuck up and learn some respect for a different perspective / belief.
10. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:15 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Whats this 'faith' nonsense your on about?
  50 years and he still didnt realise what he was believing in --> a fool.
  Also why arent you respecting my belief / perspective that 'faithers' are just fools to be laughted at, maybe it's you who needs to grow up.
11. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:46 · Score: 1
  
  I'm no mans fool, I just do/believe what my church tells me.....Got to love the Irony here. :)
12. Re:I wonder by AHuxley · 2014-03-13 18:26 · Score: 1
  
  It depends on the country, the mil junta, the party, the telco and the staff.
  Did the connection to the NSA start with 1960's tech? The 1990's optical? Thats a lot of local staff over generations to read into looking after a lot of 'secret' rooms with copper or less with optical.
  What did the local the mil junta, the party, the telco and the staff get back or was the cover story top down from a trusted local leader?
  Some top gov official tells all the telco staff thats its their nations splitter and not to ask questions - that would cover most questions and access.
  The problem is now that next gen local political leader, other members of the mil and opposition parties know their nations crypto, mil, banking and press are at risk .
  Sooner or later changes might have a domestic intelligence group questioning top telco and mil leaders about the selling out of their nations communications to 5+++ other nations over years or decades.
  That link goes to some base, listening station vs a shared facility is really the cover story that has to be kept.... many would trust that information and know never to ask more.
  The other aspect is testing of staff until they are ok with selling out of their nations communications to 5+++ other nations/faiths/cults/mil/ex staff for hire/press/other spies.
  A positive reading in of local staff that spying is great for their nation due to the mil/telco tech thats now shared.
  
  --
  Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
13. Re:I wonder by gIobaljustin · 2014-03-13 22:04 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Riiiight, because your faith is magically better then his faith ???
  Rather, my lack of faith is better than his faith.
  
  Grow the fuck up and learn some respect for a different perspective / belief.
  Grow the fuck up (Not necessary; just stop being an idiot.) and realize that people don't have to respect other people's bullshit perspectives/beliefs.
  
  --
  Thank you Dave Raggett
14. Re:I wonder by ObsessiveMathsFreak · 2014-03-13 22:34 · Score: 2
  
  all these software engineers that work for nsa/gov , do they have any fucking morals? do they really believe they are securing the world from the evil guys? are they kept at gunpoint? are they just plain stupid?
  Imagine a fraternity house filled with hundreds of "bro-grammers" looking to impress their peers and outsiders, alongside more socially inept nerds with a superiority complex and a grudge against society for its refusal to pay homage to their obviously superior intellects. The herd is managed by a cadre of MBA/careerist sociopaths with a lust for profit, exploitation and power. The entire operation has been given essentially unlimited budgets, unprecedented resources, and unrestricted access to private industry and the backbone of the net, and finally has been mandated to gather all it can, on whoever it can, by whatever means necessary by an ascendancy whose interests are explicitly opposed to the general public good.
  Things have worked out about as well as you'd imagine. The fraternity house has engaged in naked, shameless and destructive criminal behaviour; in effect the NSA has become the largest hacker/cyber-crime organization on the globe. The Rule of Law now has no meaning on the network, or for computers, and society itself has been pushed into a literal sci-fi dystopia of surveillance and state security excess.
  And were it not for one single fraternity member who found the courage to turn back and listen to his conscience, we would be spiraling into an even darker scenario at this very moment. Whether we eventually meet this fate is still uncertain.
  The NSA is an out of control cyber-criminal gang. It is a matter of time before insiders at the NSA make contact with the criminals who run the banking industry, and at that point western society will probably be ripped apart in an orgy of computer-aided looting, sabotage, fraud, and political suppression. This is what happens when you let the hyenas run the zoo.
  
  --
  May the Maths Be with you!
15. Re: I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 22:50 · Score: 0
  
  100% incorrect; feds have been paying better than the private sector for many IT roles for years. In 1995 you would have been correct.
16. Re:I wonder by Charliemopps · 2014-03-14 00:05 · Score: 1
  
  Now we've rewritten history
  The one thing we've found out
  Sweet taste of vindication
  It turns to ashes in your mouth
17. Re:I wonder by VortexCortex · 2014-03-14 00:49 · Score: 2
  
  TL;DR: Even intellectual fools let themselves be divided and conquered. Learn it: Compartmentalization = Evil.
18. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 01:41 · Score: 0
  
  Riiiight, because your faith is magically better then his faith ???
  Rather, my lack of faith is better than his faith.
  
  Grow the fuck up and learn some respect for a different perspective / belief.
  Grow the fuck up (Not necessary; just stop being an idiot.) and realize that people don't have to respect other people's bullshit perspectives/beliefs.
  Well, yeah they do if they want to live in a real world and stop wasting time trying show how their understanding of an evolving universe is Gospel...get it..see what I did there? LOL...moron.
19. Re:I wonder by gIobaljustin · 2014-03-14 02:11 · Score: 1
  
  Well, yeah they do if they want to live in a real world
  Everyone lives in the real world, whether they want to or not. There's literally nowhere else to live. To suggest otherwise is pure idiocy.
  
  --
  Thank you Dave Raggett
20. Re:I wonder by ZahrGnosis · 2014-03-14 03:24 · Score: 1
  
  Of course, you could also imagine a group of highly intelligent and capable programmers that grew up on legends of the Enigma, Bletchley Park, and Alan Turing... who live for reverse engineering code and breaking ciphers. People who know that enemies of the state (in this case the US) had used secret communications since the US War of Independance (http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/prewii/Revolutionary_Secrets.pdf and yes, there are non-nsa links to similar material, but I thought it proved the point that much better), up to the modern day -- new and old enemies, large governments and small factions, and all enemies in between.
  They believe to their core that protection of the country to whom they actually are very loyal requires not only a strong military but a strong counter-intelligence program and, given the way modern information is exchanged, "things have worked out about as well as you'd imagine". Just like the military, these people have built what they hope is the world's most capable collection of people and tools. By "capable" of course I mean able to execute the core objective -- to collect intelligence. We have no background, no history on why any individual piece of code is put in place. The person building injection attacks to MySQL, as an example, may have had a specific MySQL using target in mind when it was created, just like the nuclear bomb was created largely in response to World War II, and no matter how controversial, we still have those weapons and we still keep them available should they need to be used. Invoking nuclear weapons isn't even necessary -- guns, missiles, missile defense, any military tech has moral implications. Whether we should use any weapon or not is fine for debate, but I do see parallels -- you can't write off the people developing or using these weapons as "amoral", when, in fact, the vast majority of them are explicitly doing so for the defense of their country.
  These people need not be "amoral". They may be misguided, or have priorities not in line with the majority of the public (although even that is easily debated). I give these guys the benefit of the doubt most of the time, however; by and large they believe they are working for the right side.
21. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 03:26 · Score: 0
  
  Scumbags the lot of them, there is a very hot place waiting for them all.
  Oh good. Then we don't need to do anything about them now.
22. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 03:28 · Score: -1
  
  urine idjit
  please tell me your (sic) not in charge of any substantial portion of the inertnet tubes...
23. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 03:39 · Score: 0
  
  Not all perspectives/beliefs deserve respect. I'm really not interested in respecting any one or their beliefs when their holy book commands them to kill me for not sharing their beliefs. I assume that his American church is Christian, and their holy book instructs them to do many disturbing and horrible things. They deserve no respect from sane, moral people.
24. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 05:10 · Score: 0
  
  It's funny you say that, when I would love all religious nutters to live in the actual real world and not some fairytale world they read about in a book.
25. Re:I wonder by Zero__Kelvin · 2014-03-14 05:34 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  Don't be a douchebag. ooops. Too late:
  
  "Grow the fuck up and learn some respect for a different perspective / belief."
  This is Slashdot. If you want to have an imaginary friend go for it, but don't broadcast your special combination of insanity and stupidity to the majority of us who lack an imaginary friend. There are places where you can go talk about how your wonderful all knowing all loving imaginary friend will smite you if you don't bow to him and tell him how great he is on many, many websites where you will find your insane ramblings welcomed with open arms. That's fine with me. That's your right. Just stop that kind of ridiculous bullshit when you are here.
  
  --
  Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
26. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 06:01 · Score: 0
  
  Unfortunately a lot of people live in a fantasy world where they think things like fairies, angels, gods, pixies, unicorns and demons are real.
27. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 07:59 · Score: 0
  
  I live in a world that is created by my mind. you are all just figments of my imagination.
28. Re:I wonder by Koreantoast · 2014-03-14 08:54 · Score: 1
  
  That's a silly statement. They're government bureaucrats. At least in the United States, you never join the bureaucracy if your goal is to make money. Even contracting for the government, while better paying than direct government employment, still pales compared to more lucrative areas of the economy, especially for the skill sets we're talking about.
29. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 10:59 · Score: 0
  
  If you aren't a multi-millionaire, then by America's standards, you ARE poor. Sorry to break that to you. It's America's numbers, not mine.
  I sweep six figures under the rug at just one job, and make almost the same from side projects at half your age. I'm still considered poor by the people I work for, and they intend to keep it that way.
30. Re:I wonder by ComputersKai · 2014-03-14 13:41 · Score: 1
  
  But of course we can trust the NSA! The government even helped set the "standards" for encryption so kindly! Surely they wouldn't do anything like this, would they?
  And our wonderful friends in the government happen to be the same ones setting standards for encryption.
  
  And are most definitely protecting us with a program named after a disastrous defeat...
31. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 15:07 · Score: 0
  
  he
  they are paid really well. they are also very idealistic and belive that no one would use this information improperly. Or if they did use it improperty, they would only do so on the "bad guys" and they deserve it anyway. What was that Jefferson said about liberty and security?
32. Re:I wonder by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-15 08:13 · Score: 0
  
  all these software engineers that work for nsa/gov , do they have any fucking morals? do they really believe they are securing the world from the evil guys? are they kept at gunpoint? are they just plain stupid? Fail to realize that us, the makers , have all the power is the worst mistake. Plant secret backdoors, failure modes, weaknesses. Be in charge. You don't owe anything to these black suits. Wake fucking up.
  Good people doing interesting work. Vote or run for office. They are just people with families that go to work. chill
33. Re:I wonder by ObsessiveMathsFreak · 2014-03-21 03:56 · Score: 1
  
  Of course, you could also imagine a group of highly intelligent and capable programmers that grew up on legends of the Enigma, Bletchley Park, and Alan Turing... who live for reverse engineering code and breaking ciphers.
  I'm sorry, but your vision of men in pursuit of a grander calling falls rather flat in the face of their actual activities of trolling in irc chatrooms and obstudely recording every phone call made inside the entire United States.
  Your "Keen men" are boorish goons who would put Russian cyber-criminals to shame.
  
  --
  May the Maths Be with you!
Feed the beast by reovirus1 · 2014-03-13 14:26 · Score: 2

I wonder what this tool will think about my encrypted archive of the proceedings of Congress that I've renamed "The_anarchists_cookbook.zip".
1. Re:Feed the beast by Urza9814 · 2014-03-13 14:30 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  They'll probably just think you're another 13 year old kid about to get himself killed doing something incredibly stupid....
2. Re:Feed the beast by TiggertheMad · 2014-03-13 19:18 · Score: 1
  
  +1 snarky. Zing!
  
  --
  
  HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
3. Re:Feed the beast by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 07:17 · Score: 0
  
  I wonder what this tool will think about my encrypted archive of the proceedings of Congress that I've renamed "The_anarchists_cookbook.zip".
  We liked it!
  The NSA
it's all done. by turkeydance · 2014-03-13 14:27 · Score: 1

the Borg have won.
1. Re:it's all done. by epyT-R · 2014-03-13 14:33 · Score: 1
  
  Freedom is irrelevant. Self-determination is irrelevant. Existence as you know it is over. We will add your biological and technological labor to our own. Your liberty will adapt to service us... resistance is futile!
wishful thinking by Patent+Lover · 2014-03-13 14:27 · Score: 5, Insightful

Now if they would just use it to actually stop botnets.
1. Re:wishful thinking by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 15:00 · Score: 0
  
  Why would they do that? It doesn't give them power, increase their wealth, or get them off quite like infringing on our natural rights.
2. Re:wishful thinking by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 15:04 · Score: 0
  
  Your assuming they didnt start all the botnets.
3. Re:wishful thinking by Burz · 2014-03-13 17:34 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Clearly they have an interest (or conflict of interest) in letting botnets run amok, as it gives them a cover for their own illegal activities.
4. Re:wishful thinking by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 00:45 · Score: 0
  
  They ARE the Botnet, in total. packet based tools command and control remote /attack/ exploit / automation.
5. Re:wishful thinking by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 07:51 · Score: 0
  
  Exactly. And who's to say all botnets aren't the NSA. And all spam for that matter.
Spasibo! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 14:29 · Score: 0

Spasibo tovarishch Snowden!
I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 14:34 · Score: 5, Funny

I'm American and I fully support this. This is exactly what intelligence agencies are for. Nothing in any of these leaks in the linked article suggests these capabilities are being abused. I want my government to be able to pursue foreign intelligence targets with capabilities like these and--in a time where people complain relentlessly about government agencies being ineffective--I'm glad they are able to do this.
Posting anonymously because I've lost too much karma expressing a contrarian opinion on all these Snowden articles. Frankly, I'm more scared of moderators than our government...
1. Re:I fully support this by epyT-R · 2014-03-13 14:52 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You know, one of these days, you will be the one arrested and thrown in prison without due process for 'terroristic acts', or some other set of stacked charges that cannot be challenged in court because they're matters of 'national security'. It's people like you that allow wannabe tyrants to bypass civil liberties and seize power in the first place. It is a known fact that the feds are breaking the law to pursue their own political or financial agendas. While it is true that the NSA/CIA were chartered to monitor foreign governments, what they've been up to since then has obviously come up short of expectation. They need reigning in and refocusing. Heads need to roll.
  Governments are only ineffective at the things they promised but aren't in the best interests of the high level bureaucrats. Governments are scarily effective at doing whatever it is those in power really want to do. After all, all an employer can do is fire you, but a government can throw you in a box and toss the key.
  I fear the federal government more than some 13th century thugs from the middle east. Groupthink is the most powerful religion in existence. bin laden's goal was to get us to do his work for him, to destroy ourselves from within. So far, he's won every battle.
2. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 15:00 · Score: 0
  
  do you realize the world is eventually not against the mighty USA? do you realize every normal common citizen of another country would share it's food with you rather than stab you? do you realize that all the fear and hate and the terrorism BS is just purely a game of money and it has always been? 99.9% of the world population is held in check by few shit heads with too many money and fucked up ideas, we all know it. But it is time that we put our foot down and refuse to do tasks that are against the freedom and good of other humans being. With none to operate they zillions nsa infrastructures and develop code for them, they will eventually lose their power. It is time for a new Nation, a worldwide entity they does not believe in borders and pre-destination, we are born equals and we should aggregate by affinity, not geometry.
3. Re:I fully support this by cold+fjord · 2014-03-13 15:22 · Score: 1
  
  What are you going to do to help the Ukrainians keep the Russians out?
  What are you going to do to help the Philippines and Japan prevent China from seizing their islands?
  A single nation covering the world won't be free.
  
  --
  much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
4. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 15:36 · Score: -1
  
  You know, one of these days, you will be the one arrested and thrown in prison without due process for 'terroristic acts', or some other set of stacked charges that cannot be challenged in court because they're matters of 'national security'
  Boogie man argument eh? Oh no, they might come for me! This is nothing more than fear mongering.
  
  It's people like you that allow wannabe tyrants to bypass civil liberties and seize power in the first place
  Excluding the phone metadata issue, nothing in these leaks suggests that the NSA hacked or spied upon American Citizens.
  
  It is a known fact that the feds are breaking the law to pursue their own political or financial agendas.
  No. It is a known fact that the laws are being passed by Congress grant too much power--We need to keep on top of things like the FISA courts and there needs to be more oversight.
  
  While it is true that the NSA/CIA were chartered to monitor foreign governments, what they've been up to since then has obviously come up short of expectation.
  And that is what this entire article is about. The NSA's ability to spy on FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. Nothing in this suggests they use it on American Citizens.
  
  Groupthink is the most powerful religion in existence.
  Oh the irony of saying this on a website that is notorious for being full of GroupThink while also espousing a bunch of GroupThink yourself. The only place worse is the Reddit Hivemind.
  I'll give you a little something to think about.
  Edward Snowden was an intelligence asset, handled (without him directly knowing) by the Chinese equivalent of the CIA. After the United States exposed some of China's cyber warfare units (Mandiant's APT1 report) and used it for political grandstanding, China returned the favor by exposing the cyber warfare units of the US... that was the entire point of Edward Snowden's document trove.
  But keep on believing he was a hero and did it based on morals. So easily manipulated...
5. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:02 · Score: 0
  
  You filthy fucking shill.
6. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:05 · Score: 0
  
  the people are fomented by the services (cointelpro anyone?) to get hot headed and do stupid things. The vast majority of people don't give a fuck about a bloody flag, it's always been the top shitheads that got their ego too big and their pocket too large.... mr wong in china don't give a fuck about mr ming in japan, they would rather drink a beer together but when agent shithead tell him that mr ming secretly loathes him and steal their apples at night then suddenly everyone hates everyone... Fuck these warmongers.
7. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:09 · Score: 0
  
  Especially if that nation is the US
8. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:32 · Score: 0
  
  "Frankly, I'm more scared of moderators than our government..."
  Who says NSA agents don't have mod points? Pleasant dreams!
9. Re:I fully support this by cowwoc2001 · 2014-03-13 16:33 · Score: 0
  
  Slashdot users are waaaaaaaaaay too paranoid. The government doesn't care about going after Joe Nobody. Somewhere down the line you guys confused real tyrants with people who intercept your mail. No one cares what you had for lunch. Seriously.
  Please take a minute of your time to read about what *real* tyrants do to their people in the rest of the world and then come back to complain. All this crying about it being a slippery slope isn't making us any safer. It's just leading to a dysfunctional government that can't get anything done. You spend more energy keeping the government politically correct than efficient and in the end the very tyrants you aim to prevent will take over your country by pure economic force (think China).
  All I'm saying is... please keep things in perspective. You have legitimate points, but a government that is untrusted by its people (and by all accounts Americans don't trust any existing political party) cannot effect effective governance. In other words, you're asking your government to fail and then whining when they do. That's not very productive.
10. Re: I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:35 · Score: 0
  
  You almost got it right. Snowden is CIA, sent to take the NSA down a notch. Not as agent for the Chiners
11. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:41 · Score: 0
  
  Smile, because we're protecting you from terrorists.
  Seriously .. watch this parody [youtube.com]
12. Re:I fully support this by cold+fjord · 2014-03-13 16:55 · Score: 1
  
  The US has no interest in that. If you believe that you believe a silly political fantasy.
  
  --
  much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
13. Re:I fully support this by cold+fjord · 2014-03-13 17:06 · Score: 1
  
  A "one world government" isn't going to solve that. There are too many different ideas about the proper was to organize a society that are in conflict. There isn't really any way to peacefully accommodate those conflicting visions in a single country with a single vision.
  You also put too much stock in cointelpro. That was long ago, and had limited reach.
  As to Mr. Wong and Mr. Ming, there is a very good chance that even today Mr. Wong hates the idea of Mr. Ming due to traditional grievances between their peoples, especially over what happened in the 1930s and 1940s.
  There are too few honest and honorable "peace" activists. In 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait there were few if any protests in Europe. There were many protests when the US organized a coalition and sought UN assistance in removing Saddam from Kuwait. In the 1980s the "peace" movement in Europe danced to Moscow's tune.
  
  --
  much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
14. Re:I fully support this by Concerned+Onlooker · 2014-03-13 17:07 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  "All this crying about it being a slippery slope isn't making us any safer."
  I don't know anything about slippery slopes, but I do seem to recall a famous quote about something to do with eternal vigilance and freedom.
  
  --
  http://www.rootstrikers.org/
15. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 17:23 · Score: 0
  
  Smile, because we're protecting you from terrorists.
  Seriously .. watch this parody
16. Re:I fully support this by pitchpipe · 2014-03-13 17:24 · Score: 1
  
  Frankly, I'm more scared of moderators than our government...
  Well, from what I gather from the leaks, the moderators are from the government. Who to be scared of now?
  
  --
  Look where all this talking got us, baby.
17. Re:I fully support this by cowwoc2001 · 2014-03-13 18:13 · Score: 1
  
  "All this crying about it being a slippery slope isn't making us any safer."
  I don't know anything about slippery slopes, but I do seem to recall a famous quote about something to do with eternal vigilance and freedom.
  Yes, vigilance is important... but nothing is absolute. Good governance requires trust. The level of cynicism we've reached makes it absolutely impossible to run an efficient government. This remind me of someone who micromanages their employees: nothing gets done.
  We need to find a middle ground between vigilance and trust. Either extreme will kill this country.
18. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 18:45 · Score: 0
  
  I don't know anything about slippery slopes, but I do seem to recall a famous quote about something to do with eternal vigilance and freedom.
  Yeah, Wing Commander 4 was a great game.
19. Re:I fully support this by epyT-R · 2014-03-13 18:54 · Score: 1
  
  Of course not. Not yet. The cost of tracking joe nobody currently exceeds the extra value (whether financial or psychological) that can be extracted from him if he's monitored. Of course, it's not just whether he's monitored or not. It's his right to know whether he is, to know what's being said about him by various databases gatekeepers tap into when he applies for jobs, loans, licenses, or just about anything. When the cost drops to a point where it's possible, it will happen.
  Just because jack steals one stick of candy and points to joe who stole 6, doesn't mean we should ignore what jack is doing. It is likely he will emulate joe at some point in the future. Frankly, I don't care what other countries are doing. If their citizens want liberty, they need to stand up for it. Our failed attempts at 'nation building' over the last half century have proven that. I am comparing the USA of the past to the USA of now. The trend is getting worse and looks to get a lot worse. This obsession over 'safety' IS the problem. Talk about crying over spilled milk. We're told daily by the media of all these 'threats', and yet less than 1% of them materialize. I tire of this narrative. I see no threat that justifies the power grabs washington has engaged in over the last 20 years or so. If anyone is making fallacious slippery slope arguments, it's the politicians in DC.
  If there ARE threats out there that are subverting our society, then it's congress' duty to declare war on the countries harboring them. War, not useless perpetual 'police actions' that sound like something out of orwell's 1984 (we were always at war with al quada). Wars have a finite goal: hit the enemy until he is no longer a threat. We don't defend our way of life by supplicating and compromising with these people like our politicians do now.
  No. The government is already failing. We're starting to realize that throwing more money at it is just magnifying the scope of failure. In fact, it's time for daddy to take the credit card away from his16yo princess spendthrift daughter.
20. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 19:43 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  You may be right, but in my opinion what's wrong with extreme surveillance is that you can get flagged just for searching the internet for knowledge, or you avoid pursuing more knowledge in the fear of being flagged.
  An example: you often see in movies that some criminal builds a pipe bomb with instructions found on the web. I've always been curious of knowing if that's really possible, but I never searched that on the web. Notice, I didn't want to build one, just to know if the average crazy man could really do that and be a danger for others.
  Another example: whes studying nazism in history, or watching tv documetaries about that, I've always been curious about the book that Hitler wrote, just to know more about the state of mind that made such abomination possible. Again, never dared to search someting about it, not even on wikipedia.
  Now my country hasn't got something like NSA, but I think it's only a matter of time, but I challenge any USA citizens to search for such things on the web just for their personal knowledge, without being afraid.
21. Re:I fully support this by m.alessandrini · 2014-03-13 19:48 · Score: 1
  
  You may be right, but in my opinion what's wrong with extreme surveillance is that you can get flagged just for searching the internet for knowledge, or you avoid pursuing more knowledge in the fear of being flagged.
  An example: you often see in movies that some criminal builds a pipe bomb with instructions found on the web. I've always been curious of knowing if that's really possible, but I never searched that on the web. Notice, I didn't want to build one, just to know if the average crazy man could really do that and be a danger for others.
  Another example: whes studying nazism in history, or watching tv documetaries about that, I've always been curious about the book that Hitler wrote, just to know more about the state of mind that made such abomination possible. Again, never dared to search someting about it, not even on wikipedia.
  Now my country hasn't got something like NSA, but I think it's only a matter of time, but I challenge any USA citizens to search for such things on the web just for their personal knowledge, without being afraid.
  [Reposted because I mistakenly posted anonymously]
22. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 19:55 · Score: 0
  
  We're not in danger of hyper-vigilance, we currently have almost none. The Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee can't even express indignance effectively, let alone make change. Just look at the way the Brennan has responded to Feinstein, and the way that Clapper responded to Wyden. You can lie brazenly to those guys all they can do is balk. It sounds like the FISC is the same way. Because we have no vigilance, there's no trust.
23. Re:I fully support this by Jawnn · 2014-03-13 20:13 · Score: 1
  
  Frankly, I'm more scared of moderators than our government...
  You should be more afraid of your government. You should definitely be more afraid of your government than "teh terrorists". Your fear of "teh terrorists" has convinced you to allow your government to do far more harm to our country.
24. Re:I fully support this by Nephandus · 2014-03-13 20:18 · Score: 1
  
  The level of corruption we've reached makes it absolutely impossible to run a non-parasitic government. We need this country remade or destroyed already.
  
  --
  "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."
25. Re:I fully support this by aliquis · 2014-03-13 20:25 · Score: 1
  
  Frankly, I'm more scared of moderators than our government...
  Scared of the moderators?
  Hah! Look at this shit I'm posting here! Full user-name and all!
  ACs should be moderated -10 in their real accounts simply for being ACs ;D
  Also you shouldn't let irrelevant Internet scoring and populism affect what you say (Well, I guess posting AC is a way of not letting it.. But really. Just speak up. It should be your freaking right. People are different. People have different opinions. Accept it. Everyone doesn't have to be right. People doesn't even have to be consistent. You're free to change opinion whenever you want and feel or think different about something.
26. Re:I fully support this by pentabular · 2014-03-13 21:03 · Score: 1
  
  Plus eleven. "If you aren't doing anything wrong", and, quite importantly, when our Gov. doesn't appear to be doing anything wrong, then what's the problem? I'm betting my systems aren't infected with this stuff; In fact, rather disappointingly, if most of us got the chance to ask some spook in-the-know if we were a target of any suspicion, most likely the answer would be 'no, you're boring'.
27. Re:I fully support this by gIobaljustin · 2014-03-13 22:11 · Score: 1
  
  Excluding the phone metadata issue, nothing in these leaks suggests that the NSA hacked or spied upon American Citizens.
  Why would you exclude the "metadata issue" (Which, by the way, is just **data**.) and then claim that they're not spying? That is the spying.
  
  Oh the irony of saying this on a website that is notorious for being full of GroupThink while also espousing a bunch of GroupThink yourself.
  Being part of a website where certain people think there's groupthink doesn't mean you yourself engage in groupthink. You're an illogical moron.
  
  So easily manipulated...
  He's not the one who's easily manipulated, if you're going to believe random nonsense. I don't even know why people talk about Snowden at this point; the leaks are what's relevant.
  
  --
  Thank you Dave Raggett
28. Re:I fully support this by gIobaljustin · 2014-03-13 22:20 · Score: 1
  
  What's with all these garbage comments defending rights violations?
  
  The government doesn't care about going after Joe Nobody.
  Instead, they'll be able to harass anyone who does something they don't like. The goal is not and never has been to harass everyone.
  
  Please take a minute of your time to read about what *real* tyrants do to their people in the rest of the world and then come back to complain.
  "X is worse than Y, so Y isn't bad." isn't valid logic. Just because there could be worse tyrants doesn't mean that these people aren't tyrants.
  
  It's just leading to a dysfunctional government that can't get anything done.
  I'd much rather have *that* than a government that infringes upon our individual liberties and the constitution, like what's happening now. This is supposed to be the land of the free and the home of the brave, and free and brave people wouldn't sacrifice fundamental freedoms for safety or the ability of the government to get random things done.
  
  but a government that is untrusted by its people (and by all accounts Americans don't trust any existing political party) cannot effect effective governance.
  Hundreds of millions of people throughout history were abused or murdered by governments. In the US, we had/have slavery, Japanese internment camps, Jim Crow laws, free speech zones, the TSA, the NSA spying, stop-and-frisk, unfettered border searches, numerous unnecessary and unjust wars, and conscription. If you know even a bit about history, you know that trusting governments only leads to ruin. You must be cautious of everything they do and think about whether they really should have a certain power.
  
  --
  Thank you Dave Raggett
29. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 22:42 · Score: 0
  
  Excluding the phone metadata issue, nothing in these leaks suggests that the NSA hacked or spied upon American Citizens.
  Excluding that dead body lying over there, nothing in this room suggests that a crime occurred.
  Sometimes an example shines through that truly represents the reason mass ignorance feeds the NSA intelligence community rather well.
  Why do I feel that if the NSA walked into the room and shot the elephant themselves and left it to rot, people would still claim there's nothing to see (or smell) here...does the power of ignorance compel you that strongly to close your eyes, ears, and nose? Fucking seriously...
30. Re: I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 23:35 · Score: 0
  
  Then you are an idiot. Nobody accumulates that kind of power without it being abused, either by the creator or by someone who later gains control of it. There is a near 100 pct rate of this happening in human history. As a species we tend to be followers who support "strong leaders" with "vision" almost all of whom have led their societies to absolute ruin and who are the people who use tools of oppression shamelessly. Make no mistake. These are tools of oppression.
  Go ask yourself what for? Because people want to do us harm? Why is that exactly? Could it maybe have something to do with decades of supporting whatever government or rebel would do our bidding no matter what they did to the people around them maybe? To a drug war that criminalizes basic human desires and leads directly to the rise of thugs and gangs who wouldn't have much reason to exist in the forms they do otherwise? Our own actions, a huge amount of which the compliant corporate media does not report on, are the cause of a huge amount of anti American sentiment. Our country does things and supports people who most citizens would never approve of because most Americans are decent people (which is why the truth needs to be kept from them). Our government does not like people who actually want to change it peacefully either. See FBI infiltration of just about every dissenting political group they can. I suppose you support that too though.
  I've avoided invoking Hitler so I don't want to hear about 9/11 either. Actions like that are unjustified no matter what because they are indiscriminate (though our hands weren't squeaky clean in WWII either, at least there was some higher purpose in them). I will say this though: Hitler was possible because of two things. The first was that his country was extremely punished economically at the end of WWI and no dynamic intelligent people can put up with that for very long without going crazy. The second was large infusions of foreign cash for his political campaigns, a good amount of which came from good American corporate citizens who admired this whole fascism thing. That's just another bit of history we as a culture tend to sweep under the rug though.
31. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 00:04 · Score: 0
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hangman_(poem)
  Or just google it.
32. Re:I fully support this by PmanAce · 2014-03-14 00:15 · Score: 1
  
  Even if they use these weapons against your own citizens?
  
  --
  Tired of my customary (Score:1)
33. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 00:32 · Score: 0
  
  Maybe not the US, but some US-based corporations do. You people should stop thinking of countries fighting to be the most powerful. Governments have become the way for a certain group of people to excerpt pressure and gain profit over the majority of the population a long time ago. Corporations have no flag, they just go where they can buy the greater power to do what they please at the lowest cost. These days the US government and those three-letter-agencies are performing the dirty duties of those corporations. If tomorrow China sounds like a more profitable land, with easier to buy people in power positions, they would just switch there without any regret.
  Now they need wide social consensus in order to excerpt that power, and as Orwell depicted with great accuracy, the best way to do it is to declare a perpetual war against a diffuse enemy. An enemy which has no land or flag. An enemy they can allow to grow whenever they need it in order to justify greater power delagtion to them.
34. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 01:18 · Score: 0
  
  Fucking fascist.
35. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 01:43 · Score: 0
  
  I was actually angrily typing up a message that pretty much said this but you got there first..HEAR HEAR!
36. Re:I fully support this by Kogun · 2014-03-14 01:48 · Score: 2
  
  Your position is common but Machiavellian, and extraordinarily short-sighted.
  A primary underlying principal of our government, found throughout the Constitution, is that the processes of justice, law-making, and enforcement must be fair. This same principal does not guarantee fair outcomes. Checks and balances, search warrants, innocent until proven guilty, 5th amendment rights, equal protection clause, etc, are all part of processes designed to protect the innocent and ensure a fair process of enforcement and prosecution of the law. Those processes are full of checks and balances and redress, designed to prevent the exact kinds of abuses the NSA has secretly circumvented.
  You are endorsing illegal procedures for all in fear of a handful of terrorists. Anonymous Coward, indeed.
  When the government decides, as you have come out in favor, to put aside fair processes in favor of desirable outcomes, it replaces this core principal with "the ends justify the means". In such a Machiavellian guided government, *anything* can be justified. Like assassinating American citizens overseas with drones, spying on millions of Americans, suspension of habeas corpus, stop and frisk, etc.
  Your short-shortsightedness ignores the NSA's potential for abuse and the weakening of security for all. You presume the NSA is employing only trustworthy citizens that would not take advantage of their unique powers in order to aid and promote their political affiliations, or enrich themselves through surreptitiously gained information. Evidence already shows your assumption to be wrong, in contradiction to your assertion. If you do not pay attention to the news, perhaps you should research more before posting. But, assume for the moment that there has been no abuse. In your wonderful fantasy of government employees never abusing their powers, why should there be any checks and balances, search warrants, habeas corpus, trials by jury, etc? After all, these things are only necessary if we assume human weakness also affects government employees.
  Finally, your anonymous post suggests you may not be real, not interested in exploring the issue, but instead, may be a government astroturfer.
37. Re:I fully support this by AmiMoJo · 2014-03-14 01:56 · Score: 1
  
  Okay, just don't be surprised or upset when foreign governments do the same to you. If you want a cyber cold-war where pretty much anything goes just carry on as usual.
  
  --
  const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
  SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
38. Re:I fully support this by Kogun · 2014-03-14 02:43 · Score: 1
  
  ... but a government that is untrusted by its people (and by all accounts Americans don't trust any existing political party) cannot effect effective governance. In other words, you're asking your government to fail and then whining when they do. That's not very productive.
  You plea for trust demonstrates your complete lack of understanding about our government system, the purpose of checks and balances, the entire judicial process, the purpose of elections, sunshine laws, government oversight committees, the entire Bill of Rights. Get a fucking clue and quit this pathetic shilling.
  The US government is explicitly built on a foundation of distrust and for damn good reason.
39. Re:I fully support this by fonos · 2014-03-14 02:45 · Score: 1
  
  All I'm saying is... please keep things in perspective. You have legitimate points, but a government that is untrusted by its people (and by all accounts Americans don't trust any existing political party) cannot effect effective governance. In other words, you're asking your government to fail and then whining when they do. That's not very productive.
  No, we're asking our representatives to actually represent the people, instead of the special interest. We're also asking that the government follow the constitution and the law, and to stop the illegal programs that break those laws.
40. Re:I fully support this by cowwoc2001 · 2014-03-14 03:16 · Score: 1
  
  Of course not. Not yet. The cost of tracking joe nobody currently exceeds the extra value (whether financial or psychological) that can be extracted from him if he's monitored. Of course, it's not just whether he's monitored or not. It's his right to know whether he is, to know what's being said about him by various databases gatekeepers tap into when he applies for jobs, loans, licenses, or just about anything. When the cost drops to a point where it's possible, it will happen.
  Just because jack steals one stick of candy and points to joe who stole 6, doesn't mean we should ignore what jack is doing. It is likely he will emulate joe at some point in the future. Frankly, I don't care what other countries are doing. If their citizens want liberty, they need to stand up for it. Our failed attempts at 'nation building' over the last half century have proven that. I am comparing the USA of the past to the USA of now. The trend is getting worse and looks to get a lot worse. This obsession over 'safety' IS the problem. Talk about crying over spilled milk. We're told daily by the media of all these 'threats', and yet less than 1% of them materialize. I tire of this narrative. I see no threat that justifies the power grabs washington has engaged in over the last 20 years or so. If anyone is making fallacious slippery slope arguments, it's the politicians in DC.
  If there ARE threats out there that are subverting our society, then it's congress' duty to declare war on the countries harboring them. War, not useless perpetual 'police actions' that sound like something out of orwell's 1984 (we were always at war with al quada). Wars have a finite goal: hit the enemy until he is no longer a threat. We don't defend our way of life by supplicating and compromising with these people like our politicians do now.
  No. The government is already failing. We're starting to realize that throwing more money at it is just magnifying the scope of failure. In fact, it's time for daddy to take the credit card away from his16yo princess spendthrift daughter.
  Congress can't declare war because the American people have been brainwashed to believe that all wars are wrong. If WW2 were to happen tomorrow, we'd still sit on the sidelines as long as possible and you can be sure that the second we declare war there will be protests in the street.
  The country is polarized in every which direction. How can you expect the government to do anything when the people can't figure out what they want to do themselves?
41. Re:I fully support this by Kogun · 2014-03-14 03:34 · Score: 1
  
  So as long as it doesn't bother you, you think it is ok that the government abandons due process, checks and balances. Who the fuck are you?
  
  ... I'm betting my systems aren't infected with this stuff.
  Why should you believe your systems aren't infected? You must believe the NSA was savvy enough to employ agents undermine open source cryptography but too stupid to use agents or other means to undermine your malware/virus protection. But you aren't supposed to care, anyway, because you are a boring nobody. So why do you even comment? You have nothing insightful to add because you are nobody and are only thinking in terms of your own little world and the systems you use. This doesn't affect you, so shut the fuck up.
42. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 03:42 · Score: 0
  
  oh sweet jeebus, urine idjit ! ! !
  kongress doesn't 'declare war' because THE PEOPLE don't like war ? ? ?
  how FUCKING STUPID are you ? ? ? ...on MULTIPLE LEVELS ? ? ?
  1. IF we the fucking people (really) don't want wars, isn't it the job of OUR GOVERNMENT to NOT go to wars ?
  um, you do know the gummint is supposed to server OUR INTERESTS, NOT the other way around, richtig, sparky ?
  2. kongress doesn't 'declare war', because they are chickenshit hypocrites who avoid that tarbaby ENTIRELY by AVOIDING those decisions and letting the president essentially make the call entirely on his/her own (which is unconstitutional, but, you know, who cares about 'quaint' shit like that, especially you)...
  3. um, REGARDLESS of whether we THE PEOPLE do or don't want to go to this or that war, AREN'T WE IN A BUNCH RIGHT NOW ? ? ?
  if we THE PEOPLE don't want wars, what are we doing in a half dozen hot, simmering, cold and cyber wars ? ? ?
  your 'facts' fly in the face of reality...
  truly, urine idjit...
43. Re:I fully support this by 3.5+stripes · 2014-03-14 04:05 · Score: 1
  
  Most peace activists would have very little time to do anything but protest, if they actually protested every single war or military action. It usually requires a little selectivity, and often enough, points the finger at people and countries which claim to represent higher ideals, and above all the countries and societies they live in.
  
  --
  
  He tried to kill me with a forklift!
44. Re:I fully support this by ozzy85 · 2014-03-14 05:21 · Score: 1
  
  If you're American, then for the love of your country reread your constitution and ponder if we're as free as our forefathers hoped us to be.
45. Re:I fully support this by Zero__Kelvin · 2014-03-14 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  "If WW2 were to happen tomorrow, we'd still sit on the sidelines as long as possible and you can be sure that the second we declare war there will be protests in the street."
  You mean unlike WW1, where we .... wait for it ... sat on the sidelines as long as possible? I don't know about protests, because there was no internet ot TV (as it exists today), so there may well have been many, many small local protests.
  
  --
  Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
46. Re:I fully support this by cowwoc2001 · 2014-03-14 07:08 · Score: 1
  
  That didn't really work all that well in WW2, did it? :)
  Guess what? Not all wars are created equal. Some wars are good to get involved in, and others are bad.
47. Re:I fully support this by Zero__Kelvin · 2014-03-14 08:54 · Score: 1
  
  I'm sorry. I require that those with whom I might have a discussion like this have at least a modicum of reading comprehension ability coupled with at least semi-functioning logical facilities, but good luck finding someone who doesn't care about those things!
  
  --
  Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
48. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 23:13 · Score: 0
  
  You're assuming controlling the world is the same as owning it.
  The US of course doesnt want to own the world and give everyone the same rights they begrudging give their citizens, but you can be damn sure they are doing everything they can to control it and tell every other person, corporation and country what to do.
  To not realise this is to be naive in the extreme.
49. Re:I fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-15 02:06 · Score: 0
  
  LMAO: Like your "fine logic" here? http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
yep, sure by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 14:47 · Score: -1

We believe you. Gobble gobble gobble.
1. Re:yep, sure by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 14:57 · Score: 0
  
  bruk?
Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by Rich0 · 2014-03-13 14:51 · Score: 1

I don't know how much is known vs speculation here. If the NSA has some MySQL manipulation tools, it might not actually be intended for use on the actual internet. It is possible that they infiltrate networks and use these tools on the inside.
It came out that they're tapping dedicated lines, and those are often unencrypted. However, I'd expect most competent mysql use to stay confined to a LAN, even with encryption. Latency tends to cause problems if you separate the database from the application layer. But, I'm sure that not everybody the NSA targets is competent...
1. Re:Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by Gothmolly · 2014-03-13 15:25 · Score: 1
  
  Do you know how many cheapo hosting companies give you MySQL with your account?
  
  --
  I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
2. Re:Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by Deep+Esophagus · 2014-03-13 16:09 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I have to wonder, how many national-security-endangering secrets are terrorists storing in a MySQL database?
3. Re:Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by TheGratefulNet · 2014-03-13 16:30 · Score: 1
  
  I've been stopped a lot while trying to board planes and now I get it!
  yes, my name is john droptables. why do you ask?
  
  --
  
  --
  "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
4. Re:Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 18:35 · Score: 0
  
  The web presence for Secret Terrorist HQ is running WordPress and a pirated copy of vBulletin.
5. Re:Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by Lennie · 2014-03-13 19:46 · Score: 1
  
  Didn't you know terrorist use forums ?
  
  --
  New things are always on the horizon
6. Re:Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 23:07 · Score: 0
  
  > It is possible that they infiltrate networks and use these tools on the inside.
  For example, in shared datacentres where webservers and databases are on separate boxes and communicate over the datacentre network.
7. Re:Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by Rich0 · 2014-03-14 01:53 · Score: 1
  
  Do you know how many cheapo hosting companies give you MySQL with your account?
  Sure, but why would that traffic go over the internet? You would have your server-side application component talk to the database.
  But, I did say "competent." It would not surprise me if some people stick mysql credentials in their javascript code and just manipulate the database from the browser.
8. Re:Might not be intended for Internet MySQL by Rich0 · 2014-03-14 02:02 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, that was certainly what I was thinking of. This would be a very common scenario in a large datacenter, but the traffic would be fairly local. Due to latency any datacenter would aim to keep the databases in close proximity to the applications. Nobody would stick their webserver in California and their MySQL database in France. Now, database replication might present an opportunity to tamper with WAN MySQL traffic, but does anybody do anything other than one-way replication using something like MySQL. I'd think that if you were getting into those kinds of problems a different technology would be used.
3gp2orn by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 15:39 · Score: -1

3gp2orn
I also fully support this by mozumder · 2014-03-13 15:54 · Score: -1, Troll

You know, one of these days, you will be the one arrested and thrown in prison without due process for 'terroristic acts', or some other set of stacked charges that cannot be challenged in court because they're matters of 'national security'.
This only happens if you're an idiot, like the average libertarian that infests this site.
Smart socialists know how to always remain in power.
The worst people in the world are those that don't know how to socialize with other members of society, and socialization is formally structured in society through a government.
When you people state "I fear and mistrust government", what the rest of us hear is "I fear and mistrust other members of society".
So, when you hate the rest of society so much, why exactly should we allow you to live with us again? Because all we hear from you is "Me! Me! Me!"
Can you explain how you benefit us? Do you think you produce more tax revenue than we pay for you? Do you think the road we paved for you all the way out to your private secluded hideout so you can avoid the rest of society came for free?
Is that what you want us to hear from you libertarians? That you're a precious snowflake and that you don't want to do what government tells you to do, because you're a precious snowflake?
You will note that this anti-socializition is extremely common among those that society traditionally rejects, such as geeks and other assorted libertarians. Remember, groups are far stronger than individuals. We socialists recognized that long time ago, which is why we can get things that libertarians cannot, such as a publicly funded health-care system.
Meanwhile, we socialist statists will do fine without your support, since there are so few of you - you will notice that no one in the real world actually complains about the NSA spying, because most people are well socialized, unlike the geeks. In the real world, no one gives a shit about the kind of privacy you think is important. The only real privacy we believe in are physical privacy, not internet ones, since the internet doesn't represent real-world. (you were actually mistaken all along in your view that the internet mattered..)
But it is your job to decide if you wish to remain with us.
Eventually you will decide to lick government's boot, and you will learn that it is better for you that way.
1. Re:I also fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 17:16 · Score: 0, Interesting
  
  Or we see society as a bunch of untalented sharks circling around the few talented fish........
  Sucks being a talented fish.
  I can't drive the speed I want because of these small slow-brains tip-toeing around claiming that even their tip-toeing is too fast to be "safe".
  I can't openly do things that are now banned because small brains can't handle a vice without doing it every day ruining their lives.....
  I can't simply fix a small issue with my house because the small brains would cross wires and start fires.... Now I gotta pay for "inspections".
  In some states I can't even pump my own gas.....
  I'm tired of not being trusted to be smart enough to tie my own shoes..... surrounded by idiots who slow me down in every way, then complain if I find a way around their slowness.
  I'm supposed to just be thankful that I'm alive by their thinking..... not upset my extra IQ is wasted by their blackhole intelligence.
  If someone like me has something.... the others act like they need it too, even if I'm busting my ass in ways they aren't.
  According to them I'm just a stingy self-centered person.... In reality I have morals more advanced than theirs and they are OFFENDING ME at nearly every chance. THAT is why I dislike society.
  I tend to be on the giving side more than the receiving side. I didn't grow up in a fancy neighborhood, I didn't graduate high school, I got screwed by "society" at every turn yet still managed to earn $100K/year at 26 years old. And guess what..... society is PISSED about that.
  They are mostly mad that I skipped their hoops and used my natural intelligence to still achieve success. When you were doing homework I wasnt. When you were going to college I wasn't. Then you got your fancy degree with large amounts of debt.... I wasn't. Instead I dropped out and earned $60,000/year less than one year after dropping out. Then raises and raises left me breaching $100,000 at 26 years old. I come to work in jeans, I sleep in, I barely put in 6 hours of work.
  But I make $100K because I'm smarter than you..... not because I work harder. Hard work is for small brains..... people like you who can't fathom a guy with brains who expects to use them. So yeah I expect to use my body how I please. If I want to drive fast, MOVE. I build your society while watching you do almost nothing. It's my RIGHT to do as I please. Eventually you'll figure it out.
2. Re:I also fully support this by epyT-R · 2014-03-13 18:38 · Score: 2
  
  This only happens if you're an idiot, like the average libertarian that infests this site.
  No. it happens when the law primarily serves the interests of those in power (or their benefactors) instead of individual liberty.
  
  Smart socialists know how to always remain in power.
  quite true. The soviet union and north korea are great examples.
  
  The worst people in the world are those that don't know how to socialize with other members of society, and socialization is formally structured in society through a government.
  That depends on your definition of 'socialize'. The word's been defined and redefined so many times for so much self serving arrogance, I'm not sure it has a valid objective meaning anymore. These days it's newspeak that really means "compliant with the norms of the group", or "team player", someone who never rocks the boat, even when it's necessary to tell the uncomfortable truth and cause someone to have to save face.
  
  When you people state "I fear and mistrust government", what the rest of us hear is "I fear and mistrust other members of society".
  No. Government is its own entity, just like any other group of people. They form hierarchies within hierarchies, complete with their own groupthink and 'mission statements.' Really, they're just the adult versions of highschool cliques, except the stakes are much higher. They share all the same low level hazing, peer-pressure, and passive aggressive politics of their adolescent counterparts. Like students who are or are not a part of these cliques, the bureaucrats of government are a distinctly separate class from everyone else. After awhile, many of them truly believe that they are a cut above everyone else by default. This is a big part of what we're facing today.
  
  Can you explain how you benefit us? Do you think you produce more tax revenue than we pay for you? Do you think the road we paved for you all the way out to your private secluded hideout so you can avoid the rest of society came for free?
  Hey, I didn't ask for anyone to spend money on my behalf. You sound like that guy who washes my windshield at a stop light when it doesn't need washing, and then gets upset when I refuse to give him $5. What a citizen typically faces in socialist nations in final stages of collapse goes like this: How do you benefit 'us', citizen? I'm sure it's insufficient compared to what The People have done for you. Report to reeducation camp #119 for 'processing'! I don't think it's that bad yet, but obviously, you are already there. Now that is sad.
  Publicly funded roads are a far cry from overt surveillance and psychological manipulation (ie terrorist fear mongering) which are the precursors to extremely large powergrabs. Oh, and I never said I disagreed with public roads. You need to put down the NYT liberal talking points guide.
  
  Is that what you want us to hear from you libertarians? That you're a precious snowflake and that you don't want to do what government tells you to do, because you're a precious snowflake?
  No. The precious snowflakes are the ones who think they're owed something from taxpayers because they believe their race, gender, orientation, or some other arbitrary difference, makes them think they are perpetual victims of some paranoid conspiracy they probably picked up from public schooling or the media. The sad part is, many of them probably are victims of this brainwashing. They do make reliable voters, don't they? Gotta love identity politics. If you knew anything about them, you'd know libertarians believe in rule of law, not in identity politics. That means everyone is equal before it; no favoritism. However, they also believe that the laws that are on the books should be rational instead of based on heat of the moment politicking. They understand that when humans are packed into groups, they're pr
3. Re:I also fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 01:26 · Score: 0
  
  if that was a troll, I give you troll of the day, that was great
  
  If you honestly believe what you just said though, that is the scariest thing I have ever heard
4. Re:I also fully support this by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 07:41 · Score: 0
  
  The part where you said "MOVE" thats where you are wrong. Up to that point i was with you. After you said "MOVE" I began to recontextualize your rant. I could be wrong but now suspect that you are a sociopath. Perhaps those laws were meant for you after all. Come to think of it what is this occupation that is so very 'smart and easy for someone of your intellect' Is it in any way parasitical?
There's nothing these people leave alone. by pcwhalen · 2014-03-13 16:00 · Score: 2

If you have been on your computer, cell phone or car with EZpass or OnStar: they know a lot about you. Even if you have 7 degrees of separation from the bad guys.
You have to applaud the thoroughness. Misguided patriots, the lot.

--
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain with all your metadata.
In Soviet Amerika by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:03 · Score: 0

In Soviet Amerika, QUANTUM looks closely at YOU!
I dont care. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 16:25 · Score: 0

Stop spying on yourself dumbfucks.
Is that so hard?
It is the private sector by dbIII · 2014-03-13 16:41 · Score: 4, Insightful

Recent revelations about spying on an Indonesian clove cigarette company for the benefit of US "customers" is one example.
So that's for the private sector. How the customers in the private sector commission the work and pay for it would make an interesting story. Perhaps they pay via political campaign finance? Let's open that can of worms.
Strange bedfellows by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 17:07 · Score: 0

I'm starting to get the feeling the NSA is actually a criminal enterprise. I mean, take away who's paying the bills, and the description becomes that of a rather nefarious enterprise.
Let the personal Internet information scrub begin!
Nice by MobSwatter · 2014-03-13 17:19 · Score: 1

10 BILLION DOLLAR BUDGET, and they have a bag of Tommy 10 year old script kiddy tools to show for it...
Why not do something constructive? by edibobb · 2014-03-13 17:20 · Score: 1

If the NSA can bring down botnets, why don't they? Are spammers making political contributions?
1. Re:Why not do something constructive? by Burz · 2014-03-13 17:44 · Score: 1
  
  If the NSA can bring down botnets, why don't they? Are spammers making political contributions?
  They are the best and brightest of an unaccountable corporate-run state. In their minds, they are already doing something constructive just by showing up at work and feeling insecure and nosy.
  Of course, letting garden-variety criminals front for you engenders a motive for letting those criminals off the hook.
2. Re:Why not do something constructive? by AHuxley · 2014-03-13 18:50 · Score: 1
  
  Its one global network and the same staff on two very different missions. One to use the botnets to reach out and own computers with and one to protect from often the same botnets.
  The US faced the questions in the 1930's with the Army and Navy working on codes (mostly from Japan) - on the same codes with very few US experts ie duplication..
  If the using of the botnets is given to another agency via CIA ....
  If protecting from the botnets is given to another agency via FBI ....
  The other aspect is knowing whats been used in real time and should be left alone as a honeytrap, junk crypto or other operation vs been shown to the press as been shut down or application bugs fixed
  The power to vote/suggest/start offensive cyber operations globally is also very much in play vs just been asked for tech help.
  Now mix in contractors and politics too :)
  
  --
  Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
3. Re:Why not do something constructive? by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 00:47 · Score: 0
  
  It is indeed a shame that all this power hasn't been used for any sort of good. It's easy to see why, but that's as much the problem as this capability existing in a government agency in the first place.
  What we need now is a nice code leak from the NSA and then we can get patching all the holes this stuff uses ;-)
boiled frogs, would be my guess as a security prof by raymorris · 2014-03-13 18:21 · Score: 3, Insightful

My guess, as a security professional who could have been recruited for a three-letter agency, is that many of them are boiled frogs. There are technical challenges that smart geeks love, plus the whole hacker mystique, but you don't want to be criminal, so you go white-hat, hacking bin Ladin. That adds the whole "international spy" thing into it and maybe you help catch some really bad guys. That would be awesome, spying on al Qaeda. Hmm, if you expanded that technique you could catch a lot of bad guys. So you expand it to log calls to and from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. After a few years, you end up in a place you never would have knowingly sought to go.
compartmentalization (psychology) by globaljustin · 2014-03-13 18:55 · Score: 1

nsa/gov , do they have any fucking morals? do they really believe they are securing the world from the evil guys?
idk about morals (I dont want to define or discuss defining it b/c it brings out trolls something fierce)

do they really believe they are securing the world from the evil guys?
They feel like cogs. From my short time as a DC congressional staffer & people I know in those fields, they feel like a **cog in a big machine** Their job is so abstracted that they dont really know the context of the work **or** they are doing the front line work & never see any analysis just an action order.
the intelligence community has been practicing "compartmentalization" in administering worker tasks since the Manhattan Project in the late 40s at least
one hand doesn't know what the other is doing **by design** across the whole org
it's interesting to note the paralells between:
Compartmentalization (information security): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

The basis for compartmentalization was the idea that, if fewer people know the details of a mission or task, the risk or likelihood that such information could be compromised or fall into the hands of the opposition is decreased....(and later, re: Manhattan Project "Most did not know what, exactly, they were doing. Those that did know, did not know why they were doing it. Parts of the weapon were separately designed by teams who did not know how the parts interacted."
Compartmentalization (psychology): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

an unconscious psychological defense mechanism used to avoid cognitive dissonance, or the mental discomfort and anxiety caused by a person's having conflicting values, cognitions, emotions, beliefs, etc. within themselves.
Compartmentalization allows these conflicting ideas to co-exist by inhibiting direct or explicit acknowledgement and interaction between separate compartmentalized self states.
Compartmentalization in orgs **can** increase security, but it **also** can be used by bad actors to **cover up bad actions**
Compartmentalization, from a cybernetic perspective, is viewed as a feedback management technique.
In any system, be it one human mind or an organization of thousands of them over decades...compartmentaliztion can be used to hide all manner of immorality

--
Thank you Dave Raggett
Story writer didn't read own story. by BitterOak · 2014-03-13 18:57 · Score: 4, Insightful

But it also includes gadgets like a plug-in to inject into MySQL connections, allowing the NSA to quietly mess with the contents of a third-party's database. (This also surprisingly suggests that unencrypted MySQL on the internet is common enough to attract NSA attention.)

When the author wrote that part of the story, he or she seemed to be unaware of what he or she had just written:

allowing bogus certificates and similar routines to break SSL
By breaking SSL, the NSA has access to SQL queries whether or not they're encrypted.

--
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
1. Re:Story writer didn't read own story. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 23:41 · Score: 0
  
  Not really, it's just that the situation is worse than you may think.
  Some developers form the SQL command in javascript and send those over a post request for the server to deal with.
2. Re:Story writer didn't read own story. by akozakie · 2014-03-13 23:55 · Score: 1
  
  Besides, why "on the Internet"? The assumption here is that it's somehow hard for the NSA to infiltrate an intranet - hard to believe given the wide choice of tools they have. And unencrypted MySQL on the intranet is common.
3. Re:Story writer didn't read own story. by IamTheRealMike · 2014-03-14 04:18 · Score: 1
  
  No, I think you didn't parse the story carefully enough. If you look, it's saying that MITM attacks are the kind of thing that COULD be used to break SSL, if you had bogus certificates. It does not say that there's any evidence of this actually happening on a large scale, and indeed one of the surprising things about the Snowden leaks so far is that there isn't much (any?) evidence of SSL sabotage, even though it obviously must be one of their highest priority targets. The MITM attacks that NSA/GCHQ have been doing have all been reported as being against sites that, at the time the attacks took place, were not doing SSL.
  Regardless, if all you want to do is inject an exploit into a browser you don't need to beat SSL. It's not widespread enough so eventually someone will browse to a non-SSLd website (like slashdot) and get pwnd. At that point you can read all traffic before it gets encrypted.
4. Re:Story writer didn't read own story. by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 08:06 · Score: 0
  
  Seen some neat things with cert patrol addon and ssl forcing addon with google searches. I think its near realtime with keyword triggers.
Hypocrite by TiggertheMad · 2014-03-13 19:15 · Score: 4, Funny

Grow the fuck up and learn some respect for a different perspective / belief.
I believe that god is seventeen giant, 65 foot long orange lizards, all who are named 'Ralph'. They have mile long, glittering prehensile cocks that drag behind them. Ralph^17 will sail invisibly across the sky once per hour, where all humans on the planet must turn to the South, and bow while chanting, 'Rubber Button' for one minute in order to avoid Ralph's divine and righteous wrath. His son is a stop sign three miles south of Yuma, and all who are able must journey to see him once in their life, lest they be dammed to spend Christmas vacation in New Jersey for all eternity. I demand the same respect that these goofy christian mono-godders get, up to and including wording on American money acknowledging Ralph^17's almighty farts. BOW, HEATHENS!

I mock you sir, for failing to respect that some people's perspective and beliefs are that 'invisible shit isn't real, and that you should call out the Emperor as naked when he is'.

--

HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
1. Re:Hypocrite by The+Grim+Reefer · 2014-03-14 00:42 · Score: 1
  
  Grow the fuck up and learn some respect for a different perspective / belief.
  I believe that god is seventeen giant, 65 foot long orange lizards, all who are named 'Ralph'. They have mile long, glittering prehensile cocks that drag behind them. Ralph^17 will sail invisibly across the sky once per hour, where all humans on the planet must turn to the South, and bow while chanting, 'Rubber Button' for one minute in order to avoid Ralph's divine and righteous wrath. His son is a stop sign three miles south of Yuma, and all who are able must journey to see him once in their life, lest they be dammed to spend Christmas vacation in New Jersey for all eternity. I demand the same respect that these goofy christian mono-godders get, up to and including wording on American money acknowledging Ralph^17's almighty farts. BOW, HEATHENS! I mock you sir, for failing to respect that some people's perspective and beliefs are that 'invisible shit isn't real, and that you should call out the Emperor as naked when he is'.
  I find your idea intriguing and wold like to subscribe to your news letter.
  plus the thought of spending eternity in New Jersey scares the bejeba... Sorry I meant stop sign out of me.
  All hail Ralph.
2. Re:Hypocrite by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 02:42 · Score: 0
  
  I believe that god is seventeen giant, 65 foot long orange lizards, all who are named 'Ralph'. They have mile long, glittering prehensile cocks that drag behind them. Ralph^17 will sail invisibly across the sky once per hour, where all humans on the planet must turn to the South, and bow while chanting, 'Rubber Button' for one minute in order to avoid Ralph's divine and righteous wrath. His son is a stop sign three miles south of Yuma, and all who are able must journey to see him once in their life, lest they be dammed to spend Christmas vacation in New Jersey for all eternity. I demand the same respect that these goofy christian mono-godders get, up to and including wording on American money acknowledging Ralph^17's almighty farts. BOW, HEATHENS!
  I, for one, welcome our well hung, gassy, glittering overlords.
3. Re:Hypocrite by hax4bux · 2014-03-14 09:14 · Score: 1
  
  Is there a newslettter or blog?
Bruce Schneier's Blog has a lot of info lately.... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 20:20 · Score: 0

on these goings on, including some exceptional conversations.
https://www.schneier.com/
also, search his blog entries here:
https://www.archive.is/
fantastic free page archival service.
Fu3k! by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 20:48 · Score: -1

can no longer be WASTE OF BITS AND again. There are Community at and has instead hot on the heels of officers. Others direct orders, or Goals I personally flaws in the BSD All major surveys Turned over to yet FreeBSD at about 80 win out; either the superior to slow, kill myself like BitTorrent) SecoYnd, = 1400 NetBSD ops or any of the ASSOCIATION OF been looking for! and Michael Smith and, after initial Just yet, but I'm not going home stagnant. As Linux the project to there are some 1. Therefore there Be a cock-sucking The Cathedral dying. See? It's
' Nothing in any of these leaks in the linked arti by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 23:21 · Score: 0

I guess you missed the part where they admitted they have some 5 cases a year of "agents" using these systems to check up on their girlfreinds or other aquaitances.
Re:boiled frogs, would be my guess as a security p by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-13 23:51 · Score: 0

They are just fascist pigs. Their time will come.
You're outraged. Now what? by i_want_you_to_throw_ · 2014-03-14 00:07 · Score: 2

What I have noticed is that there is a story in the media every damn day about the over reach of NSA and arghh..people are outraged. Oh it's horrible, etc etc. Amazingly enough, no one seems to want to do anything about it. Where are those stories? Where is the demand for congressional oversight? We get the NSA we deserve because we the people are doing nothing to reign them in.
1. Re:You're outraged. Now what? by VortexCortex · 2014-03-14 01:19 · Score: 1
  
  We get the NSA we deserve because we the people are doing nothing to reign them in.
  Fool. We have never had the NSA we deserve. Secret agencies are now and have always been anti-activist. There is nothing we can do about them legally, we are their enemy. They will not bow to the demands of the enemy. I speak of activism because voting is meaningless. If you think otherwise then you're under the flawed assumption that our government's voting system isn't compromised, that or you wrongly believe it hasn't been blatantly rigged all along.
  How dare you accuse the powerless of deserving their despotism. It's thinking like yours that allows it to perpetuate.
2. Re:You're outraged. Now what? by Kogun · 2014-03-14 01:58 · Score: 1
  
  Do you know why there is news every day? Because the quantity of information leaked by Snowden is overwhelming. Furthermore, the scope of the violations is beyond all measure. We would do less, and care less if all this were released at once.
  The information is dribbled out, little by little, because we Americans have a short attention span and if it were all released at once, we'd be interested only until the next celebrity break-up, or Superbowl, or Oscar night, or terrorist bombing, or jet-liner gone missing.
  The slow leaks also provides ropes for which government employees and politicians to hang themselves. There is still uncertainty about what information Snowden took, and government denials will continue to pour out, only to be revealed as lies as Snowden's information comes to light. We should be thankful for the wisdom in the dribbles.
I don't USE DNS & circumvent this crap by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 00:31 · Score: 0

How? Well - you know (hosts with hardcoded IP addresses of my fav. sites I spend 95% of my time online @) & then OpenDNS servers (for the RARE times I do use DNS)...
How to build such a custom hosts file as easily as possible, for better:
SPEED (blocking adbanners, "good" or bad/infected + hardcoding my fav. sites @ the top of hosts to offset loss of indexing speed due to the FAULTY with larger hosts files usermode local dns clientside cache service, opting instead to use the FASTER kernelmode diskcaching subsystem + TCP/IP kernelmode PnP subsystems instead in combination)
SECURITY (vs. redirection OR "downed" DNS servers & vs. bogus roque ones malware makers/botnet herders use)
RELIABLITY (vs. redirects serverside like "beta" here which I NEVER SEE, no cookies required either)
ANONYMITY (vs. DNS request logs or to blow by DNSBLs)
?
This (courtesy of "yours truly"):
APK Hosts File Engine 9.;0++ -> http://start64.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5851:apk-hosts-file-engine-64bit-version&catid=26:64bit-security-software&Itemid=74
* That's how, & it works vs. a LOT of this lunacy they're doing...
APK
P.S.=> On a "side note": The boys need to read a bit of Nietsche, specifically his quote of "When one fights monsters, one must take GREAT CARE, not to become a monster"... seriously:
It's VERY depressing, & full of room for abuse (which HAS already happened many times admittedly from them by their OWN FOLKS misusing it & will, with certainty, again... it's human nature, the BAD SIDE of it, & "absolute power, corrupting absolutely")... makes me depressed & it's making me lose faith in our leaders actually!
... apk
Mod Parent +Informative by handy_vandal · 2014-03-14 02:35 · Score: 1

Well said. I would mod you up if I had mod points.

--
-kgj
wait till the public realizes... by strstr · 2014-03-14 05:15 · Score: 0

That the NSA also has mind reading and mind altering radar that can hack the mind, which has no firewall, equally as efficiently as any computer system.
And they're using it today to fuck with society and to warrantlessly spy on and sabotage people.
First, read this article by Lieutenant Colonel Timothy L. Thomas, which basically examples all this in 1997. http://strategicstudiesinstitu...
Then read the original article about NSA Remote Neural Monitoring and Electronic Brain Link, published in Nexus Magazine in 1996 by John St Clair Akwei: http://www.oregonstatehospital...
Then realize that you're all mindless fucks living in the USA government Matrix system, under the full control of the Department of Defense.
NSA Whistleblower Thomas Drake even says that the USA constitution was revoked in 2001, and today we're operating under marshals law. Literally, and these guys have implemented a fake system to make the public believe they still have rights when in fact the government cannot be properly challenged because they're in complete and total control: http://www.ora.tv/offthegrid/n...
More details on the thousands of victims who've been attacked by this mind hacking tool on http://www.obamasweapon.com/ originally deployed in all radar systems in 1976, called TAMI or Thought Amplifier and Mind Interface. Allows full remote control and reading of all human thoughts and functions. Psychic attacks, paranormal and psychosis simulations, all being used today.
1. Re:wait till the public realizes... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 15:56 · Score: 0
  
  Of course the mind has a firewall, that's why we can instantly tell you're full of shit.
2. Re:wait till the public realizes... by strstr · 2014-03-15 02:25 · Score: 1
  
  Then again you didn't even read the 1974 patent by Robert Malech that makes it all possible, built into all NSA and DOD radar and satellite systems since 1976.
  Patents and Dr. Robert Duncan's whistleblowing disclosures are all over the obamasweapon.com site. He worked for the DOD, CIA, US DOJ: http://www.oregonstatehospital...
  You had the opportunity to read all this so I guess you're clueless troll shit.
3. Re:wait till the public realizes... by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-15 16:12 · Score: 0
  
  I can't click those links either, my brains antivirus won't allow me to click obvious bullshit.
Multiple Possible Reasons by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 05:27 · Score: 1

In no particular order:
1. Cognitive Dissonance: throw enough money/benefits at someone, and even otherwise tightly-held morals can become fluid.
2. Sociopaths: they'll do stuff simply because they can (and want to), despite the harm it could create for others.
3. Challenge: some will do things because they enjoy the challenge of seeing if it can be done, as well as the "empowerment" they feel it gives them. Note that this can be mixed in with either of the 2 points above.
4. Ignorance: for whatever reason, the people in question have no real understanding of the broader harm their actions may cause (probably a least-case scenario, since it would probably require someone who is very socially stunted, like some kind of autism and what-have-you, while still being very capable technically).
5. Coercion: out-and-out threat of bodily harm to self or loved ones, etc, if refuse to perform. Bears some similarities to #1 above, but obviously is based self-preservation/care-for-others rather than greed.
6. Apathy: they really just don't care, for whatever reason.
7. Misplaced Loyalty: failure to question the motivations and/or repercussions of orders given to them by higher-ups because questioning orders equals disloyalty.
I'm sure there may be more...
Re:boiled frogs, would be my guess as a security p by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-14 05:36 · Score: 1

I wanted to work for one, but had too much black hat in a way that freaked out the moralists over absolutely innapropriate things. Not things like loyalty, or unauthorized access, or openly gay... but "wow, that's equivalent to stealing millions of dollars..." over a bit of high end software cracking.
As someone who knows and has done other defense and weapons work... let me put it very very clearly:
Some of us believe there are "bad guys", and while the US is not "the good guys" -- we're better than the others out there. Not morally better. Better positioned to accomplish things that need to be done.
I wanted to work NSA instead of FBI because the NSA's signals intelligence was supposedly exclusively foreign. I wanted to work the NSA over CIA -- because the NSA's mission scope includes comsec -- which should be improving things. And because the CIA ... well... they start wars and render people.
By contrast, non-cloak-and-dagger intelligence...does not bother me in the slightest. I expect routine espionage.
I don't mind making weapons platforms for our soldiers. Yes, some of them are child raping, family slaughtering motherfuckers that should be tried, taken out behind a shed, and then summarily executed by firing squad. But most of them aren't. And they need good tools.
These weapons and platforms, in the hands of the right people... are not a bad thing.
Like any and all tools, they are potentially dangerous. Like all tools that fall into the class known as "weapons", they are designed and intended to be dangerous to life and property even (and especially) when functioning correctly.
They are definitely dangerous in the wrong hands. But that is why I want my friends and allies armed with them first.
It isn't scope creep -- it's scope designation. Some of us don't mind that type of work as long as the barrel isn't pointed at our own countrymen.
Yes, what goes around comes around. I do not have the skillset, but I think I would have severe reservations about nuclears or biologicals. But basic tools for soldiers? That's how we help our country.
And the NSA...having taken those network tools, and pointed them inward and domestically... should be tried, convicted, and summarily executed -- just like any soldier that followed an unlawful order to point his rifle at not just civilians... but...his own citizens.
I don't think I'm better than a canadian, a brit, or an Iraqi, christian, muslim, jew... whatever.
I just understand which side I'm on when the thin line is drawn in the sand. The loyalty is national and to national interests -- and supporting platforms and intelligence systems that do not harm my nation is a good way to serve.
Now...about you assholes that turned those tools inward... it's time for a trip to the gallows...
Worth it to the NSA by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-15 13:14 · Score: 0

The goal is that everything will be surveilled, not just popular stuff.
pl0x by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-18 03:54 · Score: 0

exploit j00syt scrupty kiddeh
Hints by Anonymous Coward · 2014-03-18 08:48 · Score: 0

This may help giving them headaches: 1) Use mysql SSL with your own CA Certificate and Client Certificate signed by your CA. 2) When browsing or IRCing, use OpenSSH proxy with SSH certificates. 3) Use your own DNS resolver. There is no need in using public or ISP DNS resolvers. 4) Stop using close source OS.