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Treasure Map: NSA, GCHQ Work On Real-Time "Google Earth" Internet Observation
wabrandsma) writes with the latest accusations about NSA spying activity in Germany.
According to top-secret documents from the NSA and the British agency GCHQ, the intelligence agencies are seeking to map the entire Internet.
Furthermore, every single end device that is connected to the Internet somewhere in the world — every smartphone, tablet and computer — is to be made visible. Such a map doesn't just reveal one treasure. There are millions of them. The breathtaking mission is described in a Treasure Map presentation from the documents of the former intelligence service employee Edward Snowden which SPIEGEL has seen. It instructs analysts to "map the entire Internet — Any device, anywhere, all the time." Treasure Map allows for the creation of an "interactive map of the global Internet" in "near real-time," the document notes. Employees of the so-called "FiveEyes" intelligence agencies from Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which cooperate closely with the American agency NSA, can install and use the program on their own computers. One can imagine it as a kind of Google Earth for global data traffic, a bird's eye view of the planet's digital arteries.
Furthermore, every single end device that is connected to the Internet somewhere in the world — every smartphone, tablet and computer — is to be made visible. Such a map doesn't just reveal one treasure. There are millions of them. The breathtaking mission is described in a Treasure Map presentation from the documents of the former intelligence service employee Edward Snowden which SPIEGEL has seen. It instructs analysts to "map the entire Internet — Any device, anywhere, all the time." Treasure Map allows for the creation of an "interactive map of the global Internet" in "near real-time," the document notes. Employees of the so-called "FiveEyes" intelligence agencies from Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which cooperate closely with the American agency NSA, can install and use the program on their own computers. One can imagine it as a kind of Google Earth for global data traffic, a bird's eye view of the planet's digital arteries.
The last 4 or 5 major disclosures from Snowden documents have gone unreported in the mainstream US press. Sure, you can find them on some more off the path sites, but the mainstream press has moved on. It's not as important as (from current CNN site): "Is this a spaceship or super mall?", or "5 ways to think yourself well!"
As far as the vast, vast majority of the public is concerned, it's over. Forgotten. Our cultural attention span was exhausted, and nothing happened. The chance of serious change now - like disbanding the organization and arresting those responsible for widespread constitutional violations - is now zero.
And they know it.
Looking at where all data enters and exits the internet (www or the World Wide Wiretap) :)
Wifi, VPN, implanted OS or hardware devices, pubic, private, down to MAC address as expected.
Sorting by Infected hosts or Tor router?
All part of collect it all
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Probably using something like supercookies.
Have gnu, will travel.
First, your MAC address is not transmitted past the first hop in the network so it never gets anywhere to be of any use to anyone.
Second, what is APK? Using abbreviations is great except when it is one you dreamed up yourself and no one else knows WTF you are talking about.
MAC address doesn't go onto the network, period. It's too bad a HOSTS file can't stop Flash, and Browser Helper Objects, and Persistent Cookies.
I don't see any freedoms being preserved here.
Sure, there are lots of nasty people like pedos online. And I support law enforcement in their reasonable efforts to remove them. But aside from soothing my conscience, whether some people are downloading kiddie porn or not doesn't affect me.
Have gnu, will travel.
Too Much Information (TMI) can be as big a problem as too little information.
With all that information, you can get a false sense of security that you know enough and get bitten.
With all that information, you tend to focus on what you see and not what you don't - you develop tunnel vision.
With all that information, resources that could have been devoted elsewhere are taken up sorting out the trash and the false positives.
Blank spots stay blank. Example - Android phones have had NFC since Gingerbread, so if two operatives want to exchange data (photos of a target, NSA documents, etc), they can do it in person just by using Android Beam or Bump-to-Exchange, without saying a word to each other, just standing in line to pay for a newspaper.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
APK is a renowned Internet kook, hostfile whackjob, fucktard and pedofile. His specialty is threadjacking and sockpuppeting to talk about his malware-infested crapware and various conspiracies. No-one EVER knows WTF he's talking about. The current question of how MAC adresses would get into TCP/IP frames is also a fine example that HE doesn't know what he's talking about, either.
He will respond to this and any following posts with "learn to read", "you're projecting", "I'm not APK, but he's my hero", re-post the same reply 7 times, etc., etc., etc. until the time_t's wrap around or he has the last post in every sub-thread.
Hey Kowalski, I thought I told you to fuck off and not come back!
Holographic surveillance w/ satellites and radar being going on for some time. w/ full city, home, body, brain, object scans, so nothing is secret or hideable.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=5859609.PN.&OS=PN/5859609&RS=PN/5859609
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F5455590
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F5557283
then they map out our brains and thoughts using these patents & technologies, from 1974 on ward, doing the it from the same multi-functional satellites and radar from ground, sea, and space based interferometers. http://www.oregonstatehospital.net/d/russelltice-nsarnmebl.html#patents..
http://www.obamasweapon.com/
. . .stay for the Bond Villain who, knowing what he's up against, reads "Dorsai!" and comes with a completely off the grid attack.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Ok say they get into every ISP's network...
how are they going to monitor every device? pings? imagine the traffic overhead for that?
will the NSA have to pay to be in the "fast-lane"?
what about Dynamic IP's ? how often will they monitor those changes?
It's not a typo if you understood the meaning!
That's how it begins...
Second, what is APK? Using abbreviations is great except when it is one you dreamed up yourself and no one else knows WTF you are talking about.
Otherwise known as "The HOSTS file troll." (Google for "hosts file troll apk") Stuck in the '90s, attacks anyone who makes fun of his "solution" by using multiple anonymous accounts. Real name Alexander Kowalski. Demonstrates traits of narcissism, transphobia, etc. Post something negative about his obsolete "HOSTS file solution" and watch the resulting crap-flood.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Thanks for enlightening me. I thought from the post that APK was something meaningful.
Sorry, but the post you're responding to isn't mine. Paranoid much? But thanks for reminding me that you also have something against people who are handicapped. Real quality act you got going there, Kowalski.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
With NATs, MAC randomization, WiFi hotspots, user agent spoofing, VPNs, TOR, it seems difficult if not impossible to fingerprint the devices that belong to those who strive to remain hidden.
Twinstiq, game news
It's a quote any 'terrorist' could make. It's a quote that would make out anyone who made it a 'terrorist'. Could you be?
Good to know at least one federal agency seems to know what it means to execute their mandate.
While I am sure this is a project that will earn millions of dollars for some companies and promotions for individuals, I am not sure how successful you can be at mapping everything. I would imagine more than half of the Internet is hidden behind various NAT boxes. Even with the help of folks like Comcast, CenturyLink, Verizon, AT&T, and the rest of our friends who might help the NSA and GCHQ; we still have businesses, colleges and universities, and most households with most of their computers hidden behind NAT. Maybe when IPv6 becomes ubiquitous it might be possible. I agree with a earlier post too much data, no enough content.
Now, nobody can claim that they will not get attacked. There is this global, ethically-challenged attacker that does sabotage and industrial espionage and leaves targets vulnerable to other attackers as well because they are not perfect (far from it, they just have tons of money). So in the long run, this might do wonders for IT security in general, even if that revolution may come from countries not too friendly towards the US. Of course, the British run with the big bully, but everybody else is getting more and more wary of that cancer growing in northern America.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Do you see any freedom taken away because of surveillance?
We are used to hide and lie in order to escape punishment, and of course surveillance will make it a lot harder to successfully hide and lie, but surveillance by itself has nothing to do with freedom. Someone watching you masturbate with pictures of young boys naked will not prevent you from doing it.
What takes your freedom away is not surveillance, it's not even the police, it's the law. Surveillance and the police are just tools, they're not the source of the problem. If you want to fight for your freedom, fight the source of the problem.
Not too well. It seems they have stopped zero terrorists so far. But if you think that their mandate is actually spying on ordinary people and economic espionage, then yes.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
There are already a number of index cases where people had illegal pornography placed on their systems by hackers. Hence it is already a valid defense in some countries.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Fortunately, in short order nobody will say anything critical of the "authorities" anymore, and "order" will be restored to society. That the economy will also go down the drains is an unfortunate side-effect, but better have "order" (and "security"!) than, say, enough to eat. You have to set the priorities right!
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
The guise of national security ...
If the "five eyes" limit their surveillance on the people of their respective five countries the 'national security" argument could still be applied
But what TFA is describing has gone way beyond their respective national border. Their aim is to extend their authoritarian control over THE ENTIRE WORLD and this is the one thing that the whole world must reject
Not since the dawn of time _any_ one entity has the control of the entire planet - As a comparison, even the largest empire ever was, the British Empire, in its peak, controlled less than 25% of the world
The worldwide hegemony must be defeated, dismantled and destroyed, or our future, the future of the Human Race, will forever be shrouded under a thick layer of very dark cloud
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Then they might have to give numbers and it might turn out that these people are by far not the threat they have been made out to be. Or rather that the problem is people abusing children, and not those downloading illegal pixels from the Internet. And then they might have to do something about it. Which they do not want, as that removes their straw-man. The US government depends on criminals of all sorts being active, to scare the population. So they can never do anything effective about crime, like, you know, outlawing guns or legalizing drugs.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
In the end, the "freedom to be free" will be all that remains, but if will not be a freedom you can actually use as that would make you a "terrorist". Have fun in the 4th Reich! As the US is a bit larger than Germany, this time it will take economic collapse to remove the fascism. Can take 100 years or more. Or they might succeed in building a 1000 Year Reich.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
"What you mention is WHY they have you register any modems you buy that aren't theirs into THEIR network (for tracking purposes)."
I haven't had to register the last two devices of mine. In fact, that's why I've got two full-speed connections for the price of one.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
This is APK
http://www.thorschrock.com/200...
A clueless, witless idiot that uses threats to try to get his way.
Tactless, incorrect (the fact he mentions MAC addresses of modems proves he doesn't know jack shit, when that only identifies a gateway device, not an actual user, much like an IP address,) clueless, bull-headed, autistic child without a fucking clue. This is why he has to post AC on Slashdot and why he is banned from Wikipedia.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Go ahead and spoof your IP and MAC. See how well you can send and receive data online.
Hint: If you're receiving data back via IP protocols, your IP is visible/traceable.
Hint: If you're receiving data back on Ethernet networks, your MAC is visible/traceable.
The ISP you connect to has a log of what IP was assigned to what connection at what time, along with where their control of that connection terminates.
What you want to be doing is using connections that aren't associated with you in any way, and are not near your place of residence, while using a different MAC every time.
The guise of national security.
So what purpose is it for? Governments come and go, executives come and go, ultimately one day the people making the decisions on these things will no longer control them and they know that so if it's some big massive conspiracy they are going to be victims of it too.
Sure, let us begin by taking away the government's freedom to legislate such insanity. If the system is rigged and broken, break the system.
This quote from Thomas Jefferson seems apt :-
"God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. ...And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
It seems like mesh network initiatives like this haven't been covered extensively on Slashdot, though I'm curious as to anyone's take on what protocols like CJDNS and the experimental hyperbora network will be able to do to stop this... of course, the caveat being that we would have to assume that the networks were bigger than they are now, more accessible. Any thoughts?
The surveillance puts a damper on free speech, it's hard to freely communicate knowing the government can be listening in. This is especially true for dissenting political speech, whether you're part of the opposition party or more extreme the possibility that the government can be listening in dampens. The government is quite capable of screwing you if you come to its attention as a threat of any kind. Whether digging into your tax situation, spreading mis-information or setting you up for a criminal investigation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
This.
Plus I don't need some crooks (Congress, competitors with deep pockets) looking over my shoulder and front-running any of my venture capital deals.
You think Snowden was a unique case? Not by a long shot. The only difference between him and many other people scraping up NSA data is that he released it to the public instead of handing it to some buddies in exchange for Hookers 'n Blow.
Have gnu, will travel.
What takes your freedom away is not surveillance, it's not even the police, it's the law. Surveillance and the police are just tools, they're not the source of the problem. If you want to fight for your freedom, fight the source of the problem.
The law and the tools enforcing the law are parts of the same whole. Neither can co-exist without the other. A law which is not enforced is just a meaningless scribble. A policeman without the authority granted by the law is just a hired gun. Conducting surveillance without legal authority is being a peeping tom.
Fighting the tools is just as important as fighting the source. The tools are what enables the unjust laws. The Prohibition was ultimately ineffective because the masses decided to ignore the law.
But you have cookies, and browser fingerprints, and logons, and device ID / Application ID info...
Riding on a free uplink doesn't do jack.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
So you're acknowledging that it is the coercion and threats thereof which are the chilling mechanism; not the surveillance per se.
Huh? They go hand in hand, without the surveillance wouldn't have to worry about the coercion and threats and why do the surveillance unless looking for dirt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
Is that why you trolls are here in full force? Because your handlers think no-one cares? Yet here you paid fucks are here shilling lies, just like always. Fuck you, you lose. Collect your paycheck and kill yourself. You'll be doing a favor to anyone who values the truth.
Have you heard the good news about Big Data? It's, like, the new thing.
Uh, yea. Charter.
Magic trick? Get different services that require different boxes (cablecard/net, phone/net, super-speed net.) Then swap out boxes with your own (excepting phone/net modems.) Then cancel in a specific order, leaving only the internet up. All boxes have internet access. Dual 100mbit and a 60 mbit line, for the price of 60 mbit plus phone.
You're so useless it's funny. What're you gonna do, threaten to sue me for libel when your sorry ass has no leg to stand on being proven time and time again that your outdated shit is exactly that, outdated and useless?
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
When people think of surveillance, it's always with the Orwellian model in mind. The problem with Orwell is that he had no idea something like the Internet would ever exist. He had no idea everyone would constantly have a camera on them, with the ability to immediately share everything with everyone. Because of that, his vision is now more or less obsolete.
So instead of the obsolete Orwellian model, imagine a world where surveillance is so common that even the government or anyone with power, even your boss, is under constant observation by everyone. How can those person screw you?
I agree, and it's sad. All I'm reading is uninformed juvenile snark based off some middle-NSA manager's "vision" that is, frankly, technically impossible. And probably was dropped a long time ago - not that this doesn't sell newspapers, of course.
If you want to fight for your freedom, fight the source of the problem.
How do you fight against the universe?
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Thomas Jefferson was a dangerous fool, this country would do well to forget him
If you are from North Korea, you are right
But if you are an American, take my advice --- get a visa, fly to North Korea, and when you arrive at North Korea, tear that North Korean visa to shred and demand a political asylum !
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
How can those person screw you?
They can screw you quite easily because they're the ones in control of the surveillance and the power. Do you really expect those in power to let us know that they've done anything unlawful?
So you wouldn't mind if videos of your own kids * being raped were being passed around?
* Or, this being slashdot, your nieces/neighbour's kids or whatever.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Oh we already have enough random data in the pipe: facebook, twitter and youtube.
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
I'll mount an ass on my roof with a sign that says "Kiss This"
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
I'm not banned on wikipedia: I can edit there all I like ...
Yes! I remember that. How'd it go again?
Thank you for coming to the talk page to discuss this. Your additions have been removed (twenty times now) because they are not suitable...
I wrote:
Otherwise known as "The HOSTS file troll." (Google for "hosts file troll apk") Stuck in the '90s, attacks anyone who makes fun of his "solution" by using multiple anonymous accounts. Real name Alexander Kowalski. Demonstrates traits of narcissism, transphobia, etc. Post something negative about his obsolete "HOSTS file solution" and watch the resulting crap-flood.
You wrote ... the same old outdated crap as always ...
Thanks for proving my point. BTW, I wasn't the anon poster you replied to elsewhere. I have neither the time nor the interest to post anon. Unlike you, who has no choice except to post anonymously. BTW, you might want to read the results of googling "hosts file troll apk". You have quite the reputation of being a net-kook.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
When the CIA launches a hellfire in this middle of nowhere, where do you think the information came from?
"(I used to install these "back in the day" long ago stupid)."
No you didn't, because we didn't use harmonic filters 'back then.' We used a cosine shaping filter 'back then' on analog cable modems. Ya, I used to work for Stream as a Time Warner technician, you nitwit.
Still wrong, as always!
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
That works until people refuse to back down over what others think they should be embarrassed about. Just as open source has benefits, so does "open life," one benefit being that you simply can't be coerced by threats to do something or "they" will reveal some "terrible secret."
Case in point: Last fall a developer at a public meeting attended by over 100 of my neighbours outed me as a transsexual when I spoke out against their plans. Totally illegal, and backfired on them when I forced them to take out display ads in the two largest newspapers publicly apologizing to me for their comments. (I consider this one way of "paying it forward" for those who have gone before me and made my current life possible).
In times past, being gay or lesbian, being divorced, being poor, being non-white, being a single mom, not being a virgin (but only for women - men were praised by their peers for being whore-masters), having an abortion, coming from the wrong side of the tracks, being crippled, having to deal with a mental illness ... these were all levers to shame people with. Simply doesn't work any more, and the more people are open about their lives, the easier it is for the next person to stand up to blackmailing bullies.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Wrong. Raised cosine filters are not harmonic filters.
LC filters are harmonic filters.
Go home and come back when you can design radar guidance systems. Maybe then you'll have half a clue just how dead wrong you have always been.
Well, the fact you use Bing already shows just how wrong you are.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Neither one of those posts calling you a pedo is mine. I have no knowledge of that one way or another, and frankly, I don't care. That's between you and the cops.
But the editors have my permission to verify the IP addresses of the anon posts you claim are me, and to publish their conclusions, just as I offered the last time you falsely accused me of sock-puppetry.
Oh, and thanks for confirming your transphobia (transtesitcle? Come on ...). There's no secret that when I was outed on slashdot, I changed my account to reflect reality. Just like there's no secret that I was not able to use a computer for the last few years because I was going blind. So now that one eye is good enough to use a computer, and the other, thanks to retinal microsurgery, can see well enough to tell that a car is about to run me over, it was easier to just create a new account. (So much for being a cyclops. But even when I was almost blind in both eyes and things looked grim, it was just another of life's challenges, nothing to be ashamed of. And when I do ultimately go permanently blind, I'll cope. I always do.)
But if you read what you quoted carefully, I told others how to troll you back - using the same tactics you use.
Why? Because net-kooks like you are a reality of life, and if people don't know just how much of a nut-bar you've continuously been over the years, they might actually fall for your hosts file crapola. It, like you, are obsolete.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
So you wouldn't mind if videos of your own kids * being raped were being passed around?
What does tht have to do with mapping every device on the Internet?
First of all, kiddie porn isn't an NSA, GCHQ problem. That's for the FBI, local law enforcement and their foreign equivalents to pursue. NSA and GCHQ are primarily involved with monitoring their respective internal populations for the purpose of political control and suppressing dissent. Unfortunately they seem to be co-opting local law enforcement into supporting their mission rather than pursuing criminal activity, including kiddie porn.
Have gnu, will travel.
At the present time, you are, of course, entirely correct!
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
Actually, no one (outside the agency) knows what the NSA's mandate really is. Their charter was signed in secret by Truman and classified. The Senate Intelligence Committee had to beg and plead to eventually be allowed to see it.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
I can "ghost" MAC on every OS known to man - practically. Most of those with a Berkeley-derived TCP stack are /dev/device lladdr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
sudo ifconfig
What we want here is not to just selfishly hide - but to pollute their collection with billions of plausible "false positive" pseudo computers and mobiles.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
I think it has been shown that they lack the technical knowledge to do the kind of science fiction hacks the media all gets in a tizzy about. They have show time and time again, that they do not need any such hacks anyway, as they can simply force companies to comply with handing over information by law.
I mean why spend time developing the super widget to spy on everyone, when you can coerce any company they owns the applications, hardware, or infrastructure to do your bidding for you. Heck they will build it for you should you submit enough "information requests". Best part of the arrangement is in many cases there is a charge back to the company that can actually make money providing the information, using your own tax dollars to pay for it! Win-WIn.
Hi ho, hi ho, time to play whack-the-troll ...
Seriously, neither of those accounts has been active for more than 2 years - since I went pretty much blind. And I've never been one to mod myself up. No need to. Just like calling you a net-kook isn't libelous when at the time you were crap-flooding my posts because I had insulted your whole "hosts file is teh absolutely bestest thing evah", or did you forget that you're the one who started it all. I attacked the message. You, on the other hand, attacked the messenger. But "organized conspiracy?" Your paranoia is showing.
Now, since I've never written ANYWHERE that you are a pedophile, I have to wonder about your continued insistence on bringing that up. You see me behind every post that attacks your hosts file, your trolling, and you. I wonder how many people you accused of being me while I couldn't see to use a computer the last couple of years.
Now, with your continued derogatory comments wrt transsexuals, I have to revise my opinion. You're not stuck in the '90s, but the '80s - or maybe even the '70s. Attack me all you want for being a transsexual - but remember, IT attracts a disproportionate number of the LGBT, as well as people sympathetic to LGBT. Slashdot isn't Little Green Footballs (or whatever it was called).
So, why am I bothering to respond and "feed the troll?" Well, let's look at this from a "utility" point of view. APK has outed himself as a transphobe. His posts make it obvious he thinks that I should be ashamed to be what I am. I'm not, and others in my situation shouldn't be either. So there is some "utility", some good, that can come out of making it clear his behavior just reflects badly on him, whereas ignoring it completely would tend to make it look like such behavior actually has a chilling effect on the intended target.
Obsessed with me he is. I don't even have to post to get a response from him. As shown earlier, he assumes anyone posting anonymous negative comments against him is me. It's happened before. It will happen again. See my .sig. :-)
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Thank you. I certainly believe in free speech - but I also believe that nobody has the right to try to shut me up by outing me to over 100 of my neighbors. That was attacking the messenger instead of the message, and like all such attacks was intended to stifle free speech - in this case, a point-by-point analysis of how what they were doing was blatantly illegal (and the court sided with me and two of my neighbors who didn't cave in to the threats and pressure tactics).
It almost worked too. I was totally unprepared for such garbage - after all, this was a community meeting run under the city's ageis, not slashdot :-) Was I embarrassed to death? You betcha! But rather than run from it, which is as impossible as putting the toothpaste back in the tube, I've chosen to embrace being out. It's the only practical and constructive course of action, so why not?
Now on the question of their right to free speech in outing me ... that's a direct conflict with my right to the privacy of my medical records and my private life. Not only that, but purposefully outing someone is recognized as a hate crime here, and for good reason; there are still people who think transsexuals make good targets for violence, since most transsexuals will NOT complain to police. Same as many, if not most, sexual assaults are not reported. You just want the whole damn world to leave you alone in your misery, like a wounded animal. Anything more is threatening, rubbing salt in the wound.
Even the US courts recognize limits to free speech, as in shouting fire in a crowded theatre. It's a balancing act, but gratuitously endangering someone is not really justifiable as a free speech issue.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
If "words are nothing", as you posit, then free speech, which is composed of words, is also nothing. Ditto for the term "free speech".
Free speech does not exist in a vacuum. It is not a license to hurt others, at this impinges on others freedoms, as well as, in some cases, their personal safety. Should people not be held accountable when they lie for profit, in the name of "free speech?" They're free to lie, and free to be punished for it. See the difference?
Should people not be held accountable for inciting hatred or violence towards someone else in the name of "free speech"? They are free to do so, but they again have to accept the consequences of their actions. Free speech is not a "get out of jail free" card.
Free speech, like every other right and freedom, comes with both responsibilities and obligations.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
It's really not that big of a secret: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N...