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FBI Releases Its Files On DEF CON: Not Amused By Spot-the-Fed
v3rgEz writes: Not surprisingly, the FBI has compiled reports on notorious hacker gathering DEF CON, now released thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request. The files detail the lack of amusement at the Spot-the-Fed game, as well as which conference tracks attract the most interest. "In a bit of FOIrony, the file contains a copy of the Spot the Fed contest rules, including the facetious aside to feds offering t-shirts in exchange for agency coffee mugs."
This is the same FBI who in the 1950's spent two years investigating the song Louie Louie and the performers and fans of The Kingsmen and came up with what they usually come up with; nothing of interest. Scully and Mulder are a fantasy. The FBI comes to DEF CON because they are about 10 years behind the rest of the world in cybersecurity ops. Plain and simple, the private sector is many years beyond what we currently think of as their current state. i.e. they are hiding any really new ideas and gear for "security purposes" but that's just a bullshit call to hide their questionable and possibly illegal intentions and devices. No, they are genuinely embarrassed at just about every turn these days. Consider this; if you are a top cybersecurity chap are you going to waste your career by working at a shitty gubment shop that activity undermines you, pays you a fraction of real world pay, and generally pushes you into questionable activities and/or makes you go Snowden, or are you going to work at a fun company and do interesting work for better pay for possibly less hostile bosses? Join the US Cybersecurity Forces Today(if you are a low-level script kiddie looking for crap-work)!
This is the NSA, we're gonna geet U h@x0r5! Also, what is a h@x0r5?
No, it just means that you are not actually doing anything of any importance or interest.
You can't handle the truth.
We are seeing many extreme examples of U.S. government corruption.
Uh... what other governments in supposedly non-corrupt jurisdictions respond to "Freedom Of Information Act" requests with ... actual information?
Try getting information on e.g. "Pussy Riot" out of the Putin government.
Just remember that as the cost of surveillance gets lower and lower, so does the hurdle of "importance". Eventually it'll get to the point where your life is a game of nickel slots for the agents who've got nothing better to do with their time and figure they'll get 5 cents of entertainment from it.
It's called research. Police types going to one of those events will never be in trouble as long as they write a follow up report and attend a debrief if requested. In fact they would receive browny points for doing so. So feel free to attend them all, see if you can be spotted but do not forget the follow up observational report, including whether you were or not you were spotted, how you were spotted and whether or not you traded a mug for a T shirt (ain't nothing wrong with that, unless the mugs were not provided for that purpose ie not stolen). Showing a sense of humour ie having fun when you are annoying some and just some people, promotes good relations with the public. Two way street there, fellows. When it comes to computer crime the best resources is not the FBI (most certainly not the NSA the NSA are foolishly proud to be law breakers) but a public that will support the efforts of quality responsible policing. So open a booth and hand out, no wait, swap mugs and a good T-shirt for naughty T-shirts (do not forget a biological containment device for the sweaty T-shirts).
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Throw a pie at a fed, get life imprisonment for attempted murder of a federal agent plus a bunch of other bullshit, trumped up, double-dipped charges.
Try getting information on e.g. "Pussy Riot" out of the Putin government.
If you use Putins Russia as an example for when your government has gone too far then you don't have any stopping points until you get there.
There is always someone who is worse so if you use someone worse as an argument for a behavior you might just as well go full Godwin and say that everything is fine until you hit Nazi Germany.
This is why we don't accept the "someone else gets to do that" argument from 8-year olds. We expect them to be better than the worst they can find.
I'm not in a position to say what kind of government you want, but if you want my recommendation I would say that you should compare it to Canada or perhaps Norway more often than you compare it to Russia and China.
> The ones I've worked with have good senses of humor and, contrary to the opinions voiced here, have no desire to trample on anyone's rights.
Generally true--you've mostly got a lot of really good guys working intelligence. Most of the concern around massive surveillance--and part of the problem they really have a problem understanding it--is not what the guys in control of it now *do*, it's the *potential* for the wrong guy or guys to use it for evil.
Right now you have some *REALLY* sketchy stuff going on even with good guys in charge. Most notably, you've got a problem in that it's being used against criminals indirectly, which is a gross violation of the rights of a lot of criminals. Think parallel construction type projects. Wasn't there a big treasure trove of tax evasion data that mysteriously appeared a while back? Here we go: http://www.politico.com/mornin...
That *is* almost certainly our government or governments colluding to violate the rights of criminals, but the people doing it don't *care* because it's criminals.
I am a little upset about that because it's unconstitutional and because we overcriminalize generally, so almost everyone is breaking the law and they have something on everyone if they care to use it.
I am *much* more concerned with the potential for misuse not with the generally good guys dealing with it today, but by the bad guys who come in tomorrow, or the good-ish guys who get too tempted knowing how much easier it would be if they blackmail a senator or two based on knowledge of who they've slept with or what their daughter was up to on spring break. You're fundamentally dealing with power politics with an apparatus that could put a man like Frank Underwood in control of the country for decades, all without real transparency or accountability.
Most politicians don't have anywhere near that level of savvy--we are mostly saved by a combination of incompetence and a lot of really great guys in the intelligence community who would go a long way to prevent that kind of thing if they find out about it--but if we don't put incredibly good *processes* in place, engineered to prevent that kind of takeover, then it *will* happen if it has not already. Think what J. Edgar Hoover could have done with that information. Think what McCarthy did without it, and how much worse it could have been.
Tell that to people in the US who had their cash, car or even house seized because it might be connected to a crime. Traveling with $10000 cash? Surely that must be drug money, no matter how plausible your excuse is, we'll take it to buy game consoles, zambonis or margarita machines. You can always try to get it back by hiring a lawyer and going to court, good luck.
Throw a pie at a fed, get life imprisonment for attempted murder of a federal agent plus a bunch of other bullshit, trumped up, double-dipped charges.
Unless you're black, in which case they'll just flat out murder you.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u