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Anti-Terrorism Hypothetical: Bulk Scanning of Hosted Files? (justsecurity.org)
An anonymous reader writes: The tech community has spoken: we don't want the NSA or any other government agency running bulk surveillance on us, and we don't want tech companies to help them. But Bruce Schneier points out an interesting hypothetical raised by Harvard Law School professor Jonathan Zittrain: "Suppose a laptop were found at the apartment of one of the perpetrators of last year's Paris attacks. It's searched by the authorities pursuant to a warrant, and they find a file on the laptop that's a set of instructions for carrying out the attacks. ... The private document was likely shared among other conspirators, some of whom are still on the run or unknown entirely. Surely Google has the ability to run a search of all Gmail inboxes, outboxes, and message drafts folders, plus Google Drive cloud storage, to see if any of its 900 million users are currently in possession of that exact document.
If Google could be persuaded or ordered to run the search, it could generate a list of only those Google accounts possessing the precise file — and all other Google users would remain undisturbed, except for the briefest of computerized 'touches' on their accounts to see if the file reposed there." Zittrain asks: would you run the search? He then walks us through some of the possible complications to the situation, and the pros and cons of granting permission. His personal conclusion is this: "At least in theory, and with some real trepidation, I'd run the search in that instance, and along with it publicly establish a policy for exactly how clear cut the circumstances have to be (answer: very) for future cases to justify pressing the enter key on a similar search." What would you do?
If Google could be persuaded or ordered to run the search, it could generate a list of only those Google accounts possessing the precise file — and all other Google users would remain undisturbed, except for the briefest of computerized 'touches' on their accounts to see if the file reposed there." Zittrain asks: would you run the search? He then walks us through some of the possible complications to the situation, and the pros and cons of granting permission. His personal conclusion is this: "At least in theory, and with some real trepidation, I'd run the search in that instance, and along with it publicly establish a policy for exactly how clear cut the circumstances have to be (answer: very) for future cases to justify pressing the enter key on a similar search." What would you do?
Muslims already wear clearly visible indications of their religion in the manner they dress (religiously dictated) -- you don't need an alternate reality or Donald Trump for that.
Islam is a Religion-State -- their goal is wold domination by any means -- this is the critical difference between Islam and other religions:
Christianity: domination of the entire globe by word-of-mouth, example and metaphysical enlightenment.
Judaism: domination of a 300 x 50 mile piece of desert by any means necessary
Islam: domination of the entire globe by any means necessary.
The problem is that this is the precise definition of slippery slope. As attractive as it would be to scan for such content legally, this is not the kind of toys we want the government to have. Would the government as with a foreign enemy, we should be discussing capabilities, not intentions. The one inescapable truth is that any capabilities of a bureaucratic entity are going to be abused. If you don't want the abuse, don't give them these capabilities took begin with.
First and foremost: You think the 'bad guys' haven't already thought of something like this? You really think they're sending out their most secret plans out in the clear, or even sending them out at all? Anyone with half a brain would either encrypt them somehow (either digitally or by more traditional methods), or use stegonography, or hand-carry them, or commit them to memory, not leave a trail of breadcrumbs that any armchair detective could follow.
Second: This would set the precedent to bring about the absolute and total end of even a pretense of privacy for everyone. It would become leveraged for seaches of anything and everything; everyone's lives would in essence be laid bare for any government agency with a half-assed reason for a search. Not much longer after that the private sector would find a way in, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if not long after that, it would be used outright for marketing datamining.
This is a dangerous, stupid idea, and no way in Hell should it ever be allowed to even be so much as discussed as actual legislation.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Maybe it's time for less 'compromise' and more action? If these groups are truly the threat indicated by western governments, then the last thing they should be doing is shaming their own populations with 'tolerance' propaganda, especially while attacks and radicalization of western citizens continue. Why do you think Trump is so popular? People are tired of talk and 'compromise' that gets nowhere.
No, I'm not suggesting 'reeducation'. I'm talking doing whatever is necessary, including war, if that's what it takes. Send the countries harboring them a clear message. If what you say is true, then leaving them alone might solve it as well, but somehow I doubt pulling out would change much. Many of these groups want a worldwide muslim caliphate. They're 'imperialist' as well.