Slashdot Mirror
UK GHCQ Is Allowed To Hack (bbc.co.uk)
An anonymous reader writes: A security tribunal has just decreed that hacking by the UK security agency GCHQ is legal. [The case was launched after revelations by Edward Snowden about the extent of US and UK spying. Campaigners Privacy International claimed GCHQ's hacking operations were too intrusive]. The legal challenge that they were violating European law was rejected.
GHCQ: Government Head Communications Quarters.
GCHQ: Government Communications Headquarters.
See also: http://it.slashdot.org/story/15/02/23/1517241/nsa-ghcq-implicated-in-sim-encryption-hack
FFS, Slashdot.
** This comment was hacked by GCHQ **
** Move along **
Government grants itself authority to break the law.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
One set of rules for us. Another set of rules for them. If they are allowed to break laws to find civillians who are breaking laws then why are civillians not allowed to break laws to find officials who are breaking laws?
I feel ashamed that the law in the UK has come so far away from protecting people / serving justice and so far closer to being a weapon of oppression.
This is absolutely ridic hfe9hghidfhg8sdgh9nb virthwi84r
This is a perfectly reasonable ruling.
UK Tribunal
http://www.ipt-uk.com/docs/Pri...
It's a geek's dream.
Ms. Galore: "Mr. James Bond... with a license to hack."
Bond: [draws from a vape shaped to look like a retro silver lighter and closes the lid] "License to kill, too"
The fascist mind-set expressed in these things assumes as absolute truth that the "authorities" are always right and do not need oversight by the citizens. A brief look in history shows how very much wrong that idea is and how often it leads to incredible evil.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
:)
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
We've had a nice long stretch of relative peace. By now I think it's clear that either this or the next generation will have to overthrow a fascist government.
They MAY hack, not they CAN hack.
whoops, welcome to the list...
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
How you can read "authorities historically abuse powers and we are observing it happen once again right now" and interpret it as "authorities are entirely untrustworthy and the people should just police themselves in anarchy" is absolutely beyond my comprehension. Your level of interpretation is legitimately baffling, so I will attempt to explain...
No implication was made that authority and law should be ignored. Law enforcement is essential for society to operate as it does. A better analogy, based on your metaphor, would be that in these circumstances the authorities judge every ticket / warrant ever issued to be valid simply because it has been issued in the first place. That is just wrong. If you can't see why then consider this: when the people are subject to one set of laws and the authorities are subject to a different, in this case far less strict set of laws, then you are living in a dictatorship. You are living in a system where the powers that be get to behave however they choose and they write laws to validate their actions. They then will not afford you the same liberties and write different laws that stop you behaving in ways that they behave themselves. It is basically the definition of tyranny.
The only authority that is worth respect is the authority that is granted power willingly by the people it represents and allows itself to be fully responsible to the people for its actions. Any other authority is little more than acquisition of power over people through the threat of menaces, violence, imprisonment or worse for the purpose of maintaining the ruling elite class at the expense of the freedom of those being ruled. Any system of governance that can be described in that fashion earns my immediate contempt. Unsurprisingly I'm not alone in that sentiment.
The brits will fix cameronitis with corbynitis and then they will be well and truly fucked. Again.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Only thing worthwhile from limey land was The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal. Now that is over we can nuke them and fix the worlds Queen problem. Mankind is useless at ruling itself. FUCK YOU ALL.
>> I feel ashamed that the law in the UK has come so far away from protecting people
I agree with your sentiment but I don't think the UK government arbitrarily awarding themselves inappropriate levels of power is any different to what's actually happening in every other country.
I don't think the internet is in any way causing this phenomenon, it's just allowing normal people to more easily see the truth of whats actually been going on for centuries.
Not to be outdone, Valve, the makers of the steam service for games immediately announced that they have been friendly to hackers since day 1 and will continue to make no serious attempt to thwart or stop hacking on their games or service.
This is how fascism works in the UK. Politicians wave their hands and say is okay because there will be "checks and balances".
We have to treat this like any other hacking threat. Detect, block, take down the C&C servers, publicly identify the perpetrators. GCHQ are already being sued by various European companies for hacking their equipment, and that's really the best response. UK citizens can't sue, but Europeans can.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
How you can read "authorities historically abuse powers and we are observing it happen once again right now" and interpret it as "authorities are entirely untrustworthy and the people should just police themselves in anarchy" is absolutely beyond my comprehension. Your level of interpretation is legitimately baffling, so I will attempt to explain...
No implication was made that authority and law should be ignored. Law enforcement is essential for society to operate as it does. A better analogy, based on your metaphor, would be that in these circumstances the authorities judge every ticket / warrant ever issued to be valid simply because it has been issued in the first place. That is just wrong. If you can't see why then consider this: when the people are subject to one set of laws and the authorities are subject to a different, in this case far less strict set of laws, then you are living in a dictatorship. You are living in a system where the powers that be get to behave however they choose and they write laws to validate their actions. They then will not afford you the same liberties and write different laws that stop you behaving in ways that they behave themselves. It is basically the definition of tyranny.
The only authority that is worth respect is the authority that is granted power willingly by the people it represents and allows itself to be fully responsible to the people for its actions. Any other authority is little more than acquisition of power over people through the threat of menaces, violence, imprisonment or worse for the purpose of maintaining the ruling elite class at the expense of the freedom of those being ruled. Any system of governance that can be described in that fashion earns my immediate contempt. Unsurprisingly I'm not alone in that sentiment.
Thank you.
Yours is one of very few rational posts I see on /. or heck, just about anyplace anymore on the interwebs.
Governments share much in common with computer networks and their design.
Governments are networks of power to compel with a monopoly on the legitimate use of deadly force.
Like a computer network design composed of many stand-alone machines each with it's own attack-detection & mitigation mechanisms is harder to compromise than a single central server and 'dumb clients', it follows that government power must be mostly local in nature with as little dependence on a central authority as possible.
I heartily accept the motto - "That government is best which governs least;" and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe, - "That government is best which governs not at all;" and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.
- Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Indeed. The GCHQ must now be regarded as an enemy, in fact as an "advanced persistent threat", because even if identified, it seems unlikely that one can get rid of them. (I like the idea of suing them, but they will just become more careful against being identified....) In particular, it must be expected that they do industrial espionage and industrial sabotage for political reasons.
Treat the same as any other group of well-funded criminal hackers. Also, the banking industry and IT industry may want to move out of the UK entirely.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I spend a good chunk of every workday defending my institution from network attacks by the governments of China and Russia. They are not the only ones. I imagine all of them give themselves permission to attack. I expect all of them eventually make it illegal to resist their attacks. As more and more governments create these crazy laws and international agreements, my defensive actions will become more and more illegal. Thanks Five Eyes!
Now its all out in the courts, the press, whistleblowers, campaigners, NGO's, protesters now know what they will face as far as signals collection goes.
Re "If they are allowed to break laws to find civillians who are breaking laws then why are civillians not allowed to break laws to find officials who are breaking laws?"
Previously tame UK parliament watchdog rips into new Snooper’s Charter (Feb 9, 2016)
Committee says IPB's metadata collection is "inconsistent and largely incomprehensible."
http://arstechnica.co.uk/tech-...
The other aspect is "Mastering the Internet" and vendors:
Exclusive: Snowden intelligence docs reveal UK spooks' malware checklist (2016/02/02)
https://boingboing.net/2016/02...
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Encouraging more whistleblowers seems like the best tactic at the moment.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC