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This Is What the World's Spies Used Instead of MSN Messenger (vice.com)
An anonymous reader writes: What do spies use to chat online? A terribly ugly Windows programme. At least, that's what the Five Eyes intelligence alliance (made up of the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) was using back in 2003, according to a newly released Snowden document. "The Five-Eyes SIGINT [signals intelligence] Directors will soon be using a new tool to enhance their collaboration on subjects ranging from current intelligence objectives to future collection planning," reads an issue of SID Today, the NSA's internal newsletter, dating from September 2003. InfoWorkSpace (IWS), as the tool is called, allowed text chat, audio conferencing, shared screen views, and virtual whiteboards, the newsletter explains. It adds that, at the time, some 4,000 NSA and Five Eyes employees were already using IWS to work on a number of topics, such as international terrorism, real-time collection coordination, and Operation Enduring Freedom, the term given to operations in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. The newsletter announcement refers to SIGINT Directors gaining access to the tool. Another Snowden document published by The Intercept notes that senior officials held their first virtual meeting with IWS around December 2003, but that "GCHQ was unable to attend due to a computer failure."
YOU won't believe how ugly this weird secret messagging app is!
They misspelt "Operation Ending Freedom".
What's your problem? It looks like every other program written in 2003.
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
It looks simple and functional. Something you don't see anymore. Hell, a lot nicer than GNOME. Firefox? LOL. Sheesh.
Sorry, citation needed. Please provide your sources.
It's classified U//FOUO! You could have probably gotten that document through a FOIA request.
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
While not popular since anything pro-Snowden is considered religiously approved on here you have a point.
There's exactly nothing that violates the U.S. Constitution or any other legal or ethical standard* in an intelligence agency using a communications tool that protects the privacy of its users from other intelligence agencies, and leaking out the details is certainly illegal espionage at a minimum and treason at worst.
* I mean real ethical standards, not the made-up delusions of Slashtards who think that literally any attempt by the U.S. to do anything to stop any terrorist or foreign government from doing anything is the greatest crime of all time [incidentally, that standard does not apply to any country other than the U.S.].
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
From the Army's FOUO fact sheet:
For Official Use Only is part of Controlled Unclassified Information, which is above public but below Confidential. CUI would probably be censored out of any FOIA response in the same way as someone else's health records.
Honestly what the program looked like means nothing at all. Was it peer to peer or server based? encrypted end to end using what? Because there have been online collaboration tools like that available both commercially and open source at the same time frame.
Honestly I am surprised they were not using Tandberg Codecs with the advanced encryption options that would allow point to point calling with routing and conferencing capabilities. the company I worked for back then sold a LOT of Tandbergs to military and 3 letter agencies. they took to being tunnled over the internet very well.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Anybody got a price and/or torrent? It seems to be a fairly closely guarded secret.
A publicly available alternative wouldn't hurt.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Lots of very reputable people are saying this. Lots of credible, smart people. Awesome people.
Many people are also saying that Trump makes regular donations to NAMBLA, and that's why he won't release his tax returns.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Why do people think that this type of leak was necessary?
Because we want something as robust (if it really is). We all have the same right to protected communications.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Okay then, since you say that these people are awesome, then we will accept it as a matter of fact. I will edit the wikipedia entry later, after I get my prescription refilled, as the voices are getting louder.
Thank you kindly, you a mensch and a scholar.
I believe this earns you a "whoosh".
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
Thank God we now have pretty - at the expense of everything else - browser based software like Slack to collaborate over.
Do you think Slack is pretty? Or nice-looking?
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Why not use GNU Messenger?
Is this encrypted? Because I have been repeatedly told encryption is for terrorists.
So, 13 years ago they were using some funky secure chat program...
And?
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
It's kind of sad that you think we should use leaky protocols and code, when our old code works just fine, but you're not cleared to know about it.
Nice try, n00bZ
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Lol it's written in Java. Shouldn't take long for someone to exploit it.
FreeTel 1999 FTW http://web.archive.org/web/199...
Lets hope some of us had HTTPS Everywhere https://www.eff.org/https-ever... working at the time :)
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Re 'We all have the same right to protected communications." ...
If the workers and contractors in 5 eye nations, a few trusted helper nations can do this at work
When they move to the private sector as ex staff or former staff the skill sets and methods go with them.
Easy crypto access is then for sale to anyone or any nation with a shared faith, cash or friendships...
The US gov has allowed backdoors over generations of products to stay in place.
Once crypto like this is allowed over generations, all adversaries get a look in for free.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Many people are also saying that Trump makes regular donations to NAMBLA, and that's why he won't release his tax returns.
What's peoples problem with the North American Marlon Brando Lookalike Association?
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Donald Trump eats babies on toast! Why does nobody care?
Baby whats? Context is king.
Wanna buy a shirt?
https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
Worse, he eats toast with a fork.
To me that looks like a Java desktop application using Swing. The shading of the toolbars and the bold fonts are a dead giveaway.
So, yeah. It looks awful. :P
Because he only used good, clean American-bred babies, not filthy illegal immigrant babies. And they're properly peeled alive, then thoroughly cooked, so there is no safety risk.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"