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The Most Striking Thing About the WikiLeaks CIA Data Dump Is How Little Most People Cared (qz.com)

Posted by msmash on from the aftermath-analysis dept.

Last week, WikiLeaks released a trove of web pages describing sophisticated software tools and techniques used by the C.I.A to break into smartphones, computers, and IoT devices including smart TVs. Despite the initial media coverage, it appears normal people don't really care much about it, reports Quartz. An anonymous reader shares the report: There's also one other big difference between now and 2013. Snowden's NSA revelations sent shockwaves around the world. Despite WikiLeaks' best efforts at theatrics -- distributing an encrypted folder and tweeting the password "SplinterItIntoAThousandPiecesAndScatterItIntoTheWinds" -- the Vault 7 leak has elicited little more than a shrug from the media and the public, even if the spooks are seriously worried. Maybe it's because we already assume the government can listen to everything.

4 of 308 comments (clear)

  1. Because most people already assume the worst by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Most people with half-a-brain already assumed that the CIA, NSA, and FBI were doing stuff like this. This merely confirmed our suspicions.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Because most people already assume the worst by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 5, Interesting

      It wasn't so much that we assumed they would be doing stuff like this, it's that this is what we expect they would be, should be doing.

      To put it another way, what was shocking about the Snowden revelations wasn't that the NSA spied, it was the bulk and indiscriminate nature thereof. We have no problem when the CIA is hacking the phones or computers of some ISIS or Al Qaeda bad guy or some North Korean/etc general. What bothers us is when they start vacuuming up everyone's calls/emails/etc including ours.

      If anything, the reports were actually fairly reassuring, because what it shows is that encryption works. They couldn't break it, and had to instead compromise the end device, because if your system is pwned then nothing you do on that system (phone, computer, etc) is secret from the guy who pwned it.

  2. Enemy of the State by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It was fiction in 1998... and now it appears to be all too real.

        http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120660

    The only question that remains is how autocratic are those in power to manipulate these capabilities to their benefit and at the expense of the public welfare.

  3. Most people haven't heard about it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Most "normal" people the summary refers to have never heard of the Wikileaks release concerning the CIA. In fact, I am pretty sure if I took an informal poll of friends and family most of them (8/10 at least) wouldn't have any idea what Wikileaks is.

    The majority of people do not consider whether they are being spied on, it doesn't occur to them at all. It's not necessarily that they don't care, but they are simply unaware it's an option. If you don't follow tech news this is not something that comes up on people's radar.

    Sometimes I will tell friends about hacks that can break into phones or ways that government or companies can intercept traffic. A few might express concern, but not enough to do anything about it, the spying is "out of sight, out of mind", it doesn't affect them. Most others think I'm just being paranoid or making stuff up.