Are you suggesting that we replace the government we have in order to get a government that has never had the chance to start spying? Considering your statement, that sounds like the only reasonable course for citizens that do not want to be spied upon by their own government.
My wife and I have a rule that we began applying last election cycle. If there is any doubt about a particular race that we are voting on (after doing research on each candidate, of course), we apply a simple formula--vote the incumbent out.
I was hopefully clearing things up by linking factual information, right down to the connection between the Social Security Administration and the "Carnivore" program (the real meat of the article).
Wow. I didn't notice I did that until you mentioned it (I usually proof-read all my posts before submitting them and did so here as well...and I still missed it). I just sat here for 5 minutes wondering how I missed that. The only reasonable answer I can give is that I have a friend that looks very much like Edward Snowden who is named Eric. Mental transposition, I guess.
I stand corrected.
"Unless you were making a joke about how little US media coverage there is on him."
From the Wikipedia article regarding Steam (my emphasis):
"Steam collects and reports anonymous metrics of its usage, stability, and performance.[53] With the exception of Valve's hardware survey,[54] most collection occurs without notifying the user or offering an opt-out. Some of these metrics are available publicly, such as what games are being played or statistics on player progress in certain games.[55] Valve has also used information from these statistics to justify implementing new features in Steam, such as the addition of a defragmentation option for game caches.[56] Valve announced on July 15, 2010 that in conjunction with collecting hardware information in Steam's opt-in hardware surveys, they would begin collecting a list of the user's installed software as well.[57]"
I don't bad-mouth Steam/Valve--I simply don't do business with them. Never have, never will. I suspect I am not alone in that regard.
It's all about the camera. The one in your living-room. Considering who Microsoft is working with these days, do you really want a camera in your living-room?
Now that there has been plenty of time for people to respond to this post, I'd like to ask that people take a close look at the responses, the previous posts of those responding and the "volume" of response and subject matter they have been responding to recently.
Once you've done that, I'd like to suggest the following reading material. Come to your own conclusions.
" And what is worse, they are in the perfect place to be escape goats or just false positives if anything happens-- gmuslera"
This needs to be the Slashdot "Quote of the Day" at the bottom of the screen. Escape Goats...I'm literally in tears right now, that was so funny. It's not often a Freudian Slip survives the typing process.
The NSA is wiping their ass with the U.S. Constitution again.
A recent article in CNN outlines why there is little in the US Media regarding Eric Snowden and the NSA Prism program--the NSA is literally threatening journalists with prosecution for espionage for doing their jobs.
We are sliding down that slippery slope fast, folks. I honestly feel the next few months will determine whether or not our Constitution remains viable as a means to protect basic human rights. Help the press help us--tell as many people as you can about this article and the serious repercussions the article outlines. These are not potential repercussions--this is happening folks. A near-complete lack of articles in main-stream media about the Prism program and Snowden is all the evidence I need to come to that conclusion.
"Egypt may have stepped back from the brink of becoming yet another Islamic Religious Dictatorship."
Admirably, they almost allowed that dictatorship to succeed. I know, that sounds an odd statement, but hear me out.
Egypt demanded a democracy, and believed in it so much that were willing to give anyone that won the election a fair shot at leading the country, including the Brotherhood. They may not have liked who they ended up with, but they were sure as hell going to try and give the elected their own shot at doing the right thing, right up to the point that it was painfully obvious that the Brotherhood was taking them for a ride.
Egypt has acted admirably, the elected not so much. It is refreshing to see a country take democracy seriously. It's been a while.
I am totally amazed how many companies are hopping on the bandwagon here--MOST of those companies appear to be intentionally avoiding credit card payment schemes. Most accept BitCoin.
An interesting point is made in one of the VPN reviews--PrivatVPN clearly states that their U.S. servers are NOT anonymous (they log both IP and time-stamp on the incoming ports). I am assuming the Feds jammed this down their throats, and they didn't like it but couldn't do anything to stop it. The question is why don't the other VPNs that have servers in the U.S. state the same disclaimer? In light of the Prism program being made public, this is significant. A publish date of March 12, 2013 makes this review of VPNs pre-Snowden.
Perhaps PrivatVPN was trying "enlighten" us all about the level of intrusion they were subject to in the U.S. without actually saying that the NSA had them by the balls.
It makes a difference when it is a current customer asking that question (as opposed to someone just shopping for a VPN service).
Major payment services are really starting to piss me off--they are quite literally trying to decide how and where we spend our money. I would REALLY like to know what other services businesses will be using when people start bailing on the Big (Ol') Boys.
I personally do not use a VPN service anymore, but have a request for anyone that does. I also request you post results here, in this thread, to share any response you may receive.
Please call your current VPN provider and ask them how to go about paying them for their services without using PayPal, Visa, Mastercard or AmEx. Just see what advice they give to you in order for you to continue using their services (if any).
I am curious as to how the providers themselves are responding to their customers. They may have already come up with a viable alternative payment method that has been kept out of the media.
" You don't know you're part of the problem because you're working on just a tiny piece of it."
I would think that anyone smart enough to work on this sort of technology would also be smart enough to realize that when they are asked to work on a project without knowing what it actually is, that they know there is a reason for that secrecy. Continuing onward without questioning that secrecy, or more specifically, the intent of it, is intentional disregard. And, as far as I am concerned, that intentional disregard amounts to culpability.
Yep. And we continue to do so now, as we will continue to do so in the future as long as we use the technology they monitor--it would be foolish to expect governments to stop once they've "delved too deep...", as they say in Middle Earth.
Non-cash transactions, cellphones and the Internet account for most of the data they collect. The real question is which is more important, the tech or the Liberty?
Slashdot Mirror
"No government is going to stop spying..."
Are you suggesting that we replace the government we have in order to get a government that has never had the chance to start spying? Considering your statement, that sounds like the only reasonable course for citizens that do not want to be spied upon by their own government.
My wife and I have a rule that we began applying last election cycle. If there is any doubt about a particular race that we are voting on (after doing research on each candidate, of course), we apply a simple formula--vote the incumbent out.
Stop replying to this guy--read his previous posts, then read the document in my signature.
NSA shill and "Forum Breaker" doing his job.
Look at the previous posts of "Cold Fjord" and see for yourselves--this "man" is a government shill, a "forum breaker".
For some interesting parallels, compare his posts to the techniques outlined in the document linked in my signature.
"Odd, ain't it? How the US resemble more and more the Stasi after the Stasi is no longer..."
That better?
Seriously folks. Look at the previous posts of "Cold Fjord" and see for yourselves--this "man" is a government shill, a "forum breaker".
I was hopefully clearing things up by linking factual information, right down to the connection between the Social Security Administration and the "Carnivore" program (the real meat of the article).
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/carnivore.htm
"... something was lost in the translation."
Let me help you out with that...
http://www.howstuffworks.com/social-security-number2.htm
"Edward. His name is Edward Snowden..."
Wow. I didn't notice I did that until you mentioned it (I usually proof-read all my posts before submitting them and did so here as well...and I still missed it). I just sat here for 5 minutes wondering how I missed that. The only reasonable answer I can give is that I have a friend that looks very much like Edward Snowden who is named Eric. Mental transposition, I guess.
I stand corrected.
"Unless you were making a joke about how little US media coverage there is on him."
You did that for me. :)
Is there anyone here beside me getting the feeling that the submissions of late have a certain...smell(?). Perhaps it is honey I smell.
Apologies!
"A direct link to the audio file (well, her channel, but it only contains the one file)"
" So when is James Clapper going to be charged with contempt of congress for telling them that the NSA isn't spying on millions of Americans?"
When the President claps his hands and turns him back on?
A direct link to the audio file (well, his channel, but it only contains the one file) :
https://soundcloud.com/madiha-1
Requires Flash to play (haven't tried other codecs, the transcript was sufficient for me).
From the Wikipedia article regarding Steam (my emphasis):
"Steam collects and reports anonymous metrics of its usage, stability, and performance.[53] With the exception of Valve's hardware survey,[54] most collection occurs without notifying the user or offering an opt-out. Some of these metrics are available publicly, such as what games are being played or statistics on player progress in certain games.[55] Valve has also used information from these statistics to justify implementing new features in Steam, such as the addition of a defragmentation option for game caches.[56] Valve announced on July 15, 2010 that in conjunction with collecting hardware information in Steam's opt-in hardware surveys, they would begin collecting a list of the user's installed software as well.[57]"
I don't bad-mouth Steam/Valve--I simply don't do business with them. Never have, never will. I suspect I am not alone in that regard.
It's all about the camera. The one in your living-room. Considering who Microsoft is working with these days, do you really want a camera in your living-room?
Now that there has been plenty of time for people to respond to this post, I'd like to ask that people take a close look at the responses, the previous posts of those responding and the "volume" of response and subject matter they have been responding to recently.
Once you've done that, I'd like to suggest the following reading material. Come to your own conclusions.
http://cryptome.org/2012/07/gent-forum-spies.htm
" And what is worse, they are in the perfect place to be escape goats or just false positives if anything happens-- gmuslera"
This needs to be the Slashdot "Quote of the Day" at the bottom of the screen. Escape Goats...I'm literally in tears right now, that was so funny. It's not often a Freudian Slip survives the typing process.
"I don't think it's in anyone's best interests to expose all governmental employees to public scrutiny..."
So, who do you work for?
The NSA is wiping their ass with the U.S. Constitution again.
A recent article in CNN outlines why there is little in the US Media regarding Eric Snowden and the NSA Prism program--the NSA is literally threatening journalists with prosecution for espionage for doing their jobs.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/03/opinion/snepp-journalists-espionage/index.html?hpt=us_mid
We are sliding down that slippery slope fast, folks. I honestly feel the next few months will determine whether or not our Constitution remains viable as a means to protect basic human rights. Help the press help us--tell as many people as you can about this article and the serious repercussions the article outlines. These are not potential repercussions--this is happening folks. A near-complete lack of articles in main-stream media about the Prism program and Snowden is all the evidence I need to come to that conclusion.
"Egypt may have stepped back from the brink of becoming yet another Islamic Religious Dictatorship."
Admirably, they almost allowed that dictatorship to succeed. I know, that sounds an odd statement, but hear me out.
Egypt demanded a democracy, and believed in it so much that were willing to give anyone that won the election a fair shot at leading the country, including the Brotherhood. They may not have liked who they ended up with, but they were sure as hell going to try and give the elected their own shot at doing the right thing, right up to the point that it was painfully obvious that the Brotherhood was taking them for a ride.
Egypt has acted admirably, the elected not so much. It is refreshing to see a country take democracy seriously. It's been a while.
Excellent link!
I am totally amazed how many companies are hopping on the bandwagon here--MOST of those companies appear to be intentionally avoiding credit card payment schemes. Most accept BitCoin.
An interesting point is made in one of the VPN reviews--PrivatVPN clearly states that their U.S. servers are NOT anonymous (they log both IP and time-stamp on the incoming ports). I am assuming the Feds jammed this down their throats, and they didn't like it but couldn't do anything to stop it. The question is why don't the other VPNs that have servers in the U.S. state the same disclaimer? In light of the Prism program being made public, this is significant. A publish date of March 12, 2013 makes this review of VPNs pre-Snowden.
Perhaps PrivatVPN was trying "enlighten" us all about the level of intrusion they were subject to in the U.S. without actually saying that the NSA had them by the balls.
Seriously. Nobody?
It makes a difference when it is a current customer asking that question (as opposed to someone just shopping for a VPN service).
Major payment services are really starting to piss me off--they are quite literally trying to decide how and where we spend our money. I would REALLY like to know what other services businesses will be using when people start bailing on the Big (Ol') Boys.
It's just a phone call, folks.
I personally do not use a VPN service anymore, but have a request for anyone that does. I also request you post results here, in this thread, to share any response you may receive.
Please call your current VPN provider and ask them how to go about paying them for their services without using PayPal, Visa, Mastercard or AmEx. Just see what advice they give to you in order for you to continue using their services (if any).
I am curious as to how the providers themselves are responding to their customers. They may have already come up with a viable alternative payment method that has been kept out of the media.
" You don't know you're part of the problem because you're working on just a tiny piece of it."
I would think that anyone smart enough to work on this sort of technology would also be smart enough to realize that when they are asked to work on a project without knowing what it actually is, that they know there is a reason for that secrecy. Continuing onward without questioning that secrecy, or more specifically, the intent of it, is intentional disregard. And, as far as I am concerned, that intentional disregard amounts to culpability.
It also sounds like a pretty lame excuse to me.
" We let them do it..."
Yep. And we continue to do so now, as we will continue to do so in the future as long as we use the technology they monitor--it would be foolish to expect governments to stop once they've "delved too deep...", as they say in Middle Earth.
Non-cash transactions, cellphones and the Internet account for most of the data they collect. The real question is which is more important, the tech or the Liberty?
The NSA has pretty much proven to me that the INTERNET is an "un-patched vulnerability..."