Re:encryption, people, encryption!
on
Inside Echelon
·
· Score: 1
I have recently been informed, by a not-too-reliable source (someone can confirm), that the NSA now allows keys of any size for data communications. (Last I heard it was at something like 1024bits, still pretty big.) The point is that they wouldn't make it at all legal if they couldn't crack it. Remember the hubbub over ANY encryption at all--that betrayed their strong and paranoic will-to-know-all. So, encrypt your postcard all you want, they're still postcards easily accessible to prying and resouceful eyes. Also, I take a certain offence to this fend-for-yourself attitude. It shows an age in which we have given up on the project of government--not as a workable solution, but as a changeable entity. What I mean by that is that I doubt we will ever get a workable government that won't eventually fall to some sort of tyranny (simple or complex), BUT the government exerts a great deal of pressure, obviously, and we still have some ability to keep it at bay for a while. If we fight with encryption, they'll merely fight back and find a way to crack it. (It is my uninformed opinion [read: hunch] that no public-key encryption is safe). Anyway, the fundamental pessimism of your attitude is alarming and filled with lazy resignation. No government will rule well, but all governments are disorganized mushes (how many legislators do you think really know anything about Echelon? few. The president?) . Use the disorganization to your advantage--it's one of the few things you can count on.
Perhaps it isn't the reason, but I think you misunderstood. First, the NSA is far larger than the FBI or CIA and it uses both as its agents (the CIA more than the FBI). The NSA has a fundamental domestic paranoia about discreet communications (e.g. their fight to keep all cellular phone calls unencrypted). If not directly linked (but I still doubt it) the resemblance is alarming. And, as I criticised the above post, I am well aware that all the intelligence agancies work together somewhat. This is especially apparent given their shifting, vague, and often self-defined roles. As far as need to know and want to know...the FBI may want to have a need to know in the future. And does the NSA need to know about all the international communications that I'm sure it filters every day? Not bloody likely. Need to know isn't the issue--that's why the court order line that the FBI takes is utter bullshit. They can already get a court order and have the ISPs do the LEGAL thing any time they want. What more do they want? I don't honestly know, but it creeps me out.
Although I would like to imagine that King would be nowhere if this is the only way he ever sold his stuff, I know I'm wrong. People like bad things just as publishers give them bad things. There is a discrepency, of course, with the balance of power belonging to publishers. I just wish it was someone else. Remember the Public Enemy album giveaway? I just wish I could respect King--that's why I'm so harsh. I just want it to make people like what I call (selfish) good writing, but fuck it. Pay the dollar and get your jimmies wriggling.
Sorry, I guess I don't have a lot of respect for Stephen King, but I do have respect for this move, in a way. The sad part of this whole thing is that you really do have to be one of the biggest names in the publishing world, commanding million dollar advances, etc. This is one of those cases where I would like to give the dollar, but I don't want to sully my hard drive with any King algorithms. The most interesting aspect of all this, I guess, is that we will no longer be force-fed our literature. There was a point in time when I dreamed of being a super-well read kind of guy, looking for books that I would like AND that were hard to find. I have just now begun that stage in my life and I can honestly say publishers, nowadays, almost always pass up a good book the first time around. "Force-fed literature" is a fairly obvious phrase, and I imagine most people know what I'm talking about. Stephen King has been force-fed to us. I think he stopped being a good writer (if he ever was) a long time ago. Most good science-fiction readers can tell you that his ideas are piquing only to those whose brains are piqued by NBC news. Most good readers will tell you that his writing was very rarely good, or well wrought. So at least I get a chance to snub King. I hate the way publishers do things, of course. But I still like BOOKS (I will NEVER NEVER NEVER get one of those palm-book thingies) and I still like good writing. I dislike King's high-handed mission here. It's almost as bad as the publishers. After all, writiers (bad ones, mostly) have been selling their stuff on the web for a long time, but it never makes a dent. They would still need the hype to get anyone to buy. The kind of hype a WELL PUBLISHED author like King can bring to bear. Fuck him. Let him fall on his face (though he won't, because you've all been brainwashed by the publishing industry that you pretend to whip).
You TRUST the NSA and the CIA? Idiot. The FBI is not trying to "catch up" and be Big Brother. And the CIA is only as intelligent as the NSA wants it to be--a dumb grunt at best. Can't you see that Carnivore is a very natural and FINAL extension to Echelon? What do you want to bet that the reason the FBI is keeping the widgets of Carnivore hidden is that it contains all the language-seeking algorithms ("dictionaries") of Echelon? Okay, forget the idiot part, sorry. But listen, they now've got everything, all our communications, this one included. (And don't you doubt for a second that the FBI monitors this very post, if not to imply how free-thinking people operate [tough for them to understand] and apply it to free-thinking "transgressors".) Echelon has to tip-toe around laws that prevents US agencies spying on US citizens by getting some other lackey gov. to do it for us. (When are we going to get pissed off at the UK and Canada for liking the fucking they get from the rogue NSA? After all, New Zealand squeeled on Echelon--that's why we know ANYTHING about it--and we didn't bomb them----yet.) Now, to make things look more domestic (the FBI protects us from us, after all, right) the NSA tells its boyz to go tap ISPs and make it look like a saintly act. By the way, the FBI has a COURT ORDER to do this. Earthlink threw that up with EXTREME RISK. If it wasn't so well publicised, Earthlink would look like right now. They're backpedaling on the PR aspect of all this, but the beauty of we, the American people, is that we'll have forgotten all this by the next commercial break. Where'd I put my beer? One final thing: http://www.fbi.gov/programs/carnivore/carnivore.ht m Read: "The system is not susceptible to abuse because it requires expertise to install and operate, and such operations are conducted, as required in the court orders, with close cooperation with the ISPs." Someone else laugh at that, I'm going to go throw up. For those of you who remember a certain old political cartoon: FUZZWORDS.
I agree (and worry, I'm an Earthlink user) about this dichotomy. But, if it was simply technical, then Earthlink wouldn't have made an excuse, they would've just worked to solve the problem. In fact, if it was simply technical, they would've kept in under wraps because of customer backlash from negative publicity. However, it could be a delay tactic to wait until people forget (a bankable prediction) so they can install it later without anyone noticing. IMPORTANT: I say we (fellow Earthlink users) use their probable fear of customer pullouts (they're competeing with the new Time-Warner media conglomerate, so they're at a fragile point business-wise) to keep Carnivore off of Earthlink. Start writing threatening e-mails to them that'll you'll break subscription if Carnivore goes in. In this way, we can bribe the government (by prxy) to protect the rights they should be protecting anyway--but obviously don't giva a fuck about.
Clever? What single-dimensional world of strategy do you live on? "I'm not going to try and put your king in checkmate." Who would believe that crap? Who would be stupid enough to believe that people would believe that crap? Something subtler to think about: Does Earthlink, perhaps, have snooper stuff of its own for commercial reasons that it doesn't want detected? Maybe, but who cares, all they can do is send you target ads. Think about the excuse they gave--it would interfere with their service. Would it? Probably not, or at least it wouldn't be difficult to make it so that it wasn't. (They are quite wealthy, you know). I think they were looking for a graceful way to say no to the FBI because they feared customer backlash. If they wanted to hide it, why even say anything? What has AOL said? Nothing. Do they have Carnivore? More than likely. I am an Earthlink user and I don't care why they said no as long as they did. I sent them an e-mail today applauding the decision, but warning them that I would no longer be a customer if they did install it. I ask that all other Earthlink users do the same. It's funny, but in this way we can essentially "bribe" the government (a "bribe" by proxy via Earthlink) to protect the rights they're supposed to be protecting anyway.
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I have recently been informed, by a not-too-reliable source (someone can confirm), that the NSA now allows keys of any size for data communications. (Last I heard it was at something like 1024bits, still pretty big.) The point is that they wouldn't make it at all legal if they couldn't crack it. Remember the hubbub over ANY encryption at all--that betrayed their strong and paranoic will-to-know-all. So, encrypt your postcard all you want, they're still postcards easily accessible to prying and resouceful eyes. Also, I take a certain offence to this fend-for-yourself attitude. It shows an age in which we have given up on the project of government--not as a workable solution, but as a changeable entity. What I mean by that is that I doubt we will ever get a workable government that won't eventually fall to some sort of tyranny (simple or complex), BUT the government exerts a great deal of pressure, obviously, and we still have some ability to keep it at bay for a while. If we fight with encryption, they'll merely fight back and find a way to crack it. (It is my uninformed opinion [read: hunch] that no public-key encryption is safe). Anyway, the fundamental pessimism of your attitude is alarming and filled with lazy resignation. No government will rule well, but all governments are disorganized mushes (how many legislators do you think really know anything about Echelon? few. The president?) . Use the disorganization to your advantage--it's one of the few things you can count on.
Perhaps it isn't the reason, but I think you misunderstood. First, the NSA is far larger than the FBI or CIA and it uses both as its agents (the CIA more than the FBI). The NSA has a fundamental domestic paranoia about discreet communications (e.g. their fight to keep all cellular phone calls unencrypted). If not directly linked (but I still doubt it) the resemblance is alarming. And, as I criticised the above post, I am well aware that all the intelligence agancies work together somewhat. This is especially apparent given their shifting, vague, and often self-defined roles. As far as need to know and want to know...the FBI may want to have a need to know in the future. And does the NSA need to know about all the international communications that I'm sure it filters every day? Not bloody likely. Need to know isn't the issue--that's why the court order line that the FBI takes is utter bullshit. They can already get a court order and have the ISPs do the LEGAL thing any time they want. What more do they want? I don't honestly know, but it creeps me out.
Although I would like to imagine that King would be nowhere if this is the only way he ever sold his stuff, I know I'm wrong. People like bad things just as publishers give them bad things. There is a discrepency, of course, with the balance of power belonging to publishers. I just wish it was someone else. Remember the Public Enemy album giveaway? I just wish I could respect King--that's why I'm so harsh. I just want it to make people like what I call (selfish) good writing, but fuck it. Pay the dollar and get your jimmies wriggling.
Sorry, I guess I don't have a lot of respect for Stephen King, but I do have respect for this move, in a way. The sad part of this whole thing is that you really do have to be one of the biggest names in the publishing world, commanding million dollar advances, etc. This is one of those cases where I would like to give the dollar, but I don't want to sully my hard drive with any King algorithms. The most interesting aspect of all this, I guess, is that we will no longer be force-fed our literature. There was a point in time when I dreamed of being a super-well read kind of guy, looking for books that I would like AND that were hard to find. I have just now begun that stage in my life and I can honestly say publishers, nowadays, almost always pass up a good book the first time around. "Force-fed literature" is a fairly obvious phrase, and I imagine most people know what I'm talking about. Stephen King has been force-fed to us. I think he stopped being a good writer (if he ever was) a long time ago. Most good science-fiction readers can tell you that his ideas are piquing only to those whose brains are piqued by NBC news. Most good readers will tell you that his writing was very rarely good, or well wrought. So at least I get a chance to snub King. I hate the way publishers do things, of course. But I still like BOOKS (I will NEVER NEVER NEVER get one of those palm-book thingies) and I still like good writing. I dislike King's high-handed mission here. It's almost as bad as the publishers. After all, writiers (bad ones, mostly) have been selling their stuff on the web for a long time, but it never makes a dent. They would still need the hype to get anyone to buy. The kind of hype a WELL PUBLISHED author like King can bring to bear. Fuck him. Let him fall on his face (though he won't, because you've all been brainwashed by the publishing industry that you pretend to whip).
You TRUST the NSA and the CIA? Idiot. The FBI is not trying to "catch up" and be Big Brother. And the CIA is only as intelligent as the NSA wants it to be--a dumb grunt at best. Can't you see that Carnivore is a very natural and FINAL extension to Echelon? What do you want to bet that the reason the FBI is keeping the widgets of Carnivore hidden is that it contains all the language-seeking algorithms ("dictionaries") of Echelon? Okay, forget the idiot part, sorry. But listen, they now've got everything, all our communications, this one included. (And don't you doubt for a second that the FBI monitors this very post, if not to imply how free-thinking people operate [tough for them to understand] and apply it to free-thinking "transgressors".) Echelon has to tip-toe around laws that prevents US agencies spying on US citizens by getting some other lackey gov. to do it for us. (When are we going to get pissed off at the UK and Canada for liking the fucking they get from the rogue NSA? After all, New Zealand squeeled on Echelon--that's why we know ANYTHING about it--and we didn't bomb them----yet.) Now, to make things look more domestic (the FBI protects us from us, after all, right) the NSA tells its boyz to go tap ISPs and make it look like a saintly act. By the way, the FBI has a COURT ORDER to do this. Earthlink threw that up with EXTREME RISK. If it wasn't so well publicised, Earthlink would look like right now. They're backpedaling on the PR aspect of all this, but the beauty of we, the American people, is that we'll have forgotten all this by the next commercial break. Where'd I put my beer? One final thing: http://www.fbi.gov/programs/carnivore/carnivore.ht m Read: "The system is not susceptible to abuse because it requires expertise to install and operate, and such operations are conducted, as required in the court orders, with close cooperation with the ISPs." Someone else laugh at that, I'm going to go throw up. For those of you who remember a certain old political cartoon: FUZZWORDS.
I agree (and worry, I'm an Earthlink user) about this dichotomy. But, if it was simply technical, then Earthlink wouldn't have made an excuse, they would've just worked to solve the problem. In fact, if it was simply technical, they would've kept in under wraps because of customer backlash from negative publicity. However, it could be a delay tactic to wait until people forget (a bankable prediction) so they can install it later without anyone noticing. IMPORTANT: I say we (fellow Earthlink users) use their probable fear of customer pullouts (they're competeing with the new Time-Warner media conglomerate, so they're at a fragile point business-wise) to keep Carnivore off of Earthlink. Start writing threatening e-mails to them that'll you'll break subscription if Carnivore goes in. In this way, we can bribe the government (by prxy) to protect the rights they should be protecting anyway--but obviously don't giva a fuck about.
Clever? What single-dimensional world of strategy do you live on? "I'm not going to try and put your king in checkmate." Who would believe that crap? Who would be stupid enough to believe that people would believe that crap? Something subtler to think about: Does Earthlink, perhaps, have snooper stuff of its own for commercial reasons that it doesn't want detected? Maybe, but who cares, all they can do is send you target ads. Think about the excuse they gave--it would interfere with their service. Would it? Probably not, or at least it wouldn't be difficult to make it so that it wasn't. (They are quite wealthy, you know). I think they were looking for a graceful way to say no to the FBI because they feared customer backlash. If they wanted to hide it, why even say anything? What has AOL said? Nothing. Do they have Carnivore? More than likely. I am an Earthlink user and I don't care why they said no as long as they did. I sent them an e-mail today applauding the decision, but warning them that I would no longer be a customer if they did install it. I ask that all other Earthlink users do the same. It's funny, but in this way we can essentially "bribe" the government (a "bribe" by proxy via Earthlink) to protect the rights they're supposed to be protecting anyway.