"A National Security Letter..." over 3,000+ (if starting from 9/11)
Number of instances of having received a national security letter: 0
Number of times lied about the above: 0
Anything they want to know about me (outside of what i don't actually utter or write) can be found by tapping my phone, those of my friends, our computers, and by monitoring my DMV, ID, credit, SSA, and payroll information. Oh, and by reading my blogs and posts, elsewhere and here.
i will NEVER quietly accept and not speak about an NSL issued to me. I'll so incensed i might become discombobulated and... well, they're better of tapping me, but don't goddamned give me a letter... But, i suppose they already know there are SOME people not to be trifled with... to avoid at almost all costs when the price of monitoring is vastly cheaper than the cost of fucking with and leaving alive, non-crippled, non-incarcerated. (hold on... someone's knocking the door...)
they would know to LOOK for dual-booting machines. They'd know to ASK. They'd be hip to searching for VirtualBox or VMWare instances hiding partitions. They'd look for signatures of executables, and probably have a kit with all the fingerprints files of all the more 'worrisome' apps and those with crypto modules or dlls.
Then, as with in the 70's and 80' and before and since, when you return from a tech visit or an economic meeting, they'll want to 'debrief' you AND sift through your computer to find out what you know, and what you're hiding, or try to determine to whom you owe or assign your allegiance.
But, i agree with the reply to my earlier post: make EVERYONE a POI (person of interest) so as to cause the deliberate targeting of SO many travelers that it ends up pointing out the the only people getting stung are those not in the profile of dangerous people. Smart and real ter'rists will either memorize their component of a plan, or obtain instructions via other sources, fast or slow.
But, i guess the government agencies have to pull this bullshit hail mary stunt to deflect attention to the REAL story: they're monitoring and back-dooring every computer they can learn about, and most of that starts with the manufacturing process of the hardware and software. BIOS, OS, and other firmware and software are probably firmly in their grip. ISPs, TELCOs, cell companies, cabel providers, libraries, coffee shops, unsecured WIFI and hot spots used by anyone (encrypted or not), and so on. Soon, they'll tap the power grid, since it's a way to send traffic. i wouldn't be surprise if data over electricity is being adopted slowly because the various intel agencies are trying to coordinate government-power-company data routing. Now, THAT would be a REALLY good reason to use solar power and disconnect the home from the grid... Of course, one could probably find a noise generator to pollute ones own (and ONLY own) home to deal with any taps built into commercial products.
Most of the curmudgeons and apathetic and overworked and tired club-hoppers most likely will be asleep. Not, give me a transport enhancer and a molecular scrambler, and I'd have NO qualms about setting up a defensive perimeter about my premises....... (ducks and takes cover...)
So many of you sound like it's not been in effect. Anybody recall the rumors that msoft and others who hate the freedom or power of Linux/Open Source/GPL/et al planted people into (infiltrated) various companies and maintainers/bodies for the purpose of installing monitoring code and code crashers?
Anybody recall the rumors at one point flurrying about when multiple distros relying on a common code or submission were crashing or behaving badly right out the door? (Sometime in the past two years...)
One rumor, as I recall, was that msoft wanted to infiltrate to undermine the credibility of the distributed development community to dissuade major and small companies from implementing Linux-based solutions.
Now, consider a government that sees Linux/OpenSource as a symbol of defiance, and a "forking" of their efforts/resources. Well, when one considers the mentality of many Open Source developers ("information wants to be free", "hide your info from the government"...), and when one considers that ALL software (major?) developers (IBM, Lotus, msoft, and innumerable others operating) in the country are BY LAW required to provide to the NSA any and all encryption keys they provide commercially or otherwise in an application (whether the app is sold domestically or to foreign consumers and governments...), then it's not a far stretch to surmise the government hires, then trains bright people to pretend to be whiz kids at programming, then gets them onto sponsored, private or public projects so they can attain a position of trust.
Once multiple remote, distributed "bots" (humans, in this case) are planted, they in ad-hoc concert or independently or by higher coordination wreak their havoc. Again, consider how some of the recent strings of kernel and other errors affect the minds of those already afraid to learn or adopt Linux/Open Source.
I propose that any and all persons in positions of trust in Linux Development be put on a global database, be vetted, somehow fingerprinted (not necessarily or just by fingers, but academic and public records, convention appearances, and so on) so that they can be found out if they turn out to be moles. They will out themselves at some point, but to avoid legal national security issues, the "outing tool" needs to be very carefully planned and implemented.
I would dare say maintainers and submitters have been infiltrated, positions of trust given or hijacked by corporate as well as government interests. Actually, "infiltration" was one word used...
What is mind-boggling is that they don't seem to have an "out" for those whose laptops have the common multi-hundred-gigabyte drives. If you're separated from your laptop and media or not, it can take QUITE some time to scan the drive, fingerprint it for future reference (especially to save time the next time they encounter you), let alone deal with data under the same filenames but with different or similar content, as in file revisions.
You might not be cute and savvy about scrambling (not talking about encrypting) the files so as to make difficult anyone's attempt to "understand" the jumbled words, but that'll be cause for longer detention.
So, if Customs has travelers log in and grant them observed or private access to you hardware, why do they bother? Just to SHOW they can FUCK with you. Real and smart terrorists are just LAUGHING at how their rare local attacks have semi-paralyzed the nation, cause an erosion of privacy laws and rights, and know that statistically their few attacks have jacked up the cost of doing business.
But, one major side effect they probably DON'T like is that they created the world's largest "urban works program" with all sorts of variously-skilled people lifted up onto a payroll. So, what moral or fear gain do they get? If they want to CRASH they system, just don't attack for quite a LONG time. Eventually, the US will tire of paying surplus employees through surrogate security agencies. No, wait, check that... Just yesterday on NPR/Fresh Air i heard that CIA agents and analysts who retire keep their clearances and go work for civilian contractors/intel suppliers, but at HIGHER salaries than the government directly paid.
"Terrorism" and the "war" on it are just a WMD--- Weapon of Mass Distraction.
What is the point of all this public advice. You can bet your ass that all the cognizant agencies are monitoring this site, sifting and recording it. ANY suggestions are just "feel good" as far as most of the submitters here might as well feel. If you ARE a POI, they will probably:
- demand to remove and clone the drive - take the drive and send you on your way - take the WHOLE computer, and send you on your way - sift your luggage and look for ANY AND ALL electronic media
Then, they (whomever "they" applies to, so don't assail me on "generalizing they")in power might just decide to pass a law (related to nullifying all the suggestions here in slash) stating that delaying, disrupting, obfuscating, or otherwise hampering a lawful inspection is breaking a law and tantamount to treason, aiding and abetting or otherwise providing moral and material comfort to enemies of the state, and so on.
Trying to be clever and mailing stuff in advance of or even after the flight will just make them creative or clever or ham-fisted enough to run you through Visual Analytics or whatever version/mod they have, locate any shipment companies you use or are related to your place of work, residence, or trackable credit or monetary instruments you use.
Short of using black-market smugglers, your data is easier to take with a warrant at 4AM at your door.
So much for living in a "free democracy". We're all pussies with bravado. The quickest way to end this shit is toss out the tyrants, demand the country stop bombing or occupying other nations, and clean up the country's reputation. It can NOT be Nbr ONE ALL the goddam time, NOR SHOULD IT BE. Things go full circle, and cycles in nature also do or should apply to human-made constructs (physical, moral, legal, whatever). I will NEVER support the idea that any one given nation IS pre-eminent and deserves to be or shall be for eternity or in my lifetime. Nature could just as easily land a few cyclones, surface some earthquakes, and materialise a number of other natural disasters to make the recent Myanmar and China disasters seem like a cakewalk.
Just because the US has higher-standard building codes does NOT mean it has cleverly out-witted nature. I dare say the US is just slightly above "lucky", and the hubris and bravado will have a price, someday. It's really up to nature, or if you have one, your god, to decide when and how much damage falls upon a political location/entity. Count every day you're alive, fed, sheltered, employed, and unrestrained as a good day to be cherished. Cretins in power are who threaten us all by their recklessness, greed, power-mongering. No matter what nation they operate in.
But, back to the laptops... if they want your data, they can get it anywhere YOU can be found or followed. If they can't GET it, they (whomever "they" applies to...) can destroy or deprive you of what they CAN find-- just to punish you, just to be retaliatory for defying and defiling their existence.
To all the smarties who think circuitous, encrypted paths are an anonymiser for you, they're already and have for some while, been on to you. That you haven't been "pinged" is not evidence that you're private or anonymous. Most of you have been cataloged. All that you really have going for you is that you probably haven't crossed some line that would cost you your freedom or time.
So, to work around it, all protesters need to have sonic-activated bleed-makers. Insert in the ear, or as a collar around the neck, tuned specifically to government frequencies. When the government uses said offensive device, the "sound proof" will be earmarked or collared around the victims/protesters/dissidents.
ANY time some damned government (regardless of the country, EVEN if it's the u.s.a) dares to make zero-evidence weapons, a defiant nullification of anonymity should be created in the event the weapon's use is domestic vs true battlefield. Damned weaponeers and deviant policy makers...
Sounds to ME like THEY need a "ring around the collar"...
... So, this quantum break-fix happening in this way, is what, a one-in-a-gwee-zillion event? Does that make it statistically a... Quantum Singularity?
on where you are, and that determines how hard condoms are to come by... (Careful... I'm watching my prepositions, and not necessarily the pre-positions....)...
But, in the vein of hard drives, i guess a not having protection can cause a bunch of thrashing about in the end... (buns, umm, PUNS intended...)
idea, using old computers because it would keep millions of them out of landfills. But, then they're so OLD. Then, I thought, "Why not use honey nets"? But, then it's possibly a single point of failure. We all know the mil doesn't like relics, and it doesn't like SPOFs (single points of failure)...
Maybe they can have a Million Computers March? A new line of firewall given meaning...
Firs, flags up our asses. Now what? BOTS up our asses? Poking the civilian backbone... I guess they want to reclaim the fruits of DARPA, take us to the combative token (but possibly Tolkien) ring... By the Lord of the Flies, we'll be floored by the lies...
Anyway, to reassembling the packets... To that, i say, "FSCK" that... They can keep their armed political forays in the realm of the military.
What's next, an RFC or an RFP to "draft" personal computers into service? I think that is "crossing the wire in the ether" (to make a pun on "crossing the line in a sand")... hehehe
To use all those Sixes, is, umm, hell, SICK. Gives a new ring to SickSigma... umm, SIX Sigma.... But a lot of these goods are still damaged, since there's definitely no Nine 9's uptime or reliability in humans, except in failing over to various vices, hehehe...
So, are we gonna see something like an "Emergence" of "A Fistful of Datas"?, or some sort of new Vertiform City? They may want to think twice about opening that box..., hehehe...MAKE IT SO, Nrs. One...
Withstanding OR notwithstanding the DCMA, I think the developers and players could be literally figuratively "shooting themselves in the foot"... (LOL!)
Slashdot Mirror
E-tern.... some can't even execute a proper U-Turn...
"A National Security Letter..." over 3,000+ (if starting from 9/11)
... well, they're better of tapping me, but don't goddamned give me a letter... But, i suppose they already know there are SOME people not to be trifled with... to avoid at almost all costs when the price of monitoring is vastly cheaper than the cost of fucking with and leaving alive, non-crippled, non-incarcerated. (hold on... someone's knocking the door...)
Number of instances of having received a national security letter: 0
Number of times lied about the above: 0
Anything they want to know about me (outside of what i don't actually utter or write) can be found by tapping my phone, those of my friends, our computers, and by monitoring my DMV, ID, credit, SSA, and payroll information. Oh, and by reading my blogs and posts, elsewhere and here.
i will NEVER quietly accept and not speak about an NSL issued to me. I'll so incensed i might become discombobulated and
they would know to LOOK for dual-booting machines. They'd know to ASK. They'd be hip to searching for VirtualBox or VMWare instances hiding partitions. They'd look for signatures of executables, and probably have a kit with all the fingerprints files of all the more 'worrisome' apps and those with crypto modules or dlls.
Then, as with in the 70's and 80' and before and since, when you return from a tech visit or an economic meeting, they'll want to 'debrief' you AND sift through your computer to find out what you know, and what you're hiding, or try to determine to whom you owe or assign your allegiance.
But, i agree with the reply to my earlier post: make EVERYONE a POI (person of interest) so as to cause the deliberate targeting of SO many travelers that it ends up pointing out the the only people getting stung are those not in the profile of dangerous people. Smart and real ter'rists will either memorize their component of a plan, or obtain instructions via other sources, fast or slow.
But, i guess the government agencies have to pull this bullshit hail mary stunt to deflect attention to the REAL story: they're monitoring and back-dooring every computer they can learn about, and most of that starts with the manufacturing process of the hardware and software. BIOS, OS, and other firmware and software are probably firmly in their grip. ISPs, TELCOs, cell companies, cabel providers, libraries, coffee shops, unsecured WIFI and hot spots used by anyone (encrypted or not), and so on. Soon, they'll tap the power grid, since it's a way to send traffic. i wouldn't be surprise if data over electricity is being adopted slowly because the various intel agencies are trying to coordinate government-power-company data routing. Now, THAT would be a REALLY good reason to use solar power and disconnect the home from the grid... Of course, one could probably find a noise generator to pollute ones own (and ONLY own) home to deal with any taps built into commercial products.
(puts tin foil hat back on shelf...)
Most of the curmudgeons and apathetic and overworked and tired club-hoppers most likely will be asleep. Not, give me a transport enhancer and a molecular scrambler, and I'd have NO qualms about setting up a defensive perimeter about my premises... .... (ducks and takes cover...)
So many of you sound like it's not been in effect. Anybody recall the rumors that msoft and others who hate the freedom or power of Linux/Open Source/GPL/et al planted people into (infiltrated) various companies and maintainers/bodies for the purpose of installing monitoring code and code crashers?
Anybody recall the rumors at one point flurrying about when multiple distros relying on a common code or submission were crashing or behaving badly right out the door? (Sometime in the past two years...)
One rumor, as I recall, was that msoft wanted to infiltrate to undermine the credibility of the distributed development community to dissuade major and small companies from implementing Linux-based solutions.
Now, consider a government that sees Linux/OpenSource as a symbol of defiance, and a "forking" of their efforts/resources. Well, when one considers the mentality of many Open Source developers ("information wants to be free", "hide your info from the government"...), and when one considers that ALL software (major?) developers (IBM, Lotus, msoft, and innumerable others operating) in the country are BY LAW required to provide to the NSA any and all encryption keys they provide commercially or otherwise in an application (whether the app is sold domestically or to foreign consumers and governments...), then it's not a far stretch to surmise the government hires, then trains bright people to pretend to be whiz kids at programming, then gets them onto sponsored, private or public projects so they can attain a position of trust.
Once multiple remote, distributed "bots" (humans, in this case) are planted, they in ad-hoc concert or independently or by higher coordination wreak their havoc. Again, consider how some of the recent strings of kernel and other errors affect the minds of those already afraid to learn or adopt Linux/Open Source.
I propose that any and all persons in positions of trust in Linux Development be put on a global database, be vetted, somehow fingerprinted (not necessarily or just by fingers, but academic and public records, convention appearances, and so on) so that they can be found out if they turn out to be moles. They will out themselves at some point, but to avoid legal national security issues, the "outing tool" needs to be very carefully planned and implemented.
I would dare say maintainers and submitters have been infiltrated, positions of trust given or hijacked by corporate as well as government interests. Actually, "infiltration" was one word used...
"Make it so, Number One!"
What is mind-boggling is that they don't seem to have an "out" for those whose laptops have the common multi-hundred-gigabyte drives. If you're separated from your laptop and media or not, it can take QUITE some time to scan the drive, fingerprint it for future reference (especially to save time the next time they encounter you), let alone deal with data under the same filenames but with different or similar content, as in file revisions.
You might not be cute and savvy about scrambling (not talking about encrypting) the files so as to make difficult anyone's attempt to "understand" the jumbled words, but that'll be cause for longer detention.
So, if Customs has travelers log in and grant them observed or private access to you hardware, why do they bother? Just to SHOW they can FUCK with you. Real and smart terrorists are just LAUGHING at how their rare local attacks have semi-paralyzed the nation, cause an erosion of privacy laws and rights, and know that statistically their few attacks have jacked up the cost of doing business.
But, one major side effect they probably DON'T like is that they created the world's largest "urban works program" with all sorts of variously-skilled people lifted up onto a payroll. So, what moral or fear gain do they get? If they want to CRASH they system, just don't attack for quite a LONG time. Eventually, the US will tire of paying surplus employees through surrogate security agencies. No, wait, check that... Just yesterday on NPR/Fresh Air i heard that CIA agents and analysts who retire keep their clearances and go work for civilian contractors/intel suppliers, but at HIGHER salaries than the government directly paid.
"Terrorism" and the "war" on it are just a WMD--- Weapon of Mass Distraction.
What is the point of all this public advice. You can bet your ass that all the cognizant agencies are monitoring this site, sifting and recording it. ANY suggestions are just "feel good" as far as most of the submitters here might as well feel. If you ARE a POI, they will probably:
- demand to remove and clone the drive
- take the drive and send you on your way
- take the WHOLE computer, and send you on your way
- sift your luggage and look for ANY AND ALL electronic media
Then, they (whomever "they" applies to, so don't assail me on "generalizing they")in power might just decide to pass a law (related to nullifying all the suggestions here in slash) stating that delaying, disrupting, obfuscating, or otherwise hampering a lawful inspection is breaking a law and tantamount to treason, aiding and abetting or otherwise providing moral and material comfort to enemies of the state, and so on.
Trying to be clever and mailing stuff in advance of or even after the flight will just make them creative or clever or ham-fisted enough to run you through Visual Analytics or whatever version/mod they have, locate any shipment companies you use or are related to your place of work, residence, or trackable credit or monetary instruments you use.
Short of using black-market smugglers, your data is easier to take with a warrant at 4AM at your door.
So much for living in a "free democracy". We're all pussies with bravado. The quickest way to end this shit is toss out the tyrants, demand the country stop bombing or occupying other nations, and clean up the country's reputation. It can NOT be Nbr ONE ALL the goddam time, NOR SHOULD IT BE. Things go full circle, and cycles in nature also do or should apply to human-made constructs (physical, moral, legal, whatever). I will NEVER support the idea that any one given nation IS pre-eminent and deserves to be or shall be for eternity or in my lifetime. Nature could just as easily land a few cyclones, surface some earthquakes, and materialise a number of other natural disasters to make the recent Myanmar and China disasters seem like a cakewalk.
Just because the US has higher-standard building codes does NOT mean it has cleverly out-witted nature. I dare say the US is just slightly above "lucky", and the hubris and bravado will have a price, someday. It's really up to nature, or if you have one, your god, to decide when and how much damage falls upon a political location/entity. Count every day you're alive, fed, sheltered, employed, and unrestrained as a good day to be cherished. Cretins in power are who threaten us all by their recklessness, greed, power-mongering. No matter what nation they operate in.
But, back to the laptops... if they want your data, they can get it anywhere YOU can be found or followed. If they can't GET it, they (whomever "they" applies to...) can destroy or deprive you of what they CAN find-- just to punish you, just to be retaliatory for defying and defiling their existence.
To all the smarties who think circuitous, encrypted paths are an anonymiser for you, they're already and have for some while, been on to you. That you haven't been "pinged" is not evidence that you're private or anonymous. Most of you have been cataloged. All that you really have going for you is that you probably haven't crossed some line that would cost you your freedom or time.
So, to work around it, all protesters need to have sonic-activated bleed-makers. Insert in the ear, or as a collar around the neck, tuned specifically to government frequencies. When the government uses said offensive device, the "sound proof" will be earmarked or collared around the victims/protesters/dissidents.
ANY time some damned government (regardless of the country, EVEN if it's the u.s.a) dares to make zero-evidence weapons, a defiant nullification of anonymity should be created in the event the weapon's use is domestic vs true battlefield. Damned weaponeers and deviant policy makers...
Sounds to ME like THEY need a "ring around the collar"...
Damned anonymous button....
One HAIL of a weapon. All HAIL will be breaking loose -- if misused...
... So, this quantum break-fix happening in this way, is what, a one-in-a-gwee-zillion event? Does that make it statistically a ... Quantum Singularity?
called...
"TRON"
need...
Yet ANOTHER "microsoft view of the world" (lower-casing/deprecation of ms' name INTENTIONAL...)
To steer the topic back to technical rather than emotional content, here More related links:
Probably one of the more interesting ideas:
Ballast-Free Ship to Combat Aquatic Life
http://michigantoday.umich.edu/2008/apr/ballast.php
And others:
http://massbay.mit.edu/resources/pdf/NABSdatasheet.pdf
Using pier-side bottles to collect ship ballast water
http://www.seagrant.noaa.gov/newsevents/stories/Ballast_water_battles.html
UV Disinfection Method
http://www.triangularwave.com/a3b.htm
on where you are, and that determines how hard condoms are to come by... (Careful... I'm watching my prepositions, and not necessarily the pre-positions....)...
But, in the vein of hard drives, i guess a not having protection can cause a bunch of thrashing about in the end... (buns, umm, PUNS intended...)
LOT OF BONES about it...
He probably was ACHING to his bones.
Backups must've been a BONE of conTENTION for him.
I guess he was bone-headed..
To...
Space Cadet...
And, throwing a case out the window now has to be "thrown out the airlock"...
idea, using old computers because it would keep millions of them out of landfills. But, then they're so OLD. Then, I thought, "Why not use honey nets"? But, then it's possibly a single point of failure. We all know the mil doesn't like relics, and it doesn't like SPOFs (single points of failure)...
Maybe they can have a Million Computers March? A new line of firewall given meaning...
PROXY WARFARE....
Firs, flags up our asses. Now what? BOTS up our asses? Poking the civilian backbone... I guess they want to reclaim the fruits of DARPA, take us to the combative token (but possibly Tolkien) ring... By the Lord of the Flies, we'll be floored by the lies...
Anyway, to reassembling the packets... To that, i say, "FSCK" that... They can keep their armed political forays in the realm of the military.
What's next, an RFC or an RFP to "draft" personal computers into service? I think that is "crossing the wire in the ether" (to make a pun on "crossing the line in a sand")... hehehe
(captcha: eunuchs)
Too bad they aren't all Caprica 6's babes...,
To use all those Sixes, is, umm, hell, SICK. Gives a new ring to SickSigma... umm, SIX Sigma.... But a lot of these goods are still damaged, since there's definitely no Nine 9's uptime or reliability in humans, except in failing over to various vices, hehehe...
So, are we gonna see something like an "Emergence" of "A Fistful of Datas"?, or some sort of new Vertiform City? They may want to think twice about opening that box..., hehehe.. .MAKE IT SO, Nrs. One...
My mind saw a Spoonerism within about 1/2 second of reading the data recovery company's name:
... damn Spooner, and my penchant for seeing Spoonerisms so quickly...
"Troll on Crack"...
Waiting for the headline:
"Thief robs liquor store in 255 lines of Haiku; no weapons involved. Story at 11."
Too bad u apparently didn't have mod points.... (and, yep, I turned off karma points and subscriber bonus...)
Withstanding OR notwithstanding the DCMA, I think the developers and players could be literally figuratively "shooting themselves in the foot"... (LOL!)