omnibus PRISM/NSA/free Edward Snowden/encryption tutorial thread

http://preview.reuters.com/2013/8/9/nsa-to-cut-system-administrators-by-90-percent-to

― It is like ganging up on Enya (Trayce), Thursday, August 8, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Still, I'm not sure letting go of 90% of their sysadmins is anywhere close to the right solution. Like I said, it'll be interesting to see what these people will do with their knowledge when they look for work elsewhere.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/09/lavabit-shutdown-snowden-silicon-valley

One of the most remarkable, and I think enduring, aspects of the NSA stories is how much open defiance there has been of the US government. Numerous countries around the world have waved away threats, from Hong Kong and Russia to multiple Latin American nations. Populations around the world are expressing serious indignation at the NSA and at their own government to the extent they have collaborated. And now Lavabit has shut itself down rather than participate in what it calls "crimes against the American people", and in doing so, has gone to the legal limits in order to tell us all what has happened. There will undoubtedly be more acts inspired by Snowden's initial choice to unravel his own life to make the world aware of what the US government has been doing in the dark.

the automization of a lot of grunt work was probably happening anyway

*automatization*

Very true.

Obama said he intends to work with Congress on proposals that would add an adversarial voice — effectively one advocating privacy rights — to the secret proceedings before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Several Democratic senators have proposed such a measure.

I believe there have been documented instances where the White House has said they will "work" with Congress, and that work consists of trying to water down the Congressional proposals.

So, in summary:

- Snowden is not a patriot, yet we will look at changing the law
- the US is a free country that welcomes open debate, yet we will charge Snowden and want him behind bars
- we will come up with some new bureaucratic level to monitor the NSA

I wish I could come up with some snide remark or cynicism, but I am too damn disappointed in Obama's shenanigans.

it's funny that he even feels the need to do this, it's not like he's going to appease anybody or win any more elections

Must be ego or vanity, I can't think of any other reason.

there's the remote possibility that he is genuinely morally conflicted about his own power. but who knows really.

That's true, but just like other things he is morally conflicted about (wants Gitmo closed, but can't; wanted to radically change the US role and image in the world yet has drone attacks costing innocent lives every week etc etc), he never seems to surpass the helpless posture of someone morally conflicted. It always ends with Obama being morally conflicted, there is never the next step of showing people "I am morally conflicted but I will do something about it".

'Old Europe' (Germany, France, and because I live there, Holland) has been dormant for so long on so many issues. Obama was welcomed as if he was Christ that returned. I, for a big part, applauded his election with equal euphoria. But it is a bitter disappointment. He doesn't seem to 'get' how important all this is in this day and age.

The only thing I wish for is that 'Old Europe', turning its back on Obama right now and being bitterly disappointed in him, will pick this issue up and make it a priority. It's long overdue.

Obama's key line aimed at other countries tonight was this:

"And to others around the world, I want to make clear, once again, that America is not interested in spying on ordinary people."

O RLY? That's it?! That's supposed to make me feel you understand the gravity of this thing?

Could go on and on here, as it really angers me. It is not up to America to determine who is 'ordinary' or not. The problem is not "spying on ordinary people". The problem is the US just being unable to keep their filthy paws out of the candy jar of data. If you are not interested in "ordinary people", then don't hoard their data.

lol 'old europe' sat on its hands and twiddled when genocide was happening on its doorstep within the past twenty years, i wouldn't hold my breath on 'old europe' manning up anytime soon. it's little more than a bank that has a gift shop selling cheeses and assorted post cards of old masters at this point.

i wouldn't hold my breath on 'old europe' manning up anytime soon. it's little more than a bank that has a gift shop selling cheeses and assorted post cards of old masters at this point.

― balls, Friday, August 9, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

An indication of part of Europe's disappointment, is this, of course: http://www.telekom.com/media/company/192834

That was just released today. Yes, there is a lot of marketing spin on that, but the very little substance it does have, indicates that Europe will be making it harder for NSA to gain access to other countries's citizens's personal data. Does Germany allow surveillance? Absolutely. But that's not the point.

In the end, American IT jobs will be affected negatively and the whole cloud concept, which originally was a term people in IT wouldn't use because of its connotations, has now gone back some 15 years.

This entire situation aggravates the IT sector in the US and non-American companies will definitely be looking into selling the "NSA-free" model, regardless of how much their respective countries snoop around their personal data.

i think you're overselling some anecdotes. all state power wants is to monopolize power, in "old europe" or elsewhere

it's little more than a bank that has a gift shop selling cheeses and assorted post cards of old masters at this point.

oh snaps

i think you're overselling some anecdotes. all state power wants is to monopolize power, in "old europe" or elsewhere

― Mordy , Friday, August 9, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That's true, but just like other things he is morally conflicted about (wants Gitmo closed, but can't; wanted to radically change the US role and image in the world yet has drone attacks costing innocent lives every week etc etc), he never seems to surpass the helpless posture of someone morally conflicted. It always ends with Obama being morally conflicted, there is never the next step of showing people "I am morally conflicted but I will do something about it".

i don't disagree but tbh i think on this and other civil liberties issues obama's basically got very little to gain from taking a stand on this. most democrats seem closer to the 'this is troubling' side than the 'this is an inexcusable outrage' side, and most conservatives -- even the ones attacking the NSA stuff now -- would be blasting him for being 'weak' et al if he tried to put the brakes on these programs. this isn't to excuse obama but the fault for this state of affairs goes way way way beyond him.

lol 'old europe' sat on its hands and twiddled when genocide was happening on its doorstep within the past twenty years, i wouldn't hold my breath on 'old europe' manning up anytime soon. it's little more than a bank that has a gift shop selling cheeses and assorted post cards of old masters at this point.

― balls, Saturday, August 10, 2013 12:25 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nice comment and all but how is this any different from what I already said, apart from tone, ffiling it under 'dormant'?

JD otm. But if you are the POTUS, taking a stand once or twice helps. Because he can. Because he's the president. Regardless of gain, at least show some intention. Show good will. This definitely goes beyond Obama, I don't see nor intend to make him the scapegoat here. But he could do a hell of a lot more than he is doing now. And he isn't.

ppl imagining he's morally conflicted is already a gain

i don't disagree but tbh i think on this and other civil liberties issues obama's basically got very little to gain from taking a stand on this. most democrats seem closer to the 'this is troubling' side than the 'this is an inexcusable outrage' side,

Depends! Dianne Feinstein's defenses align with what we would have called the Dem national security side of the Senate (i.e. Biden, and every other Senate Democrat [like Byrd and Sam Nunn in the ninetieswho would have defended the president]).

But the truth is that European countries will make it harder for the US to collect data on their users.

Correct. Because those same European countries are rushing to build their own Total Information Awareness systems.

"I welcome this debate, we just need to put the guy who started it in solitary confinement forever."

But the truth is that European countries will make it harder for the US to collect data on their users.
Correct. Because those same European countries are rushing to build their own Total Information Awareness systems.

― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, August 10, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Anyway, today's news: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/the-nsa-is-commandeering-the-internet/278572/

I want to hear more about this:

Already companies are taking their data and communications out of the US.

it's funny that he even feels the need to do this, it's not like he's going to appease anybody or win any more elections

Must be ego or vanity, I can't think of any other reason.

there's the remote strong possibility that he is ACTUALLY THIS GUY

otm

surely the more vain/egotistical option would just be to go "trust me, I got this" and not publically make appeals for limiting his own power...?

that was the last guy's brand

before history as much as before the voters which is why he still does this thinkyface stuff

http://www.eddysrun.com

via the Fandor film blog:

“How Laura Poitras Helped Snowden Spill His Secrets” is the straight-forward title of Peter Maass‘s cover story for this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine. It is, of course, an utterly riveting read, supplemented by Maass’s encrypted question-and-answer session with Snowden himself. Snowden: “We came to a point in the verification and vetting process where I discovered Laura was more suspicious of me than I was of her, and I’m famously paranoid.” And Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald recalls that when he met Poitras, “She insisted that I not take my cellphone, because of this ability the government has to remotely listen to cellphones even when they are turned off.”

You’ve likely heard that Laura Poitras has her reasons for being cautious. With each successive film—My Country, My Country, nominated for an Oscar in 2006, The Oath (2010), winner of several awards (Sundance, Peabody, MacArthur), and now the one on surveillance which she began in 2011—Poitras has been detained at airports with increasing frequency. One “security guy” told her, “You have a threat score that is off the Richter scale. You are at 400 out of 400.” In short, she’s come a long way from the San Francisco Art Institute and those classes with Ernie Gehr.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/laura-poitras-snowden.html

One “security guy” told her, “You have a threat score that is off the Richter scale. You are at 400 out of 400.”

this strikes me as kind of

something

being an Oscar nominee who's making a feature doc abt surveillance racks up pts i guess

Once she began working on her surveillance film in 2011, she raised her digital security to an even higher level. She cut down her use of a cellphone, which betrays not only who you are calling and when, but your location at any given point in time. She was careful about e-mailing sensitive documents or having sensitive conversations on the phone. She began using software that masked the Web sites she visited. After she was contacted by Snowden in 2013, she tightened her security yet another notch. In addition to encrypting any sensitive e-mails, she began using different computers for editing film, for communicating and for reading sensitive documents (the one for sensitive documents is air-gapped, meaning it has never been connected to the Internet).

These precautions might seem paranoid — Poitras describes them as “pretty extreme” — but the people she has interviewed for her film were targets of the sort of surveillance and seizure that she fears. William Binney, a former top N.S.A. official who publicly accused the agency of illegal surveillance, was at home one morning in 2007 when F.B.I. agents burst in and aimed their weapons at his wife, his son and himself. Binney was, at the moment the agent entered his bathroom and pointed a gun at his head, naked in the shower. His computers, disks and personal records were confiscated and have not yet been returned. Binney has not been charged with any crime.

“I’m not stopping what I’m doing, but I have left the country. I literally didn’t feel like I could protect my material in the United States, and this was before I was contacted by Snowden. If you promise someone you’re going to protect them as a source and you know the government is monitoring you or seizing your laptop, you can’t actually physically do it.”

lol @ http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/12/irony_alert_pentagon_now_fears_a_big_data_national_security_threat

Have any of you actually read the entire Poitras piece? I'm not done with it yet, but here is a Q&A with Snowden conducted by Peter Maass: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/magazine/snowden-maass-transcript.html

i did. slow day at the office.

For Americans who want to speak out against the NSA: http://nowaynsa.com

NSA copying emails directed to or originating from the US and Fourth Amendment stuff: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/11/nsa-internet-surveillance-email

http://news.yahoo.com/-dni-clapper-won%E2%80%99t-control-spying-review--white-house--194607489.html

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/obamas-reform-panel-to-be-led-by-clapper-who-denied-spying-to-congress/

i did. slow day at the office.

― BIG HOOS aka the denigrated boogeyman (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Tuesday, August 13, 2013 7:04 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I did too, though it was a fast day at the office (I was procrastinating). An amazing piece tbh.

clapper panel finds clapper guilty of loving america too much

http://www.mit.edu/newsoffice/2013/encryption-is-less-secure-than-we-thought-0814.html

In this case, rather than prior knowledge about the statistical frequency of the symbols used in a password, the attacker has prior knowledge about the probable noise characteristics of the environment: Phase noise with one set of parameters is more probable than phase noise with another set of parameters, which in turn is more probable than Brownian noise, and so on. Armed with these statistics, an attacker could infer the password stored on the card much more rapidly than was previously thought.

That is cool

Worrying presentation at Black Hat this year: http://breachattack.com

https://twitter.com/WikileaksTruck/status/367760668117565440/photo/1

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BRqMYRICAAAr2gj.jpg

^^^ manning, just now

manningsplain