tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post8621476262302850469..comments2024-03-28T16:12:40.861+01:00Comments on Electrospaces.net: From BULLRUN to NOCON and LACONICP/Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12681178058475882593noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post-34492987521652273352013-10-21T00:03:08.088+02:002013-10-21T00:03:08.088+02:00Thank you for your comment. I agree that scope cre...Thank you for your comment. I agree that scope creep, as you described it, is dangerous. But that's not the fault of agencies like NSA, but rather of policymakers and politicians. Lawmakers and courts should set the boundaries here. Unfortunately, politicians nowadays are very willing to promise more and more safety and security and hence lowering the criteria for electronic surveillance etc.<br /><br />I think eavesdropping and other kinds of electronic surveillance are not bad in se, they can be usefull, sometimes even the only means to get rid of dangerous enemies and really bad criminals. But these means should be limited, controlled and proportionate. <br /><br />The idea that NSA should only target terrorists has been framed by Snowden and Greenwald. Intelligence agencies (directed by policy makers) have always been interested in a wide range of information about foreign countries, including economic issues, as things like energy resources, trade barriers, etc are often of national interest. Tracking terrorists is a relatively new issue and it's the question whether this should use up so much of the American intelligence resources.P/Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12681178058475882593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post-73719745668386735192013-10-20T06:05:09.466+02:002013-10-20T06:05:09.466+02:00P/K: with respect, your position is deeply naive.
...P/K: with respect, your position is deeply naive.<br /><br />The problem is that there is no such thing as an "ordinary person". It's a nonsense proposition to anyone who would pause to think of it.<br /><br />There are many problems with bulk data collection, but the worst is scope creep.<br /><br />Maybe now they're only targeting terrorists (the evidence from Brazil suggests that isn't true, but let's pretend). But they've collected a huge amount of data. How about they start to target other things, like tax fraud?<br /><br />And remember that, according to one analysis, the average US citizen commits three felonies every day without knowing it.<br /><br />Scope creep is a serious issue. In Australia, where I live, telecommunications interception was originally limited to serious crimes, those being ones which carried a seven year or greater sentence (ie. murder, kidnap). As of 2012, telecommunications interception is now being used to identify and prosecute rubbish dumpers. So the scope has crept from serious criminal misbehavior to people who might leave a pile of rubbish on an empty lot.<br /><br />There's scope creep in action.<br /><br />We already have evidence of major scope creep already (the targeting of Brazil's Petrobras - hardly likely to be on the basis of terrorism). We also know that the NSA also targets drug trafficking, which is not terrorism, and DEA agents are encouraged to recreate the evidence to cover the surveillance activity.<br /><br />So if you think scope creep isn't happening, open your eyes. There's evidence it already is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post-8405860542534302402013-10-16T02:33:08.554+02:002013-10-16T02:33:08.554+02:00Yes, I think people should be made more aware of d...Yes, I think people should be made more aware of digital security, it should be teached at schools, would be great for practicing in math classes. For the sake of convenience we probably rely too much on less secure systems, but I guess that it will always be some kind of balance between the costs, the convenience and the security.<br /><br />But it should also be noted that intelligence agencies like NSA are not interested in the (content of) communications by ordinary people. They are targeting people and organizations which endanger national interests.<br /><br />Ordinary people have more to fear from organized crime, hacking bank accounts and identity theft.P/Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12681178058475882593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post-58534963813561676652013-10-14T20:44:35.158+02:002013-10-14T20:44:35.158+02:00Oh, and maybe I should start a firm in suitcases a...Oh, and maybe I should start a firm in suitcases and hand cuffs. Since we can no longer rely on public key encryption on PC's, there should be a fortune to earn with couriers and suitcases ;-) Dirk Rijmenantshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03973502421787834920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4559002410879446409.post-15474960343635854052013-10-14T20:40:38.181+02:002013-10-14T20:40:38.181+02:00It seems to go more and more in the direction of t...It seems to go more and more in the direction of total non-privacy. Will this end in everyone going back to the 70's era of symmetric keys, one-time pad encryption and secure devices? One thing is certain: virtually every computer is fair game, and today's tables and smart phones are just as bad.<br /><br />It's time that someone throws secure dedicated stand-alone devices on the market that use the insecure computer only as a transportation means for its securely encrypted data. In fact, it's not that hard to develop such dedicated devices.<br /><br />Unfortunately, privacy seems to be the least of people's worries.Dirk Rijmenantshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03973502421787834920noreply@blogger.com