NSA has direct access to tech giants' systems for user data, secret files reveal

Public exposure of who Level 3 is might go a long way.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/new-snowden-docs-show-u-s-spied-during-g20-in-toronto-1.2442448

 

As much as we profit from the Snowden revelations I submit that the NSA exists for a valid reason. If we don't acknowledge that reason then we also lack credibility. Meaning it is in the NSA charter to spy on foreign governments. I cannot fault the NSA for doing that. What I can and fervently do fault them for is when that very same spying is directed at the United States.

 

They're just one part of the problem. I suspect that if every one who is complicit in this were exposed and "put out of business", there wouldn't be an internet backbone left in this country, or in several others.

 

Noone Particular, this is my thought as well. The media and many rights groups are pointing fingers at rather easy targets. Unknown to most are the numerous companies that enable the Microsofts and Googles of the world to exist and run smoothly. For all that Mr. Snowden has exposed, I don't think even he knows it all.

Rolling Thunder, you're correct. There has to be an NSA and other agencies like it. Without them, the security of all nations would be in peril. They are there to be our guardians, which makes all of this a nearly unforgivable betrayal of the people they are there to watch over.

 

The betrayal goes far beyond what we even now realize. I am completely dismayed. I just read an article on Scheier's blog.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2013/11/the_fbi_might_d.html

The article talks about the FBI doing more surveillance then the NSA. This is a must read. The NSA has or will have a monolithic yotta-byte database that is beyond human conception. And suddenly we are to believe that the FBI is the chief agency conducting internal surveillance? The US governments response is clear, we are going to do this despite any and all public pressure to the contrary. If the charter of the NSA explicitly forbids internal spying then we will hand it off to the FBI accomplishing exactly the same goal switching the technical legalities.

 

It makes me wonder what kind of world is being set up for us to live in. What bothers me further is that I fear using methods to evade or lessen the impact of this unnecessary surveillance will just make them try harder and make citizens even more of a target.

 

The future of anonymity is P2P encrypted decentralization. The way these technologies work most efficiently is if the infrastructure goes up and goes viral before the powers that be have a chance to do anything.

 

IMO, there is really no way to avoid it. And yes, it does make one wonder....

 

The question for me is though, will that future actually be embraced more this time around? We've had TOR, I2P and others for years now, and anyone who is on TOR will know how frustrating its slowness can be. TOR is also seemingly very susceptible to malicious interference, so I believe that its days as a useful alternative are numbered. The best answer citizens can have will have to be a creation that allows unfettered access to the modern web without tinkering about with script blockers and other privacy tools. It also has to maintain a useable speed.

Closed off communities such as Freenet provides just aren't suitable, in my opinion at least.

 

What is interesting about TOR is they haven't cracked the encryption. They use packet injection when you visit a target .onion and then go out through one of their exit nodes. The users equipment in other words has been identified while the TOR network has not been compromised. This is important. They have not been able to crack the TOR network itself. In other words users need to learn what causes IP leakage within TOR and plug it. Further, the solution for Tor users is as Mirimir has pointed out. Isolation based technologies like Whonix on a linux 64 bit bare metal host with all your hardware 64 bit and maxed out ram.

 

I just don't see a large portion of the population going through such trouble. Which I'm sure governments are counting on of course. I know far too little about all of the technical details of such things at this point in time. I'm trying very hard to change that so that I will know how to easily protect myself and my family, and also engage in discussions such as this without feeling like I don't belong. If I recall, the biggest dangers of TOR are the use of Flash, Javascript and opening files with programs not configured for TOR while connected to it.

 

Tor does have its limitations.

Using Whonix, at least, what doesn't work with Tor just doesn't work.

And it does it right out of the box.

 

You know what? With Microsoft's history the only way I would ever trust them is if they made all their OS software open source for public inspection and debate. And even if they took this incomprehensible step I would venture on foot into MS country for 3-5 years post. HA

 

@Mirimir

Is running a vpn off a dd-wrt enabled router for ones entire network more secure then say running your vpn off the OpenVPN software on your local machine? Can you discuss the pro's and con's in terms of security please? Thanks guys.

 

It seems clear that relative security of OpenVPN connections are ranked:

• most secure: running in physical router
• Intermediate: running in router VM for use by other VMs
• least secure: running on same machine (or VM) as userland

Except for local attacks, adversaries will most likely compromise userland first. Isolation between userland and OpenVPN (or Tor, for that matter) reduces deanonymization risk. Physical isolation is better than VM isolation, and any isolation is better than none.

There are some disadvantages to running in ones physical router. Anyone who can get on your LAN can see your VPN exit IP address. Also, your VPN credentials are readily accessible. Unless you set up vLANs, one machine can't go online without the VPN without affecting all other machines on your LAN.

In my experience, it's far easier to properly configure pfSense than the Linux-based router/firewall OSs (DD-Wrt, OpenWrt, etc). But pfSense requires more storage and RAM.

 

U.S. Border's Canadian Health Records Access Of 'Great Concern' To Privacy Watchdog

One woman she spoke to, Ellen Richardson, has gone public with her story, saying she was turned away Monday at Toronto's Pearson airport by a U.S. customs agent because she was hospitalized in June 2012 for clinical depression...

...This time, the agent cited the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, which denies entry to people who have had a physical or mental disorder that may pose a "threat to the property, safety or welfare" of themselves or others, she said...

 

http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/11/30/dutch-intelligence-agency-aivd-hacks-internet-fora/

 

I read another thread on Wilders about the individual choice of names throughout the internet. People were talking about consistency of one name, and using ones real name. In the current state of our surveillance this practice is a flat out mistake if you place any value at all on privacy. My name on Wilders links back as you all know to a Riseup account that was created behind a VPN and torified. Wilders accoun t was created behind a VPN and torified. I do not connect here with my real IP. In fact I do not connect anywhere anymore with my real ip. The sad state of affairs is there are many within the United States that do not see the need for privacy. The world is spiraling out of control in this regard. If the majority does not value privacy you are going to wake up to a loss of rights. I quote a much-cited 1995 Supreme Court ruling in McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission reads:

"Protections for anonymous speech are vital to democratic discourse. Allowing dissenters to shield their identities frees them to express critical minority views . . . Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. . . . It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation . . . at the hand of an intolerant society".

Consider these words carefully.

 

Well, they do not only spy at foreign governments but also foreign citizens and foreign businesses. On the same line, this also applies to the US government, US businesses and US citizens.

The NSA exploits technological developments to massively overstep their brief. There is no way that such a paranoid organization can be trusted. It has to be effectively restricted from abusing its powers.

Anyhow, I always thought this forum was not intended for political discussions but I guess technology and politics are deeply intertwined.

 

We have been able to side step technology based politics for years.
With the way governments have exploited their citizenry this may be part of the problem. With the knowledge that has come from Snowden in my way of thinking we can no longer afford to just brush politics aside. They have to be dealt with in a strong responsible fashion that protects the internet from censorship.

 

That's all true.

But this forum is for discussing technology, not for organizing political action.

 

@Mirimir, while I absolutely concur with you, neither can we just bury our heads anymore. The focus of Wilders has always been technological discussions. The admins have to fairly rigorously enforce that or you risk destabilizing a phenomenal forum. All that being said there is a balance given recent events.

 

I get that

But it's their forum, so it's their rules.

Just sayin'

 

Quite true, but this isn't your typical political topic. It basically affects every aspect of our lives, especially those having to do with computers, communications, and the internet in general. The technological and political aspects of this are so entangled, it's almost impossible to discuss one without the other being there. The mods have shown quite a bit of tolerance and given a lot of leeway in this thread. As long as we show some restraint in what we say and not focus on the political aspects, the thread should be OK. OTOH, if the kind of information posted here doesn't prod people into some kind of action, then the thread serves no purpose. Myself, I'd like to find a way to encrypt some kind of nasty malware that attacks the system used to decrypt it and upload them for their enjoyment.