Big Brother is Watching You

[bannination]

WikiLeaks publishes mammoth haul of CIA spying secrets in Vault 7 release

... The documents that make up the ‘Vault 7’ Project say that the CIA has developed software to enable hackers to spy on people through televisions, mobile phones and computers....

WikiLeaks claims that the U.S. government agency has an extensive global covert hacking programme, featuring malware that is able to use the most popular consumer electronic products to listen to what people are saying.

The organisation said in a statement: “‘Year Zero’ introduces the scope and direction of the CIA’s global covert hacking program, its malware arsenal and dozens of ‘zero day’ weaponised exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products, include Apple’s iPhone, Google’s Android and Microsoft’s Windows and even Samsung TVs, which are turned into covert microphones.” ...

The files also contain claims that the CIA’s secret hacking division produced a huge amount of weaponised malware to infest iPhone and Android phones – and lost control of it....

This source is said by the organisation to want a public debate on whether the CIA now has too much power.

Wikileaks added: “In a statement to WikiLeaks the source details policy questions that they say urgently need to be debated in public, including whether the CIA’s hacking capabilities exceed its mandated powers and the problem of public oversight of the agency....

“The source wishes to initiate a public debate about the security, creation, use, proliferation and democratic control of cyberweapons.”

Further information in the documents allege that the CIA deliberately hid their ability to hack smartphones and TVs worldwide from their makers – despite President Obama’s pledge to reveal their knowledge....

And yet nothing revealed is surprising at all. Americans practically asked for it via the "Patriot" act. One thing I'm surprised to have not read yet is exploits/backdoors on routers. I'm sure that'll come out or is part of the documents as well.

Windows 10's tracking has turned me off enough to run Linux most of the time.

[rstrong]

One thing I'm surprised to have not read yet is exploits/backdoors on routers.

As of a couple years ago, most consumer-level routers had exploits or known backdoors. Which is why I use a commercial firewall appliance. Just one of a steady stream of reports:

IBTimes: 80% of Best-Selling Wireless Routers Have Security Vulnerabilities

They've even been used in botnets used to do DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks.

[Vrede too]

The CIA hid vulnerabilities that could be used by hackers from other countries or governments

WikiLeaks claims that its source handed over the documents in order to provoke a debate about the power of intelligence agencies and how their information should be exposed. Perhaps central to that is the accusation that the CIA was "hoarding" exploits that it had found – rather than handing them over to the companies that could fix them, and so make users safe, as they had promised to do.

Such bugs were found in the biggest consumer electronics in the world, including phones and computers made Apple, Google and Microsoft. But those companies didn't get the chance to fix those exploits because the agency kept them secret in order to keep using them, the documents suggest.

"Serious vulnerabilities not disclosed to the manufacturers places huge swathes of the population and critical infrastructure at risk to foreign intelligence or cyber criminals who independently discover or hear rumors of the vulnerability," a WikiLeaks statement read. "If the CIA can discover such vulnerabilities so can others."

WikiLeaks noted that those unfixed exploits affected everyone using the equipment, including "the U.S. Cabinet, Congress, top CEOs, system administrators, security officers and engineers".

So, the next time you read about a nefarious, costly and destructive hack, consider whether our own government could have prevented it.

[O Really]

Back in the day, we thought we were way up to the edge because we actually had computers and stuff similar to this... http://www.virhistory.com/navy/manuals/crypto-equip.htm

Dang, it would be fun to be a spook now.

[Vrede too]

Support Big Brother, bug yourself.

Amazon Drops Legal Fight Over Echo Recording in Arkansas Murder Case

[rstrong]

[rstrong]

ARS Technica: GOP senators’ new bill would let ISPs sell your Web browsing data

Trump's new FCC boss has nuked an Obama-era rule that banned ISPs from selling off your browsing data, location, financial and health information, children's information, Social Security Number and contents of your messages, without your permission. The now-defunct rule also required ISPs to notify you when they got hacked and your sensitive personal information got out into the wild.

Just to be sure that this rule never comes back, Senate Republicans have introduced a resolution that invalidates the old FCC rule and bans the FCC from ever imposing a rule of this nature.

Flake's announcement said he's trying to "protect consumers from overreaching Internet regulation." Flake also said that the resolution "empowers consumers to make informed choices on if and how their data can be shared," but he did not explain how it will achieve that.

[bannination]

ARS Technica: GOP senators’ new bill would let ISPs sell your Web browsing data

Trump's new FCC boss has nuked an Obama-era rule that banned ISPs from selling off your browsing data, location, financial and health information, children's information, Social Security Number and contents of your messages, without your permission. The now-defunct rule also required ISPs to notify you when they got hacked and your sensitive personal information got out into the wild.

Just to be sure that this rule never comes back, Senate Republicans have introduced a resolution that invalidates the old FCC rule and bans the FCC from ever imposing a rule of this nature.

Flake's announcement said he's trying to "protect consumers from overreaching Internet regulation." Flake also said that the resolution "empowers consumers to make informed choices on if and how their data can be shared," but he did not explain how it will achieve that.

I guess we all have to stay on VPN all the time, and then trust those guys not to do the same. At least they have motivation not to, if they did sell information their reputation would be ruined.

[k9nanny]

Argh! The ads I get, based on my browsing history, are bad enough.
What brilliant scheme will these dolts come up with next to line the fat cats' wallets?

I've got it ... repeal all laws that prohibit usury. Yes, that's a good one.

[Vrede too]

GOP senator offers measure to undo FCC internet privacy rules

[Vrede too]

A NASA Engineer Was Required to Unlock His Phone at the Border
A U.S.-born scientist was detained at the Houston airport until he gave customs agents the passcode to his work-issued device.

At least the phone was returned. Around 15 phones a day are confiscated - and not returned - by Customs and Border Patrol agents. They can do the same for laptops and other electronics.

Maybe I'll travel abroad with a burner phone to hand over along with the password "FUCBP".

[Boatrocker]

A NASA Engineer Was Required to Unlock His Phone at the Border
A U.S.-born scientist was detained at the Houston airport until he gave customs agents the passcode to his work-issued device.

At least the phone was returned. Around 15 phones a day are confiscated - and not returned - by Customs and Border Patrol agents. They can do the same for laptops and other electronics.

Maybe I'll travel abroad with a burner phone to hand over along with the password "FUCBP".

Doing their jackbooted best to make resisters and militants out of honest Americans.

[rstrong]

Well, get used to it. Phone searches at the border were the exception, and now they're becoming the rule.

Fewer than 5,000 in 2015. Nearly 25,000 in 2016. More than 5000 in February 2017 alone.

And by "search", they mean "take an image of." No doubt all your contacts and other information are going into a database, so that down the road they can do searches. "Show me everyone who knows someone who knows this suspect."

I once had border officers listen to a few seconds of each of my music tapes to make sure I wasn't smuggling in any illegal information. Granted, that was when crossing into the Soviet Union. But the American border is starting to look really familiar.

[Vrede too]

Tell Congress: Don't let Comcast spy on us!

[Vrede too]

Privacy invasion —
Senate votes to let ISPs sell your Web browsing history to advertisers
ISP now stands for "invading subscriber privacy," Democratic senator says.

:cussing:

[Vrede too]

Congress votes to roll back internet privacy protection

[bannination]

Congress votes to roll back internet privacy protection

Might be a good purchase.

[Vrede too]

Might be a good purchase.

Top of the page:

Your IP Address: ******************* Your ISP: *************************** You are not protected

[rstrong]

Might be a good purchase.

Top of the page:

Your IP Address: ******************* Your ISP: *************************** You are not protected

That's nothing. Since the dawn of the web, every web request your browser makes (a request for a web page followed by requests for each image, CSS file, javascript library etc.) will sent that information to the remote server.

If you run your own web page you can check your web server logs - or a hosting provider's web stats report - to see each page load's time/date, IP address, browser version, and a few other details. Also the referrer; if the user clicked on a link on another site to get to your site, you'll get the URL of the page the link was on. You can easily display this information on the page when it's sent back to the browser. I've done it.

But it' still anonymous. If you visit my site, I can see your IP address. I can find out that the IP address belongs to a specific ISP and that they're *probably* using it in a specific city. But that's it. Only the ISP knows which user is *probably* using a given IP address at a given time. I couldn't get access to that information without a court order.

What ISP's can now do legally - and they've been caught doing it in the past - is remove that anonymity. By simply keeping a database of all your web requests - and selling it along with your name, address and other account details. Or by intercepting your browser's web requests and adding a unique identifier.

Just a reminder: Your debit/visa purchase information has been for sale for decades and routinely gets used in criminal investigations. Facebook doesn't just sell the personal information you enter into your account. They purchase much more information from other information brokers and sell a full dossier on you.

Practically speaking, Harris said, this means you should “get online right now, get on your ISP’s website” and opt out of having your data sold.

This change means that they don't have to give you that option.

And even if they do, they can always do what Yahoo and Facebook have done: Quietly change their terms of service or privacy page so that everyone who opted for full privacy loses it. When word gets out, after the data has been sold, announce "Don't worry; you can change your settings in the NEW privacy page!"

[Vrede too]

Yeah, my " " was hyperbole. I mostly thought it was a clever marketing hook at the very top of the homepage.