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Old 08-08-2011, 12:10 PM   #16
Peufelon
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Don't give up the fight!


@frankbell:

Thank you for the moral support! I expect I will soon be inserted into a slot in some Syrian wall, but I hope others will continue the global struggle against oppression.

One of the key points about human rights which I haven't had a chance to stress yet is that open-source software developers possess valuable skills which I hope they can put to use assisting activists who live in countries currently experiencing grave human rights abuses, for example by constantly striving to develop/test/debug innovative technological countermeasures to surveillance/disruption of communications with the outside world.

Since I just mentioned Zimbabwe, I feel I should draw attention to a news story which just appeared:
  • Hilary Andersson, "Marange diamond field: Zimbabwe torture camp discovered", BBC News, 8 August 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14377215
    Quote:
    A torture camp run by Zimbabwe's security forces is operating in the country's rich Marange diamond fields, BBC Panorama has found. The programme heard from recent victims who told of severe beatings and sexual assault. The claims come as the European Union pushes to let some banned diamonds from the country led by President Robert Mugabe back onto world markets.
The marketing of "blood diamonds" is of course another example of amoral corporatism run amok.

I mentioned Syria too, and I want to stress that people trying to get information out (including but not limited to footage of the Syrian army firing on street protests) are at great risk of arrest and torture. And when I criticize "Western" spycos which sell DPI boxes (and microdrones, databases, poison gas, and other equipment useful for opression) and technical assistance to countries like Syria, it is essential to understand that this stuff is used to arrest and torture people who are simply seeking better government for their own people. See

Quote:
(New York) - Syrian security forces have intensified their campaign of mass arrests in cities across the country that have had anti-government protests, Human Rights Watch said today. The targeted cities include including Hama, Homs, and various suburbs around Damascus.:

Reliable activists and witnesses contacted by Human Rights Watch estimate that since late June, 2011, security forces have arrested more than 2,000 anti-government protesters, medical professionals providing aid to wounded protesters, and those alleged to have provided information to international media and human rights organizations.
...
People held in incommunicado detention are at risk of torture. Human Rights Watch has already documented widespread torture from the accounts of people who have been released, causing concern that many detainees still in detention are being tortured.
I'd also like to point out that according to a "minimalist disclosure" to the US Senate by the US DOJ, in 2007,2008,2009 the US DOJ obtained on behalf of foreign governments the ISP account information of 6,18, and 11 persons. (These figures are surely gross underestimates; strangely, the DOJ seems to have retroactively decreased some of the figures, which I take as further evidence of creative accounting of the kind which led to the mortgate mess.) I think the Senate Judiciary Committee should look into whether any of these requests came from countries like Mubarak-era Egypt, Libya and Syria, all of which were considered "allies" in the US "War on Terror" until early in 2011. The US DOJ typically denies any knowledge of what happens to US persons after the USG furnishes information on them to foreign governments. This claim is patently absurd.

I'd also like to remind readers of this thread that Syria has been one of the favorite destinations for "extraordinary rendition" by the secret police of the US and its "allies" in the "War on Terror" for many years. I would again remind operatives of the Surveillance State that such actions will--- if there is any justice--- result in their one day being put on trial in the Hague. The currently obvious decline of US overlordism on the global stage will hasten the process in which American officials are brought to justice for such flagrant violations of every standard of moral decency and international law.

More news from DEFCON: employees of Backtrace (one of the hundreds of US spycos to which the US Surveillance State outsources some of its dirty work) have verbally attacked "Anonymous" for their scattershot approach to hacktivism. IMO to some extent they have a point, but I keep coming back to the damning fact that--- as we all know very well--- "Anonymous" has done more in six months than a decade of DEFCON to draw the attention of the scatter-brained "legitimate" media to the problem of computer/network insecurity, and the HBGary leak in particular is IMO comparable to the Watergate hearings in terms of the far-reaching significance of the abuses it brought to light. Another objection is that despite diplomatic protests from the US and some of its allies (with an awkward contribution from the government of Saudi Arabia, which is not exactly known for espousing free speech rights or religious freedoms), the much vaunted cyberwarfare capability of the US military has not been unleashed against the horrific Assad regime. Once again it appears that the only Westerners actually taking real risks to oppose the Assad government are the human rights activists and reporters inside Syria who are trying to get the word out, and the members of "Anonymous" whom Backtrace intends to arrest:
  • Graham Cluley, "Syrian Ministry of Defense website hacked", Sophos, 8 August 2011,
    http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2011...ebsite-hacked/
    Quote:
    Once again, hacking has turned political - with the website of the Ministry of Defense in Syria defaced by the Anonymous hacktivist collective.

    Amid news reports of thousands of deaths in Syria after the authorities cracked down with deadly force using tanks and armoured vehicles against anti-government protests, visitors to the Syrian military department's website have been greeted with the Anonymous logo and images and links to videos of dead protesters.
I am not sure whether such minor defacements (as opposed to leaking the identities of the secret policemen, say) are really helpful--- I suppose that time will tell. But my point is that, for those US persons "on the sidelines" in the struggle of "Anonymous" vs. Oppression (if I might so frame the fight), more traditional alternatives which might be even more effective are ready to hand, like visiting your congressional representatives and asking them to examine abuses by the US Surveillance state and in particular vital assistance from "Western" spycos to some of the most brutal regimes on Earth.

I ask again: if the FBI and US cyberwarriors are the heroes of the global internet, as they claim, why is that they are doing nothing while "Anonymous" is actually doing something to help ensure that the "legitimate" media does not allow the Assad regime to duck under the cover of the global financial crisis?

Quote:
The phone slammers cruise FB and grab the numbers, then slam the accounts.
Oh, they do much more than that. If the US Congress, UK/Canadian Parliaments, etc., took the trouble to hold hearings, they'd find evidence that rogue employees in major North American and European telecoms routinely sell information to such criminal gangs, and of course to PIs and spycos. As you know, their employers often find it convenient to connive in such activities, apparently because in the long run it somehow helps their bottom line.

IMO, anyone who expects corporations to behave themselves without regulation with oversight is... naive. But regulations and oversights cost money, and "Western" legislatures appear to currently be in no mood to require the telecom industry to pay for the mechanisms which would keep them all somewhat better behaved.

Compared to abuses in Zimbabwe and Syria, such violations of consumer rights might appear trivial, and in one sense they are. But my point is that since 9/11 the "Western" countries have been riding the slippery slope towards absolutism and failed-statism. Everyone should contemplate very seriously the implications of the fact that companies like Gamma are making such enormous profits manufacturing secret police equipment, and selling the same stuff to countries like Mubarak era Egypt as they use in the UK and other alleged havens of democratic government.

The "Western" Surveillance State claims that they "need" to spy on everyone all the time in order to stave off the kind of street violence currently on display in Syria. I insist that this is a completely bogus argument. The way to stave off revolution is to provide effective and wise government responsive to the real needs of the population, and this needs to happen long before the government descends to the depths of intolerance, ineptitude, endemic corruption, and brutal oppression which have been exhibited for so many years by governments such as the regime of Bashar al-Assad and his predecessor.

Call me a meddler, but IMO US persons should think hard about the implications of the fact that the US (and other CANZUS nations) have been in a semi-declared State of Emergency since 9/11, a state in which civil rights are progressively eliminated in favor of such policies as indefinite detention without trial, "extraordinary rendition", torture, and "extra-legal execution". Mubarak era Egypt maintained a "State of Emergency" for 40 years. I think the implication is obvious: the US population needs to get busy forcing their government (presumably by such traditional means as lobbying their legislatures) to make changes well before the US comes to resemble Mubarak era Egypt even more closely than it does today. Investigation into cooperation between US agencies and Syrian secret police would further underline the point that the CANZUS nations already resmemble countries like Syria more closely than most people want to believe.

Quote:
You might find this podcast interesting.
For security reasons I have disabled software suitable for viewing videos, podcasts, etc.

@ H_TeXMeX_H:

Quote:
I certainly will not be around when they implement their Orwellian system.
But as you yourself pointed out, they already have. From 2002 or so forward, they have merely been tweaking the fine tuning on the telescreen.

Quote:
I'll run to somewhere where they won't find me for a long time.
Sure, I'd book a flight, too--- if only it were possible! Unfortunately, there is no operational interstellar emigration service, and no place left on Earth where anyone can hide. Vanatu? Costa Rica? Forget it--- Gamma has a huge operation in Latin America too. Don't take my word for it, search for their own websites and press releases. They are not as shy about their nefarious activities as most "Western" spycos. And unfortunately, Gamma is just one of literally thousands of Western spycos, many with tens of thousands of employees and multi-billion dollar annual profits. Good business? I would say that the modern spyco is the very model of an inherently evil business, of the kind which every decent human being should oppose to the bitter end of days.

Last edited by Peufelon; 08-08-2011 at 12:28 PM.
 
Old 08-08-2011, 01:29 PM   #17
cascade9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Peufelon View Post
I do, and thanks for the link.
No problems.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peufelon View Post
As an example, I have followed the controversy in Australia over transit cards. Did you know that the databases which track the movements of transit riders in Brisbane and other cities is apparently operated by a US spyco? Specfically, while current and accurate information is not easily obtained, as of a few year ago, when I researched this issue, I believe that the Brisbane database, and other aspects of the fare collection system, is maintained by Cubic Transportation Systems Inc. (CTS), a San Diego based subsidiary of US defense giant Cubic Corp. In 2011, Cubic was the 75th largest US Federal contractor with some 278 million annually in contracts.
I actually live in brsbane, and yeah, I knew about cubic. When they 1st started putting the card scanners into busses, they were marked 'cubic systems', and I did a bit of digging. The 'cubic' logo has been gone for a while now.

The odd thing is that I've never seen any australian media mention that connection. Wel, not that odd considering that the media are really behind this whole 'security state' push.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Peufelon View Post
Earlier in the thread, I said that I believe that the news story cited in one of many which originate in a publicity campaign by the U.S. Surveillance State, which wishes to further expand its warrantless intrusions into the private lives of all US persons (and everyone else). A concurrent campaign consists of stories offering a feel-good profile of a recruitment drive at DEFCON (as I write, being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA). I'd urge any DEFCON attendees approached by the NSA to carefully consider the implications of the fact that joining the bad guys (the secret police) is like joining the Mafia: if things don't work out the way you hoped, you can't just quit and go back to working for the good guys (the independent security researchers, excluding informants). ?
Even in the 'good old days' it wasnt exactly easy to get out the the spyco business. I wont go into that in public though, too much dirt and some of it could lead back to people I really dont want to get into any trouble. *thinks* Any more trouble than they have already been in might be a better way of putting it.....

Quote:
Originally Posted by H_TeXMeX_H View Post
You're right, I'm not usually one to give up, and in the past I was more like you. Maybe I have become weak, or gone mad, or maybe I just understand more of what is going on and was has happened. Either way, I certainly will not be around when they implement their Orwellian system. I'll run to somewhere where they won't find me for a long time.
To quote obscure an 1980s hair metal band-

And you can shake your fist at the T.V. set
And you can slam your hand in the table
And you can cry and curse
Through tightlocked teeth
Just as hard as you are able
But you can't run away from trouble
'Coz there ain't no place that far

Quote:
Originally Posted by H_TeXMeX_H View Post
I don't really see much hope, because I see how people are. They are sheep. I can't imagine being able to convince the sheep that their master will have them on the chopping block soon, and for them to do something or help out. I think all they will say is their usual 'baaaaaa a a aa'
People can be sheeple, yes. But they can also go the other way.

IMO the main reasons why there hasnt been a general uproar abou the whole security state issue is because people are being lied to by pollies and the media.

'Sheeple' is a cop-out in this case IMO.
 
Old 08-08-2011, 01:56 PM   #18
Peufelon
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Don't give up the fight!

Quote:
Any more trouble than they have already been in might be a better way of putting it...
Wink!

I have never been employed in any capacity by any intelligence or secret police organization, nor have I ever held any secret clearances. In particular, I am not a paid informant. (Those who are probably lie about it, to be sure.) But through no fault of my own, I seem to know many secret police operatives, and I think the same might be said of many others here.

As we both know, nothing worries the US Surveillance State so much as internal dissension and the possibility of devastating insider leaks. In the US, internal controversies are hard to keep entirely out of public view, and can be leveraged by those fighting oppression. I am convinced that despite its frightful powers of intrusion, and its willingness to go beyond intimidation to kidnap and torture its opponents, the Surveillance State is by no means irresistable. To the contrary, it will inevitably destroy itself due to its unsustainable cost and infeasible appetite for human resources... but it is in everyone's best interests to contain and control it before that happens.

Quote:
IMO the main reasons why there hasnt been a general uproar abou the whole security state issue is because people are being lied to by pollies and the media.
It appears to be true that simply being able to document abuses (in this thread, by giving links to highly respected sources like HRW) does not seem to be enough to generate mainstream media stories even when these would clearly be in the public interest. One reason is that editors are warned to keep many stories out of print, and supposed "investigative reporters" [sic] are in too many cases intimidated into refusing to use strong encryption, which of course means that the people with good tips can't convey them. The contrast with the brave bloggers reporting from places like Syria could not be greater.

But I have noticed that anything which is slashdotted is picked up by the mainstream media, which suggests that if enough of us investigate (using what the spooks like to call "open source intelligence") questions like "what are the spycos, who are their clients, what are their technical capabilities, who are their targets?" and to report our findings in forums like this, eventually a critical mass of the population at large may become sufficiently aware, not only of the nature and extent of abuses of their own civil rights, but of how it will affect their lives in the long run, that they will demand real change.

In US law there are currently still some remaining protections for "prominent" professional journalists and "established" academic researchers. (UK: not so much, I think.) I urge these people again to adopt and use strong crypto and to use their power to expose wrongdoing while they are still at liberty to do so.

I believe that the most effective revelations of specific insecurities are those which describe in detail how anyone (or at least, anyone sufficiently sophisticated) can verify the problem. Unfortunately, such revelations are currently dangerous for anyone but a "prominent" journalist to reveal. I feel that those US journalists who are not actively seeking such verifiable stories are doing the US public a great disservice, and I urge them to work up the moral courage (and the modest technical knowhow, I guess) to prominently post their GPG keys.

Certain LQ moderators often accuse me of allegedly counterfactual "hype", and I admit to not understanding many of my observations. As an untutored amateur I am clearly vulnerable to such accusations. But I know that I have stumbled over quite a few phenomena in which so far unpublished security/privacy violations are unambiguous and verifiable. If reporters only used GPG I would have tipped them years ago.

Transit payment/surveillance systems are another rich vein which "legitimate" investigative reporters have failed to mine. Anyone who looks into this issue will quickly discover that a few huge companies dominate the global market, and all have been dogged by years of hugely mismanaged projects, outrageous insecurities, and even official corruption. And they all tend to respond (I already cited one recent example) to disclosures in the public interest with all the legal intimidation they can muster.

Quote:
The 'cubic' logo has been gone for a while now.
Yes, and not just in Brisbane. Some cities are so secretive about Cubic's involvement that not a word about it appears anywhere in the local press. My guess is that both the municipalities and Cubic itself are sensitive to the rather glaring disconnect between providing glorified fare boxes and providing all manner of equipment and "services" to militaries around the world, including some customers foreign and domestic which would raise the brow of many a transit rider.

But I am sure you can think of ways to verify ("open source intelligence") that Cubic maintains employees in specific cities not mentioned on Cubic's website, from which one can draw a likely inference. Study their financial statements and press releases (especially in trade e-zines), locate their regional offices, determine their corporate structure, profile their executives, identify their business partners, follow the money. Local resources such as public libraries may be able to assist.

I'd encourage you, since there is already considerable local interest in this issue in Brisbane, to get together with some other civic minded people, and synthesize a global investigation of transit system privacy/security problems into a story you can submit to a local paper. IMO the (bad) Australian experience with transist fare collection systems only make sense when placed into a global context.

Same theme as "fusion centers" staffed by contract employees of private spycos: huge profits for a handful of corporate giants, at a huge cost to taxpayers, with very little apparent public benefit. When they claim otherwise, demand proof. Their silence will then speak louder than any words.

Last edited by Peufelon; 08-08-2011 at 02:57 PM.
 
  


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