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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSnowden alone in calling out Empire as naked, things can come crashing down quicker than you think
Snowden alone in calling out Empire as naked
Rick Falkvinge is the founder of the first Pirate Party and campaigns for sensible information policy.
Published time: June 27, 2013 10:11
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Most people in the United States aren't aware that their country is acting like their hated high school bully to most of the rest of the world. The few who do tend to take it with humor: bumper stickers have been seen satirizing this as "Be nice to America, or we'll bring democracy to your country", playing on the media spin that every war of aggression to maintain Pax Americana is about "bringing democracy" somewhere.
So when one man, Edward Snowden, reveals to the world that the Empire stands naked and that it really has been behaving like a bully, wiretapping everybody wholesale, there are shockwaves. But that's where the similarities with the folklore tale ends. Where the naked emperor cringed and realized the game was up, the naked Empire instead chooses to keep rewarding sucking up, pretending that nothing has been revealed at all, and to punish the whistleblower at all costs as a warning to others.
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Take Microsoft software as an important example. As part of the NSA unravelings, it was uncovered that Microsoft gives security holes to the National Security Agency for exploiting before it sends out security repair patches to its users and customers - essentially betraying the trust of every customer worldwide, and making sure that no government, corporation, or media outlet can ever trust Microsoft products again: for Microsoft gave the master key to every customers' operations to the NSA.
Without Snowden setting the ball rolling, we would not have known this, and we would continue to have been owned - in the hacker and literal sense of the word - by the United States. Now, we can at least see that any Microsoft-developed software, and probably any closed US-developed software, is a huge security risk that no nation outside the United States can afford to take.
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If the doubts in creditworthiness take hold, things can come crashing down quicker than you would expect.
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http://rt.com/op-edge/snowden-us-secrets-truth-317/
Great article.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)http://rt.com/usa/nsa-leak-snowden-live-updates-482/
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)How can anyone NOT see this as betrayal?
byeya
(2,842 posts)this is no big deal.
It is a big deal if the Constitution and Declaration of Independence mean anything to you.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Agent Mike ...is not just a joke.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)is in full swing.
But there's not much of a way to repair a complete lack of trust.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Windows includes a certificate that allows classified secure software to run if it's installed on Windows. It doesn't give anybody access to anything. That's not how certificates work. The certificate tells software "you can trust this OS"; it doesn't tell the OS to trust software.
Hint: if somebody's putting malware on your computer, they won't make the malware require a client-side certificate.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)oh well, everything's OK then
Recursion
(56,582 posts)They need to be able to run software. The article forgot to mention that hundreds of organizations have added their certificates to Windows.
Hell, the NSA contributed actual code to the Linux Kernel 10 years ago.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)um........................................really?
Sorry, the NSA doesn't have much cred in this direction you're trying to argue.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)"Microsoft gives security holes to the National Security Agency for exploiting before it sends out security repair patches to its users and customers"
These are the so-called "zero day exploits" and have nothing whatsoever to do with certificates or running classified secure software.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)A zero day exploit is a security or programming error that gets "announced" by an active compromise.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)It's from a Bloomberg article:
WovenGems
(776 posts)How many hackers have been busted using this NSA program? Why are viruses still released into the virtual world? Why the child porn? If the spying was oh so complete evidence would be all around. But it isn't, why?
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)but if we were not being treated like children who don't need to know, maybe we would have some answers.
Here's a link from today--read about how the systems are tightening down as we speak, and the plans for the future.
They are working on using the most sophisticated technology to make the spying very "complete"....you may be sure...
This technology is at a level that most users of computers cannot comprehend. And the NSA (& surveillance ops in general) are taking every advantage of that fact. The technology is beyond the understanding of most reps in congress. They are just told that we need it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3110981
HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)byeya
(2,842 posts)hfojvt
(37,573 posts)the hated high school bully isn't generally spying on the rest of the school.
Although I don't really remember bullies from high school. Seems like that was more of a middle school/grade school phenomenon.
Orsino
(37,428 posts)America doesn't care enough to revamp anything.
gordianot
(15,242 posts)All it takes is one NSA leak we know how that works. So in order to make data secure you end up making it vulnerable to every potential hack and motivate spying by your enemies. Wanna bet that if not known already someone either has exploited these vulnerabilities or will in the near future?
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)Unless you are a gamer without a PS3 or use custom MS software there is no reason to use Winsux anymore.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)Woohoo!
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)mwooldri
(10,303 posts)Some MS software can run on most linux distros through emulation (Wine). If that doesn't work, then a virtual machine can be run just for the MS software. I prefer the latter approach because there are incompatibility issues in Wine, and with the VM, if that gets hacked ... you've just lost the VM, not the whole computer.
Some computers though are better off running Windows XP, and some are better off with lubuntu. "Old" computers can still serve a nice purpose but with things going Win8, Ubuntu, Android, iOS/OSX these old machines just cannot keep up. For real safety purposes I would recommend the Sneaker Net - disconnected from the Internet but sharing files via DVD.
cali
(114,904 posts)binney, wiebe, drake and others have all spoken out.
I have to say, I find this article disingenuous and it reads too much like straight out propaganda for me.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)I wish the world knew that there are so many Americans who are just as appalled and aren't yawning this away. Or that quite a few other whistleblowers had come forward but I forgive them for not knowing because, even in our country, few average people knew.
I understand why it could seem disingenuous, I find it very honest for its expression of how many foreigners are viewing this and a reaction we should at least note. Our country has an attitude of "let's forget and move on" every 4-8 years, like in the case of Guatemala where 250,000 innocent people were murdered for US policy, or the wars we pushed on the world.
I had the same reaction you did and almost tweeted back, "he's not standing alone* lol.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)...the emperor has never been so naked to so many eyes.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)That sentence is so idiotically wrong I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it.
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...here's one result:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130614/02110223467/microsoft-said-to-give-zero-day-exploits-to-us-government-before-it-patches-them.shtml
The report names one major participant: Microsoft:
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft (MSFT) and other software or Internet security companies have been aware that this type of early alert allowed the U.S. to exploit vulnerabilities in software sold to foreign governments, according to two U.S. officials. Microsoft doesnt ask and cant be told how the government uses such tip-offs, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential.
ucrdem
(15,512 posts)This could come straight from the black heart of Orange County, CA.
Or any random CNN money show.
Romulus Quirinus
(524 posts)Politicub
(12,165 posts)Hark and forsooth! The empire be naked!
zeemike
(18,998 posts)Or cannot say.
Boy I would like to have that much power...to say something and have half the country not be able to say it.
pnwmom
(108,990 posts)and then criticize other people for doing the same thing?
Progressive dog
(6,917 posts)"Without Snowden setting the ball rolling, we would not have known this, and we would continue to have been owned - in the hacker and literal sense of the word - by the United States."
As a US citizen, most of whom work for corporations like Microsoft, I see nothing to gloat over. When our economy comes crashing down, I don't see how that makes things better.
I can see why a Russian news channel might be ready to gloat. I can't see why an American would.