Archive | NSA & Snowden

Mass surveillance is bad for business

The quote of the day comes from Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith at the Silicon Valley panel discussion on NSA surveillance, organized by Senator Ron Wyden (D – Oregon).

“If you’re a consumer or a company, you own your email, your text messages, your photos and all the content that you create. Even when you put your content in our data centers or on devices that we make, you still own it and you are entitled to the legal protection under our Constitution and our laws. We will not rebuild trust until our government recognizes that fundamental principle.”

Money talks. Mass surveillance erodes customers confidence in the tech industry. Business is lost when customers shy away from US Internet based services.

And it’s not just about business. Google’s Eric Schmidt warned about a fragmented, balkanized Internet. Wired sums it up…

“The cost will be huge in terms of shared knowledge, discoveries, and science. It will also be expensive, since the cost of running data centers in every country where they have customers may be too much for some firms to handle.”

The Civil Rights movement, Internet activists and the tech industry–now they all seems to stand together against US Government, its’ security bureaucracy and the security industry.

This might be the tipping point in our fight for a free and open Internet.

Some links: Wired » | CNet » | WP » | PC World » | The Register »

/ HAX

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Anakata in court: Hearsay instead of evidence

The Danish court case against Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg got another bizarre twist this week: The police has no evidence.

According Politiken.dk the police and prosecutor have had no access to any actual evidence or to the alleged hacked IT equipment–in the most extensive hacking case in Danish history.

All information comes directly from the company supposedly being hacked, CSC.

It is absurd that this high profile court case seems to rely–totally–on blind trust in information given by one of the involved parties, on hearsay.

The phrase “trust us” has a rather hollow ring to it, comming from a company with close connections to US intelligence organisations, such as the NSA and the CIA.

This strange case just got even stranger.

Links:
Politiken.dk (in Danish) »
Background to the Anakata case »

/ HAX

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United States of Secrets

ussecThis is a Must See!

The PBS two part documentary United States of Secrets will give you the background to NSA surveillance and the Snowden leaks.

The film shows how US politicians at the highest level knowingly violated the law and the constitution; how the NSA bullied and silenced whistleblowers; how the US IT- and telecoms community cooperates with the NSA – and how all of this lead to Edward Snowden becoming the most important whistleblower in history.

See it at: PBS Frontline »

Or on Youtube: Part 1 » | Part 2 »

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Anakata in court: Things to keep in mind

This week internationally renowned hacktivist Gottfrid Svartholm Warg–a.k.a. Anakata–will appear in court in Denmark, accused of breaking into the IT system of Computer Sciences Corporation, CSC.

GSW is known as one of the founders of The Pirate Bay. He hosted Wikileaks before the whistleblower site rose to fame–and is credited for his assistance with making the video Collateral Murder going viral and global. He is also a passionate defender of freedom of speech, with a libertarian background.

Since being extradited from Cambodia to Sweden, GSW has been serving prison time for his work with The Pirate Bay and some hacking related charges. However, a Swedish high court has cleared him in a case of hacking where the circumstances are just about the same as in the Danish case. (Jacob Appelbaum gave witness for the defence.)

As the media tends to copypaste prosecutors press releases, here is some additional information worth keeping in mind…

  • It is claimed that GSW computer was “remotely controlled”. For most people this might sound odd. However it seems that it’s all about a lab server, open for other people. Put in this way, this claim seems much more understandable and plausible.
  • As I mentioned, the evidence is essentially the same as in a case where GSW was cleared by one of the Swedish high courts. (It’s the same computer…)
  • When it comes to CSC, it is no ordinary tech company. For instance they are managing the IT system for the US spy and surveillance organisation NSA.
  • CSC is also being accused by human rights organisations for providing airplanes used by the CIA for secret flights, connected to the extraordinary renditions program.

I have no idea what Gottfrid Svartholm Warg might have done or not done. Or any possible intentions. But I don’t like the look of this case…

/ HAX

In Swedish / På svenska »

Update: The Local – Pirate Bay Swede’s trial set for final stage »

Update 2, Sept. 2nd: Pirate Bay founder case starts in confusion »

Update 3, Sept. 8th: Gottfrid Svartholm Trial Starts & Ends Week in Controversy »

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Is it legal… just because they say it is?

There are some interesting similarities when it comes to mass surveillance in the US and in NSA partner countries. There is no doubt that system and judicial designs often are copied directly from the US system.

As an example, in Sweden the Government talking point is that it assumes that (the Swedish NSA partner) FRA is conducting its mass surveillance in accordance with the law.

Yeah, right. The legality of NSA as well as FRA surveillance lies with secret courts, with no effective representation of civil rights or the public interest. In the US it’s the FISA Court and in Sweden the FRA Court.

And here is the “beauty” of it all: What the secret courts says is legal is legal.

So, mass surveillance carried out is legal in a formal sense–regardless of what’s going on.

That is how Sweden has managed to cram hostile IT attacks on systems in other countries into a law that mentions nothing of the sort. If the secret court says it’s legal, it doesn’t matter what laws Parliament has set down.

This is not how things are to be carried out in a democracy. Rules should be decided in an open, democratic process. And the people must be able to hold politicians accountable.

The way mass surveillance is managed in the NSA sphere, it short-circuits democracy as well as rule of law.

This is utterly unacceptable.

/ HAX

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When do you become a terrorist?

We have learned that mass surveillance and shady intelligence operations are not just about national security. The wider term “national interest” is often used and it is obvious that some practices in this area are used to curb dissent.

The NSA has engaged in surveillance of economic targets. In my country, Sweden, surveillance laws openly mention national economic interest. Intelligence organisations, counter espionage and the police often have a clearly stated objective to preserve existing structures and status quo in society.

Obviously we can expect some interesting conflicts in this field.

Wikileaks is a high profile example. Truth about what’s really going on is not popular with politicians and in the government apparatchik. So they use what resources they have to silence or to discredit the messenger.

And what will happen when governments realize that they are losing their grip on money?

It doesn’t have to be a breakdown of the traditional monetary system. (Though, it might be.) My guess is that a wider adoption of digital currencies would be enough do the trick. That would move power from the state to citizens in a way most governments cannot tolerate.

Take Cyprus as example: It wouldn’t have been possible for the Cypriot government to confiscate a large portion of citizens bank deposits if people had been using Bitcoins instead of Euros.

Or imagine what will happen if people move to adopt digital currency because it is more stable than government fiat money. This would cause serious political problems. Probably to the extent where governments won’t have it anymore.

The mere possibility that something (that politicians don’t really understand) could undermine national currencies and our centralized, controlled economies will be considered a major worry. Possibly big enough for governments to let the dogs loose. And if that happens, the digital currency community will be considered and treated like other threats to society. Like terrorists.

It will not only be individuals. From the Snowden files we have learned that governments now are labeling categories of people as terrorists, with no need for proof of any “wrongdoing” on an individual level.

Anonymity and cryptography are other concerns for government, that might be serious enough for it to pick a fight over. And tomorrow will bring other, brand new challenges to government power and authority.

We do live in interesting times.

Personally I consider decentralized systems, openness, pluralism, privacy and civil rights to be crucial for a free, democratic and tolerable society. Important enough to fight for. But I also know our enemies. So I fear that we might be in for a bumpy ride.

/ HAX

Some links:
Blacklisted: The Secret Government Rulebook For Labeling You a Terrorist »
Snowden Documents Reveal Covert Surveillance and Pressure Tactics Aimed at WikiLeaks and Its Supporters »
How Covert Agents Infiltrate the Internet to Manipulate, Deceive, and Destroy Reputations »

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“The ultimate goal of the NSA is total population control”

This is a must read. The Guardian runs a piece about NSA whistleblower William Binney. A few extracts…

“At least 80% of fibre-optic cables globally go via the US”, Binney said. “This is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in. At least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores.”

“Binney recently told the German NSA inquiry committee that his former employer had a “totalitarian mentality” that was the “greatest threat” to US society since that country’s US Civil War in the 19th century. Despite this remarkable power, Binney still mocked the NSA’s failures, including missing this year’s Russian intervention in Ukraine and the Islamic State’s take-over of Iraq.”

Read the whole piece here »

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