sunrat Posted May 11, 2016 Posted May 11, 2016 Do you read Linux Journal, use Tails or Tor? You may now be labelled extremist. http://www.techspot.com/news/57316-nsa-classifies-linux-journal-readers-tor-and-tails-linux-users-as-extremists.html 2 Quote
securitybreach Posted May 11, 2016 Posted May 11, 2016 Nuts huh? BTW I thought I had heard that before so I looked and that article was from July 2014. 1 Quote
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 My TOR broke. I've been too lazy to fix it. I guess that makes me a not-very-motivated extremist. 1 Quote
securitybreach Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 My TOR broke. I've been too lazy to fix it. I guess that makes me a not-very-motivated extremist. Eh, just use tor browser bundle or do like I did and get a VPN hosted in Panama that keeps no logs... 1 Quote
Hedon James Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 My TOR broke. I've been too lazy to fix it. I guess that makes me a not-very-motivated extremist. Is it "broke", really? Have you considered they are watching you? LOL! 1 Quote
Dr. J Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 (edited) My TOR broke. I've been too lazy to fix it. I guess that makes me a not-very-motivated extremist. Eh, just use tor browser bundle or do like I did and get a VPN hosted in Panama that keeps no logs... I used to use tor browser back on Windows 7. Ironically, that was because in my teens I was paranoid about the government spying on people, and I heard that tor 'automatically bounces your IP'. Eventually I realized it was just repack of firefox with a bunch of settings that I could have changed myself*, and all that did was use that extra bit of bandwith. (Seriously, if you're not up to anything, who cares what the government knows about you or not). Anyhow, am I a 'reformed extremist' just for being a paranoid youth? *EDIT: Unless there's something I didn't pick up on then... it's been a while. Edited May 12, 2016 by Dr. J Quote
securitybreach Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 Well Tor is mainly used to view websites that have not been crawled by search bots (darknet). I know most people think of Darknet as just a place for illegal activity but there are a lot more sites on the Darknet than the 'normal' internet. Now if you just want anonymity or want to hide your activity, simply use a VPN. Quote
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 Seriously, if you're not up to anything, who cares what the government knows about you or not. That is just the path to tyranny that they want you to take. Privacy has NOTHING to do with whether or not your actions are legal/moral, etc. Privacy is a RIGHT that should never be infringed upon. Unfortunately, lackadaisical attitudes and confused interpretations of privacy laws and rights have watered down our 4th Amendment rights in the U.S. to a laughingly pathetic ghost image of what they were actually meant to be. I strongly suspect the situation will worsen quite a bit before it ever corrects itself. 6 Quote
securitybreach Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 Privacy has NOTHING to do with whether or not your actions are legal/moral, etc. Privacy is a RIGHT that should never be infringed upon. Unfortunately, lackadaisical attitudes and confused interpretations of privacy laws and rights have watered down our 4th Amendment rights in the U.S. to a laughingly pathetic ghost image of what they were actually meant to be. I strongly suspect the situation will worsen quite a bit before it ever corrects itself. Exactly Quote
Hedon James Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 Seriously, if you're not up to anything, who cares what the government knows about you or not. That is just the path to tyranny that they want you to take. Privacy has NOTHING to do with whether or not your actions are legal/moral, etc. Privacy is a RIGHT that should never be infringed upon. Unfortunately, lackadaisical attitudes and confused interpretations of privacy laws and rights have watered down our 4th Amendment rights in the U.S. to a laughingly pathetic ghost image of what they were actually meant to be. I strongly suspect the situation will worsen quite a bit before it ever corrects itself. I third that VT! And for me, it isn't what the government knows about me; it's how they know it. If I'm interesting enough that they want to stalk my Facebook, my BATL, and other public forums of interest to see what I'm doing and what I think...that's fair game...no different than surveilling me from a public sidewalk. But when you start tapping my phone calls, intercepting my e-mails, and tracing my internet searches...all without my knowledge or permission...you have crossed the line. No different than breaking into my home and surveilling me from my attic or basement. Creepy stalkerish and, last I checked...ILLEGAL. And that argument of "what's the big deal if you have nothing to hide?" really gets me...talk about framing the argument so that either way I lose...what a crock! So if I pull the curtain back on my life and give up my privacy, I have nothing to hide; but if I refuse, I'm hiding something and SHOULD be looked into, and they'll just TAKE my privacy. Where's the freedom in that? In response to that pardoxical argument, I'd like to invoke my own little paradox...(not sure who to give credit to, perhaps Will Rogers or Mark Twain?): I don't want to belong to any organization that would accept ME as a member. I'm looking at you Uncle Sam! 3 Quote
securitybreach Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 I third that VT! And for me, it isn't what the government knows about me; it's how they know it. If I'm interesting enough that they want to stalk my Facebook, my BATL, and other public forums of interest to see what I'm doing and what I think...that's fair game...no different than surveilling me from a public sidewalk. But when you start tapping my phone calls, intercepting my e-mails, and tracing my internet searches...all without my knowledge or permission...you have crossed the line. No different than breaking into my home and surveilling me from my attic or basement. Creepy stalkerish and, last I checked...ILLEGAL. And that argument of "what's the big deal if you have nothing to hide?" really gets me...talk about framing the argument so that either way I lose...what a crock! So if I pull the curtain back on my life and give up my privacy, I have nothing to hide; but if I refuse, I'm hiding something and SHOULD be looked into, and they'll just TAKE my privacy. Where's the freedom in that? In response to that pardoxical argument, I'd like to invoke my own little paradox...(not sure who to give credit to, perhaps Will Rogers or Mark Twain?): I don't want to belong to any organization that would accept ME as a member. I'm looking at you Uncle Sam! Hear, hear Quote
Capt.Crow Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 George Orwell warned us all about this in his book Brave New World . @ 1984. But none of us took a blind bit of notice .. It's always much harder to get back ones rights and priveledges dges than it is to defend them .. Look out theres stealth about . :devil: 2 Quote
securitybreach Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 George Orwell warned us all about this in his book Brave New World . @ 1984. But none of us took a blind bit of notice .. It's always much harder to get back ones rights and priveledges dges than it is to defend them .. Look out theres stealth about . :devil: Agreed but we are way past the story of Orwell's 1984. Orwell couldn't of imagined how bad it would become BTW Excellent book!! The movie version from 1984 kind of sucked though. They need to do a remake but with a step off from today's surveillance state. Of course that would never happen as people actually might be concerned. Maybe have it take place on Mars or something so not to point fingers. 2 Quote
Capt.Crow Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 I concur . The movie was nothing more than a pale shadow of the book . We had a census here a couple of weeks ago ,some of the questions were very dubious to say the least . At the moment the Gov here are showing fascist tendencies. Bot then the FG party did amalgamate with the Blueshirts back in the day . Just bet my Net/Con goes down or crawls from now on . :alien: Quote
sunrat Posted May 12, 2016 Author Posted May 12, 2016 The Thought Police are well and truly with us now. Just have different names. 1 Quote
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 12, 2016 Posted May 12, 2016 Oh, and Dr. J... PLEASE don't take this as criticism of you or your beliefs, thoughts, opinions, etc. We're just expressing how we all feel about this topic. Nothing personal here. OK? 2 Quote
securitybreach Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 Oh, and Dr. J... PLEASE don't take this as criticism of you or your beliefs, thoughts, opinions, etc. We're just expressing how we all feel about this topic. Nothing personal here. OK? Exactly Quote
sunrat Posted May 13, 2016 Author Posted May 13, 2016 George Orwell warned us all about this in his book Brave New World . @ 1984. George Orwell's book is Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Brave New World (1930) is a totally different book by Aldous Huxley with similar dystopian futuristic themes. The Wikipedia page for Brave New World is fascinating and includes a comparison with Nineteen Eighty-Four.Another book in the same vein that I enjoyed a lot is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. 3 Quote
securitybreach Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 George Orwell warned us all about this in his book Brave New World . @ 1984. George Orwell's book is Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). Brave New World (1930) is a totally different book by Aldous Huxley with similar dystopian futuristic themes. The Wikipedia page for Brave New World is fascinating and includes a comparison with Nineteen Eighty-Four.Another book in the same vein that I enjoyed a lot is Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. They are all very good books!!! I have read them all many times Quote
raymac46 Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 Move to Canada. The spy hunters here can't even park illegally without a bunch of little old ladies chalking their parking spaces LOL. http://goo.gl/s0FzKP 1 Quote
Hedon James Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 Oh, and Dr. J... PLEASE don't take this as criticism of you or your beliefs, thoughts, opinions, etc. We're just expressing how we all feel about this topic. Nothing personal here. OK? I third that one too! No beef with Dr. J whatsoever. If it came off that way, allow me to apologize to Dr. J, who has been nothing but a positive influence on this board, IMO! My rant is directed to the US Government and those who seem to think their actions are justified (i.e. the ends justify the means). Those folks are either power-mongering despots or cant-think-for-myself idiots. If the latter, I would quote Ben Franklin from over 200 years ago, paraphrased as "those who would give up essential liberties for temporary securities, deserve neither." If the former, I would recite the sermon of Martin Niemoller, a pastor held in WWII Nazi concentration camp: First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. If the quotes are tiresome, I apologize, but these folks are much more intelligent and eloquent than I am, and I see no reason to water that down with my own take. Please indulge me for one last quote..."those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it." I saw this quote in the American Culture/World Culture/History classrooms throughout my Junior & Senior High years; I used to think it meant "pay attention and pass this class, a requisite requirement for graduation, or we'll do it all over again until you do". Now that I'm older, it means something else. When will we ever learn? I've seen this movie before, and I know how it ends. VT was right....it does get worse before it gets better. SIGH... 6 Quote
Pete! Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 In 1964, when i was still in college, some neighbors reported being interviewed by "FBI agents" who had lots of questions about me, who I associated with, my patriotism, and things of that nature... It turned out that I was being screened for a security clearance, prior to getting an ROTC commission. Thirty years later, and again forty years later, when the Army was just an old memory, it turned out to be a GOOD THING. Some jobs and activities, by their nature require a "fingerprint criminal background check". Typically, this can take a month or longer. Mine took as little as two days. Speculation: 1. My prints were already in the system. 2. I'd been flagged as a "good guy". 3. I'd never done anything bad enough to change into a "bad guy". I imagine, people who's prints were in the system for negative reasons were rejected just as quickly. It's the people who've never been investigated who have to wait so long to get back their results. Based on the time most people have to wait for results, I suspect most people haven't been subjected to much scrutiny. Quote
Dr. J Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 Don't get me wrong , I'm well aware that there are serious issues here. The way I see it, governments spying on their own people, as opposed to real "enemies of the state" (I use quote marks, as the phrase seems to get thrown around a lot) are just wasting resources. I do have a problem when human rights are violated, especially when arrests are made with circumstantial evidence gathered from the web. This particular example comes to mind ... 8. Leigh Van Bryan & Emily Bunting These two friends were met by armed guards after landing at Los Angeles International Airport in January 2012. After Leigh Van Bryan tweeted another friend asking for some preparation before he was going to "go and destroy America," the travel pair had their passports detained and was interrogated by Homeland security agents for hours. The confusion resulted from the term "destroy" being British slang for "party." Bryan said that "the Homeland Security agents [treated] me like some kind of terrorist." After spending the night in separate cells, the pair were put on a plane back home. http://mic.com/articles/54961/8-social-media-users-arrested-for-what-they-said-online#.t0sXZjYoK I find it difficult to believe that such action could be justified because of one social media post 4 Quote
Capt.Crow Posted May 13, 2016 Posted May 13, 2016 Very well put Dr J . Just not to forget that there are much more subtle ways that the spooks mooch around in every country . It just seems that the USAnians are very heavy handed and have no sense of humor. It look like most of the heaviness is perpetrated by the lower IQ, stiffs bucking for promotion . Europe is just the same but more covert ... Take care ...It's still a wonderful world 1 Quote
sunrat Posted May 13, 2016 Author Posted May 13, 2016 In the news yesterday - Melbourne artist says he was held in custody, refused entry to US without explanation I may have inadvertently posted an old article, but it certainly stimulated some new discussion. My current beef is with traffic cameras. We've had red light cameras and speed cameras for many years, but recently the red light cameras have been upgraded to detect speed and unregistered cars. I've been driving for over 40 years with nary a handful of tickets until recently when I've had 4 in 18 months. 2 for speeding in areas where they just reduced the speed limit and would have been legal weeks before, and one for 0.7 seconds over a red light. I requested to see the image and it showed 3/4 of the car already into the intersection. Grrr The other one was for unregistered car which I was just returning from the registration office after registering and I had a permit to drive it there. The rego office and traffic infringement office computers apparently weren't on speaking terms about that so I got it dropped. Big Brother certainly is watching. </rant> 1 Quote
sunrat Posted May 14, 2016 Author Posted May 14, 2016 And just read this from Docs Searls about the Apple v FBI case - Privacy and the New Math 1 Quote
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 It's still a wonderful world It's always a wonderful world. Sadly, it's dealing with a really bad case of humans right now. Earth will recover, though, and those pesky humans will be just a footnote in history. 1 Quote
Cluttermagnet Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 I have long suspected that the Earth has a case of the humans. Is it catching? I think we all resent 'them' trampling on our liberties. I think 'they' will always think they know better... The pendulum swings... they are ascendant... Keep a low profile... Yeah, chilling, man... 2 Quote
V.T. Eric Layton Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 I have long suspected that the Earth has a case of the humans. Is it catching? A tad bit. The moon seems to have had a bout or two in the past 50 years. There's speculation that Venus may have been infected at one time, but runaway greenhouse effect and 1323 psi surface atmospheric pressure seems to have resolved the human issue for Venus sometime back. Mars has been exposed, but hasn't developed and active case yet. All other planets seem fine. Pluto wasn't infected by humanity, only disrespected and demoted by it. 2 Quote
Cluttermagnet Posted May 14, 2016 Posted May 14, 2016 Well, Pluto would still be welcome at any of my family gatherings, were it not for the planetoid's excessive mass... 3 Quote
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