The internet is a surveillance state

[Quantum Windbag]

Apparently there are some people that operate under the delusion that anything they post online is private.

They are wrong.

Even if you want privacy, other people gave it away to play with a shiny toy, that same toy you picked up, and now it follows you everywhere you go.

Facebook, for example, correlates your online behavior with your purchasing habits offline. And there's more. There's location data from your cell phone, there's a record of your movements from closed-circuit TVs.

This is ubiquitous surveillance: All of us being watched, all the time, and that data being stored forever. This is what a surveillance state looks like, and it's efficient beyond the wildest dreams of George Orwell.

Sure, we can take measures to prevent this. We can limit what we search on Google from our iPhones, and instead use computer web browsers that allow us to delete cookies. We can use an alias on Facebook. We can turn our cell phones off and spend cash. But increasingly, none of it matters.

There are simply too many ways to be tracked. The Internet, e-mail, cell phones, web browsers, social networking sites, search engines: these have become necessities, and it's fanciful to expect people to simply refuse to use them just because they don't like the spying, especially since the full extent of such spying is deliberately hidden from us and there are few alternatives being marketed by companies that don't spy.

Opinion: The Internet is a surveillance state - CNN.com

Legally, you have no expectation of privacy online.

Online services like Twitter and Facebook spend a lot of time on their privacy policies, and Facebook in particular has spent the past couple of years tweaking its settings, trying to find a balance between convincing users to share information and allowing them to keep some private. But a recent U.S. court decision involving the Twitter accounts of several WikiLeaks supporters shows when push comes to shove, users of social networks and most online services have virtually no expectation of privacy whatsoever — at least, not if the entity trying to get access to their personal information happens to be the U.S. Justice Department.

The case in question involves the Justice Department’s repeated attempts to get personal account data from three WikiLeaks supporters, in order to bolster its espionage case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for the release of diplomatic cables last year that were stolen (allegedly) by Army intelligence agent and whistleblower Bradley Manning. The three who were targeted are Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir — an early supporter of WikiLeaks who helped produce the “Collateral Murder” video that showed a U.S. military attack on civilians in Iraq — as well as computer-security expert Jacob Appelbaum and Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp.

Court makes it official: You have no privacy online ? Tech News and Analysis

Under current law any email that is on the server for longer than 6 months can be accessed without a warrant.

The Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday approved legislation that would require police to obtain a search warrant from a judge, and not just a subpoena from a prosecutor, before accessing the content of all emails and other private information from Google, Yahoo and other Internet providers. Under the current law, the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a warrant is needed only for emails less than 6 months old.
The full Senate is expected to vote on the legislation next year.
"This is an important gain for privacy," said Chris Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, in a statement. "We are very happy that the committee voted that all electronic content like emails, photos and other communications held by companies like Google and Facebook should be protected with a search warrant. We believe law enforcement should use the same standard to search your inbox that they do to search your home."

Senate committee OKs bill requiring warrant for email, cloud search - Technology on NBCNews.com

By the way, don't expect the Senate to actually vote on this, most people don't understand what it means.

If you really want privacy, get the fuck off the internet and stop whining when people prove to you how stupid you are.

 

[Mad Scientist]

That's Freedom! Keep wavin' that flag!

You know what the best part is? Americans pay for it all!

 

[waltky]

Granny thinks dey's spyin' on her when she been sunbathin'...

Is the World's Biggest Surveillance Camera Maker Sending Footage to China?
November 21, 2016 | WASHINGTON — Imagine a world where almost everyone can be tracked, and everything can be seen by cameras linked directly to the Chinese government. The rapid growth of a little known Chinese manufacturer of high-powered surveillance technology has some people concerned that it's no longer a theory.

Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology, a company controlled by the Chinese government, is now the world's largest supplier of video surveillance equipment, with internet-enabled cameras installed in more than 100 countries. Capable of capturing sharp images even in fog, rain or darkness, Hikvision claims its most advanced technologies can recognize license plates and tell if a driver is texting while behind the wheel. They can also track individuals with unrivaled "face-tracking" technology and by identifiers such as body metrics, hair color and clothing.

Security cameras in front of the giant portrait of former Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong on Beijing's Tiananmen Square​

In the United States alone, the company's surveillance systems can be found everywhere from prisons to airports to private homes and public schools, and even in places with sensitive national security concerns, such as Fort Leonard Wood military base in Missouri. Abroad, its cameras were installed in the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. According to a U.S. government procurement document published on IPVM.com, the world’s largest online video surveillance trade magazine, U.S. embassy officials decided in August 2016 to allow only Hikvision suppliers to bid on the installation contract.

American flag waves beside CCTV cameras on top of the U.S. embassy in Berlin, Germany​

Stephen Bryen, a widely published expert on international affairs and cyber security, wrote an article outlining his concerns about the purchase, saying the Hikvision cameras were never proven to be any more secure than comparable models. “If the procurement officer actually thought these cameras were more secure than others, that would have been claimed as part of the sole-source justification,” he said of the embassy purchase agreement, adding that no claims of any kind were made regarding the Hikvision products. “The issue is that the U.S. embassy is installing commercial cameras in one if its most sensitive locations,” Bryen wrote. “This is a big mistake, and mistakes like this can cost lives.”

Screen shows monitor views at a surveillance-camera manufacturer showroom in Taipei, Taiwan​

On Monday, a State Department official confirmed the installation via email. "A Hikvision camera system was initially installed to monitor non-sensitive electrical closets for theft prevention," the official said of U.S. Embassy Kabul. "The procurement in question was to either expand this or to install a new system. The procurement was cancelled September 2016 and the previously installed cameras were removed." It is not known whether other Hikvision products have ever been installed in other U.S. embassies.

Spreading the word

 

[TheOldSchool]

@quantumwindbag was a wonderful person. I'll take this as another opportunity to say a prayer for him and ask the universe that he be RIP.

 

[TemplarKormac]

@quantumwindbag was a wonderful person. I'll take this as another opportunity to say a prayer for him and ask the universe that he be RIP.

I miss this guy. Only saw him around here for a short time, but I'll say the name really cracked me up.

 

[TheOldSchool]

@quantumwindbag was a wonderful person. I'll take this as another opportunity to say a prayer for him and ask the universe that he be RIP.

I miss this guy. Only saw him around here for a short time, but I'll say the name really cracked me up.

There have been maybe 3 posters here that I've PM'd with privately and bowed to their knowledge almost unconditionally. He was one of them. I would have loved to hear his take on this election.

He was a die-hard conservative, but he'd make you look like a fool if that's all you assumed he was.

R.I.P. QW

 

[owebo]

@quantumwindbag was a wonderful person. I'll take this as another opportunity to say a prayer for him and ask the universe that he be RIP.

I miss this guy. Only saw him around here for a short time, but I'll say the name really cracked me up.

There have been maybe 3 posters here that I've PM'd with privately and bowed to their knowledge almost unconditionally. He was one of them. I would have loved to hear his take on this election.

He was a die-hard conservative, but he'd make you look like a fool if that's all you assumed he was.

R.I.P. QW

Never knew him....

Was he a fighter of fascist democrat Nazis?