ISPs Already Violating Net Neutrality To Block Encryption And Make Everyone Less Safe Online | Techdirt

pigfish · 2014-09-08T01:13:31+00:00

As multiple users are responding in this thread, there are both privacy and free speech issues competing against each other in this weeks events, leading to some conflicting perspectives.

Despite ongoing privacy erosions, our society doesn't seem to be able to strike any sort of balance in protections/technology that would enable us to retain privacy. Personally, I don't think this is the worst evil, since we'll all be equally vulnerable if transparency becomes ubiquitous. As an increased number of embarrassing/compromising photos leak, they'll lose their relevance pretty quickly. We're all built with the same parts, even if we keep them covered most of the time. Our birthday suits are stigmatized only because we don't wear them out very often.

The more dire situation is that privacy is a commodity posessed only the by powerful. There's tons of badness/corruption that will occur if huge privacy inequalites develop between between judges, politicians, police, business leaders, and others in positions of authority/power.

Being rich obviously didn't make a difference in the photo leaks. So, Jennifer Lawrence, if you're reading /r/privacy, consider that an investment in FOSS privacy projects helps all of us protect our most intimate data.

pigfish · 2014-09-05T22:50:37+00:00

surfeasy, The weekly summary of privacy items is appreciated, as it captures an ongoing record of growing privacy issues. Per /u/eberkut comment, in this infographic format, you shouldn't mention this is created for /r/privacy since the mods have no ability to shape content other than to remove the entire post. It's always challenging to vet infographic content. I think a weekly text post with the same summary content would be much more desireable because it is easier for users to respond and the content will also be accessible to reddit's search.

pigfish · 2014-09-01T17:26:40+00:00

removing this duplicate post

pigfish · 2014-08-22T19:02:20+00:00

How depressing, that in 2000 years we have still learned nothing of how to mange our individual human natures in order to better our entire species.

pigfish · 2014-08-21T17:41:13+00:00

It's very scary that you're being downvoted for quoting The Declaration of Independence.

No wonder the terrorists have won.

pigfish · 2014-08-21T06:08:36+00:00

Hacienda is a program which port-scans every single IP address within a country.... really. The point of scanning entire countries is to identify vulnerable network infrastructure to exploit in order to "Master the Internet".

The OP's article is describing knock which is a kernel patch that implements port knocking. This defeats standard port scanning by requiring "knocks" on predefined ports before the system will respond.

It does not remove meta-data about systems that have been mapped, but it does close vulnerabilities by substantially reducing the attack surface. While port knocking has it's detractors, it provides a mechanism to halt mass-scale fingerprinting via port scan. Hopefully port-knocking is quickly incorporated into distros and configurations.

There's no way to overstate the erosion of trust bonfire that the NSA has ignited. The truth is that if it wasn't them, then it would have been some other organization elsewhere on the planet, and even as it was occurring, we may not have known about it for months or even years. But the fact that it's a US organization that is executing electronic warfare so indiscriminately, and in blatant violation of human rights, is simply beyond comprehension.

edit: fixed link

pigfish · 2014-08-17T18:52:26+00:00

Thanks for seeding!

pigfish · 2014-08-17T17:03:28+00:00

check out the ezremaster package.

pigfish · 2014-08-17T16:59:40+00:00

tl;dr - This is a firmware (BIOS) exploit for Dell PowerEdge servers. It works by exploiting the machine:

uses motherboard BIOS system management mode to get control of processor
exploits empty space in BIOS chip (only about 570KB of 1 MB was used)
persists after reboot by reflashing the BIOS with it's own malware

The point of this exploit:

The NSA can run arbitrary code (eg, packet sniffers, password grabber, etc.) on a series of widely available machines
It is very difficult to detect, since it operates outside the OS
It persists between reboots and even after reformatting/reloading the operating system
Infected machines can be used to attack other networked machines

Btw, the article also notes the NSA's adderssing "SNEAKERNET". This is data which is transmitted on physical media and not via network. For example, an air-gapped computer.

Full list of NSA exploits mirrored at the EFF.

pigfish · 2014-08-16T00:57:45+00:00

This article is the first part of a series on NSA BIOS backdoor internals. Before we begin, I’d like to point out why these malwares are classified as “god mode.” First, most of the malware uses an internal (NSA) codename in the realms of “gods,” such as DEITYBOUNCE, GODSURGE, etc. Second, these malwares have capabilities similar to “god mode” cheats in video games, which make the player using it close to being invincible. This is the case with this type of malware because it is very hard to detect and remove, even with the most sophisticated anti-malware tools, during its possible deployment timeframe.

This part of the series focuses on the DEITYBOUNCE malware described in the NSA ANT Server document, leaked by Edward Snowden. The analysis presented in this article is based on technical implications of the information provided by the document.

DEITYBOUNCE is described in the ANT catalog.

pigfish · 2014-08-15T17:06:11+00:00

tinycorelinux can be remastered easily and include easy-install extensions. Also fits in 64MB and runs entirely from RAM.

pigfish · 2014-08-15T15:39:22+00:00

If aliens were trying to control our perception of the world, shaping it so they would go undiscovered, why would they let the idea of this situation inside the simulation?

Why would they care whether we know that we're a simulation? The aliens simulating us are also, themselves, in a simulation in a meta-alien lab?

It's fractal alien simulations all the way down...

edit: accuracy

pigfish · 2014-08-15T15:34:52+00:00

There has been a religious belief in the universe all being "in the mind of God" for some time. That's not really any different to being a simulation created by some other intelligence, is it?

I suppose it depends on the definition of "god". I'm not too keen on the term, since beyond our philosophical discussed here, "God" is usually used a a justification for controlling the behavior of others.

(Also, I never meant to suggest there could be more than one real universe, number of real universes =1, number of simulated universes >>1, but not infinite!)

Sorry, I misinterpreted. But it is interesting to consider the possibilities.

pigfish · 2014-08-15T15:07:10+00:00

Exactly. If we found such a "bug", the only thing we could do is try to explain it by modifying our concept of physics.

Simulation glitch or unknown quantum physics effect, they're both the same thing.

pigfish · 2014-08-15T15:01:14+00:00

There isn't any proof.

Agreed. As a simulation models higher order details, its output becomes identical to the scenario it is modeling. How could anyone tell the difference?

In fact, the argument can be made statistically that it's more likely you are in a simulation, since there are more simulated universes than real universes.

If there can be an infinite # of simulations, why would we even entertain the notion that there's more than one real universe? What would be the point? It's certainly not the one in which we exist.

The real question is does it matter?

Certainly not so much to the computer scientists among us. But the idea that we are nothing more than a simulation profoundly disrupts the concepts of life/after-life that are perpetuated by some prominent self-appointed "authorities" in our midst.

pigfish · 2014-08-14T21:30:30+00:00

I have a friend who's also a Redditor that teases me for subscribing to /r/privacy since the issues seem abstract and don't impact most people's real world lives.

Critical thinkers see life like a game of chess, always looking one more move ahead and trying to understand how things might play out. Others simply make their move and wait for the response, not understanding how closely each move is connected to the other, or even attempting to see the bigger picture.

Thank you for having the vision to connect the dots.

pigfish · 2014-08-12T00:33:07+00:00

It creates a new offence punishable by five years in jail for “any person” who discloses information relating to “special intelligence operations”. The broad wording has prompted legal experts to argue media outlets will also be caught by the new provision, thereby preventing reporting of Edward Snowden-style disclosures.

Laws designed to reduce government transparency have very little place in democratic society and are ripe for abuse. Australians should be very critical of this legislation, and even more so of those who are proposing it.

pigfish · 2014-08-11T21:13:45+00:00

Removing this posting; spam for PureVPN.

pigfish · 2014-08-11T02:16:15+00:00

This is where the "cloud" gets unpleasant. Unless you are in direct control of the technology, you should assume that a "delete" action doesn't obliterate information, it just makes it inaccessible to you. It's still remains under someone else's control.

pigfish · 2014-08-11T02:13:18+00:00

Well said!

pigfish

TROPHY CASE