[FlamingCobra]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security

Time to worry?

[Flipside]

Picking incredibly ominous names for the Operations (seriously, naming them after important battles in each countries Civil Wars) really doesn't do anything to alleviate the cloud over this.

[MP-Ryan]

This should surprise no one.  The NSA in particular has long had the world's most advanced encryption-breaking.

It still stuns me that anyone actually believes anything electronic is secure.  It's not.  There are varying degrees of protections, but assuming that any of them are completely secure is just foolish.  That said, in general I don't see any point in worrying that intelligence agencies have the capability to break into electronic records of anything - my life is pretty boring.

[Lorric]

Beak encryption?


So now we finally know what his job is. I always wondered why they kept that eagle around.

Seriously though, this is something I always assumed they were able to do. So my reaction was kind of you mean we thought they couldn't do that?

The working directly with companies though, that was a genuine shocker.

[Luis Dias]

come on if you do nothing wrong u have nothing to hide amirite?

[FlamingCobra]

I mean it doesn't surprise me that they have the capability to break the encryption, but is the threat of terrorism so great that the NSA really needs to go this far?

I can't help but think there is some other motive at work here.

come on if you do nothing wrong u have nothing to hide amirite?

Don't you realize that there is so much potential for abuse by operatives within the NSA?

[Lorric]

come on if you do nothing wrong u have nothing to hide amirite?

I like to think this way, but the argument on the other side is also perfectly understandable.

Perhaps if you do nothing wrong or unusual you have nothing to fear. Nothing to attract attention.

[StarSlayer]

Sarcasm Detection Compromised!

Abort? Retry? Fail?

[Flak]

Recommendation:
Don't attract more than necessary attention
Avoid putting private details about yourself that you do not wish everyone to know in any electronic devices. If you can plug it in, they can break into it.
Don't worry too much of being called insane or ignorant just because you resist their mind control. It is best for them to think that you are nuts or just speaking nonsense for being able to resist than they know that you are not one of the people they like.
There is no need to be too paranoid, but it always helps to be cautious. Again, do not attract too much attention, just act like 'nothing happens'.

[MP-Ryan]

I mean it doesn't surprise me that they have the capability to break the encryption, but is the threat of terrorism so great that the NSA really needs to go this far?

I can't help but think there is some other motive at work here.

Tinfoil hat alert!

The NSA has been in the business of breaking every encryption method known to man since it was founded.  That is arguably its primary function.  There is no nefarious motive - the NSA exists to read communications of various kinds.  In order to do that, they create means to break any possible means of encrypting that information.

[StarSlayer]

Well if you need to foment a revolution you can always go back to using Marconi Wireless Sets

[Luis Dias]

Sarcasm Detection Compromised!

Abort? Retry? Fail?

really i aint even that good of a poe!

[Flipside]

Thing is, this isn't about reading the information you personally send to banks, as I understand it, it's about intercepting the 'end of day' transaction data that banks exchange with Credit Agencies etc, so simply 'Not revealing your details online' will not work, because other people are.

As MP-Ryan says, this was the whole point of establishing these organisations, so it doesn't surprise me that this is happening, however, I still think that the names chosen for the Operations were an incredibly silly choice when it comes to dispelling the 'Government vs People' mentality that has been on the rise in these countries.

[SypheDMar]

I heard it on the radio a few days ago and didn't bat an eye because of the above. Personally, I'm almost relieved that the US and UK can do it. I would imagine that it'd be quite embarrassing if they can't.

The implications of concern are that other countries outside of the US and UK either can or are attempting to as well. That's the scarier part. Still to be expected but always something to keep in mind.

[Phantom Hoover]

Recommendation:
Don't attract more than necessary attention
Avoid putting private details about yourself that you do not wish everyone to know in any electronic devices. If you can plug it in, they can break into it.
Don't worry too much of being called insane or ignorant just because you resist their mind control. It is best for them to think that you are nuts or just speaking nonsense for being able to resist than they know that you are not one of the people they like.
There is no need to be too paranoid, but it always helps to be cautious. Again, do not attract too much attention, just act like 'nothing happens'.

no, you are just being paranoid. who is this unified 'them' who are so obsessed with controlling your mind, and learning the minutiae of your life

[Apollo]

Recommendation:
Don't attract more than necessary attention
Avoid putting private details about yourself that you do not wish everyone to know in any electronic devices. If you can plug it in, they can break into it.
Don't worry too much of being called insane or ignorant just because you resist their mind control. It is best for them to think that you are nuts or just speaking nonsense for being able to resist than they know that you are not one of the people they like.
There is no need to be too paranoid, but it always helps to be cautious. Again, do not attract too much attention, just act like 'nothing happens'.

I don't much like this stuff either, but mind control?

[Grizzly]

come on if you do nothing wrong u have nothing to hide amirite?

I like to think this way, but the argument on the other side is also perfectly understandable.

Perhaps if you do nothing wrong or unusual you have nothing to fear. Nothing to attract attention.

The problem with that statement is that although you may have nothing to fear from, say, the NSA or the US government right now, the data might fall into hands of people who DO feel that you are doing something horribly wrong. That may be a future government with completely different ideas on say... homosexuality (Russia springs to mind, with those new anti gay laws being passed all of a sudden), or some very very very clever radicals.

The thing is with this world is that you ALWAYS have something to hide. Becuase somewhere, someone, is just not going to like some aspects of you. And those aspects are still catalogued - the consequences of the data falling into the wrong hands are enormous.

Off course, you could say that that will never happen, but there is a reason godwin's law is invoked so much in these kind of discussions... (And I just did. Bloody hell).

[Flak]

No, it is not that kind of mind control that you lose control of your mind altogether. It is just a controlled thinking, like they put some measures to make you think the way they want you to think. And that was just an extreme version of paranoia.

[Apollo]

No, it is not that kind of mind control that you lose control of your mind altogether. It is just a controlled thinking, like they put some measures to make you think the way they want you to think. And that was just an extreme version of paranoia.

By "measures" do you mean social norms and slanted information? That particular tactic is real, as we can see from all the anti-drug, wartime, and moral propaganda that is common throughout the the US and many other countries.

However, if you're talking about anything more... exotic I'd have to disagree with you.

[Lorric]

come on if you do nothing wrong u have nothing to hide amirite?

I like to think this way, but the argument on the other side is also perfectly understandable.

Perhaps if you do nothing wrong or unusual you have nothing to fear. Nothing to attract attention.

The problem with that statement is that although you may have nothing to fear from, say, the NSA or the US government right now, the data might fall into hands of people who DO feel that you are doing something horribly wrong. That may be a future government with completely different ideas on say... homosexuality (Russia springs to mind, with those new anti gay laws being passed all of a sudden), or some very very very clever radicals.

The thing is with this world is that you ALWAYS have something to hide. Becuase somewhere, someone, is just not going to like some aspects of you. And those aspects are still catalogued - the consequences of the data falling into the wrong hands are enormous.

Off course, you could say that that will never happen, but there is a reason godwin's law is invoked so much in these kind of discussions... (And I just did. Bloody hell).

Why you scare me, Joshua?

 

Nasty possibilities. Nothing we can do though, Just have to hope it doesn't happen. There'll always be people in the World somewhere no matter who you are or what you stand for who think you're the lowest form of human life on the planet and you should be killed. Just have to hope one of those doesn't ever sit in the seat of power.