10.08.13

Privacy and Security in the Age of Criminal Activity Perpetrated by the NSA, CIA, and FBI

Posted in GNU/Linux, Security, Windows at 2:44 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Michael Hastings became an “Enemy of the State” when he criticised the CIA/Pentagon

Summary: The importance of one’s privacy and personal security when lawlessness prevails, especially in the realms of shady agencies that are unaccountable and state-protected

LAST night I watched “Enemy of the State” together with my wife because it deals with the NSA, even 15 years ago (a lot of it is still very relevant). A great deal of the film may be hogwash (unrealistic scenarios and impossibilities, like one satellite hovering over the same point), but surveillance and bugging is something that the producers got quite right. Based on some statements [1], the US government wants less transparency for the NSA (no surprise there), perhaps because transparency helps reveal the government’w complicity in violation of the law which it’s supposed to defend. Here in Europe, the European Parliament, which was bugged by the NSA, is now learning from former spies. European developers sure developed an interest in privacy [3] because it’s becoming an important selling point for GNU/Linux and Free software.

“he NSA spies even on US allies, which really says a lot about the value of privacy in the digital age. It’s all about control.”The FBI turns out to have engaged in criminal activities like spreading malware in order to carry out surveillance again [4] (we gave more examples even years ago) and following suspicions and reports that the FBI harassed a journalist’s family while he (Michael Hastings) was preparing a report about the CIA and shortly before he died in a fiery car crash (his car was controlled by a microchip) we now learn about the risks of cyber attacks on cars, with whole a consortium being formed to deal with this issue [5]. Meanwhile, details surface about the NSA’s cyber attacks programme [6,7] (the NSA is a cyber criminal, in essence doing exactly what criminals do) and a former NSA CIO ridicules the security of systems all over the place [8] while new flaws in Windows emerge [9] which continue to remain unpatched.

What we can learn from all this is simple. The US government — through the secret agencies it harbours — is actively engaging in criminal activities such as cyber attacks. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, but we should be prepared for the possibility of such attacks by making informed software choices (e.g. cars that are not driven by proprietary software, operating systems that are not proprietary, access restrictions and so forth).

40 years ago the CIA helped crush democracy in Chile, putting a tyrant in place and protecting his militant henchmen [10]. This is one example among many where not only the lives of individuals got compromised and even ended because of criminal activity from secret agencies; even the sovereignty of entire nations could be compromised. The NSA spies even on US allies, which really says a lot about the value of privacy in the digital age. It’s all about control. To achieve these spying capabilities, systems are being broken into, so it’s not about social engineering. The only route to security is inherently hardened systems. GNU/Linux is one notable option. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. U.S. gov’t argues tech companies should not be allowed to report data request figures

   The U.S. government doesn’t want Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and other major technology companies to disclose figures on how many requests it makes for user data.

2. LIBE whistleblower hearing at the European Parliament

   This week I was invited to give a state­ment to the LIBE Com­mit­tee at the European Par­lia­ment about whis­tleblow­ing and the NSA mass sur­veil­lance scandal.

3. Videos about the Freedombox project – for inspiration and learning

4. FBI Admits It Controlled Tor Servers Behind Mass Malware Attack

   It wasn’t ever seriously in doubt, but the FBI yesterday acknowledged that it secretly took control of Freedom Hosting last July, days before the servers of the largest provider of ultra-anonymous hosting were found to be serving custom malware designed to identify visitors.

5. Consortium plans to protect cars from cyber attacks

   As vehicles become increasingly dependent on embedded computers for functions such as engine timing, acceleration, braking, and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), the risk of cyber attacks on cars is growing dramatically. With this in mind, Southwest Research Institute has formed the Automotive Consortium for Embedded Security (ACES), which will have an informal initial meeting on Oct. 23.

6. How the NSA Thinks About Secrecy and Risk

   As I report in The Guardian today, the NSA has secret servers on the Internet that hack into other computers, codename FOXACID. These servers provide an excellent demonstration of how the NSA approaches risk management, and exposes flaws in how the agency thinks about the secrecy of its own programs.

7. The NSA is Making Us All Less Safe

   Every casual Internet user, whether they know it or not, uses encryption daily. It’s the “s” in https and the little lock you see in your browser—signifying a secure connection—when you purchase something online, when you’re at your bank’s website or accessing your webmail, financial records, and medical records. Cryptography security is also essential in the computers in our cars, airplanes, houses and pockets.

8. Former NSA CIO slams Fortune 100 companies’ security

   “It’s about looking at all the types of data you have got, assembling pictures and understanding what is happening and what has to stop.”

9. Microsoft IE Zero-Day Flaw Exposure Widens

   There is still no official patch from Microsoft as weaponized exploits for Internet Explorer begin to appear, but there is a simple step that enterprise users can take to mitigate the risk.

10. Chile shuts luxury jail for Pinochet henchmen

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GNOME News Roundup: Wayland, GNOME 3.10, and GNOME “Flashback”

Posted in GNOME, GNU/Linux at 2:13 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Signs of encouraging progress in the GNOME project

The Executive Director of the GNOME Foundation recently spoke in an interview [1] with Andrew Gregory and Graham Morrison of Tux Radar. The GNOME desktop is finding more acceptance from users [2] and from developers [3,4] and as GNOME 3.10 comes near [5,6] with new changes and applications [7,8] it seems clear that GNOME’s future — just like KDE’s — is secured.

The “G” in GNOME stands for GNU and it seems safe to say that the project escaped the clutch of Mono and is now led by a person closely connected to the FSF (through the SFLC). Red Hat (through Fedora) is still the main steward. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Karen Sandler: full interview

   Andrew Gregory and Graham Morrison talk to Karen Sandler, Executive Director of the Gnome Foundation, and hear some rather more compelling arguments for software freedom than clever acronyms and numbering systems that start at 0 rather than 1.

2. The beauty of GNOME Shell

   Since its inception not long ago, the new GNOME 3.x series has confused some and frustrated others, but more often than not, it has also managed to conquer those few who actually got past the initial quirks and gave it a fair chance. Similarly, its desktop environment, simply dubbed Shell, left a lot to be desired in the early days, mostly because the customization options had been thrown out the window in favor of a to-the-point approach which meant to remove distractions. Unfortunately, such approach was certainly too closed to survive in the Linux realm.

3. It’s Now Easier Running Wayland Under GNOME-Session

   With another day comes more improvements to the Linux desktop running atop Wayland. While yesterday saw Enlightenment on Wayland work, today already is some GNOME Wayland activity ahead of the GNOME 3.10 release in just a few weeks time.

4. Frikin’ Awesome Apps (without AppData)

   In GNOME Software, we show a list of applications for each category that we think are frikin’ awesome. Some have AppData, and some don’t. For the ones that don’t yet have AppData it leaves the responsibility of writing the long description to the Linux community, where we can push the data back to upstream so that all the distributions can benefit. So far we’ve had a superb reaction from lots of upstream projects.

5. GNOME 3.10 Gets an Overhaul: Top 10 New Features

   The open-source GNOME desktop is one of the primary desktops in use on Linux operating systems today. The GNOME 3.10 desktop, which was officially released Sept. 25, provides users with a number of user interface enhancements as well as new applications and under-the-hood improvements for developers. In total, more than 30,000 changes were made in GNOME 3.10, with over 1,000 individuals contributing to the new release. On the user interface front, there is a new system status area that provides a more unified view of the user’s system. In terms of new software applications, the GNOME 3.10 release starts right at the beginning with a new “Software” application to help users to explore and find new software. As part of the release, GNOME developers have also introduced a new “Maps” application that pulls data from the open-source OpenStreetMap project. Plus, there is a new Web browser aptly named “Web” that advances GNOME’s browser technology, formerly known as Epiphany. In this slide show, eWEEK takes a look at what is new and what is improved in the open-source GNOME 3.10 desktop.

6. GNOME 3.10 in Fedora

   As usual, Fedora tracks GNOME releases closely. Last week, Fedora 20 Alpha shipped with a GNOME 3.10 prerelease, and today have just landed the final 3.10.0 builds, one day after the official upstream release.

7. GNOME “Flashback” Released, GNOME Panel 3.8

   This week prior to the GNOME 3.10 release also marked the release of GNOME-Panel 3.8 and GNOME-Flashback-Session 3.8. The “GNOME Flashback” project is about revitalizing the GNOME 3 “fallback” session experience found in earlier 3.x releases for cases where no 3D hardware acceleration was available.

8. GNOME Gets A Log Viewer For Systemd’s Journal

   There’s a new GNOME application that experienced its first release this morning: GNOME Logs. While there’s a lot of work left on the project, GNOME Logs is to serve as a centralized log viewer for the systemd journal on the GNOME desktop.

   The GNOME Logs program is a utility displaying detailed system event information that can be filtered, searched, and further analyzed in the investigation of system problems.

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The Arch Family Has a New Release, Flexibility the Key

Posted in GNU/Linux at 1:22 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Arch Linux 2013.10.01 has been released

Arch Linux 2013.10.01 has been released [1] with new software [2] and core changes [3], even derivatives [4] that use lightweight desktop environments like [5-7]. The argument made by Arch proponents is that performance and overall experience improve when one builds and customises one’s own GNU/Linux distribution.

The Arch Wiki says it is a “general purpose GNU/Linux distribution versatile enough to suit any role.” Many people I know are now using Arch for this reason. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Arch Linux 2013.10.01 Is Now Available for Download

   Today, October 1, 2013, the Arch Linux developers unveiled the monthly ISO image of their powerful and popular operating system, Arch Linux 2013.10.01.

2. How to find required software effectively on Arch Linux

3. Arch Linux Deprecates /etc/sysctl.conf, User Intervention Required

4. First impressions of ArchBang Linux 2013.09.01

   The ArchBang Linux operating system is based on the Arch Linux distribution and maintains a rolling release upgrade model.

   [...]

   My experience with ArchBang was, in a word, sparse, with few features and no bugs.

5. WindowMaker-style menus in GNUstep?

   Well the obvious way is to install theme enabling this feature. However, you may want to tweak just a certain feature or customize the default look.

6. Sugar, A Desktop Environment For Kids

   Sugar is a free and open source desktop environment which can be installed on a variety of operating systems, including several Linux distributions and within virtual machines on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The goal of this desktop environment is to help kids all over the world in their learning activities. Sugar was initially released May 2006, the actual stable release is 0.98.5 which was released on March 8 2013, five months ago. Sugar is still in development Sugar Labs and it is written in Python, PyGTK, GTK+.

7. Elive has a new house!

   For those of us who are waiting for the new version of Elive to come out, it was a pleasant surprise to see that the Elive project has a new site.

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KDE News Roundup: Plasma Active 4, Frameworks 5, Krita, and Akademy 2014

Posted in GNU/Linux, KDE at 1:04 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: The latest news from the world of KDE, bundled together

KDE, the powerful desktop environment for GNU/Linux, is changing its release structure [1] after its most recent release [2] which brought Plasma Active to more form factors than before [3]. With Frameworks 5 [4] seemingly imminent (Qt5 makes it so) to excite users [5] because core parts are actively developed [6,7] along with peripheral programs [8,9] and various other bits [10-13], the future of KDE looks bright.

Akademy 2014 is also coming [14], promising to help bring KDE developers from different parts of the world of KDE (it is treated specially in Europe [15] and Asia [16]) and many choice remain for people who want a distribution with KDE preinstalled [17].

Regular users of KDE may know that the project no longer focuses just on desktops and laptops. Adaptations are intended to address shifting market dynamics, but inherently, applications remain the same. For phones and tablets that are as powerful and versatile like desktops, KDE is essential. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. KDE Release Structure Evolves

2. KDE Ships September Updates to Plasma Workspaces, Applications and Platform

   Today KDE released updates for its Workspaces, Applications and Development Platform. These updates are the first in a series of monthly stabilization updates to the 4.11 series. As was announced on the release, the workspaces will continue to receive updates for the next two years. This release only contains bugfixes and translation updates and will be a safe and pleasant update for everyone.

3. Plasma Active 4 – ready when you are

   The KDE Community announces the release of Plasma Active 4 (PA4). Plasma Active is a user experience technology stack for consumer electronics. While the default user interface is for tablets, it can be customized to work on smartphones, settop boxes, smart TVs, and touch computing devices such as home automation and in-vehicle infotainment. There are major new improvements to the Files application, an overhaul of the on-screen keyboard and a completely free and open source system based on the Mer Core. The Plasma Active team invites involvement from people who want to participate in the widespread movement towards mobile computing on open platforms.

4. Frameworks 5

   A recent Dot article explained changes in the KDE release cycle that will be happening with the upcoming introduction of Frameworks 5. The changes to KDE’s core libraries are enough to warrant a name change from ‘Platform’ to ‘Frameworks’. This article provides some background, an overview of the changes, and the benefits and improvements that can be expected from KDE Frameworks 5 for the entire Qt community. A later article will address Frameworks 5 benefits for KDE developers.

5. Switching to Kubuntu comments

6. How Desktop Grid brought back SystemSettings

   One of my personal adjustments to KWin is using the top right screen edge as a trigger for the Desktop Grid effect. With the switch to KWin on 5 this hasn’t worked for me any more as we don’t have code in place to transfer the old configuration to the new system.

7. New KScreen Mock-ups Spark Conversation

   KDELast week Björn Balazs posted of the results in a user survey with the goal of redesigning the KScreen multi-monitor configuration interface. After taking all the data into account, new mock-ups have been designed and posted. However, Aaron Seigo said that power settings are “fine” but do not need to be in the main interface confusing users.

8. Krita Demonstrated at IDF Keynote

9. New: Clones Array tool!

10. KDE Commit-Digest for 1st September 2013

11. KDE Commit-Digest for 8th September 2013

12. KDE Commit-Digest for 15th September 2013

13. KDE Commit-Digest for 22nd September 2013

14. Akademy 2014 Call for Host

15. ALERT Project concludes successfully

    Back in the last months of 2010, the ALERT Project began. Partly funded under the European Union’s 7th Framework Programme, the project followed in the footsteps of research efforts such as NEPOMUK. Its objectives were to help open source developers to work more effectively and to produce better software by improving bug tracking, resolution and software quality tools.

16. ezgo – Free And Open Source Software In Taiwan’s Schools

Free and Open Source Software in Taiwan has made impressive strides thanks to the work of the ‘ezgo’ team. They have put together a pre-configured set of Free and Open Source (FOSS) software that makes it easy for teachers and students to get up and running. The New Taipei City government has decided to install ezgo 11 on 10,000 PCs for elementary schools, bringing thousands of students in contact with Linux, KDE and educational Free Software. The ezgo team has written up an account of ezgo and how it came to be.

17. It’s All About Choice: Alternate Applications For Your Kubuntu / NetrunnerOS / Linux Mint KDE Computer

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10.07.13

Google Embraces ‘Soft’ Censorship

Posted in Videos at 3:47 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

MOAR censorship!

Summary: The advent of censorship even in so-called “open” channels that label themselves deceivingly in order to suggest they are users-driven

WHEN Google deletes several links per second for copyright reasons (as currently reported by some sites), then it’s hard to argue that Google engages in “censorship” per se. When Google deletes a video for copyright reasons, then too it is hard to label it censorship. But when Google changes the order of comments (potentially moving them out of existence/visibility) based on anonymity and so-called ‘reputation’ of commenters, then it is akin to censorship. Google does this right now [1]. This isn’t like the ‘hard’ censorship that Lessig has just encountered [2], but it is still a form of censorship.

All across Europe there is a new hot trend of censorship. Politicians try to sell us that idea that censoring particular ideas is a good thing [3], as if they have just come back from a long trip in China where they found inspiration.

Any act of demoting or removing a point of view is pretty much a case of censorship. We are not obliged to respond to people whom we do not agree with, but trying to make their views vanish is nothing to be proud about; it is a source of shame and proof of our weakness or insecurity. Google is going down the slippery slope when it comes to free speech. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. YouTube gets the yuck out in comments cleanup

   He explained that three main factors determine which comments are more relevant: community engagement by the commenter, up-votes for a particular comment, and commenter reputation. If you’ve been flagged for spam or abuse, don’t be surprised to find your comments buried, but that also means that celebrities who have strong Google+ reputations will be boosted above others.

2. CVS.com, cleansed

   I bought a product at CVS online. They emailed me a request that I review the product on their site. I did. I didn’t like the product, but I complied with every single requirement for comments. Today I got a polite email telling me they had rejected my comment. When I clicked on the link to “contact us,” 404’d.

3. Opinion: Free Speech

   In an age full of consistent threats of Internet censorship, among the other forms of opposition to freedom of speech and expression I have described, it is about time particularly in Britain, throughout Europe and across democratic nations that we drive a legal change, bringing protection of this essential liberty at least closer in value lawfully to its status in the United States. While as I have shown the First Amendment is often unhelpful even there, the forming of laws and being able to reference them is helpful in the establishment of free speech as a core and definite requirement throughout human civilisation, for drawing a line on what may be said, written or even caricatured will always end with the imprisonment of historians who deny the Holocaust, with the arrest of citizens for voicing opinions on Twitter and with the Vietnamese people being told they may exchange only “personal information” online. So my final point would be in the form of a question, should you remain unconvinced. If you believe a line on free speech ought to be drawn, I ask you to consider the following: Is there a single person or organisation to whom you would designate and allow the task of deciding, for you, what you can read and what you can hear from a fellow member of the human species? Personally, I insist I obtain the right to read, hear, think and decide on matters for myself.

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Politics and the Media

Posted in Deception at 3:33 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Photo by Nicolas Shayko

Summary: News about the holy trinity of corporate media, corporations, and corporate contributions which drive politics

THE next US election will most likely bring a new face to Bush-style policies, putting a woman in charge [1] to perpetuate surveillance, assassination, torture, etc. Larry Lessig does not find much “Hope” as what he considers to be inherent corruption carries on [2-5] and the ‘leftist’ media definitely carries on doing its thing [6,7]. A recent discussion about con­trol of the media by the spies and the gov­ern­ment appar­atus helped shed light on the role that free press should play if it exists (it hardly exists in the UK and the US, where it is typically referred to as “alternative media”). When the political systems are mostly controlled by corporations, which also control the media, then there is a deadlock on influence and a massive barrier pushing progress away and selling us unnecessary wars [8] (i.e. death to millions of innocent people). Professor Lessig found that out the hard way when he pushed for copyright sanity and repeatedly failed because of lobbyists and corrupt politicians (serving corporations that bribed them). Those who try to push for standards and software freedom typically meet those same barriers. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. No Candidate, No Problem: 2016 Shadow Campaign

2. On the meaning of a political “innovation”

   In my view, the elements in the current game are first a grave threat (“the likely default on United States debt [which] could be catastrophic”) and second, the “forc[ing of] changes in existing law when it can’t with honesty say that it represents a majority”

3. Tumblr goes to the Supreme Court

   On Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren and I will participate in an event hosted by the Constitutional Accountability Center (livestream here) to discuss a brief I submitted in a corruption (aka “campaign finance”) case that the Supreme Court will hear on October 8: McCutcheon v. F.E.C.

4. More on an “originalist” understanding of “corruption”

   Ed_in_LA has a nice comment to my piece in The Beast about the original meaning of “corruption.” The basic thrust of his point is that originalism is about how judges read the Framers’ texts. And the word “corruption” (like “democracy,” or “separation of powers,” or “federalism”) doesn’t appear in any founding text (except “corruption of blood”).

5. The Grenade in the McCutcheon Briefs

   The question in that case is whether aggregate limits on contributions are constitutional (I.e., do you have a constitutional right to give more than ~$125k to federal candidates every year). But in deciding that question, petitioners have asked the Court to revisit the standard of review that applies to limitations on “contributions.”

   Therein lies the bomb: In Buckley (1976), the Court held that while limits on expenditures had to be evaluated under “strict scrutiny,” limits on contributions got “less rigorous” scrutiny. In McCutcheon, the petitioners (and Senator McConnell, who will also be arguing in the case) are asking the Court to apply the same standard to contributions and expenditures.

6. An Inside Look at How NYT’s Ownership Meddled with Coverage to Push Their Pet Projects

   A study by Noam Chomsky’s nephew shows how ownership interferes in media coverage, forcing publications pursue private, greedy interests.

7. New York Times Israel Correction Needs a Correction

8. Riga Talk about Spies, Whistleblowers and the Media

   Last week I was invited to dis­cuss the con­trol of the media by the spies and the gov­ern­ment appar­atus by the Centre for Media Stud­ies at the Stock­holm School of Eco­nom­ics in Riga. Many thanks to Hans, Anders and the team for invit­ing me, and to Inese Voika , the Chair of Trans­par­ency Inter­na­tional in Latvia, for set­ting the scene so well.

9. USA Today’s Pattern of Inaccuracy on Iran

   So USA Today asked two neoconservatives.

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Debt and Fraud Economies

Posted in America, Europe, Finance at 3:12 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: A few remarks regarding so-called “successful” (rich) countries and what can be said about the source of affluence (if any, i.e. if not made up or stolen but derived from natural resources like oil)

The Swiss authorities are said to be cracking down on (or at least trying to put an end to) the large-scale financial fraud that many of us call “success” when in fact it’s gaming and manipulation, or in other words systematic looting [1]. At the same time, Switzerland considers introducing the concept of basic income [2,3] as a reality in this high-GDP country (one of the wealthiest in the world, as measured per capita). Europe is trying to mimic US success when it comes to startups [4], but it must realise that careless lending is what made a lot of US corporations grow and even sustain themselves as giants, operating at a loss or running on government subsidies (taxpayers’ money and/or collective/national debt). What we have right now is a massive US debt economy with pretense of recovery [5], corporate deregulation masquerading as “liberalism” [6], and sheer poverty that’s the side-effect of huge economic disparity, leading to sheer desperation for the masses [7]. If a nation seeks to enjoy long-term dominance without constant wars (some countries would rather start a war every once in a few years to send a warning sign regarding conformity and obedience) and without running massive deficits (e.g. subsidising massive corporations that engage in large-scale surveillance and imperialism), then a model nation would be hard to find. Switzerland thrives in financial crimes; it harbours many rich people’s savings in what’s essentially tax havens. Just ask Elmer. In that sense, Switzerland enjoys great wealth for complicity in crimes. Whether it shares the loot with all the citizens in the form of basic wage (like Dubai does by incentivising citizens to stay atop the oil) does not matter. Whether it pretends (to save face) that it is cracking down on the financial crimes that many of its bankers engage in may not matter either. What matters is not a country’s total wealth but the value of its morality. Sadly, by the standards many tend to embrace, all that counts is the “bottom line”, which by convention means money. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Swiss authorities investigate potential manipulation of £3tn currency markets

   Switzerland’s market regulator launches foreign exchange investigation involving ‘multiple banks around the world’

2. Swiss to vote on 2,500 franc basic income for every adult

   Switzerland will hold a vote on whether to introduce a basic income for all adults, in a further sign of growing public activism over pay inequality since the financial crisis.

3. Swiss vote for sweet minimum monthly wage: $2,800

   Some 120,000 Swiss signatories have put their names to a petition demanding a monthly minimum wage of $2,800 (2,500 Swiss francs) for every single member of the working adult population. Enough names have been collected for a government vote.

   Anything less than the proposed amount would be deemed illegal, even for people working in the lowest paid jobs. A typical fast-food worker in the US earns roughly $1,500 per month.

4. 4,000 have signed to support a Startup Europe – have you?

   Today, I’m delighted to announce we reached the milestone of 4,000 signatures. 4,000 people committed and ready to make a change, benefiting Europe’s entrepreneurial spirit and our digital future.

5. Recovery hype: American Capitalism’s weapon of mass distraction

   From President Obama on down, defenders of the status quo insist that the US economy has “recovered” or “is recovering”. Some actually see the world that way. They inhabit, imagine they inhabit, or plan to soon inhabit the world of the infamous top 1%. Others simply seek security in life by loyally repeating whatever that 1% is saying.

6. Neoliberalism’s unintended consequences

   One of the oldest rhetorical tricks of free-marketeers has been the appeal to unintended consequences; state interventions, they claim – often reasonably – don’t work out as intended. But it’s not just statist policies that are vulnerable to unintended consequences. So too is neoliberalism, as Ed Miliband’s speech yesterday made clear.

7. Suicide and the Economy

   “We never spoke of them. Why would we?” Learning the the truth about my great-grandfather, and 40,000 Americans during the Great Depression

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New NSA Leaks: US Government Uses Microsoft Windows to Spy on and Harass Anonymous Internet Users

Posted in Microsoft, Windows at 2:48 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Windows exposes users

Summary: More revelations about how the NSA is cracking down on the act of committing anonymous speech

IT IS no secret and it is no longer just “theory” territories when one alleges that opposition to war is almost like “terrorism” in the eye of state-employed spooks. If you are against CIA drone strikes, for instance, then you are treated as one of the ‘threats’ and ‘adversaries’ [1]. The same goes for people who oppose the NSA [2], which is breaking many laws anyway. People are being harassed (with their families) [3] and even arrested [4] for merely criticising the spies [4] (there are many other excuses for harassing and jailing such people).

A person has just explained how a telecom helped the government spy on him and Snowden’s leaks have just revealed that the Tor crack we wrote about [1, 2] was actually the work of the US government and it requires that the users use Tor on Microsoft Windows [5-7].

Remember this: Windows is developed with ‘help’ from the NSA. They are not even hiding it. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. UK detention of Reprieve activist consistent with NSA’s view of drone opponents as ‘threats’ and ‘adversaries’

   A top secret NSA document provides context for yesterday’s abusive detention of Baraa Shiban

2. NSA Critics Not Welcome: Anti-Surveillance Activist Barred Entry from US

3. My Detainment Story or: How I learned to Stop Feeling Safe in My Own Country and Hate Border Agents

   Earlier this month, OTM producer Sarah Abdurrahman, her family, and her friends were detained for hours by US Customs and Border Protection on their way home from Canada. Everyone being held was a US citizen, and no one received an explanation. Sarah tells the story of their detainment, and her difficulty getting any answers from one of the least transparent agencies in the country.

4. Journalist Barrett Brown faces prison for posting hyperlink

5. How a telecom helped the government spy on me

6. NSA using Firefox flaw to snoop on Tor users

   An NSA presentation released by Edward Snowden contains mixed news for Tor users. The anonymizing service itself appears to have foxed US and UK government snoops, but instead they are using a zero-day flaw in the Firefox browser bundled with Tor to track users.

7. NSA using Browser Cookies to track Tor Users

   Yesterday a new classified NSA document was leaked by Edward Snowden – titled ‘Tor Stinks’ in which ideas were being kicked around for identifying Tor users or degrading the user experience to dissuade people from using the Tor browser.

   The NSA had a very hard time while tracking down all Tor users and monitoring their traffic, especially since Tor servers are all over the world, but they make tracking easier by adopting the following techniques:

   By running their own hostile Tor nodes
   Using zero-day vulnerability of Firefox browser
   By tracking user’ browser Cookies

8. Snowden Leaks Show NSA Targets Tor

   According to new revelations from data pilfered by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency has for years been going after users of Tor.1

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