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Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

VMware Sued over Alleged Open Source License Violation in Linux - Datamation - 0 views

www.datamation.com/...icense-violation-in-linux.html

vmware sued over open source license violation Software Freedom Conservancy Christoph Hellwig

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 07 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 07 Mar 15
     
    "VMware denies the allegations, which involve its ESXi virtualization hypervisor."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Siege Your Servers! | Linux Journal - 0 views

www.linuxjournal.com/...siege-your-servers

set up setup web server web sever linux open source free software

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 07 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 07 Jul 14
     
    # ! (#FreeSoftware) #Security for these#troubled #times... "May 12, 2014 By Shawn Powers in Tech Tips Web Development Setting up Web servers is fairly simple. In fact, it's so simple that once the server is set up, we often don't think about it anymore. It wasn't until I had a very large Web site rollout fail miserably that I started to research a method for load-testing servers before releasing a Web site to production."
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 07 Jul 14
     
    "May 12, 2014 By Shawn Powers in Tech Tips Web Development Setting up Web servers is fairly simple. In fact, it's so simple that once the server is set up, we often don't think about it anymore. It wasn't until I had a very large Web site rollout fail miserably that I started to research a method for load-testing servers before releasing a Web site to production."
Paul Merrell

How to Encrypt the Entire Web for Free - The Intercept - 0 views

firstlook.org/...-plans-encrypt-entire-web-free

surveillance state encryption https let's-encrypt nsa-reform

shared by Paul Merrell on 25 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • If we’ve learned one thing from the Snowden revelations, it’s that what can be spied on will be spied on. Since the advent of what used to be known as the World Wide Web, it has been a relatively simple matter for network attackers—whether it’s the NSA, Chinese intelligence, your employer, your university, abusive partners, or teenage hackers on the same public WiFi as you—to spy on almost everything you do online. HTTPS, the technology that encrypts traffic between browsers and websites, fixes this problem—anyone listening in on that stream of data between you and, say, your Gmail window or bank’s web site would get nothing but useless random characters—but is woefully under-used. The ambitious new non-profit Let’s Encrypt aims to make the process of deploying HTTPS not only fast, simple, and free, but completely automatic. If it succeeds, the project will render vast regions of the internet invisible to prying eyes.
  • Encryption also prevents attackers from tampering with or impersonating legitimate websites. For example, the Chinese government censors specific pages on Wikipedia, the FBI impersonated The Seattle Times to get a suspect to click on a malicious link, and Verizon and AT&T injected tracking tokens into mobile traffic without user consent. HTTPS goes a long way in preventing these sorts of attacks. And of course there’s the NSA, which relies on the limited adoption of HTTPS to continue to spy on the entire internet with impunity. If companies want to do one thing to meaningfully protect their customers from surveillance, it should be enabling encryption on their websites by default.
  • Let’s Encrypt, which was announced this week but won’t be ready to use until the second quarter of 2015, describes itself as “a free, automated, and open certificate authority (CA), run for the public’s benefit.” It’s the product of years of work from engineers at Mozilla, Cisco, Akamai, Electronic Frontier Foundation, IdenTrust, and researchers at the University of Michigan. (Disclosure: I used to work for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and I was aware of Let’s Encrypt while it was being developed.) If Let’s Encrypt works as advertised, deploying HTTPS correctly and using all of the best practices will be one of the simplest parts of running a website. All it will take is running a command. Currently, HTTPS requires jumping through a variety of complicated hoops that certificate authorities insist on in order prove ownership of domain names. Let’s Encrypt automates this task in seconds, without requiring any human intervention, and at no cost.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The benefits of using HTTPS are obvious when you think about protecting secret information you send over the internet, like passwords and credit card numbers. It also helps protect information like what you search for in Google, what articles you read, what prescription medicine you take, and messages you send to colleagues, friends, and family from being monitored by hackers or authorities. But there are less obvious benefits as well. Websites that don’t use HTTPS are vulnerable to “session hijacking,” where attackers can take over your account even if they don’t know your password. When you download software without encryption, sophisticated attackers can secretly replace the download with malware that hacks your computer as soon as you try installing it.
  • The transition to a fully encrypted web won’t be immediate. After Let’s Encrypt is available to the public in 2015, each website will have to actually use it to switch over. And major web hosting companies also need to hop on board for their customers to be able to take advantage of it. If hosting companies start work now to integrate Let’s Encrypt into their services, they could offer HTTPS hosting by default at no extra cost to all their customers by the time it launches.
  • Paul Merrell on 25 Nov 14
     
    Don't miss the video. And if you have a web site, urge your host service to begin preparing for Let's Encrypt. (See video on why it's good for them.)
Paul Merrell

Secret Malware in European Union Attack Linked to U.S. and British Intelligence - The I... - 0 views

firstlook.org/...egin-malware-belgacom-nsa-gchq

surveillance state NSA GCHQ malware Regin

shared by Paul Merrell on 25 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Complex malware known as Regin is the suspected technology behind sophisticated cyberattacks conducted by U.S. and British intelligence agencies on the European Union and a Belgian telecommunications company, according to security industry sources and technical analysis conducted by The Intercept. Regin was found on infected internal computer systems and email servers at Belgacom, a partly state-owned Belgian phone and internet provider, following reports last year that the company was targeted in a top-secret surveillance operation carried out by British spy agency Government Communications Headquarters, industry sources told The Intercept. The malware, which steals data from infected systems and disguises itself as legitimate Microsoft software, has also been identified on the same European Union computer systems that were targeted for surveillance by the National Security Agency.
  • The hacking operations against Belgacom and the European Union were first revealed last year through documents leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The specific malware used in the attacks has never been disclosed, however.
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Free Mobile Apps To Help You Find Your Dream Job - Business Insider [# Via...] - 0 views

www.businessinsider.com/ou-find-your-dream-job-2014-11

free software mobile apps applications find improve dream job networking

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 26 Nov 14 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 26 Nov 14
       
      Via A. Hankel's ScoopIt!
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 26 Nov 14
     
    [... We've highlighted seven super-helpful mobile apps that you can use to network, apply to jobs, and even prepare for an interview. ...]
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 26 Nov 14
     
    [... We've highlighted seven super-helpful mobile apps that you can use to network, apply to jobs, and even prepare for an interview. ...]
Paul Merrell

The Digital Hunt for Duqu, a Dangerous and Cunning U.S.-Israeli Spy Virus - The Intercept - 1 views

firstlook.org/...stuxnet

surveillance state cyberwar Stuxnet

shared by Paul Merrell on 14 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • “Is this related to what we talked about before?” Bencsáth said, referring to a previous discussion they’d had about testing new services the company planned to offer customers. “No, something else,” Bartos said. “Can you come now? It’s important. But don’t tell anyone where you’re going.” Bencsáth wolfed down the rest of his lunch and told his colleagues in the lab that he had a “red alert” and had to go. “Don’t ask,” he said as he ran out the door. A while later, he was at Bartos’ office, where a triage team had been assembled to address the problem they wanted to discuss. “We think we’ve been hacked,” Bartos said.
  • They found a suspicious file on a developer’s machine that had been created late at night when no one was working. The file was encrypted and compressed so they had no idea what was inside, but they suspected it was data the attackers had copied from the machine and planned to retrieve later. A search of the company’s network found a few more machines that had been infected as well. The triage team felt confident they had contained the attack but wanted Bencsáth’s help determining how the intruders had broken in and what they were after. The company had all the right protections in place—firewalls, antivirus, intrusion-detection and -prevention systems—and still the attackers got in.
  • Bencsáth was a teacher, not a malware hunter, and had never done such forensic work before. At the CrySyS Lab, where he was one of four advisers working with a handful of grad students, he did academic research for the European Union and occasional hands-on consulting work for other clients, but the latter was mostly run-of-the-mill cleanup work—mopping up and restoring systems after random virus infections. He’d never investigated a targeted hack before, let alone one that was still live, and was thrilled to have the chance. The only catch was, he couldn’t tell anyone what he was doing. Bartos’ company depended on the trust of customers, and if word got out that the company had been hacked, they could lose clients. The triage team had taken mirror images of the infected hard drives, so they and Bencsáth spent the rest of the afternoon poring over the copies in search of anything suspicious. By the end of the day, they’d found what they were looking for—an “infostealer” string of code that was designed to record passwords and other keystrokes on infected machines, as well as steal documents and take screenshots. It also catalogued any devices or systems that were connected to the machines so the attackers could build a blueprint of the company’s network architecture. The malware didn’t immediately siphon the stolen data from infected machines but instead stored it in a temporary file, like the one the triage team had found. The file grew fatter each time the infostealer sucked up data, until at some point the attackers would reach out to the machine to retrieve it from a server in India that served as a command-and-control node for the malware.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Bencsáth took the mirror images and the company’s system logs with him, after they had been scrubbed of any sensitive customer data, and over the next few days scoured them for more malicious files, all the while being coy to his colleagues back at the lab about what he was doing. The triage team worked in parallel, and after several more days they had uncovered three additional suspicious files. When Bencsáth examined one of them—a kernel-mode driver, a program that helps the computer communicate with devices such as printers—his heart quickened. It was signed with a valid digital certificate from a company in Taiwan (digital certificates are documents ensuring that a piece of software is legitimate). Wait a minute, he thought. Stuxnet—the cyberweapon that was unleashed on Iran’s uranium-enrichment program—also used a driver that was signed with a certificate from a company in Taiwan. That one came from RealTek Semiconductor, but this certificate belonged to a different company, C-Media Electronics. The driver had been signed with the certificate in August 2009, around the same time Stuxnet had been unleashed on machines in Iran.
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

NSA - NoScript Anywhere - Next Generation Mobile NoScript for Android Smartphones and T... - 0 views

noscript.net/nsa

nsa noscript everywhere firefox android mobile counter script browsing secure Mozilla Electr open surce free software Electrolysis

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Nov 14
     
    "What's NoScript Mobile UI NoScript Anywhere (NSA) is the nickname for the next major iteration of the NoScript security add-on (NoScript 3.x), whose guts have been turned upside down in order to match Mozilla's Electrolysis multiprocessing architecture and implement a porting for Firefox Mobile, available on Android smartphones and tablets. " [# ! The Acronym... # ! ... it's just a coincidence... # ! ;) # ! The #App is #security for #Your (#opensource driven) #device...]
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Nov 14
     
    "What's NoScript Mobile UI NoScript Anywhere (NSA) is the nickname for the next major iteration of the NoScript security add-on (NoScript 3.x), whose guts have been turned upside down in order to match Mozilla's Electrolysis multiprocessing architecture and implement a porting for Firefox Mobile, available on Android smartphones and tablets. "
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Why prominent 'hobbyist' operating systems face an existential crisis | PCWorld - 1 views

www.pcworld.com/...ace-an-existential-crisis.html

operating systems open source called hobbyists crisis support free software transparency openness performance community hack create better if open

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Nov 14
     
    "Do you think Linux is an alternative, hobbyist operating system? Ha! Linux is mainstream. If you're looking for the next niche OS, you'll need to dive deep into the cracks and crevices: passion projects worked on by a handful of developers in their spare time." [# ! #Explore… # ! #Hack… #Create… # ! … #open The W@rld to #Computing… and vice versa. # ! And the more #Open, the #Better.]
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Nov 14
     
    "Do you think Linux is an alternative, hobbyist operating system? Ha! Linux is mainstream. If you're looking for the next niche OS, you'll need to dive deep into the cracks and crevices: passion projects worked on by a handful of developers in their spare time."
Paul Merrell

Facebook and Corporate "Friends" Threat Exchange? | nsnbc international - 0 views

nsnbc.me/...porate-friends-threat-exchange

cybersecurity alternative-media

shared by Paul Merrell on 12 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Facebook teamed up with several corporate “friends” to adapt Facebook’s in-house software to identify cyber threats and their source with other corporations. Countering cyber threats sounds positive while there are serious questions about transparency when smaller, independent media fall victim to major corporation’s unwillingness to reveal the source of attacks resulted in websites being closed for hours or days. Transparency, yes, but for whom? Among the companies Facebook is teaming up with are Printerest, Tumblr, Twitter, Yahoo, Drpbox and Bit.ly, reports Susanne Posel at Occupy Corporatism. The stated goal of “Threat Exchange” is to locate malware, the source domains, the IP addresses which are involved as well as the nature of the malware itself.
  • While the platform may be useful for major corporations, who can afford buying the privilege to join the club, the initiative does little to nothing to protect smaller, independent media from being targeted with impunity. The development prompts the question “Cyber security for whom?” The question is especially pertinent because identifying a site as containing malware, whether it is correct or not, will result in the site being added to Google’s so-called “Safe Browsing List”.
  • An article written by nsnbc editor-in-chief Christof Lehmann entitled “Censorship Alert: The Alternative Media are getting harassed by the NSA” provides several examples which raise serious questions about the lack of transparency when independent media demand information about either real or alleged malware content on their media’s websites. An alleged malware content in a java script that had been inserted via the third-party advertising company MadAdsMedia resulted in the nsnbc website being closed down and added to Google’s Safe Browsing list. The response to nsnbc’s request to send detailed information about the alleged malware and most importantly, about the source, was rejected. MadAdsMedia’s response to a renewed request was to stop serving advertisements to nsnbc from one day to the other, stating that nsnbc could contact another company, YieldSelect, which is run by the same company. Shell Games? SiteLock, who partners with most western-based web hosting providers, including BlueHost, Hostgator and many others contacted nsnbc warning about an alleged malware threat. SiteLock refused to provide detailed information.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • BlueHost refused to help the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC)  during a Denial of Service DoS attack. Asked for help, BlueHost reportedly said that they should deal with the issue themselves, which was impossible without BlueHost’s cooperation. The news agency’s website was down for days because BlueHost reportedly just shut down IMEMC’s server and told the editor-in-chief, Saed Bannoura to “go somewhere else”. The question is whether “transparency” can be the privilege of major corporations or whether there is need for legislation that forces all corporations to provide detailed information that enables media and other internet users to pursue real or alleged malware threats, cyber attacks and so forth, criminally and legally. That is, also when the alleged or real threat involves major corporations.
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

9 Linux distros to watch in 2015 | inforworld.com - 0 views

www.infoworld.com/...-distros-to-watch-in-2015.html

linux distros watch 2015 infoworld.com open source free software GNU GNU_Linux

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 15 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 15 Jan 15
     
    "Looking ahead Predictions are fun. We all enjoy tech predictions at the beginning of each year. This isn't that. This is a list of the nine Linux distributions that I feel will be the most interesting to watch during 2015. "
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 15 Jan 15
     
    "Looking ahead Predictions are fun. We all enjoy tech predictions at the beginning of each year. This isn't that. This is a list of the nine Linux distributions that I feel will be the most interesting to watch during 2015. "
Paul Merrell

U.S. Embedded Spyware Overseas, Report Claims - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...tworks-security-firm-says.html

surveillance state NSA NSA-methods embedded-spyware

shared by Paul Merrell on 18 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • The United States has found a way to permanently embed surveillance and sabotage tools in computers and networks it has targeted in Iran, Russia, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan and other countries closely watched by American intelligence agencies, according to a Russian cybersecurity firm.In a presentation of its findings at a conference in Mexico on Monday, Kaspersky Lab, the Russian firm, said that the implants had been placed by what it called the “Equation Group,” which appears to be a veiled reference to the National Security Agency and its military counterpart, United States Cyber Command.
  • It linked the techniques to those used in Stuxnet, the computer worm that disabled about 1,000 centrifuges in Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. It was later revealed that Stuxnet was part of a program code-named Olympic Games and run jointly by Israel and the United States.Kaspersky’s report said that Olympic Games had similarities to a much broader effort to infect computers well beyond those in Iran. It detected particularly high infection rates in computers in Iran, Pakistan and Russia, three countries whose nuclear programs the United States routinely monitors.
  • Some of the implants burrow so deep into the computer systems, Kaspersky said, that they infect the “firmware,” the embedded software that preps the computer’s hardware before the operating system starts. It is beyond the reach of existing antivirus products and most security controls, Kaspersky reported, making it virtually impossible to wipe out.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • In many cases, it also allows the American intelligence agencies to grab the encryption keys off a machine, unnoticed, and unlock scrambled contents. Moreover, many of the tools are designed to run on computers that are disconnected from the Internet, which was the case in the computers controlling Iran’s nuclear enrichment plants.
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Open Source Replacements for Audio/Video Apps - Datamation - 1 views

www.datamation.com/...nts-for-audiovideo-apps-1.html

open source free software replacements audio video apps

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 17 Oct 14
     
    "The best open source apps for audio and video, whether you're creating or consuming multimedia content."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Install Google Chrome on Fedora 21/20, CentOS/RHEL 7 | If Not True Then False - 0 views

www.if-not-true-then-false.com/...ith-yum-on-fedora-red-hat-rhel

chrome google chrome fedora centos install Internet Google surveillance state experimentation open source free software freedom knowledge

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 03 Apr 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 03 Apr 15
     
    "This guide explains howto install Google Chrome Web browser on Fedora 21/20/19/18 and CentOS/Red Hat (RHEL) 7. Best way to install and keep up-to-date with Google Chrome browser is use Google's own YUM repository."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Tizen Starts 2015 With a Bang | Linux.com - 0 views

www.linux.com/...-tizen-starts-2015-with-a-bang

2015 Tizen Bang Linux based mobile communications

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 24 Mar 15 - No Cached
    • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.
      Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 24 Mar 15
       
      # ! #Tizen needs a push to protect Citizens (Software) Freedom as recently Microsoft got Android.. [http://techrights.org/2015/03/23/bribes-vs-android/]
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 24 Mar 15
     
    [... 2014 was a big year, with Tizen wearables and cameras hitting the market, Tizen IVI 3.0 achieving GENIVI 7.0 compliance, and a lot of interesting platform work on Tizen:Common. 2015 has really gotten off to a great start as well, with the announcements at CES that all new Samsung Smart TVs released in 2015 will run Tizen, starting in February. ...]
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

The Linux desktop battle (and why it matters) - TechRepublic - 2 views

www.techrepublic.com/...ktop-battle-and-why-it-matters

linux desktop battle party why IT matters strong community despite proprietary press pamphlets

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 30 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 30 Mar 15
     
    Jack Wallen ponders the problem with the ever-lagging acceptance of the Linux desktop and poses a radical solution.
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 30 Mar 15
     
    "Jack Wallen ponders the problem with the ever-lagging acceptance of the Linux desktop and poses a radical solution. Linux desktop I have been using Ubuntu Unity for a very long time. In fact, I would say that this is, by far, the longest I've stuck with a single desktop interface. Period. That doesn't mean I don't stop to smell the desktop roses along the Linux path. In fact, I've often considered other desktops as a drop-in replacement for Unity. GNOME and Budgie have vied for my attention of late. Both are solid takes on the desktop that offer a minimalistic, modern look and feel (something I prefer) and help me get my work done with an efficiency other desktops can't match. What I see across the Linux landscape, however, often takes me by surprise. While Microsoft and Apple continue to push the idea of the user interface forward, a good amount of the Linux community seems bent on holding us in a perpetual state of "90s computing." Consider Xfce, Mate, and Cinnamon -- three very popular Linux desktop interfaces that work with one very common thread... not changing for the sake of change. Now, this can be considered a very admirable cause when it's put in place to ensure that user experience (UX) is as positive as possible. What this idea does, however, is deny the idea that change can affect an even more efficient and positive UX. When I spin up a distribution that makes use of Xfce, Mate, or Cinnamon, I find the environments work well and get the job done. At the same time, I feel as if the design of the desktops is trapped in the wrong era. At this point, you're certainly questioning the validity and path of this post. If the desktops work well and help you get the job done, what's wrong? It's all about perception. Let me offer you up a bit of perspective. The only reason Apple managed to rise from the ashes and become one of the single most powerful forces in technology is because they understood the concept of perception. They re-invented th
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 30 Mar 15
     
    Jack Wallen ponders the problem with the ever-lagging acceptance of the Linux desktop and poses a radical solution.
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

mjg59 | Why improving kernel security is important - 0 views

mjg59.dreamwidth.org/38158.html

improving kernel security importance open source free software

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 06 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 06 Nov 15
     
    "Nov. 6th, 2015 12:48 am mjg59 The Washington Post published an article today which describes the ongoing tension between the security community and Linux kernel developers. This has been roundly denounced as FUD, with Rob Graham going so far as to claim that nobody ever attacks the kernel. Unfortunately he's entirely and demonstrably wrong, it's not FUD and the state of security in the kernel is currently far short of where it should be."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

The kernel of the argument over Linux's vulnerabilities | The Washington Post - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...ity-the-kernel-of-the-argument

washingtonpost.com Linux kernel argument security use spreading worldwide Internet www web running open source free software

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 07 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 07 Nov 15
     
    "Fast, flexible and free, Linux is taking over the online world. But there is growing unease about security weaknesses."
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Linux Security - How Can Your Linux Be Hacked Using Malware, Trojans, Worms, Web Script... - 0 views

www.linuxandubuntu.com/...-trojans-worms-web-scripts-etc

linux security hacked using malware worms web care open source free software GNU_Linux update prevention measure

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 08 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 08 Nov 15
     
    " Is it possible that Linux can be infected with viruses? Probably, you heard of this in some debates. But here are some facts that you need to know to better understand how Linux is secured and what things can damage a Linux system. See how "
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

The Decline of Linux Diversity - Datamation - 1 views

www.datamation.com/...ecline-of-linux-diversity.html

decline linux diversity less distros mor robust system open source free software

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 10 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 10 Nov 15
     
    "But is the decline reason for alarm? That is harder to decide until you start looking at other evidence. Diversity vs. Sufficiency"
Gonzalo San Gil, PhD.

Yes, the NSA Worried About Whether Spying Would Backfire | WIRED - 1 views

www.wired.com/...-whether-spying-would-backfire

nsa worries spying citizens backfire wired

shared by Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 16 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Gonzalo San Gil, PhD. on 16 Nov 15
     
    ""For all the time I worked on all of these issues, this was a constant discussion," Olsen says. "How do we calibrate what we're trying to do for the country with how to protect civil liberties and privacy?""
  • Paul Merrell on 16 Nov 15
     
    NSA can't credibly claim surprise at how people reacted to the Snowden disclosures. NSA's spying on U.S. citizens was first uncovered by the Senate's Church Committee in about 1976. Congress enacted legslation unequivocally telling NSA and the Defense Department that spying on Americans was not to happen again (and that the CIA was to immediately cease spying within the territorial boundaries of the U.S.). Then came the Total Information Awareness scandal, when Congress discovered that DoD was right back at it again, this time operating from under the cover of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Congress responded by abolishing the program and eliminating the job position of its director, former Admiral John Poindexter of Iran/Contra scandal fame. But rather than complying with the abolition order, most of the TIA program's staff, hardware, software, and data was simply transferred to NSA. NSA, of course, persuaded the Justice Department to secretly reinterpret key provisions of the Patriot Act more broadly than a First Grade preschooler would allow to continue spying on U.S. citizens. Indeed, anyone whose college education included the assignment to read and discuss George Orwell's 1984 would have known that NSA's program had drastically outgrown the limits of what a free society would tolerate. So this is really about deliberate defiance of the limits established by the Constitution and Congressional enactments, not about anything even remotely legal or morally acceptable. The fact that Congress did not react strongly after the Snowden disclosures, as it had after the Church Committee's report and discovery of the TIA program raises a strong suspicion that members of Congress have been blackmailed into submission using information about them gathered via NSA surveillance. We know from whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Russell Tice that members of Congress were surveilled by NSA, yet not even that violation has been taken up by Congress. Instead
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