And on a "Lighter" note !

   #1  

stefdds

Verified VCDS User
Verified
Joined
Apr 13, 2015
Messages
2,210
Reaction score
1,759
Location
USA
VCDS Serial number
C?ID=174556

(note 1:30)
 
   #2  

Uwe

Benevolent Dictator
Administrator
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Messages
48,902
Reaction score
33,626
Location
USA
VCDS Serial number
HC100001
A Lighter Note? I don't think so.

Doing traceroutes in the early days of the internet, I always found it curious that virtually all traffic passed through certain places around Washington DC, and based on that, I've always assumed that all traffic is monitored; that it would be unwise to post anything anywhere that I wouldn't want attributed back to me; i.e. that there no real privacy on the internet at all, and certainly not from the TLAs.

Now It's been more than eight years since Edward Snowden's revelations confirmed just how pervasive the "monitoring" is, but neither the American people nor their representatives in Congress have demanded a stop, or even significant changes to it. :(

-Uwe-
 
   #3  

stefdds

Verified VCDS User
Verified
Joined
Apr 13, 2015
Messages
2,210
Reaction score
1,759
Location
USA
VCDS Serial number
C?ID=174556
Yes, sad indeed. Does a VPN help? (btw lighter was in quotes; its a heavy topic).
 
   #4  

vreihen

Verified VCDS User
Verified
Joined
Sep 6, 2014
Messages
5,043
Reaction score
6,395
Location
The Land of OCC, NY, USA
VCDS Serial number
C?ID=31688
Yes, sad indeed. Does a VPN help? (btw lighter was in quotes; its a heavy topic).

What do you think? If the TLA's aren't running the VPN services themselves, they must have a way to quickly decrypt the traffic on the global level. Look at the global level of basic web traffic going HTTPS/SSL and tell me that your TLA-du-jour can't read the streams at wire-speed.....
 
  • Agree
Reactions: Uwe
   #5  

Uwe

Benevolent Dictator
Administrator
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Messages
48,902
Reaction score
33,626
Location
USA
VCDS Serial number
HC100001
Does a VPN help?
It may help in the same way that locks help keep (honest) people out of your house.

A VPN gives you pretty decent privacy between its endpoints. One of those is presumably under your control, either on your device, or at least on your own network. But who controls the other end-point? Do you trust them to not log your traffic, and not to turn those logs over to the TLAs?

At one point a lot of people (like Ross Ulbricht) believe that onion routing / TOR would address these concerns. But again, who controls the exit nodes? Who is paying for the bandwidth they consume? ;)

-Uwe-
 
   #6  

stefdds

Verified VCDS User
Verified
Joined
Apr 13, 2015
Messages
2,210
Reaction score
1,759
Location
USA
VCDS Serial number
C?ID=174556
Thanks guys, that helps understand a bit more. :thanks:
 
   #7  

Bruce

Active Member
Staff member
Ross-Tech Employee
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
3,167
Reaction score
5,138
Location
Near Philadelphia, PA, USA
VCDS Serial number
--------
Now It's been more than eight years since Edward Snowden's revelations confirmed just how pervasive the "monitoring" is, but neither the American people nor their representatives in Congress have demanded a stop, or even significant changes to it.
And remember, after 911 - Americans gave up our rights to privacy under what was called the Patriot's act.. I don't see us ever having privacy again. The day that happened, I shouted NO! This will give NSA the right to collect data on all Americans.... and all foreigners. It was too far reaching and we are being completely monitored. As a former employee in the 70's, I know what some of their capability was back then. I can only imagine what it is today.

I was a Telecom tech back then for NSA.. I did not handle the actual collected information in readable form. I was part of the army of ants keeping all the data flowing. We did not have internet. Even so, for its time, it was significant what was accomplished.

I don't speak of my time there even though it is nearly 50 years ago now. Some of the highly classified stuff in which I was involved I am sure is still highly classified. But I do feel that the NSA can collect huge quantities of information and can process it. Given the 70s tech I witnessed, I can only imagine what the possibilities might be.

By the way Brits, your GCHQ has quite the big collection operations. They were then and I assume still are sharing it with NSA. I expect the Aussies and all the friendly nations are sharing big information.

We have little or no privacy if we are on the web.. Phones? Yeah, you can bet that is all monitored also.

If you want to be left alone, get rid of your electronic devices.. (good luck with that..)
 
   #8  

DV52

Verified VCDS User
Verified
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
5,469
Reaction score
5,934
Location
Melbourne, Australia
VCDS Serial number
C?ID=194404
Bruce:
If you want to be left alone...............
@Bruce: hmm........... with a world population approaching 8 Billion people which is growing @ about 1%/year (i.e. 80 Million/year, or growing by the population of Germany every 12 months) - forget any notion of being "left alone". That's 20th Century thinking and it is an entirely futile pursuit (unless you are prepared to live as a hermit)!:thanks:

Don
 
Last edited:
   #9  

Bruce

Active Member
Staff member
Ross-Tech Employee
Joined
Jan 30, 2014
Messages
3,167
Reaction score
5,138
Location
Near Philadelphia, PA, USA
VCDS Serial number
--------
(good luck with that..)
Maybe you missed my sarcasm Don?

Even as a hermit, one will need supplies and things to survive. So, I guess we agree?

Nah.. couldn't be..
 
Back
Top