NY Times Falsely Claims ISIS Is Using Encryption & Couriers Because Snowden
from the like-they-never-thought-of-that-before dept
For quite some time now, the Snowden haters out there keep wanting to prove that Ed Snowden somehow caused damage with his leaks. It's been over two years now and they keep coming up empty. Former Senator and staunch surveillance state supporter Saxby Chambliss was out making claims yesterday about how when the US government "gets our hands on" Snowden, it should "hang him on the courthouse square." Because nothing says "freedom" like convicting someone without a trial and then killing them barbarically, right? But, Chambliss also claimed that "lives have been lost" because of Snowden, ridiculously comparing his leaks to the OPM leaks:"Just like with Snowden, we’re going to lose American lives as result of this breach."Going to? It's been two years and no one can point to a single life lost -- so this bit of fearmongering is stretching pretty thin at this point.
But, still, the Snowden fearmongering continues... with an assist from the NY Times. An article by Eric Schmitt and Ben Hubbard, about the latest on ISIS and how it's structured, contains a random nonsensical dig at Snowden:
The Islamic State has also studied revelations from Edward J. Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, about how the United States gathers information on militants. A main result is that group’s top leaders now use couriers or encrypted channels that Western analysts cannot crack to communicate, intelligence and military officials said.Except that a year ago, an actual study of how these groups communicate showed that they were already using such methods long before Snowden and nothing had changed in the aftermath. That research, by Flashpoint Partners, pointed out among other things:
- Well prior to Edward Snowden, online jihadists were already aware that law enforcement and intelligence agencies were attempting to monitor them. As a result, the Snowden revelations likely merely confirmed the suspicions of many of these actors, the more advanced of which were already making use of – and developing –secure communications software.
- The underlying public encryption methods employed by online jihadists do not appear to have significantly changed since the emergence of Edward Snowden.
Suddenly al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was up against the National Security Agency and the Predator drones that can hover out of sight and intercept phone calls.Anyone who thinks that ISIS suddenly discovered the need for this kind of thing after Snowden is either lying or ignorant. The two NY Times reporters who should know better should never have included that bogus tidbit. It seems to serve no purpose other than to let anonymous government officials spread a lie about Snowden.
So it adapted.
It went underground, enduring a monthslong U.S. led bombing campaign. It emerged as a more disciplined and professional organization. It ditched cell phones in favor of walkie-talkies and coded names. Information was passed through intermediaries. If someone needed to send an email, it was shielded by highly sophisticated encryption software.
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Filed Under: couriers, ed snowden, encryption, isis
Companies: ny times
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Re:
Seriously, the NYT completely hit rock bottom in the credibility department. Every time they write about tech, I cringe hard. And I don't think they are any better on topics where I don't immediately know better.
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La la la la ...
Is this a lament that you can no longer blame IS' use of encryption on Snowden, or what exactly?!?
Yes, please do that. Thank you for your diligent efforts in pursuit of the truth.
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Re: La la la la ...
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Re: Re: La la la la ...
Carry on. Have fun!
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NY Times
but if you replace : Snowden,Al Qaeda.ISIS, Terrorists,...
and so on with----
"pinko", "commy", "Red Menace" , and so on
it is the SAME news stories as from the 50's
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Re: NY Times
Pretty much, though to be fair:
i) the Soviets had actual nukes
ii) the plans for which were stolen and smuggled to them by Soviet sympathizers (Rosenbergs)
iii) which was a lie because there were Soviet sympathizers in the Manhattan Project. They didn't need the Rosenbergs' crappy drawings.
However, tell a lie often enough and many people will start to believe it's true. The best part for them is old people who know better die, and young gullible and ignorant kids replace them constantly, so they can use this ruse over and over again, ad infinitum.
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Re: NY Times
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Yeah, I'm calling bullshit on that one.
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Of COURSE they think they're too stupid to use encryption.
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So we live in bizarro world where people know what methods "ISIS" uses, but not the extent of NSA / Google spying?
"ISIS" popped up out of nowhere with not just secure communications, but enough soldiers, supplies, and organization to defeat established armies. Weird, huh?
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Re: So we live in bizarro world where people know what methods "ISIS" uses, but not the extent of NSA / Google spying?
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So we live in bizarro world where people know what methods "ISIS" uses, but not the extent of NSA / Google spying?
"ISIS" popped up out of nowhere with not just secure communications, but enough soldiers, supplies, and organization to defeat established armies. Weird, huh?
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dial up
So Snowden's revelations were about 25 years old or more.
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Re: dial up
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you know who else used cryptography/encryption?
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Next thing you know, they will start speaking in a language other than English or writing non-Latin letters. Sneaky bastards.
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Osama Bin Laden loaded with high tech gadgets
When he was finally caught, he lived isolated, in a compound, with very carefully controlled access to the outside world. They burned their trash.
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Re: Osama Bin Laden loaded with high tech gadgets
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden
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Re: Re: Osama Bin Laden loaded with high tech gadgets
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Newsflash: Snowden making this public just showed the common people what information was al ready out there. The government u s by mad that Snowden made them less secure but that it sHowes the average person just how insecure they really were.
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Who is they? Nobody claims this.
Snowden was one of many who had access to the data. But he was the only one with the integrity to sacrifice his well-being and freedom so that the people could know what its government was doing. THAT is why only he came forward.
"nobody thought to do it before him"
Many probably did. But when you think about it, you think "Oh, shit, I will lose my job. What else? Hmmm...My boss tells me it's OK, just shut up. I have reported constitutional violations, but senior people told me to just carry on. If I leak it, my own government will come after me, possibly to kill me. I will be a pariah in my own country. Many will paint me as a villain. Everyone will search all my past for any vices and publicize them. I will never be safe, never return to my home."
Is it a surprise it takes a hero to choose the constitutional option?
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Yeah, but....
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Re: Yeah, but....
You do remember he was marooned in a Russian airport for some time after the US revoked his passport, yes? If he was working for the Russians, why wouldn't they have feted him with a parade and medals for his services to mother Russia against the main adversary (USA)?
Which leaks are those that Snowden should have been more selective about?
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Re: Yeah, but....
And at this point it's pretty safe to laugh out loud at anyone suggesting he's working for Russia.
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Yeah, but....
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Re: Yeah, but....
Who DID he give the information to? The People. Power to the people? Hmmm. Sounds like a hero to me.
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NYT's is for Bird Droppings
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Nobody's Looking
Well, maybe that's just because nobody's really trying that hard to pin anything on Snowden. Absence of proof isn't proof of absence.
(written with a hearty dose of sarcasm)
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Re: Nobody's Looking
What makes you think that?
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Re: Nobody's Looking
The fact that they haven't trumped out some damaged he caused is quite telling. After all, Snowden said he had been careful. (unlike Wikileaks)
(*or "Eric" Snowden depending on which government official you listen to)
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If I May Use the Word "Synergy"...
Snowden's leaks merely confirmed what competent foreign security officials had to assume was happening regardless, and had to guard against regardless. That confirmation wouldn't change much.
The OPM leak is far scarier: It's all about the people, the weakest link in any security scheme. And now China (and whoever they trade the data to) knows who they are, and thanks to the financial data, specifically who to target. That changes a lot.
Now add in the AshleyMadison leak, 37 million registered users exposed. You can bet that the Chinese and others are cross-referencing the two datasets to see who has a security clearance AND is cheating on their spouse. Or who is married to someone with a security clearance, and is cheating or being cheated on. Sorted by financial difficulty information.
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Re: If I May Use the Word "Synergy"...
It is more likely that they already had their own copies of the Snowden documents and more, given the problems that the NSA had in even working out what Ed Snowden took.
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OPM
The OPM hack on the other hand, THAT is really bad. There's no data there the public needs know. There's no revelation of criminal behaviour on the side of OPM not related to the hack (and related to the hack it's probably mostly "negligence"). Of course there might be rather criminal behaviour of the government or other agencies involved, but you can't really blame the OPM for:
- Needing to screen way too many people because some idiots classify everything, so a lot of people need clearance to get their work done.
- Other government agencies hoarding zero-day exploits which might have been found independently by the perpetrators and used against them.
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How time flies when you're having fun.
Isn't it odd that the NY Times readership can be so easily, and repeatedly, lied to yet they still get away with it?
On another note, Saxby Chambliss?!? Can you imagine growing up with a name like that? I can well imagine the school bullies reaction hearing that name for the first time. I expect he's still having nightmares about what they put him through. What were his parents thinking? Were they hoping he'd grow up to be a sociopathic liar? Isn't that child abuse?
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Once again start with the assumption that terrorists are stupid
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Re: Once again start with the assumption that terrorists are stupid
Smart enough to be a significant threat to anyone, anywhere, but too stupid to know that communicating their plans over an unencrypted medium is a bad idea.
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J.?
Killers are always referred to by their full names: Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wayne Gacy, Mark David Chapman, Edward James Olmos (I assume... rules is rules).
Fictional characters are the ones that get a middle initial "J.": Rocket J. Squirrel, Abraham J. Simpson, Philip J. Fry, Elmer J. Fudd, Stephen J. Gould (no real person could like baseball that much).
On a related note, initial initials seem to be reserved for corrupt government employees: J. Edgar Hoover, G. Gordon Liddy, uh... E. Gary Gygax?
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They were already aware of the lack of security in their messages. Likewise they were already aware of their cell phone chips being monitored to target them. When they mixed the chips up and redistributed them to family and acquaintances, lots of innocents got blown up by mistake before the drone targeters caught on. Again showing they were aware and took steps to hide their communications. Again happening before Snowden.
So is it any surprise that terrorists now aware would come to the answer of encryption? It didn't take a Snowden at all.
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Just following orders... patriotism to go.
More likely, it was in response to an NSA "request", in the form of "do this and here's a check for $XXXXX.00", or possibly the more familiar "do this and we'll won't continue the investigation of you and your family" type of brown envelope, delivered in the dead of night.
Modern "journalists" have to do so much more than simple journalism to advance their careers these days.
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Re: Just following orders... patriotism to go.
I think it would be more honest to deny that what they're doing is journalism. This's a gov't sponsored press release in the guise of journalism. Maybe this is payment for letting James Risen off the hook, but I doubt it.
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Re: Re: Just following orders... patriotism to go.
The very first thing any invading force does, is take over the national media, and replace journalism with propaganda.
Whatever you may call it, it is the future of the Press, and all American information media, because it "tells it like THEY want it", and once the internet is dead, stops folks from telling it like it is to all and sundry.
Its actually sort of comical that people continue to make believe that fascists are NOT running the show in the US.
I realize that the notion is scary, but pretending otherwise is exactly the reaction fascism has always needed to continue and escalate its control.
Its like watching someone get pushed towards a cliff and their reaction is always to take a leap backwards toward that same cliff to avoid being pushed.
This is exactly why the Internets must be corralled and controlled by the corporations through legislation - to put an end to the possibility of the truth leaking out and insure a fully uninformed and easily manipulated public resource - or feedstock, more properly.
I can now understand how fascism has managed to always work its magic unfettered throughout history, like a fungus that settles on a dying nation to suck out the last of its life and help it along towards oblivion.
Its not that its not obvious - every single article posted here about the government and its agents continually points to fascism as the most likely single cause - its simply that the people being infected by the disease, do not want to admit that the disease exists where they live, and do not want especially, to admit that they have caught it.
C'est la vie eh! :)
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