Of course I agree with Schneier, but "oversight" is not enough if it's government and corporations defining the term and setting the parameters.
I'm afraid it's too late to say to government and corporations, "OK, now please give back that power and let us have it," because they simply laugh that off. Government is no longer fulfilling its function as the counterbalance to corporate power. They're working together and sharing power. You can see that in everything from arbitration clauses to corporate sovereignty.
The only way to balance the playing field is to get the means to defeat their surveillance and control into the hands of as many people as possible. Everyone needs to encrypt. Everyone needs to Tor. Everyone needs to protect every bit of ground we still have at all times.
Plus, hackers need to hack, leakers need to leak, whistlblowers need to pucker up and make as loud a noise as possible. Don't listen to the naysayers, you will become heroes. Edward Snowden has become a hero. There needs to be thousands of Edward Snowdens and they have to come forward NOW.
Why do you think the NSA hired Snowden? If you want a program that breaks into people's communication and upskirts their privacy, then you want a hacker.
I'd be surprised if Edward Snowden had never tried to get into unauthorized computers.
James Clapper has to step down from government service or be fired immediately. We can't have people with this kind of disregard for basic civil rights in a position of power.
The problem is, there's nobody - not Republican, Democrat or Libertarian who is currently in government who will force the issue because either they're already benefiting from the Surveillance State or they hope (as in the case of Rand Paul) to someday benefit from the Surveillance State.
This is the most important issue regarding government we have. If we can't roll back this police state, no other civic involvement matters.
This story is a reminder set up Tor on all the machines in my house, if only to have and to make the NSA work a little harder.
What would happen if all of a sudden an additional billion people started using Tor? Make them drop their "national security" mask so the opposition can really take hold.
I'd like to see more video games where you get to play a member of an angry mob that pulls politicians out of their offices and carries them to a public square for decapitation.
Re: The basic FACT is that grifter Aereo is stealing content.
It's only a middleman between producers and consumers, has no products of its own. That's grifting.
That's exactly what Comcast was for years. They didn't produce anything, just rebroadcast.
Please explain to me why, if I get something on my TV, why I shouldn't be able to watch it on my computer?
If we want to start a list of everything that "should be illegal" we're going to have a very long list, including charging >$100/month for television content. Including having a duopoly in almost all markets. Including having awful customer service when there really aren't any options.
Cable television is the ultimate grift. And it's been going on for decades. Maybe you're not old enough to remember the promises the cable industry was making when they were originally chartered by the government to use public land: "No commercials!" "Public Access!" "Interactive TV!" "Local programming!" "Accountability!" "Reasonable rates!"
Cable television was supposed to be the network that was going to tie us all together, in the way the Internet (government) actually did. In most of those cases, cable television ended up doing exactly the opposite of what they promised. They actually killed a lot of local programming, public access, etc. What could possibly be less interactive than cable television 2013? Who would describe cable rates as "reasonable"?
Any conversation involving "grifting" that involves cable television, needs to put cable television right at the top.
No wonder our economy is stuck in the mud, if this is what passes for an "entrepreneur".
There's a real problem when you don't have enough jobs and people like this are forced to either create a start-up or work in fastfood.
We really need to do everything we can to get some manufacturing jobs back the US so guys like this can have a decent middle class life without having to clown.
One has to wonder why things like this don't make a bigger splash.
Because people who work in the media like their jobs. And their lives. And when you live in a police state, the government has control over both. And they do it in the name of "national security" which is the same excuse they use for the misdeeds of the NSA, DEA, FBI, CIA, and even the CFPB.
All we can hope for now is that more whistleblowers step forward. It's a hard way to go, but every whistleblower who steps forward is a great patriot.
One can only hope that someday the people who have used their power to bully people are held accountable. Hopefully, that can happen before it gets really really ugly.
Re: Re: SO, you'd rather someone be convicted of murder!
Who are you so mad at?
All I know is this Techdirt article clued me in to a story from right here in my neck of the woods that I didn't know the first thing about. Whatever was left out of the Techdirt summary (and after all, an aggregator can't include everything, was certainly included in the linked material.
So from where I sit, Techdirt did a fine job of journalism, just like the guy from Patch that the story is about.
Take it easy, friend. Life's too short for so much anger at someone who's doing a pretty fine job from where I sit.
No one reading this blog, or their children or grandchildren, will live to see anything like what you mean by "the coming technological singularity".
Even though you have kids in Africa using iPads, the really transformative technologies are for the financially elite only. With the increasing concentration of wealth worldwide in the hands of fewer and fewer, the "singularity" recedes farther and farther into the horizon.
Better to worry about how you're going to eat and pay your rent than what's going to happen in "The Singularity".
Re: Re: Re: Re: EVER the corporatist, Mike has to slip in a poison pill:
At least you have a say in government. You have no say over what a corporation does. Especially since more and more corporations have now separated themselves from their customers.
For example, there are private corporations that ARE private armies. That's what they do. And some of those companies are involved in spying on us. If you don't like what Haliburton or Pfizer or Exxon, or Academi (previously "Xe", previously "Blackwater") is doing, how are you going to affect their behavior? You're not their customer.
But you always have, potentially, a way to influence the government's behavior. It's hard, but possible. For some of the worst corporate actors, you can only stand by and watch (or not, since they tend to work in secret).
On the post: Lavabit To Release Code As Open Source, As It Creates Dark Mail Alliance To Create Even More Secure Email
Hooray
Take my money, please.
On the post: Bruce Schneier On The Feudal Internet And How To Fight It
I'm afraid it's too late to say to government and corporations, "OK, now please give back that power and let us have it," because they simply laugh that off. Government is no longer fulfilling its function as the counterbalance to corporate power. They're working together and sharing power. You can see that in everything from arbitration clauses to corporate sovereignty.
The only way to balance the playing field is to get the means to defeat their surveillance and control into the hands of as many people as possible. Everyone needs to encrypt. Everyone needs to Tor. Everyone needs to protect every bit of ground we still have at all times.
Plus, hackers need to hack, leakers need to leak, whistlblowers need to pucker up and make as loud a noise as possible. Don't listen to the naysayers, you will become heroes. Edward Snowden has become a hero. There needs to be thousands of Edward Snowdens and they have to come forward NOW.
On the post: Awesome Stuff: Security Hardware For The Masses
Re: Re: Capitalism
On the post: CIA Warned About Snowden Trying To Get Into Computers He Wasn't Authorized On Back In 2009 [Update: Or Not]
Funny
I'd be surprised if Edward Snowden had never tried to get into unauthorized computers.
It doesn't make him any less a hero.
On the post: Gen. Alexander Offers To Store Phone Metadata At A 'Neutral Site' To Alleviate Concerns About The NSA's Spying
What a guy!
The fact that he stays in his job shows that the government treats us as enemies.
On the post: James Clapper Says They're Just Trying To 'Understand' Tor To Keep Terrorists From Killing You
Clapper has to go
The problem is, there's nobody - not Republican, Democrat or Libertarian who is currently in government who will force the issue because either they're already benefiting from the Surveillance State or they hope (as in the case of Rand Paul) to someday benefit from the Surveillance State.
This is the most important issue regarding government we have. If we can't roll back this police state, no other civic involvement matters.
On the post: NSA Trying Hard To Compromise Tor, But It's Still Mostly Safe
Reminds me to install Tor
What would happen if all of a sudden an additional billion people started using Tor? Make them drop their "national security" mask so the opposition can really take hold.
On the post: Red Cross Pushing For War Crimes In Video Games To Be Punished In Video Games
canny valley
Why are there no good violent revolution sims?
On the post: Red Cross Pushing For War Crimes In Video Games To Be Punished In Video Games
Re: Re:
On the post: Lavabit Details Unsealed: Refused To Hand Over Private SSL Key Despite Court Order & Daily Fines
Heroic corporate leader
I know I'd drop $100 on just about anything he does.
He's a hero.
On the post: Comcast's CEO: As Long As I Keep Saying Aereo Is Illegal, Sooner Or Later Someone Will Believe Me, Right?
Re: The basic FACT is that grifter Aereo is stealing content.
Please explain to me why, if I get something on my TV, why I shouldn't be able to watch it on my computer?
If we want to start a list of everything that "should be illegal" we're going to have a very long list, including charging >$100/month for television content. Including having a duopoly in almost all markets. Including having awful customer service when there really aren't any options.
Cable television is the ultimate grift. And it's been going on for decades. Maybe you're not old enough to remember the promises the cable industry was making when they were originally chartered by the government to use public land: "No commercials!" "Public Access!" "Interactive TV!" "Local programming!" "Accountability!" "Reasonable rates!"
Cable television was supposed to be the network that was going to tie us all together, in the way the Internet (government) actually did. In most of those cases, cable television ended up doing exactly the opposite of what they promised. They actually killed a lot of local programming, public access, etc. What could possibly be less interactive than cable television 2013? Who would describe cable rates as "reasonable"?
Any conversation involving "grifting" that involves cable television, needs to put cable television right at the top.
On the post: The DOJ's Insane Argument Against Weev: He's A Felon Because He Broke The Rules We Made Up
Re: Re: No sale
If you want to test the limits of the use of this law, I suggest you find a test case that isn't so utterly execrable and despicable.
I believe in the rule of law, but I also believe that there are monsters who would seek refuge therein.
On the post: Craigslist Sues Craigstruck, Who Offers To Settle The Lawsuit Over A Football Bet
Pitiful
There's a real problem when you don't have enough jobs and people like this are forced to either create a start-up or work in fastfood.
We really need to do everything we can to get some manufacturing jobs back the US so guys like this can have a decent middle class life without having to clown.
On the post: Border Patrol's Horrific Treatment Of On The Media's Producer, Family & Friends Highlights The Lack Of Accountability From DHS
Re: second amendment
You're a lot better off using the First Amendment.
Not all solutions are materialist.
On the post: Border Patrol's Horrific Treatment Of On The Media's Producer, Family & Friends Highlights The Lack Of Accountability From DHS
Re: A puzzle?
All we can hope for now is that more whistleblowers step forward. It's a hard way to go, but every whistleblower who steps forward is a great patriot.
One can only hope that someday the people who have used their power to bully people are held accountable. Hopefully, that can happen before it gets really really ugly.
On the post: Court Fines Patch Editor $300 Per Day For Not Revealing Sources
Re: Re: SO, you'd rather someone be convicted of murder!
All I know is this Techdirt article clued me in to a story from right here in my neck of the woods that I didn't know the first thing about. Whatever was left out of the Techdirt summary (and after all, an aggregator can't include everything, was certainly included in the linked material.
So from where I sit, Techdirt did a fine job of journalism, just like the guy from Patch that the story is about.
Take it easy, friend. Life's too short for so much anger at someone who's doing a pretty fine job from where I sit.
On the post: NSA Seeks To Reassure Family & Friends Of NSA Employees & Contractors By Sending A Letter With More Lies
Re: Subject!
Even though you have kids in Africa using iPads, the really transformative technologies are for the financially elite only. With the increasing concentration of wealth worldwide in the hands of fewer and fewer, the "singularity" recedes farther and farther into the horizon.
Better to worry about how you're going to eat and pay your rent than what's going to happen in "The Singularity".
On the post: Court Says ASCAP Can't Selectively Remove Songs From The Blanket License It Gives Pandora
Getting used to it
On the post: Linus Torvalds Admits He Was Approached By US Government To Insert Backdoor Into Linux -- Or Does He?
Re: Re: Don't trust - reverse engineer
On the post: Yes, A Facebook 'Like' Is Protected By The First Amendment
Re: Re: Re: Re: EVER the corporatist, Mike has to slip in a poison pill:
For example, there are private corporations that ARE private armies. That's what they do. And some of those companies are involved in spying on us. If you don't like what Haliburton or Pfizer or Exxon, or Academi (previously "Xe", previously "Blackwater") is doing, how are you going to affect their behavior? You're not their customer.
But you always have, potentially, a way to influence the government's behavior. It's hard, but possible. For some of the worst corporate actors, you can only stand by and watch (or not, since they tend to work in secret).
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