It is possible to have a system with strong crypto that still gives the government access.
1. have everyone generate a public/private key pair 2. take a message you want to encrypt 3. choose a random string (nonce) and use that nonce as the key to a symmetric cipher to encrypt the message 4. encrypt the nonce with the sender's public key 5. encrypt the nonce with the recipient's public key 6. encrypt the nonce with the provider's (or government's) public key 7. attach all three encrypted nonces to the encrypted message and send
The only people who can decrypt that message are the three people with the corresponding private keys: the sender, the recipient, and the provider/govt. The ability of the provider/govt to decrypt the message does not undermine the crypto in any way.
What's really crazy is that the NSA has come out and said that it was Snowden's job to copy all the files off their internal wiki. It's in the interview on this page with Lonny Anderson, Chief of the NSA's Technology Directorate:
So for anonymous sources to go to the NYT and other publications and claim that he used all these tools and did nefarious things is just part of their smear campaign. In crawling their internal network was doing exactly what he was told to do for his job.
Because the have other agents that remain silent and stay in place, and by going public Snowden could do great damage to US intel efforts and its public image.
I don't think the claim is true, but I think it's important to realize that the KGB (and to a lesser extent other intelligence services) have a history of doing EXACTLY what he's claiming.
A quick perusal through this list of publicly-known list of historical KGB "Active Measures" shows several things pretty close to Wikileaks/Snowden:
The weasel word isn't "target" but rather "collect". "Collection" has a specific legal meaning and simply capturing and storing data doesn't meet it, So they can store as much data as they want on anyone while still abiding by the law regarding collection of intel data on US citizens,
This story was being discussed on "Canada AM" on CTV up here in Canada this morning and it was pretty funny. I don't have a link to the video, but to paraphrase what happened, some pundit started in on how texting/twitter/facebook was causing drop in grammar scores. Then they went to the other person who said, "well actually, that's not what our data shows. There is a slight drop in grammar proficiency, but we don't know why."
There was an extremely pregnant pause, at which point the host did a "let's cut to a commercial and fire the producer" bit.
How is this any different than normal? Almost all DoD computers are mandated to have Windows installed, which has dozens of known vulnerabilities and untold more.
Not to mention Adobe reader or flash player which again are almost mandated everywhere.
First off, I will definitely try and find a way to remove this DRM when I buy my copy of either game, simply because of the annoyance factor. Only 3 installs? Please. I have blown thru way more than that trying to troubleshoot why a game keeps crashing or didn't patch right.
However, we cannot ignore the rampant piracy that exists within the PC game world. Take a read at this forum posting by a former producer of Titan Quest for another POV on the issue:
"Two, the numbers on piracy are really astonishing. The research I've seen pegs the piracy rate at between 70-85% on PC in the US, 90%+ in Europe, off the charts in Asia. I didn't believe it at first. It seemed way too high. Then I saw that Bioshock was selling 5 to 1 on console vs. PC. And Call of Duty 4 was selling 10 to 1. These are hardcore games, shooters, classic PC audience stuff. Given the difference in install base, I can't believe that there's that big of a difference in who played these games, but I guess there can be in who actually payed for them."
"So, before the game even comes out, we've got people bad-mouthing it because their pirated copies crash, even though a legitimate copy won't. We took a lot of shit on this, completely undeserved mind you. How many people decided to pick up the pirated version because it had this reputation and they didn't want to risk buying something that didn't work? Talk about your self-fulfilling prophecy."
This is why developers are starting to release games on the consoles first and then (maybe) on the PC. And also why more and more are considering models like Steam.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Brian Weeden.
It is perfectly possible to design strong crypto that allows govt access
1. have everyone generate a public/private key pair
2. take a message you want to encrypt
3. choose a random string (nonce) and use that nonce as the key to a symmetric cipher to encrypt the message
4. encrypt the nonce with the sender's public key
5. encrypt the nonce with the recipient's public key
6. encrypt the nonce with the provider's (or government's) public key
7. attach all three encrypted nonces to the encrypted message and send
The only people who can decrypt that message are the three people with the corresponding private keys: the sender, the recipient, and the provider/govt. The ability of the provider/govt to decrypt the message does not undermine the crypto in any way.
NSA has already admitted it was his job to crawl
http://www.lawfareblog.com/the-lawfare-podcast/inside-nsa-we-brought-in-a-recording-devi ce-so-you-dont-have-to
So for anonymous sources to go to the NYT and other publications and claim that he used all these tools and did nefarious things is just part of their smear campaign. In crawling their internal network was doing exactly what he was told to do for his job.
Re: bull
The KGB does have a history of doing these sorts of things
A quick perusal through this list of publicly-known list of historical KGB "Active Measures" shows several things pretty close to Wikileaks/Snowden:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_measures
Wrong weasel word (as Brian W)
This was on CTV this morning (as Brian W)
There was an extremely pregnant pause, at which point the host did a "let's cut to a commercial and fire the producer" bit.
This isn't news
Not to mention Adobe reader or flash player which again are almost mandated everywhere.
DRM is bad, but piracy IS a huge problem in PC gaming (as Brian W)
However, we cannot ignore the rampant piracy that exists within the PC game world. Take a read at this forum posting by a former producer of Titan Quest for another POV on the issue:
http://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4031
Quote:
"Two, the numbers on piracy are really astonishing. The research I've seen pegs the piracy rate at between 70-85% on PC in the US, 90%+ in Europe, off the charts in Asia. I didn't believe it at first. It seemed way too high. Then I saw that Bioshock was selling 5 to 1 on console vs. PC. And Call of Duty 4 was selling 10 to 1. These are hardcore games, shooters, classic PC audience stuff. Given the difference in install base, I can't believe that there's that big of a difference in who played these games, but I guess there can be in who actually payed for them."
"So, before the game even comes out, we've got people bad-mouthing it because their pirated copies crash, even though a legitimate copy won't. We took a lot of shit on this, completely undeserved mind you. How many people decided to pick up the pirated version because it had this reputation and they didn't want to risk buying something that didn't work? Talk about your self-fulfilling prophecy."
This is why developers are starting to release games on the consoles first and then (maybe) on the PC. And also why more and more are considering models like Steam.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by Brian Weeden.
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