[sudo-discuss] Dystopia Watch: Surveillance drones coming to a cafe near you.

Tue Mar 5 15:37:29 PST 2013

If everybody had a head mounted camera, police brutality would become non
existent.

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 3:35 PM, Anon195714 <anon195714 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>
> (Matthew: I see your comment was posted to me but not posted to list, so
> I've redacted it from this posting to the list, which is in reply to
> you.  If you want to post your comment to the list, feel free.  Everyone
> else: it wasn't a scathing criticism or something scandalous, in fact I
> think Matthew may have wanted to post it to list but didn't hit Reply
> All.  That said, it's up to him.)
>
> The surveillance ecosystem is already enormous, and the vast majority is
> in the private sector.
>
> General rule:  "Dissipative structures form ecosystems around
> entropy-gradients."  Organisms are dissipative structures; work is
> energy-conversion.  This explains much of human social behavior as well
> as physical ecosystem behavior.
>
> For example people want music and they're willing to work hard (convert
> energy) to get it.  Energy conversion produces an entropy gradient.  The
> music industry middlemen (RIAA) insert themselves into the path between
> sources & sinks (artists & audiences, and that relationship is two-way)
> to tap as much energy out of this process as possible, in the form of
> money.  Illegal file downloaders as well as self-produced bands who use
> Creative Commons or Copyleft, are seen by the music industry as
> short-circuits in the system.
>
> Consumer behavior in general is an enormous energy source (money
> source), and the goal of capitalism is ultimately to surround every
> consumer with the equivalent of a Dyson sphere to capture as much of
> their work output as possible.  The modern surveillance ecosystem is all
> about "predicting and controlling" individual behavior, toward that end.
>
> So, per Matthew, one way to counter this is to set up a countervailing
> ecosystem, with entropy gradients tilted in such a manner as to produce
> incentives to fight back against the surveillance.
>
> As for defending privacy: privacy is equivalent to free speech.  As a
> lawyer told us when I was working on "crypto for the masses" in the
> early 1980s, the right to freedom of speech necessarily includes the
> right to choose your audience.  Today we commonly use the term "chilling
> effect" to refer to what happens when you can't choose your audience,
> e.g. when your boss and the credit bureaux etc. are likely to be
> watching you on "social" networks.
>
> It's been said more than once, that you can tell when someone's boss is
> watching them on Facebook: all of a sudden their comments go totally
> bland (not that any of us should be using Facebook unless we're
> deliberately using it as a publicity tool for political or other
> campaigns).  That's the chilling effect in action.  And if DARPA and
> Google have their way, where everyone's every conversation, private and
> in-person included, is recorded and archived and made searchable, the
> chill will be so total that it will make life in East Germany under the
> Stasi look like a picnic by comparison.
>
> Knowledge is power: when THEY know all about YOU, but you know nothing
> about them, who has the power?
>
> As the old song said, "Getting to know you / getting to know all about
> you..."
>
> Not to mention, "He sees you when you're sleeping / he knows when you're
> awake. / He knows if you've been bad or good / so be good for (getting
> lots of presents) sake!"
>
> Going back thousands of years, societies envisioned deities as concerned
> with individual "moral behavior" (i.e. sex) as a way of strengthening
> tribal cohesion.  Western cultures in particular evolved with the very
> strong sense that their deities were keeping a close watch over them.
> This gave people a sense of comfort and protection.
>
> Today as agnosticism, atheism, and various forms of transpersonal
> beliefs (in effect religion without personalized deities) are on the
> rise in the geek sector, the sense of comfort from "being watched over"
> has transplanted itself from the deity to the surveillance
> superstructure.  Many people are secretly fond of the idea that Big
> Google is reading every word they write, listening to every phone call
> they make, and following them around.  This is nothing more than a new
> deity taking the place of the old one:  "someone big who watches over us."
>
> It seems to me that a necessary part of the evolution of rational people
> away from the need for personalized deities, is to get away from the
> need for the "comfort" of being watched over.  Individuals who are
> rational self-aware autonomous moral actors have no need of being
> watched over by anything other than our own consciences.
>
> -G.
>
>
>
> =====
>
>
>
> On 13-03-05-Tue 2:43 PM, Matthew D. Howell wrote:
>
> (Comment was sent to me in private email, not to the list, so if Matthew
> wishes he can repost it to the list.)
>
>
> =====
>
>  On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 2:22 PM, Anon195714 <anon195714 at sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
> >> Re. Anthony, Rachel, Matthew, re "masking audio."
> >>
> >> That was the first thing I tried when I found out about NSA's voice
> >> recognition back in 1980 (if I recall correctly it was the October 1980
> >> issue of _The Progressive_ that referred to the HARVEST program, keyword
> >> rec and voice rec, and some stuff in a British paper or magazine also, I
> >> may still have copies around).
> >>
> >> The idea was that instead of using a voice scrambler or crypto (which
> >> required a device at each end of a conversation), voice rec could be
> >> defeated from one end of a phone call by saturating the channel with
> >> just enough noise.  What killed that idea was the fact that long
> >> distance telephony used T-carrier that split up the conversation into
> >> two different speech paths between telco central offices (e.g. me to
> >> you, you to me).  So a device would still be needed at both ends, and
> >> one may as well just use a scrambler.  That led me down the trail to
> >> details about scramblers (bottom line, analog scramblers aren't any
> >> good) and ultimately to cryptography by 1982 - 1983.
> >>
> >> Re. "every person's voice has a distinct signature that can be
> >> recognized...", yes, thus voiceprint recognition, which was 99.6%
> >> accurate in 1960 according to an article in _Telephony_ magazine at the
> >> time (I may still have that around also).  Fast-forward to today at the
> >> speed of Moore's law, and you can be quite sure that voiceprint
> >> recognition is used for tracking.
> >>
> >> This is one of the things I find most pernicious about the decline in
> >> the use of landlines and the rise in the number of people with "mobile
> >> only":  A landline enables you to design, build, connect, and use any
> >> hardware you choose, including digital voice crypto devices, and
> >> including computers running digital voice crypto.  And with a landline
> >> phone, when the receiver is on the hook, the microphone is physically
> >> disconnected by the hookswitch, a visible set of switch contacts inside
> >> the phone.
> >>
> >> Mobile devices are sealed black boxes, the ultimate revenge against
> >> phone phreaks & phone hackers, where you have no final control over
> >> what's in the black box.  Just like the bad old days of Ma Bell when it
> >> was quasi-illegal to connect "foreign attachments" to your home phone
> >> line.  Even a voice crypto app on a mobile device is questionable at
> >> best, because you have no way of knowing if at some level it's being
> >> undermined by something else in the device that you can't detect.  By
> >> analogy, crypto on your laptop, but a keystroke logger hiding between
> >> you and the crypto app.
> >>
> >> The mere possibility of being able to hack the hardware provides more
> >> security than any sealed box, and best of all is when you can design &
> >> build your own hardware, such as when people build their own desktop
> >> machines from components.
> >>
> >> Anyway, I agree with Rachel & Matthew that audio masking isn't
> >> sufficient because it can be undone by the watchers.  It may have to do
> >> in some situations, but it would be better to design more "aggressive"
> >> personal defense tech such as wearable "resonant audio cannons" or
> >> something else.
> >>
> >> -G.
> >>
> >>
> >> =====
> >>
> >>
> >> On 13-03-05-Tue 11:21 AM, Matthew D. Howell wrote:
> >>> @Rachel The state of the technology for recognizing and separating
> >>> patterns in audio is advanced enough to overcome that sort of thing.
> >>> Every person's voice has a distinct signature that can be recognized.
> >>> I would venture a guess that some kind of encrypted digital signal
> >>> transmission would be the best way to keep any sonic communication
> >>> private in the most extreme of situations. (most interested party with
> >>> the best technology at their disposal)
> >>> – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – >8
> >>> /V\ /-\ + +  |–| ø \/\/ ∂ £ £
> >>> –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
> >>> Matthew D. Howell
> >>> misterinterrupt, tHe M4d swiTcH, the RuinMechanic
> >>> cell: (617) 755-1481
> >>> –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 11:16 AM, rachel lyra hospodar
> >>> <rachelyra at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>> Wouldn't it need to be non-commercially available music, so they
> couldn't
> >>>> just find the audio data of the track, invert its wave, and cancel it
> out of
> >>>> the recording?
> >>>>
> >>>> CACOPHONY FOR THE REVOLUTION!
> >>>>
> >>>> mediumreality.com
> >>>>
> >>>> On Mar 5, 2013 10:23 AM, "Steve Berl" <steveberl at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>> You could carry a boombox around playing loud music where ever you
> go.
> >>>>> Perhaps this would be the end of earbuds. :-)
> >>>>>
> >>>>> On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 10:20 AM, Anthony Di Franco <
> di.franco at gmail.com>
> >>>>> wrote:
> >>>>>> People have rendered surveillance cameras useless with very bright
> IR
> >>>>>> LEDs in their fields of view.
> >>>>>> Could something similar be done for sound recording devices?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> On Mar 5, 2013 6:17 AM, "Anon195714" <anon195714 at sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
> >>>>>>> Yo's-
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Something I forgot to add re. DARPA's desire for universal
> recording of
> >>>>>>> face-to-face conversations.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> What's the ideal device for doing all that recording?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> How'bout something you wear?  How'bout something that "everyone"
> wears?,
> >>>>>>> or even a significant fraction of "everyone"?
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Like maybe Google Glasses.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Always on, camera and mic always "connected" to "the cloud."
>  Orwell's
> >>>>>>> telescreen gone mobile.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Everyone who wears them will become, in effect, _unpaid
> surveillance
> >>>>>>> drones_ watching their family and friends, not from up in the sky,
> but
> >>>>>>> from up close where every word can be heard.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Some will say "oh, there's no stopping technology." People said
> that
> >>>>>>> about the atomic bomb and the hydrogen bomb.  But public outcry led
> >>>>>>> first to treaties and then to progressive degrees of nuclear
> >>>>>>> disarmament.  We haven't used that technology since it was first
> used in
> >>>>>>> WW2.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> We can stop pernicious tech if we choose.  We can refuse, we can
> >>>>>>> withdraw consent, we do not have to press the Buy button.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> Technology should liberate and empower people.  "Conveniences with
> a few
> >>>>>>> strings attached" are not liberation, they're puppet-strings.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> It's all about control: technology that you can control, vs.
> technology
> >>>>>>> that can control you.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> -G.
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> =====
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> On 13-03-05-Tue 1:50 AM, Anon195714 wrote:
> >>>>>>>> Yo's-
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> This just in:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> "DARPA wants to make [voice recognition/transcription] systems so
> >>>>>>>> accurate, you’ll be able to easily record, transcribe and recall
> all
> >>>>>>>> the
> >>>>>>>> conversations you ever have. ... Imagine living in a world where
> every
> >>>>>>>> errant utterance you make is preserved forever. ... DARPA [awarded
> >>>>>>>> U.Texas comp sci researcher Matt Lease]... $300,000... over two
> years
> >>>>>>>> to
> >>>>>>>> study the new project, called “Blending Crowdsourcing with
> Automation
> >>>>>>>> for Fast, Cheap, and Accurate Analysis of Spontaneous Speech.”"
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> "The idea is that business meetings or even conversations with
> your
> >>>>>>>> friends and family could be stored in archives and easily
> searched.
> >>>>>>>> The
> >>>>>>>> stored recordings could be held in servers, owned either by
> >>>>>>>> individuals
> >>>>>>>> or their employers. ... The answer, Lease says, is in widespread
> use
> >>>>>>>> of
> >>>>>>>> recording technologies like smartphones, cameras and audio
> >>>>>>>> recorders...
> >>>>>>>> [A] memorandum from the Congressional Research Service described
> [an
> >>>>>>>> earlier DARPA project of this type known as] EARS, as focusing on
> >>>>>>>> speech
> >>>>>>>> picked up from broadcasts and telephone conversations, “as well as
> >>>>>>>> extract clues about the identity of speakers” for “the military,
> >>>>>>>> intelligence and law enforcement communities.”"
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/03/darpa-speech/ (Yes, "real
> >>>>>>>> geeks
> >>>>>>>> don't read Wired," but nonetheless its news pages are useful for
> >>>>>>>> keeping
> >>>>>>>> a finger on the pulse of Big Brother and his corporate Brethren.)
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> In short:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> DARPA is researching the means by which every conversation you
> have,
> >>>>>>>> in-person, whether at work or with family or friends, gets picked
> up
> >>>>>>>> by
> >>>>>>>> the mic in your smartphone or other portable device, and stored
> on a
> >>>>>>>> server, where DARPA's algorithms and human editors turn all of it
> into
> >>>>>>>> fast-searchable text, that could be used by your employer, the
> >>>>>>>> military,
> >>>>>>>> law enforcement, and intel agencies. Presumably the credit
> bureaus,
> >>>>>>>> insurance companies, and financial institutions will want "in" on
> the
> >>>>>>>> data as well.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Now connect that with this, about cell-site tracking and call
> detail
> >>>>>>>> records:
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> "The government maintained [that] Americans have no expectation of
> >>>>>>>> privacy of such cell-site records [call detail records or CDR]
> because
> >>>>>>>> they are in the possession of a third party — the mobile phone
> >>>>>>>> companies."
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/03/gps-drug-dealer-retrial/
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> The key point is that the gov's current position is that data
> stored
> >>>>>>>> on
> >>>>>>>> a third party's servers have "no expectation of privacy." What
> begins
> >>>>>>>> with CDR will eventually include voicemail messages stored on the
> >>>>>>>> mobile
> >>>>>>>> phone companies' servers, and then eventually all of your live
> >>>>>>>> in-person
> >>>>>>>> conversations that are stored "in the cloud."
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> "Anything you say can and will be used against you..." Mark my
> words.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> Meanwhile people keep using gmail and Google Voice, and
> smartphones
> >>>>>>>> from
> >>>>>>>> which they can't remove the batteries. Because nothing is more
> >>>>>>>> important
> >>>>>>>> than "convenience," right?
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> As a character in a sci-fi piece I wrote in the mid-1980s said,
> "Why
> >>>>>>>> put
> >>>>>>>> a person in prison, when you can put prison in the person
> instead?"
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> -G.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>>>>> sudo-discuss mailing list
> >>>>>>>> sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org
> >>>>>>>> http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>>>> sudo-discuss mailing list
> >>>>>>> sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org
> >>>>>>> http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
> >>>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>>> sudo-discuss mailing list
> >>>>>> sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org
> >>>>>> http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> --
> >>>>> -steve
> >>>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>>> sudo-discuss mailing list
> >>>>> sudo-discuss at lists.sudoroom.org
> >>>>> http://lists.sudoroom.org/listinfo/sudo-discuss
> >>>>>
> >>>> _______________________________________________
> >>>> sudo-discuss mailing list
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> >>>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
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