[sudo-discuss] Breaking: Oakland to lead country in, diverting anti-terror funding to ubiquitous warrantless surveillance

[Shawn Lesniak]

On 2013-10-16 00:53, GtwoG PublicOhOne wrote:
> OK, I'll concede that point.  It's all about _guys getting laid_. 
> Privacy doesn't hold a candle to testosterone, and Boehners don't only
> rule in Congress.  Especially when someone's pursuing casual encounters
> so often that they constantly need driving directions to find them, and
> check-ins from on the road just in case. 

Way to slut-shame there.

> 
> As for me, I get my driving directions from a Panasonic GPS that doesn't
> spy on me (Panasonic has never had a scandal of any kind), I read my
> email when I'm in places where I can reply to it without distractions,
> and my 1935 rotary dial phone has better audio than an iPhone, with the
> added bonus that when it's on the hook, the mic is completely cut off so
> nobody can listen in.

Does it maintain a list of places you've gone?  For that matter do you
own a car? LPRs everywhere, not to mention FastTrak.  Your house could
be similarly bugged, your phone is surely not the only place a bug could
exist.  SOP for anyone doing anything interesting is to not talk in your
car or home or in too public of a place.

> 
> Seriously though.
> 
> Roving wiretaps:  Dude, I know more about SIGINT and lawful intercept
> than most people this side of a TS clearance with SCI tabs. 
> 

You insist, yet you deliberately misuse the vocabulary.  How could
someone so educated in such matters not be able to accurately describe them.
Plus, lol at not knowing about consumer wifi/cell signal detectors

> Android and Siri commands:  Are you absolutely certain about that?  Have
> you analyzed all the code down to the level of the boot-loader?  Trust
> in software can be truly touching sometimes... 
> 

I've held up my phone and said "OK Google" while the display was asleep
and it promptly woke up eager to take my command.  Just kidding, the
display stayed asleep.  There'd be a big drop in battery life if the
phone just did voice recognition all day, not to mention that the voice
recognition happens on the server aside from the 'OK Google'.  You
believe otherwise, provide some evidence at all.  Considering you do not
own a smart phone, I don't know why think you know anything about them.
 Even the privacy nightmare Google Glass requires a wink or head nod
before it'll take voice commands.

Cue the Reflections on Trusting Trust reference and then the
counter-retort of Dopant-Level Hardware Trojans.


> Re. "50 fewer phones out of a population of 380,000 in Oakland."  I'd
> say that's a better outcome than 50 fewer Shotspotters in the Robbery
> Capital of America.  BTW, your assumption that everyone in that
> population of 380,000 has one, isn't empirically correct.

It's correct within rounding error in regards to cell phones, it's not
correct in regards to smart phones but the assumption the people next to
you have smart phones is not as crazy as the other assumptions you feel
are appropriate.  It's safe and reasonable to assume people around you
carry smart phones.

> 
> Re. "How about if the moon were suddenly made of cheese?"  Ask anyone
> who was alive during Watergate what they would have thought if someone
> had suggested, in the 1970s, that in the 21st century people would
> eagerly carry around devices with software-controlled microphones,
> cameras, and tracking transmitters, all with effectively unlimited
> range.  On the other hand, the "drop-in transmitter" and suchlike that
> were available to Nixon, didn't get guys laid. 

Ask people what they'd think of a computer that could fit in their
pocket.  Ask people in the 1890s what they'd think about metal boxes
traveling around at 70 MPH down 5 lane roads.  Ask people in the 80s if
they think people would stop having landlines or payphones.  The NSA was
capturing all telegrams long before I was a twinkle in my father's eye.

What significance does it hold that a hare-brained scheme to wiretap an
opponent that was sure to lose anyway was unpopular?

> 
> Re. "What are you doing now about this stuff?"  Promoting the usual
> tools, talking to people who are in positions to have effects on policy,
> some other stuff I'll say more about when it's ready & working, some
> other stuff I don't talk about in public, arguing various points in
> public places such as this one, and denying being a Luddite. 
> 
> Re. "sitting in my ivory tower."  Ad-homs work better when they're
> creative & funny.  How'bout "chasing squirrels around the yard whilst
> claiming to be the reincarnation of Heath Robinson"?  There now, that
> hits the mark and has a satisfying ring to it!

I don't know who Heath Robinson is.

Can you explain how your position is different than a Luddite's position
would be?  Your arguments sound very similar to other Luddites I have
read, specifically Ted Kaczynski (optional tech not being optional and
the focus on unrealistic goals like elimination of smart phones).

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 946 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://sudoroom.org/pipermail/sudo-discuss/attachments/20131016/015b5cb5/attachment.sig>