On the NSA targeting readers of Linux Journal as "extremists"

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trisq

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What?

"The NSA is also tracking anyone who visits the popular online Linux publication, Linux Journal, which the NSA refers to as an “extremist forum” in the [XKeyscore] source code."

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/nsa-targets-users-of-privacy-services/

davidnotcoulthard (not verified)
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When they turn the pages of history, when these days have passed long ago, will they read of us in sadness, for the seeds that we let grow? -Rush

Chris

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Who amongst us hasn't already made the DHS watch list?

Jabjabs
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In a sad way, it should be considered a badge of pride I suppose.

leny2010

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Oh, like everybody else on them I waved at the Special Branch police officers with cameras on Pride marches back in the 80s. I was also active in student union politics in the same decade. Just about everybody who did that who is now a politician has discovered there is an MI5 file on them.

t3g
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I know I have for posting nudes I took of you through your window and posted on 4chan back in the day.

smiley
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This answers the comments made by Jacob appelbaum in a previous thread about an extremist website which was of interest to the NSA. Some figured it was this forum, at least we know don't we.

FreedomOfTheOpenCode
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Perhaps by "extremist forum" they meant "forum used by extremists", presumably as a source of information about anti-surveillance measures.

trisq

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If Linux Journal attracts extremists to such a degree that ALL people who visit their website are tagged and filed into some system of suspects, then I just don't know what to say or think.

Remember what the original quote was: "The NSA is also tracking anyone who visits the popular online Linux publication, Linux Journal, which the NSA refers to as an “extremist forum” in the [XKeyscore] source code."

There is more at Linux Journal. http://www.linuxjournal.com/ check out their front page!

Linux Journal has a circulation of nearly a million and so does The New Yorker.

Newsweek has around one and a half million I think. These numbers seem pretty mainstream to me, hardly the hot bed hangout of extremists.

Same with GNU/Linux and all the GPL licensed software.

“The GPL licenses more software than MicroSoft and Oracle put together. The GPL is roughly an order of magnitude larger than SAP, the largest commercial producer of software in the European Union.” --Eben Moglin http://youtu.be/FI1CoeqyD5o?t=2m44s

When will the hysteria end?

Let no one entertain the idea that GNU/Linux or free software is odd, small, or extreme.

Chris

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If your a torrorist on the DHS watch list I might suggest some new clothing that has come out:

For those in Europe (tighter fit, but profits are being donated to the Tor project):

https://www.trycelery.com/shop/torrorist

For those in North America (ie those who prefer an American style cut) I might suggest:

http://www.zazzle.com.au/proud_to_be_a_torrorist_shirts-235061628145179516

The NSA thinks that every user of TOR is an extremist also and needs to be surveilled...

I wanted to get a "I made the DHS watch list", but this one is close:

http://www.dontcomply.com/product/proud-member-of-the-terrorist-watch-list/

Jodiendo
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Chris

What is a torrorist? Is that some kind of new species of Parrot bird or PARROT fish only found in New Jersey? j/k

TOR-RORIST= TOR USER THAT IS CONSIDER NOT an ORDINARY USER...

libredrs

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I'm very proud to be a GNU/Linux and Tor user. If the NSA believes that I'm an extremist, so be it. This just demonstrates that they are afraid of free and legal tools that may thwart (or at least slow) their illegal, unconstitutional practices as well as the free-thinking people that use them. Fascists' biggest fear is people that dare think for themselves.

leny2010

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The public's understanding of mental health issues is mostly myth. The reality is about 70% of the population will have paranoia in their lifetimes. It is an occupational hazard in the Intelligence sector because they're paid to think that way. So I suggest we organise a protest which gives them reassurance. Everyday we send a little report of our activities like

Got out of bed
Cleaned my teeth
Ate Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Went to Work / Stayed at home
Remained an honest and law abiding citizen.

Of course CC all your democratic representatives on it.

lembas
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Sure, that's what you say citizen but do you

* own a SmartBed which can corroborate your claim?
* use a made in China tooth brush?
* eat anything your neighbor doesn't eat?
* work at a Patriotic Corporation?
* dream of breaking the law?

You still probably might be terrorist and that's why you have to be closely monitored 24/7 for your own best...

leny2010

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ROFL, That's so exactly Steve Jackson Games' humourous 'paranoia' style. And BTW they got the rinse from the man back in the day. See Bruce Sterling's The Hacker Crackdown (which goes for as little as a cent plus postage on line) if you want to read about them and the beginning of the EFF.

Perhaps we should do PbP Paranoia - The Computer is Your Friend here :-)

Oh, and the answer to your questions is FNORD

lembas
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The Hacker Crackdown is a good read. While easy to read, it gives a good perspective and interesting info on things past.

alucardx
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Looks like it's available from project Gutenberg too.

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/101

Jodiendo
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My two cents

TOR SOFTWARE is a good thing, it gives you freedom of anonymity.
Since, it is a means of anonymous communication, that could or will be use to disseminate orders, plans,and classified information. Hard to cypher, their real intent. They could hurt you, when it is used by the wrong minds and hands. Such as radical groups. Knowing this, I really don't live a live in an egg shell of conspiracies. I live the facts that there is people planning and always conspiring to destroy our way of life..

libredrs

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The U.S. Government is indeed a radical group conspiring to deprive citizens of Earth of their fundamental human right to free expression.

An open letter to the NSA from the FSF:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/07/dear-nsa-privacy-fundamental-right-not-reasonable-suspicion

libredrs

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Linux Journal extremist t-shirts now available:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/dolphins-nsa-dragnet

Scroll down a bit. Mine is on the way!

Jabjabs
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You know that the entire thing is considered a bit of a joke (for the government) when the t-shirts start coming. Count me in! :D

elodie
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Think of these articles as gossip. People gather and talk about «life and death» somewhere 10.000km away.

NSA has a mandate. They can't break certain encryption. And guys who have something to hide are going to use that. Or they are already monitored. Other people use these tools too. And yea, they are suspects. All this stupid talks starting on forums and mailing lists should start the day NSA puts in prison a Tor user. Otherwise this is just a label.

Myself I use Tor for anything but banking. And I do GnuPG encrypt every mail when the receiver has enough working braincells to operate GnuPG.

Jodiendo
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elodie

too bad you can't cypher my thoughts......

axgb
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"here’s a good chance your IP address has been collected and stored by the NSA"

What is the purpose of storing someone's IP?, doesn't it change every day or something, unless they have a static IP, which most people do not?

Chris

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It varies from ISP to ISP and point in time. Back when dial-up was the norm everybody got a new IP every time they connected and disconnected. With faster cable and ADSL connections it's less likely you'll be disconnected at all. You IP address can stay with you for months at a time in many cases. Even when a connection is temporarily disconnected it may re-issue the same IP address. I believe with my ISP in order to get a new IP address you have to either change the mac address or disconnect for about 20 minutes. You might also be able to issue a DHCP release command (at least if your connected directly, but in practice almost nobody is, most people are connecting through a router of some kind).

In any event none of this really matters. ISPs (and possibly or likely the NSA as well) generally have at least one persons name and address for the persons whose paying the bill and by that virtue they have logs that are kept which can be used later on- after ones IP has changed. They use this data to associate the subscribers billing with the IP address at a given time.

Obviously there are situations where an ISP may not have this information (anybody providing free wifi for example), but it's none-the-less useful to track the majority of users within a degree. And generally sufficient with further investigation to identify the person (to the extent its recognized by law).

Unfortunately the courts in the United States seem to be OK with the fact a person is not actually identified by an IP address. The reasoning is that because it is likely that the person in question is someone within a household that is sufficient evidence to get a warrant and terrorize the innocent within.

What amazes me is that without being able to identify an individual within a household it means that the warrant issued is going to be for a residence and not a specific place within (ie they can search any persons room/computers/etc within the house as opposed to being limited to a particular person and place, like a persons room or computers). If you think about that for a minute this is really scary. Any number of people might have been the reason for the search warrant. Many people have adult (or minor children) children living with them, flat mates, partners, etc. Based on this logic it could even a neighbour. They will be getting a warrant to search everybody until they find what they were looking for (or not). Yes- because your neighbour did something illegal the cops can actually search your house based on the reasoning your within distance of the wifi hotspot. And at the end of the day it might not have been any of these people. Somebody might have been running a Tor exit node, had a friend/visitor over, or had a compromised machine, or even had a passer-by utilize it from the nearby parking lot. Another thing to point out is that at least 90% of systems are infected with malware (based on some definitions of malware).

leny2010

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> What is the purpose of storing someone's IP?, doesn't it change
> every
> day or something, unless they have a static IP, which most people do
> not?

The NSA will probably be able to cross reference it with
Goggle/BookFarce cookies or something like that. :-(

FreedomOfTheOpenCode
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.