Comment That's Confusing. (Score 1) 330
So, all those attempts to break into our networks were really the fault of the Americans, and not the Chinese?
Pardon my ignorance, but google is unable to provide me with a definition of the word "refuser" that I can parse in the context of your post.
What is a refuser? And, what makes them different from people doing illegal stuff, yet readily lumped into the same group?
You may need to get clear in your thinking. "Hiding in plain sight" is a reaction, not a solution, to a panopticon. A solution means ending it, not making your life unlikely to draw attention.
I must have missed the memo. What damage? How does the world knowing that the NSA spies on a sizeable fraction (likely a majority) of US citizens (and residents) with a phone or net connection damage the US or "the West"? Embarrassment at the illegality and/or supreme wrongness of it doesn't count as damage.
Oh, and just to pre-empt the obvious objection: If I record when you call who and how long you keep the connection open, and I'm not the phone company preparing a bill for airtime and long-distance charges, I'm spying on you.
Did you even read the article? The authorship in this particular case is irrelevant - unless... can you point out what lies were presented in that article?
OMNI magazine recently set its archives loose online. Check the January 1989 issue, "The Rules of the Game" (http://archive.org/stream/omni-magazine-1989-01/OMNI_1989_01#page/n17/mode/2up, flip to page 42) for the low tech nightmare. If you think the nation without a power grid would make for a seriously bad month, you lack imagination. Try a seriously bad year, or longer. Pretty much every piece of infrastructure is built with the assumption that electicity is somewhere close at hand.
The physical infrastructure of the power grid is an infinitely easier target, with gigantic ROI for terrorists or actual enemy agents. The $100,000 you could spend for a good 0-day would be better spent on a few RPGs and some half-decent watches. Network attacks are a fool's errand. If you want to prevent awful things, your money is better spent on guards.
That OMNI article may be the first "How can I unknow this?" moment of my literate life.
ask Brits and Canadians the same question. Would they rather replace their healthcare system with the US version?
Oh $LC_DEITY no. It's bad enought that there's this giant push to privatize everything, because pretty much every function that has been privatized has degenerated into crap. Thankfully, cleaning operating rooms hasn't yet been put on the outsourcing block so companies can charge the government twice for paying staff minimum wage, but I won't be surprised when some asshole suggests it.
There's a difference between being observed and being recorded. Given:
What is the minimum amount of work and paperwork required by Alice before Dave can say (without perjury) on the stand, "We put Carol under surveillance", and Bob can say, "I can't fire her, she did her job exactly as I put to her"?
You'll note that I didn't specify the kind or depth of surveillance. This is deliberate and not an attempt to be vague. I believe you'll figure out for yourself that the bar for Constable Alice can be very very low, and folk more imaginative than you or I could make it lower. Alice, having an actual incentive, might make it much lower than that. This might be the most important legal question society can discuss at the moment; being in a public place and able to be seen by the police doesn't mean you should be recorded by the police. Oddly, applying the same question and reasoning to "Automatic Number Plate Recognition" devices makes them look exceptionally intrusive. Oh, wait...
Whoosh. In any given interaction, you're dealing with one who's actively malfeasant, or one who's actively covering for their co-worker's malfeasance. Just maybe you could be dealing with someone partway through their first week on the job.
WARNING TO ALL PERSONNEL: Firings will continue until morale improves.
