Edward Snowden claims British spooks are spying on your phone - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Edward Snowden claims British spies are tapping into our telephones and can even switch them on and off remotely as a way of keeping track of our every move. In a rare interview given to the BBC, the former CIA employee said GCHQ spooks use a secret programme codenamed 'Smurfs' to 'own your phone' from the comfort of their desks. The fugitive - who was responsible for the biggest leak of top secret intelligence files the world has ever seen - also said agencies 'hack' network service providers to 'secretly take ownership' of devices.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3260805/Edward-Snowden-claims-British-spooks-spying-phone-switch-remotely-training-programme-codenamed-Smurfs.html[/url]

At this point with Snowden, this is us: [t]http://ministryofbritishcomedy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/26262.jpg[/t] [I]What else?! What else are they doing?! Tell us, oh Edward![/I]

I really dont care if they are spying on me as long as it helps to prevent terrorist attacks and track down criminals.

I've known people here in Ireland saying that for years. Mainly due to the whole IRA thing.

[QUOTE=taipan;48839560]I really dont care if they are spying on me as long as it helps to prevent terrorist attacks and track down criminals.[/QUOTE] I'm with that on the NSA, so long as they don't go to my house to rub in my face they know about all the porn I look at, I'm cool. Seriously Edward now sounds like he just wants to stay relevant.

[QUOTE=taipan;48839560]I really dont care if they are spying on me as long as it helps to prevent terrorist attacks and track down criminals.[/QUOTE] Except it's been proven they don't and you should be complaining about it anyways.

[QUOTE=taipan;48839560]I really dont care if they are spying on me as long as it helps to prevent terrorist attacks and track down criminals.[/QUOTE] Because governments have a good track record with unchecked power.

[quote]can even switch them on and off remotely as a way of keeping track of our every move.[/quote] I've seen mentioned this everywhere for at least a decade from fiction to real live security concerns and figured it had been confirmed already

[QUOTE=taipan;48839560]I really dont care if they are spying on me as long as it helps to prevent terrorist attacks and track down criminals.[/QUOTE] Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.

[QUOTE=taipan;48839560]I really dont care if they are spying on me as long as it helps to prevent terrorist attacks and track down criminals.[/QUOTE] As a wise man once said, those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither Another great philospher once wrote "naughty naught very naughty", but the point still remains. You should not remotely be OK with people snooping on your every move. You are actively allowing 1984 to become a reality.

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;48839652]As a wise man once said, those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither Another great philospher once wrote "naughty naught very naughty", but the point still remains. You should not remotely be OK with people snooping on your every move. You are actively allowing 1984 to become a reality.[/QUOTE] And what's worse, it's not sacrifice of liberty for security, it's a sacrifice of very clear liberty for a very uncertain promise of security. People times and times again prove that even as spartan security measures as airport security are extremely easy to bypass with very modest amount of knowledge and effort, similarly with broad scale spying - the terrorists who are actually dangerous to begin with are very unlikely to get caught on something stupid like that.

Edward "Drop the nukes on the spooks" Snowden

TPP, Mass spying, ultimate secrecy. We really are in the beginning stages of 1984

[QUOTE=Instant Mix;48839652]As a wise man once said, those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither [/QUOTE] I feel like that saying is very inaccurate as the whole idea of civilization is that we sacrifice personal liberty for personal safety.

[QUOTE=EdvardSchnitz;48839733]TPP, Mass spying, ultimate secrecy. We really are in the beginning stages of 1984[/QUOTE] Beginning stages of 1984 were 1984 getting written and released. The thoughts of the author aren't relevant because they are super spooky, they are relevant because they are realistic and they already made feasible sense when the author formulated them, and perhaps he felt fearful that the society is already moving there.

[QUOTE=Pvt. Martin;48839564]I'm with that on the NSA, so long as they don't go to my house to rub in my face they know about all the porn I look at, I'm cool. Seriously Edward now sounds like he just wants to stay relevant.[/QUOTE] lol dude just because you don't care that governments are prying through all your weird furry inflation porn and other weird shit for national security doesn't mean everybody doesn't

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48839704]if you actually read some of the documents that have been released you might just realise how useless all of these spying programs are at catching actual terrorists and how incredibly useful they are at backdooring a lot of network infrastructure - I know it's cliché, but read 1984 because that's exactly the kind of power they want and in some cases already have[/QUOTE] And yet this article isn't about network infrastructure being tapped, it's about software developed to spy on phones. Regular phones. Phones anyone could have- including, but of course, not limited to, those 'actual terrorists', in which case GCHQ is doing its job. I mean, it really shouldn't be surprising to anybody that spy agencies would develop software to try to spy on the phones of terrorists or foreign leaders, that's pretty much their job. If he's got a big log of unlawful uses of this technology then color me interested, but showing up after two and a half years to say 'Oh hey guys here's this program I never mentioned and it could maybe be used against you are you scared yet' sure sounds to me like trying to stay relevant.

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48839704]holy shit, what is wrong with you people - Edward threw away his entire life to reveal this stuff to the public, how fucking dare you say he's only doing it to "stay relevant"[/QUOTE] I dunno, it seems that every once in awhile he makes a new claim of [insert government] spying on their people via [insert technology]. What's next Russia? Kudos for the whole NSA thing but after awhile, it just boils down to "Everyone is Spying on Everyone".

[QUOTE=Datsun;48839780]I dunno, it seems that every month or so he makes a new claim of [insert government] spying on their people via [insert technology]. What's next Russia? Kudos for the whole NSA thing but after awhile, we just boils down to "Everyone is Spying on Everyone".[/QUOTE] because if he doesn't "stay relevant" people let the fact that your government is literally spying on you in your own home slip their minds

[QUOTE=HAKKAR!!!;48839785]because if he doesn't "stay relevant" people let the fact that your government is literally spying on you in your own home slip their minds[/QUOTE] I can't wait for the [Insert Country] is using Baby Camera's to spy on people leak. [QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48839791]the terrorists who are actually dangerous to begin with are very unlikely to get caught on something stupid like that[/QUOTE] Well they do post on twitter.

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48839791]the terrorists who are actually dangerous to begin with are very unlikely to get caught on something stupid like that[/QUOTE] One of the first results of Snowden's leaks was that Al-Qaeda offshoot cells stopped using Skype to communicate. Repeatedly we've seen extremists post on Twitter, and, oops, they left the geotagging intact. What, you think every ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-Shabaab, etc supporter is a hardened criminal using a new burner phone every week and staying off the grid? You give terrorists way too much credit.

[QUOTE=IceBlizzard;48839606]Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say.[/QUOTE] Except, they are not mutually exclusive...

[QUOTE=catbarf;48839773]If he's got a big log of unlawful uses of this technology then color me interested, but showing up after two and a half years to say 'Oh hey guys here's this program I never mentioned and it could maybe be used against you are you scared yet' sure sounds to me like trying to stay relevant.[/QUOTE] It's a person the life of whom from here onward is going to be put in perspective of what he has done when he went big. He doesn't have to release completely unknown information (as he probably doesn't have means any other member of common public has, he likely simply has no access to any such a thing) to be able to bring up perhaps known things and talk about them to the public with somewhat better chance of being heard than some noname whitehat activist. People shouldn't expect his function in the world to be leaking stunning new information continually, it's perfectly fine and still useful if he brings perhaps not exactly secret but still unknown things to the forefront, using his public name he made. It's not about trying to stay relevant, it's about using his relevancy to educate people. His whistleblowing days are gone, he's a prominent figure and an activist, now, and making public speeches is his work. It's like science promoters who aren't necessarily doing any research of their own anymore - exposing things to the public is still useful, not everyone is willing or even able to dig for information on their own.

[QUOTE=Datsun;48839795]I can't wait for the [Insert Country] is using Baby Camera's to spy on people leak. Well they do post on twitter.[/QUOTE] Are you you implying Snowden makes up this stuff?

Spooky just in time for halloween

Lol. I hope James Bond likes equal parts model kits, furry porn, Fallout Shelter, skype chatter and airsoft equipped 1/16th scale tank turrets.

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48839856]they post through a proxy to twitter, or get supporters to do it - they ain't completely stupid[/QUOTE] [url]http://time.com/3651559/new-zealand-isis-twitter/[/url] [QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48839856]don't understand why you're openly defending the NSA, just wtf[/QUOTE] Facts are facts.

[QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48839928]"the terrorists who are actually dangerous"[/QUOTE] If honest-to-god ISIS fighters don't meet that definition then I'd love to hear who you actually have in mind. I already mentioned that [url=http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/26/al-qaida-other-militants-said-to-be-changing-procedures-to-avoid-surveillance/]Al-Qaeda themselves[/url] stopped using Skype because of the Snowden leaks, so there's that too. [QUOTE=Handsome Matt;48839928]They are, and Snowden is releasing them all. You seem to be implying that he's just making shit up, I don't understand????[/QUOTE] No, I'm implying that if you can't understand why someone would be 'defending the NSA' by stating objective facts, you are putting your personal beliefs before the truth. Like I don't care if you think NSA is the devil incarnate, I've disagreed pretty heavily with some things they've done and I've been called an anti-government conspiracy theorist on here at least once, but this interview is pretty weak as far as crushing indictments of government misconduct go. He's not documenting abuse of civil liberties, he's detailing methods that could be used entirely legitimately against terrorists, and the fact is that yes, terrorists are dumb and do use smartphones. Or at least did, because every revelation of a source or method provides a how-to guide for them to avoid surveillance, as in the Skype example. Give me examples of this capability being used against innocent people and I'll be upset about another example of government overreach, but just saying that the capability exists does nothing but fuel yet another circlejerk without evidence. Spy agency possesses tools to spy. More at eleven.

What a racist titlee

Isn't surprising in the slightest, phones have never been a secure way to communicate, at least not without the aid of encryption.