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[Mongrel]

One thing I think though is that the US is probably more dependant on its citizens "buying in" to the government than almost any nation in history. I mean, sure even dictatorships require some sort of buy-in from at least some of the people, but nothing like what the US requires to function.

Shattering that illusion is way more damaging to the stability and future of America than it would be in say... Tsarist Russia.

[Thad]

http://www.propublica.org/article/the-nsas-secret-campaign-to-crack-undermine-internet-encryption

I mean, honestly, I don't think anyone should be surprised by this.

Indeed.

The details of the NSA's campaign to crack encryption may be new, but that such a campaign exists?  That's been public knowledge for at least two decades.  The NSA pushed hard to get a backdoor built into RSA, and to have any encryption algorithms WITHOUT backdoors outlawed.

[Bal]

One thing I think though is that the US is probably more dependant on its citizens "buying in" to the government than almost any nation in history. I mean, sure even dictatorships require some sort of buy-in from at least some of the people, but nothing like what the US requires to function.

Shattering that illusion is way more damaging to the stability and future of America than it would be in say... Tsarist Russia.

Oh man, American politics is so sold on the cult of America the Great that we can't even discuss internal problems without hysterical denunciations. I mean, just as an example, schools are so bad off nationally that many poorer school districts have had to cut FOOTBALL of all things, but our political discourse continues to be about how we can be even more star-spangled awesome than we already are.

[Büge]

Oh man, American politics is so sold on the cult of America the Great that we can't even discuss internal problems without hysterical denunciations. I mean, just as an example, schools are so bad off nationally that many poorer school districts have had to cut FOOTBALL of all things, but our political discourse continues to be about how we can be even more star-spangled awesome than we already are.

So America has become The Imperium of Man?

[McDohl]

Where do you think all those eagles come from on armor?

[Joxam]

Speaking of internal politics, I love (and I'm not being sarcastic at all) that Syria, as terrible as it might be, has pretty much knocked the debate around Obamacare right out of the public conscience.

[Zaratustra]

One of the reasons IPv6 is taking so long to catch on is that the NSA has had extensive input into its encryption protocols:

http://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/view/34405/did-the-nsa-subvert-the-security-of-ipv6/

[Mongrel]

Latest Snowden leak. It reveals that communications, not just metadata, are being gathered from all sorts of folks, including (potentially) US congresspeople and federal court justices. Then, that data is being given to Israel. Then, if Israel notices that it's files containing identities of US persons, they have to, by compulsion of the honor system, destroy those files after a year. But if Israel notices that they're communications between congresspeople or federal justices, they have to destroy them immediately. Also by compulsion of the honor system.

http://rt.com/news/nsa-shares-data-israel-723/

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents

The memorandum of understanding, which the Guardian is publishing in full, allows Israel to retain "any files containing the identities of US persons" for up to a year. The agreement requests only that the Israelis should consult the NSA's special liaison adviser when such data is found.

Notably, a much stricter rule was set for US government communications found in the raw intelligence. The Israelis were required to "destroy upon recognition" any communication "that is either to or from an official of the US government". Such communications included those of "officials of the executive branch (including the White House, cabinet departments, and independent agencies), the US House of Representatives and Senate (member and staff) and the US federal court system (including, but not limited to, the supreme court)".

Jesus, I know the US has never really been much good at spying or covert anything, but just how naive is the NSA/CIA anyway?

[Zaratustra]

Ex-US ambassador to Brazil explains why the US spies on Brazil: Cause Brazil govt loves defending communist underdogs.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/09/25/3650784/why-we-spy-on-brazil.html

While I agree with that part, "Brazil doesn't defend democracy" is fucking bullshit. What are we supposed to do, bomb Iran too?

[R^2]

I thought America spied on Brazil because we spy on everybody, even/especially our allies, and Brazil is somebody.

[Mongrel]

I thought America spied on Brazil because we spy on everybody, even/especially our allies, and Brazil is somebody.

Pretty much this. He was just giving the Brazilians a particular reason so that they would feel special.

[Mongrel]

Today's release almost feels overdue. I would have thought something like this would have come out earlier.

Surprising absolutely no one, the NSA is mapping everyone's social connections.

Facebook haters just got a whole new reason to be insufferably smug.

[Cthulhu-chan]

Facebook haters just got a whole new reason to be insufferably smug.

I knew this irritatingly self-satisfied smirk had to be coming from somewhere.

[Büge]

http://www.destructoid.com/never-mind-microsoft-actually-wants-to-sell-kinect-data-263119.phtml

welp!

[Thad]

So here's something that fascinates me:

I found out today that my grandma uses Startpage, because she doesn't want Google tracking her.

This is not the tech-savvy grandma, it's the other one.  I have never mentioned Startpage to her.  I don't think I've even mentioned my general misgivings about Google's tracking.  I have no idea where she even heard about it.

But I am fascinated as hell that she DID hear about it.

Now, I don't think this indicates any oncoming groundswell or anything -- people my grandma's age simply put a much higher premium on privacy than Kids Today do.

But it DOES indicate that the information is out there, somewhere where one of the least computer-literate people I know managed to hear about it.

Was it in the local paper?  Was it on Fox News?  I don't know.  But it indicates a level of savvy and (in this case reasonable) concern about technology among a segment of the population where I didn't expect to have it.  And I find that very interesting.

[Defenestration]

There was a bit I heard on NPR about it last week.

[Mongrel]

How does Startpage's searches actually compare to Google?

It's an interesting question because Google's search technology has been more-or-less stagnant for a few years now, while they focus on other projects. My thinking here is that there's room for new entrants to catch up to Google, bing etc.'s unimpressiveness notwithstanding.

[Cait]

Startpage literally just sticks an anonymizer between you and searching on Google. It uses Google as the root search, providing the same results you'd get (without any data-based suggestions/prioritizations).

[Thad]

There was a bit I heard on NPR about it last week.

I can guarantee you she didn't hear it on NPR.

[Mongrel]

The stories of Merkel's phone being tapped make this into another episode of "Surprising no-one, the..." (and arguably this wouldn't be surprising even if that hadn't come to light), but it's now coming out that the NSA is tapping damn near every world leader's phone

How to, uh, win friends and something something.