The effects of Snowden’s revelations are more than just political or technical. For many they are personal; lives have been remade as we become aware of the legal and political and familial ramifications of our work. And what is left unsaid is often more extensive than what is uttered aloud.
It’s always nice to see the US racing to catch up to where the rest of the world’s been at for many, many years. And all it’s taken have been a serious of catastrophic data breaches!
This story is absolutely appalling. In summary, a Canadian judge had pictures of her posted to the Internet without her consent and the result may be that she loses her job despite having done nothing wrong herself. She’s eminently qualified for her job and the fact that she has been subject to sexual harassment/violence should absolutely not disqualify her from her current position. It would be a travesty of justice if, after being victimized, she were to lose her job on the basis of having been victimized.
Probably the best award speech I’ve heard in years; how often is the advertising industry held captive by a speaker who proceeds to tell them they traffic in meaninglessness and lies?
Putting a face to the reality of Ontario’s labour market.
Nicky Hager’s house raided by police:
While working on the book, Mr Hager said he was prepared for a raid-type situation, but did not believe the police would conduct one on his property.
This is exactly the kind of thing that political reporters shouldn’t have to prepare and defend against is democratic states. But more and more are because of overzealous state secrecy laws combined with bullying policing tactics.
Mississauga man pleads guilty in international Xbox hacking ring:
Prosecutors said the small group of gaming enthusiasts called itself the Xbox Underground.
“These were extremely sophisticated hackers. Don’t be fooled by their ages,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed McAndrew said after Tuesday’s court hearing. McAndrew told reporters the other members of the group looked to Pokora as a leader.
…
Chris Parsons, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab and expert in Internet security, told the Star the technique used by the group, known as “SQL injection,” is one of the most common attacks used.
“I’m not saying that these individuals are more or less sophisticated, but you really do not have to be terribly clever to run SQL injections,” said Parsons, who has no involvement in the case.
The technique at its most simple involves tricking a database used by the organization into thinking that the hacker has the power to run administrator-level commands.
…
Parsons says the value of intellectual property and material like the group was after is difficult to gauge. He said they could sell it, or trade it online.
“Certainly some information would be more valuable than others. There might be a large variation for how much you might pay for a prototype Xbox One, versus information about how the U.S. military trains its apache helicopter pilots,” said Parsons. “It would vary substantially in terms of what the information is and the completeness of it.”
There’s no indication in the court documents that the group attempted to sell military information.
Mapping The Canadian Government’s Telecommunications Surveillance:
What:
Canadian federal government agencies, like many government agencies around the world, often request user data from telecommunications agencies for the purpose of surveillance. With few regulations in place that force governments or corporations to explain how Canadians’ telecommunications information is accessed or processed, the Citizen Lab along with its’ partners, worked over the course of a year to compile and disseminate lawfully accessible data that showed how often, for what reasons, and on what legal grounds telecommunications companies in Canada provided their subscribers’ data to state agencies.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a series of Counter-Surveillance Success Stories and my work over the past year’s been recognized in the stories. It’s really exceptional the excellent work that people are doing all around the world – you should check them all out!
Access, Partners Recognize Heroes, Villains on Human Rights and Communications Surveillance
Transparency
Summary: States should be transparent about the use and scope of Communications Surveillance laws, regulations, activities, powers, or authorities.
Hero: Doctor Christopher Parsons
Doctor Parsons has actively pushed Canada’s leading Telecommunications Services Providers to disclose how, why, and how often they provide subscriber information to state agencies. Based on their responses, Dr. Parsons offered comprehensive recommendations on how companies could improve public transparency.
Villain: Secretary Jeremy Heywood
Under the authority of UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Mr. Heywood ordered the Guardian to destroy documents regarding surveillance activities of the NSA and GCHQ. The hard drives were “pulverized” in the basement of the newspaper’s London offices. Notably, the Guardian has stated that all documents related to its reporting on these matters are stored in other offices.
It remains amazing – and an absolute honour – to be listed as a hero alongside Edward Snowden, Navi Pillay (former UN High Commissioner), Sen. Ron Wyden, Dilma Rousseff, amongst a host of others.
Also: I guess I have something to talk about next time I run into a member of the British Cabinet?
Canada’s Cyberspy Agency, CSEC, Hijacks Computers Worldwide to Build Their Spynet:
One key part of the HACIENDA infrastructure, however, is a Canadian program called LANDMARK, which looks for “ORBS” (Operational Relay Box) that were recently defined by Colin Freeze in the Globe and Mail as “computers [the Five Eyes spy agencies] compromise in third-party countries.” I spoke to Chris Parsons from the Citizen Lab, who explained that these ORBs are quite possibly the property of innocent citizens, and not exclusively intelligence targets:
“CSEC seemingly regards unsecured devices (their ‘ORBs’) as valid intelligence targets in order to launch deniable attacks and reconnaissance practices. We don’t know whether there is some effort to ascertain civilian vs non-civilian intermediary computers to take over, but the slides suggest that civilians and their equipment can be targeted.”
…
“CSEC operates using the same techniques as organized crime and foreign intelligence services… CSEC uses these techniques for nation-state aims, similar reconnoissance techniques are used by criminals, academics, and interested internet sleuths. The tools of reconnaissance and offence are depressingly affordable, whereas secure code is expensive and hard to come by.”
Excited Pixels