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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The National Security Agency, working with the British government, has secretly been unraveling encryption technology that billions of Internet users rely upon to keep their electronic messages and confidential data safe from prying eyes, according to published reports based on internal U.S. government documents.

The NSA has bypassed or altogether cracked much of the digital encryption used by businesses and everyday Web users, according to reports Thursday in The New York Times, Britain's Guardian newspaper and the nonprofit news website ProPublica. The reports describe how the NSA invested billions of dollars since 2000 to make nearly everyone's secrets available for government consumption.

In doing so, the NSA built powerful supercomputers to break encryption codes and partnered with unnamed technology companies to insert "back doors" into their software, the reports said. Such a practice would give the government access to users' digital information before it was encrypted and sent over the Internet.

"For the past decade, NSA has led an aggressive, multipronged effort to break widely used Internet encryption technologies," according to a 2010 briefing document about the NSA's accomplishments meant for its UK counterpart, Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. Security experts told the news organizations such a code-breaking practice would ultimately undermine Internet security and leave everyday Web users vulnerable to hackers.

The revelations stem from documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who sought asylum in Russia this summer. His leaks, first published by the Guardian, revealed a massive effort by the U.S. government to collect and analyze all sorts of digital data that Americans send at home and around the world.

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<<< waits for the "if you've nothing to hide you've nothing to fear" crowd

 

:rolleyes:

Why wait? We have heard it plenty. How about wait for something like why that sentiment is not correct? Nothing I do online is illegal so why do I care that they are wasting their time reading my email, facebook, etc. Nobody has every given a legitimate response without resorting to slippery slope logic.

Why wait? We have heard it plenty. How about wait for something like why that sentiment is not correct? Nothing I do online is illegal so why do I care that they are wasting their time reading my email, facebook, etc. Nobody has every given a legitimate response without resorting to slippery slope logic.

 

Nothing you do online is illegal? Thats fine, but they also have the means to crack the security around your online banking, or online shopping, or whatever else you have that is meant to be secure.

 

If you dont seem to mind this, and have no issue with the NSA or other agencies having access to your finances etc.. please post here you full bank details, sort code, account number, banking password, secret questions and answers and step off.

 

Its the very people who fail to follow the "slippery slope" logic that dont take these revelations as seriously as they should. Why ? What is it about the use of "slippery slope" logic that you dont like ? Do you not believe the extreme outcomes postulated by such logic would ever happen ? If not why not? Do you believe those that have this cracking ability will suddenly grow a conscience and say "Oh you know what, we've gone too far, lets pull back?"

 

Not a chance! They will keep going and going as they are power mad, and are quite literally above the law, as any checks and balances or whatever fancy phrase you like has utterly failed, and has been used as a smoke screen to placate the masses for years. We then get responses such as yours writ large from people who either dont care, or cant comprehend just how bad things could get from an unchecked malevolent entity such as a government or a security agency.

  • Like 2

Why I dont put personal/sensitive info I dont want other to see online.  I dont have anything to hide, but some things are just private and shouldnt out there up for grabs.  And I have said it before, doesnt matter where you put your data online...if someone wants it bad enough, they will get it.

If you dont seem to mind this, and have no issue with the NSA or other agencies having access to your finances etc.. please post here you full bank details, sort code, account number, banking password, secret questions and answers and step off.

 

There is a difference between spying on someone, and then someone using your details to royally screw you over.  Monitoring vs Theft.

I'm still waiting for the Big Secret that was supposedly revealed.

 

We have known for a long time that the NSA has been intercepting, decrypting, any and all means of communication.

 

None of this is really News.

People don"t seem to get that these network admins at the NSA has access to everything. They could steal your info just for their personal gain. It's not just about what the agency does with your info. Hell, they can even create a false paper trail over people they don't like and they can screw them over.

Nothing you do online is illegal? Thats fine, but they also have the means to crack the security around your online banking, or online shopping, or whatever else you have that is meant to be secure.

 

If you dont seem to mind this, and have no issue with the NSA or other agencies having access to your finances etc.. please post here you full bank details, sort code, account number, banking password, secret questions and answers and step off.

 

Its the very people who fail to follow the "slippery slope" logic that dont take these revelations as seriously as they should. Why ? What is it about the use of "slippery slope" logic that you dont like ? Do you not believe the extreme outcomes postulated by such logic would ever happen ? If not why not? Do you believe those that have this cracking ability will suddenly grow a conscience and say "Oh you know what, we've gone too far, lets pull back?"

 

Not a chance! They will keep going and going as they are power mad, and are quite literally above the law, as any checks and balances or whatever fancy phrase you like has utterly failed, and has been used as a smoke screen to placate the masses for years. We then get responses such as yours writ large from people who either dont care, or cant comprehend just how bad things could get from an unchecked malevolent entity such as a government or a security agency.

So now you are claiming the NSA is stealing my bank account info and emptying my accounts? Got proof? I monitor my bank daily and since they have that info, they must be stealing it right? No changes to my bank account yet. I think I am good.

People don"t seem to get that these network admins at the NSA has access to everything. They could steal your info just for their personal gain. It's not just about what the agency does with your info. Hell, they can even create a false paper trail over people they don't like and they can screw them over.

Got proof of this happening? We will gladly wait for conspiracy nuts to prove this. Until then, stop crying wolf. There is a reason people stopped listening to this trash quickly and it wasn't just Miley Cyrus twerking.

Got proof of this happening? We will gladly wait for conspiracy nuts to prove this. Until then, stop crying wolf. There is a reason people stopped listening to this trash quickly and it wasn't just Miley Cyrus twerking.

Proof ? Are you for real ? You can only get proof from the source. Thats what Snowden did to a degree

 

Btw, the creating false papertrail thing has been mentioned even in some of the mainstream media .. so do a little bit of research

Proof ? Are you for real ? You can only get proof from the source. Thats what Snowden did to a degree

 

Btw, the creating false papertrail thing has been mentioned even in some of the mainstream media .. so do a little bit of research

So, you admit your crying wolf with exactly 0 proof. FYI, my bank account has no missing money. Try again.

So, you admit your crying wolf with exactly 0 proof. FYI, my bank account has no missing money. Try again.

What the hell are you talking about. Who says anyone will be missing money

 

If that happens, it's because you were targeted for a reason. And money will be the least of your concerns. Pretty sure they don<t go after money anyway.

 

Stop acting like an idiot.

What the hell are you talking about. You're crazy. Who says anyone will be missing money

Personal insults? Is that really needed? Read the conversation you injected yourself into. You don't know the context, you don't have any proof, and you are just crying wolf at this point and actually surprised nobody believes you. Stop the name calling or I will report you. You said yourself for personal gain. Do tell, if not to take money, what personal gain is there for having my bank account number? Try again, no insults this time.

The NSA may have the ability to do all these things but I'm fairly certain they're not going to waste their time reading my emails from my wife about a new recipe she wants to try or that I just transferred $300 from one checking account to another.

Why wait? We have heard it plenty. How about wait for something like why that sentiment is not correct? Nothing I do online is illegal so why do I care that they are wasting their time reading my email, facebook, etc. Nobody has every given a legitimate response without resorting to slippery slope logic.

Nothing I do online is illegal either but I prefer not to let someone have full access to what I do online. Just in the interest of personal space I become uncomfortable when someone is behind me watching over my shoulder. I'm not doing anything wrong I just feel uncomfortable when somebody does it......the only time I don't is when I am showing them something by using my computer.

 

You are perfectly fine letting someone watch your every move, while nothing I do is illegal, I prefer to maintain my personal space. Privacy in what I do online is part of my personal space, therefore no matter how unimportant my browsing habits are, I would rather not have anyone with the ability to watch over them.

 

The way I understand it anyway is they look for keywords/phrases/behaviors, no person actually sits and reads over it unless their system flags it, that fact doesn't make me any more comfortable that they have the ability to do this though.

  • Like 3

Personal insults? Is that really needed? Read the conversation you injected yourself into. You don't know the context, you don't have any proof, and you are just crying wolf at this point and actually surprised nobody believes you. Stop the name calling or I will report you. You said yourself for personal gain. Do tell, if not to take money, what personal gain is there for having my bank account number? Try again, no insults this time.

Ahh boohoo , stop acting like a child. I edited my comment seconds after I posted but you still took it.

 

nobody believes me ? You know everybody really ?  Anyway your original comment was aimed at the other guy. You're the one who started it all with your non sense, saying that your bank account is not missing any money. I mean .. really .. what does your bank account has to do with anything.

Why wait? We have heard it plenty. How about wait for something like why that sentiment is not correct? Nothing I do online is illegal so why do I care that they are wasting their time reading my email, facebook, etc. Nobody has every given a legitimate response without resorting to slippery slope logic.

Nothing you do in your home is illegal. Would you support having cameras inside your own house to watch what you do 24/7 just in case you would decide to do something illegal?

Hacking/cracking is illegal. It is for a teen in his parents basement. It is for gov agencies too. In a really free and democratic country it should take a warrant to do it and i sure do hope it takes one in USA too.

The trend in USA to consider okay to give gov agencies a free pass to do whatever they find necessary to do is highly disturbing.

Ahh boohoo , stop acting like a child. I edited my comment seconds after I posted.

 

nobody believes me ? You know everybody really ? Anyway your original comment was aimed at the other guy. You're the one who started it all with your non sense, saying that your bank account is not missing any money

Right back to insults. Reported. You can't talk without insulting people and I am the child. Right.

Nothing you do in your home is illegal. Would you support having cameras inside your own house to watch what you do 24/7 just in case you would decide to do something illegal?

Hacking/cracking is illegal. It is for a teen in his parents basement. It is for gov agencies too. In a really free and democratic country (NA is not anymore) it should take a warrant to do it.

A warrant to search your private property. Your communication on the internet is anything but private property. It is no different than police officers that think they have the right to privacy and not to be filmed while on duty. The internet is public property and you have no reasonable right to privacy on property that does not belong to you. The law is very clear about that. Comparing what happens on the internet to what happens on your private property makes no sense. The internet is not yours, hence you have no right to privacy there.

A warrant to search your private property. Your communication on the internet is anything but private property.

If it is encrypted then yes it is your private property. Hacking/cracking is illegal and should require a warrant.

It's not because you send your encrypted data online that it doesn't sudenly belong to you anymore. I can leave my phone unattended in a public place, let's say a bar, and it will still belong to me and if the police want to hack into it and bypass the lock they'll need a warrant (anyway this is the way it is in Canada). If it's not locked then yes they can legally have a look.

 

The way I understand it anyway is they look for keywords/phrases/behaviors, no person actually sits and reads over it unless their system flags it, that fact doesn't make me any more comfortable that they have the ability to do this though.

That is the only way its even feasible. There are people that are dumb enough to think there is a human being sitting on the other end reading, watching, and recording everything you do with their eyes. Those are the ones you see here crying about how your bank account information is being stolen and used for personal gain. It's pretty baffling that they have come to believe this. You have to through all common sense out the window to even begin to believe this.

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