What does Google have on you?

[TWPonKubuntu]

SpecialEd; change my mind which way? I already believe my privacy is "less than airtight".

I'm not going to buy the book from Amazon, can you give a synopsis?

[SpecialEd]

SpecialEd; change my mind which way? I already believe my privacy is "less than airtight".

I'm not going to buy the book from Amazon, can you give a synopsis?

Sorry, that response was not intended for you.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Sorry, that response was not intended for you.

Ok ...

[dequire]

Adding more to this privacy dumpster fire for those who still duel boot or otherwise run Win 10 (via Wikileaks):

CIA sneak undetectable ‘malicious’ implants onto Windows OS - WikiLeaks

This new leak takes Win 10 surveillance to a whole new level. Undetectable and unstoppable, unless one literally wiped the OS and re-installed everyday. Why anyone would not run Linux daily is beyond me. I feel like we're here with our tin-foil hats watching the world as we know it become usurped right in front of us.

To be honest I remember being a teen in the early-mid 80's listening to church sermons at my Aunt's Christian Church where the pastor laid all this out that it was coming. One could argue that the book of Revelations hits the nail on the head as to what's transpiring. I sit with amazement in hindsight that a red-neck Pastor from tinytown, USA had so so much insight into the world we were going to be ushering in. But I digress.

Big business can be evil. Big Government can be evil. When the two decide to jump in bed together, look out Loretta. By the way the Fed Gov, Google, Facebook, Amazon, Monsanto, Microsoft, etc. need a new adjective because the word "big" is too irrelevant to even describe them anymore. Chick-Fil-A is big. La-Z-Boy is big. Big is too generic. These entities are ginormous, multi-national, international earnings-at-all-costs behemoths. Yes I'm including the Government in that description.

[GreyGeek]

Wait! There's more ...

Our corporate overlords are adding lip reading AI software to surveillance cameras so that even when you are out of ear shot they can read your whispered conversation. All for market demographics of course. They'd never give that info to the gov.

[TWPonKubuntu]

I need more tinfoil. Electronic grade, heavy gauge with Velcro(r) chin straps.

If I didn't agree with the direction this thread has taken it would make me worry.

Retiring to the bunker now, secure web access and periscope in the watch room.

Wish it were a joke but plan for reality...

[Simon]

I am not saying this isn't an issue on a global scale, just individuals shouldn't consider themselves important enough to be under observation. I don't think I am person of interest but they do need to be reminded they are your public servants and not your masters.

I am more concerned with current issues of your country becoming a police state than I am about the CIA hacking into computers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81d5VM8xfpM

[TWPonKubuntu]

...
I am more concerned with current issues of your country becoming a police state than I am about the CIA hacking into computers.
...

I see the hacking as part of that transformation. Sure "most" of us are below the radar horizon... we don't, yet, fit the profile to warrant scrutiny.

At what point does our computer/online privacy become so transparent that it no longer exists? Some, my self included, would claim that we are already across the line.

As an example in point, the use of the TOR bundle as an indicator of malicious intent on the part of the user:

https://www.cnet.com/news/nsa-likely...s-tor-curious/

It seems like; if you're standing by the road, not at a designated cross walk, you must be planning on "jay walking". "He had the opportunity, your honor, so we acted to prevent him from perpetrating the crime."

Is it a crime to try to secure our computer? Are we "guilty" of a "pre-crime" ala the movie "Minority Report"?

I am reminded of this poem by Martin Niemöller:

“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

I could paraphrase this in terms of computers, the internet and surveillance by TPTB, but this thread has already discussed this whole problem.

[dequire]

I think the part you guys are missing is this: It not that we're important enough to have a government agency go through the trouble of digging for "dirt" on any average Joe Sixpack. The deeper problem is now they are ushering in analytics and deep AI. They won't have to bother looking for anyone. The system will find them and root them out. On hand - no big deal. On the other...the implications are worrisome at the least, and most likely will lead one day in the not too distant future to a completely autocratical government. AKA 1984.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" - Lord Acton

[dequire]

I could paraphrase this in terms of computers, the internet and surveillance by TPTB, but this thread has already discussed this whole problem.

This is why organizations like the ALCU (though I don't always agree with them) and especially the E.F.F. are so critical in the times we live in.

[GreyGeek]

This is why organizations like the ALCU (though I don't always agree with them) and especially the E.F.F. are so critical in the times we live in.

Indeed!

What made the East German Stasi so effective in controlling the people is that they had "recruited" 1 out of every 6 people in that society to spy on the others, in exchange for not going to prison or "disappearing". And what would that one report on? The habits, topics of occasional converstations, life style, etc... Seemingly innocent information but the kind of info Google and Facebook is collecting on EVERYONE, signed up or not, to build a profile of you. Besides, the police state always needs pigeons to blame their failures on. It reminds me of the old, not so funny, joke: "I didn't say you did it, I said I was going to blame you".

People like myself who have been far and wide on the Internet since its inception have so much info out there that erasing it is probably not possible, unless the servers that info is in is taken off line for some reason. I used to believe that the Internet never forgets ... once a piece of info is on the net it is on there for ever. I don't believe that any more. A few years ago I did a Google search of the number of posts I had on the LinuxToday news site. It was over 4,700. In a recent check of how permanent the info is I found only a few hundred posts. So, things are disappearing from the net. Likewise, too many MNM sources generate to many 404 errors on stories unfavorable to a certain portion of the political spectrum.

[dibl]

Interesting (original) post -- thanks GG!

Going back two years, they have every youtube video I ever looked at, but nothing else. Odd. Kinda don't care about that -- "how to disassemble an HP DV9000" and "how to seed a pomegranate" -- not sure what they (or anyone) can do with all that stuff.

[GreyGeek]

Hi dibl !!

...

Going back two years, they have every youtube video I ever looked at, but nothing else. Odd. Kinda don't care about that -- "how to disassemble an HP DV9000" and "how to seed a pomegranate" -- not sure what they (or anyone) can do with all that stuff.

A one-off? Probably nothing, unless you were a vendor of computer repair tool kits, videos, etc..., or, were selling seeds, garden tools, etc... You'd be put o their "prospective customers" list.

Or, wanting to know how to seed a plant would suggest to an evil gov that you *could* be a survivalist, SHTF believer, or some other group that is generally categorized as racists, Nazis, White Supremacists, etc..., for merely disagreeing with Left wing ideology, which would put you into their "enemy of the state" classification. It doesn't matter that you think what you do is harmless, it is what they think about what you do.

The Judge who knows the law and the Constitution didn't get fired from a "conservative" cable TV news company for lying. This video was made several years ago and has become somewhat prophetic:

[jlittle]

Coming to this thread a bit late, but someone might like to know this...

... Facebook ... They don't give you the option to change much, except to delete your account. Even then, if you touch another blue Facebook button ANYWHERE on the web for the next six months they will automatically restore your Facebook account. And, even if you cancel your Facebook account they will still follow you on the web everywhere you go.

NoScript can help with this. I've blocked facebook, and since I did that facebook stopped trying to reinstate my account.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Coming to this thread a bit late, but someone might like to know this...

NoScript can help with this. I've blocked facebook, and since I did that facebook stopped trying to reinstate my account.

"You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave" Hotel California...