MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
The US and UK spy agencies have managed access to all major smart-phones says Der Spiegel
According to a report in the German news weekly Der Spiegel, the United States National Security Agency, NSA is able to crack protective measures on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices, giving it access to users’ data on all major smart-phones. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesHow do they think terrorists organisations communicate and organise?
Sep 10th, 2013 - 01:15 am - Link - Report abuse 0Smoke signals, drums, invisible ink!
Maybe they think they have right to conspire and plot to kill in privacy or maybe
Eavesdropping on their operational planning, breaches their human rights.
Idiots!
Stop killing women and children. There's a reason most countries in the world never experience terrorism...
Sep 10th, 2013 - 03:59 am - Link - Report abuse 0If innocent you have nothing to fear.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 04:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0Thing is, USA and UK aren't innocent.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 04:47 am - Link - Report abuse 0They are guilty of invading sovereign nations.
They are guilty of murdering women and children.
They are guilty of theft of natural resources...
Actually Stevie, many countries in the world have experienced terrorism in the last 25 years, your own included - possibly even most and not just the US and UK.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 04:51 am - Link - Report abuse 0Well yes, some 48 countries have been invaded by USA in one way or another for the last 50 years, so you might just be right...
Sep 10th, 2013 - 04:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0“some 48 countries have been invaded by USA”
Sep 10th, 2013 - 05:16 am - Link - Report abuse 0So its USA 48 Argentina 1
You're basically just envious and bitter then Stevie: Oh the joy of 02 April 82 and the dancing outside the Pink Palace...don't remember seeing that in Times Square...
Well, it's a good job my phone's just about as smart as its owner.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 05:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0No chance of me being accessed by the secret services through my antediluvian gadgetry.
Do people really think that 'terrorists' who communicate by 'use once and throw away' phones are buying smart phones to do this. No, they use my kind of gadgetry - cheap and cheerful.
Well the programs usefulness can now be considered hugely reduced.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 06:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0They wont be using any specifics, it will just be agreed key words, analogies, and suggestive phrases on throw aways, muffled disguised voices when needed, then theres the random trolling - from folks pssed off with being spied on, or the more organized variety from the likes of trollthensa.com.
What reason to target a large population now, programs usefulness is totally compromised. May as well shut it down now anthrax jihad world trade 72 virgins.
Anyone would think this is new. It is just the intelligent services using modern technology.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 06:10 am - Link - Report abuse 0It is so childish to throw around statements like 'you kill women and children'. Argentina is not blameless and just because they did it mostly to their own people does not make it anymore acceptable.
Advanced countries do police the world and that makes them a target. But terrorism is not restricted to that. Take Spain, for instance, that has had internal terrorism for decades. Terrorists will attack using extreme methods - like the bomb in Buenos Aires - and extreme methods are needed to combat them. They never have and never will win.
Think on this. How many terrorist attacks have been averted by the intelligence services? Can you list them all? Of course not because you will never hear about them. They can't jump up and down every time they work to make the world a little safer to take the applause. They just keep working.
Elaine
Sep 10th, 2013 - 06:29 am - Link - Report abuse 0Childish is to deny the fact that women and children are being murdered, just because it doesn't fit your ideological agenda...
Also think about how much data, knowingly collected as being unrelated to any terrorist threat, has been gathered.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 06:32 am - Link - Report abuse 0Medical records from members of the general public with no connection to crime, personal emails, these are tools for leverage of the private individual. Superfluous to the crime fighting work, only there to be abused.
@2 Indeed there is. If you fight against the jihadists and other terrorists, you become a target. If, in one way or another, you “protect” jihadists and other terrorists, they leave you pretty much alone. Iran has relations with argieland, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela. Syria has relations with argieland. North Korea has relations with Cuba, Iran, Syria. And there's always China to help link things together.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 07:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0@4 Argieland is guilty of invasion and starting wars.
Argieland is guilty of human rights and war crimes.
Argieland is guilty of theft and attempted theft of natural resources.
@6 Other states that have invaded;
Argieland; People's Republic of China; Democratic Republic Congo;
North Korea; Nazi Germany; Iran; Iraq; Libya; Russia;
Soviet Union; Serbia; Turkey.
@10 Quite right. But you wouldn't expect something like “Stevie” to understand or accept that. In world terms, “Stevie” is an uneducated anarchist. He has the “Gollum syndrome”. Fingers in ears and “Not listening. Not listening.” The unfortunate thing is that with “people” like “Stevie” around, the jihadists and terrorists might win.
@8 GeoffWard2 Agreed XD
Sep 10th, 2013 - 09:01 am - Link - Report abuse 0@12 Vestige: Completely agree :-)
This article is about specific eavesdropping on a targeted basis. It is different from the blanket collection of data revealed by Snowden.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 10:17 am - Link - Report abuse 0This is basically phone tapping on encrypted signals. Every modern police force in the world will do this regularly. In Chile the police often submit phone taps as evidence. It is amazing how many criminals call Mum on their cell phones to cry and confess!
@3
“If innocent you have nothing to fear.”
You'd love our national ID cards and compulsory finger printing of all citizens.
Someone should organise a Interational Keyword day......when the whole world types as many dodgy keywords on their cell and overloads the system with far too many leads to follow....Up the Digital Revolution....is what I say!
Sep 10th, 2013 - 10:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0.....the Word is mightier than the Sword.....unless it has a nuclear tip!
@16
Sep 10th, 2013 - 10:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0Right on.
But how do you suggest we tackle lone wolfs, organised groups etc using the internet to disseminate materials, insight hate and as a resource for planning mass atrocities ?
We know they do - that's a given. But I suppose their humans rights should come first I guess?
@2
Sep 10th, 2013 - 10:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0Please enlighten us, just which countries women and children did the Balinese kill?
@ 10 The terrorists will always win or lose depending on the interests of the USA. Osama bin Laden was useful before he became useless.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 10:47 am - Link - Report abuse 017
Sep 10th, 2013 - 10:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0As with all revolutions there are going to be victims.....people can sit back and do nothing and have their privacy eroded away or they can retaliate and fight back.
Can't make an omelette without breaking eggs!
Governments shouldn't have more rights than individuals!
@17
Sep 10th, 2013 - 11:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0I'm fortunate not to live in some sort of Stalinist cum Fascist state and so don't understand the concept or have the need to hold a revolution - its alien to my culture.
I'm happy with the safe guards my society provides, the solid institutions to check and investigate government departments or individuals when things go wrong; not perfect but given my travels and worldly experience I think its a near gold standard.
I'm sorry to hear you don't have this. So I wish you Viva la Revolución! where ever you reside.
21
Sep 10th, 2013 - 11:15 am - Link - Report abuse 0I thought cloud cuckoo land was actually a fantasy.....but you obviously live there!
1984 has been surpassed ...people now pay for the privilege of being spied on.
Police...to serve and protect!
Governments ...to serve and protect their citizens from foreign countries NOT COLLABORATE with them to spy on their own citizens.
They are not targeting Terrorists....they are targeting EVERYONE!
Have you not been reading the leaks?
Wake up and smell the coffee!
@22
Sep 10th, 2013 - 11:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0Relax you and the rest of us are just ciphers to theses 'listeners'. 4 billion + people are been spied on you say? My that's a lot of overtime for such a small office in Cheltenham.
A few months ago I bragged in an email I went down a one way street the wrong way! So far so good, I think I've got away with it...Oh wait....there's a Ford Falcon parked opposite.....Bugger...
“Can't make an omelette without breaking eggs!”
Sep 10th, 2013 - 11:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0Straight out of the Think phrase book.
Bless.
23
Sep 10th, 2013 - 11:53 am - Link - Report abuse 0To say you have done something is not exactly the same as a council or police being able to prove in a court of law a case against you.......that's how it works!
You are obviously one of the many Sheeple that don't care about your rights or your privacy.
You probably have a supermarket club card and think Ooo I'm collecting points and saving......
The only thing being collected there is detailed info on you.....
What you buy, when you buy it, how much you spend, if you have a car, whether you pay cash in large or small amounts, whether you have a credit card, who you bank with......and that is just one example!
How safe are their records?...Who has access to it?
The problem is where this all leads in the future....
“My life's an open book,” people might say. “I've got nothing to hide.” But now the government has large dossiers of everyone's activities, interests, reading habits, finances, and health. What if the government leaks the information to the public? What if the government mistakenly determines that based on your pattern of activities, you're likely to engage in a criminal act? What if it denies you the right to fly? What if the government thinks your financial transactions look odd....even if you've done nothing wrong...and freezes your accounts? What if the government doesn't protect your information with adequate security, and an identity thief obtains it and uses it to defraud you? Even if you have nothing to hide, the government can cause you a lot of harm.
@23
Sep 10th, 2013 - 12:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I agree, the acceleration in technology to store, track and index individuals 'cyber footprints' is staggering. This has been known about and predicted for years. But I don't see my government as a bogey man though. Some commercial, nefarious entity then yes.
If you fear it then you know what to do. Simple. Go off line and pay by cash. I can't be arsed myself - life's too short.
Nothing surprising in this at all, who actually thought any of this stuff was secure in any respect.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 12:33 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Not the sort of thing the Spooks would have willingly fessed up to doing, however nothing new about it, except the technology employed to do it.
As to the question, why do it in the first place, given the obvious potential for abuse, I think this has to be measured against the cost of not doing it.
The answer as to how effective it is at preventing another 9/11, we may never know in full, anytime soon.
However the reason there has, so far, not been another such attack, is not because Al Qaida have stopped trying to carry out such attacks.
@4 Stevie
They are guilty of invading sovereign nations.
They are guilty of murdering women and children.
They are guilty of theft of natural resources...
Yes, those Conquistadors and their Criollo descendants have a lot to answer for. S. America crushed under the heel of the brutal Naraqoshi.
Thank God the British have stopped the same thing from happening in the S. Atlantic.
@12 Vestige
If you think about it the data was always there to be used for leverage, this is just a new way of collecting it.
No more breaking into secure buildings to photograph secret files for James Bond, just get a nerd to hack the computer network from a remote location.
@ 22 A_Voice
Cloud cuckoo land is thinking that with data to the power google, EVERYONE is a target.
We live in a world where everything is digital and recorded and therefore accessible. This you have to live with this or become Hamish (old order).
Question is what safeguards are in place to prevent abuses of the system, a much easier question to ask in a liberal democracy.
26
Sep 10th, 2013 - 12:38 pm - Link - Report abuse 0That is exactly what I do most of the time......as for online...peoples wi-fi connections are sometimes fairly easy to crack...I've found!..;-)))))
....and a piece of tape over the webcam is always a good idea, you can never be too careful!
24
......and there was me thinking I'd got it from the Joker!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dyX6THzXMw
@28 “....and a piece of tape over the webcam is always a good idea, you can never be too careful!” yes, and I thought I was the only one :)
Sep 10th, 2013 - 12:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 01984 has been surpassed ...people now pay for the privilege of being spied on.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 02:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Police...to serve and protect!
Governments ...to serve and protect their citizens from foreign countries NOT COLLABORATE with them to spy on their own citizens.
They are not targeting Terrorists....they are targeting EVERYONE!
Have you not been reading the leaks?
Think #21/25/28:
There is MUCH more in '1984' than we tend to remember ... and you are right, much has been exceeded in recent years.
We're not yet at the 'Minority Report' stage but that's only because many governments don't need a predictive tool, they just remove people from society 'on a hunch'.
And, yes, I also point the webcam away from me except when Skyping.
There you go; you press the right F-key - the Paranoia Function, and I respond ;-)
@29 Here's a thought, dumbo. Disconnect the webcam. Ever thought of that? No wonder you're a Gonzo! Just like your “mental”. Sorry, I meant “mentor”. Mind you, “mental” is probably fairly accurate. Although it needs to be qualified. “mental deficient” is about right for the yapper.
Sep 10th, 2013 - 02:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0.....perhaps the webcam on Gonzo22's laptop is integrated.....built-in as is mine.....a piece of electricians tape is quick, doesn't prevent the laptop closing, reusable and works just dandy!
Sep 10th, 2013 - 03:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0See that Mr NSA?.....it's my middle finger....but you can't see it can you?
See that name of the laptop?.....it's fictitious
See that serial number? It was paid for in cash...no name!
See those back doors into the operating system, the browser and the security software....of no use to you!
because......
See that IP address?......it's not mine!..:-))))
@30
Sep 10th, 2013 - 04:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0In the UK we have the Regulatory Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), and it is used and adhered to in the UK. Any surveillance has to be justified and proportionate and has to be authorised and monitored by the divisional Police Superintendent of whichever police force.
Stop saying average citizens are being spied on, we are not. In the UK we have a significant terrorist threat and the 'chatter' needs to be continually monitored.
You will never know the atrocities that our police secret services have foiled. They need all the support we can give them to keep us safe.
Personally I don't give a toss about out the monitoring of overseas banana republics, despots and dictators. The more we know about these governments, the safer the UK and our overseas territories are.
“Stop saying average citizens are being spied on, we are not.”
Sep 10th, 2013 - 05:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You hold tight on to that bible, Britworker!!
Hahahaha!!
Feel sorry for the poor bastard spying on me, he must be bored shitless!
Sep 11th, 2013 - 12:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0Stop saying that. If we all stop saying it, it will disappear...
Sep 11th, 2013 - 01:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0great! the only people who have to worry are the ones with something to hide, im happy with that!
Sep 11th, 2013 - 03:15 am - Link - Report abuse 0Brit #33
Sep 11th, 2013 - 05:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0Inter alia, I believe there is something called 'spyware' that seems to have been missed by the Regulatory Powers Act.
I am being constantly spied-upon - system monitors, trojans, adware, tracking cookies, keyloggers ... collecting any and all of my data,
including personal information like my internet surfing habits, my user logins, and even my bank/credit account information.
My user control is interfered with by installing additional software or redirecting my web-browsers, changing my computer settings, slowing my internet connection speeds, un-authorized changes in my browser settings, changes to my software settings ... etc.
Today I logged on to Mercopress and found three new targeted ads that could have only come from a cookie spying on my yesterday's Merco-ad surfing. And my computer is supposed to be spy-free!
No, neither the UK nor Brasil is spy-free;
and, in spite of a higher level of corruption than the 'home country', Brasil is not a overseas banana republic, or a regime of despots and dictators.
You are under-informed.
Geoff
Sep 11th, 2013 - 07:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0Get rid of all those pesky adverts - use Adblock Plus.
Goodness but there are an awful lot of paranoid people on here.
Sep 11th, 2013 - 08:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0I see Apple have added fingerprints to its list of data collection capabilities with their new phone. I wonder how many armchair revolutionaries will boycott the new phones? I guess at none.
We have always been monitored and we have always had data collection, it is just more sophisticated now. You only have to glance through this thread to see the anti-establishment, we must rebel against something, contributors. What are you really fighting against? The terrorists? The government agencies we charge with the responsibility of keeping us safe? Or just your general dissatisfaction with your own life?
You can always choose to live off the grid.
Sep 11th, 2013 - 08:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0I don't know why people get so bent out of shape. Google knows way more about all of us than the Gov't does.
and I don't care
'What are you really fighting against?'
Sep 11th, 2013 - 10:32 am - Link - Report abuse 0Elaine #40
... none of your options per se, Elaine.
Assuming I am sufficiently paranoid to qualify for your posting,
my angst is conditioned by my parameters of a long life which has allowed me to establish to my own satisfaction what I consider 'right' and what I consider 'wrong'.
Most situations around the world are a heady mix of 'not simply right' and 'not simply wrong', so when I rail I still understand pretty completely the complexity of the issues.
But I still rail - especially when our (elected) leaderships are exposed at the wrong end of the spectrum.
A government and its department conform to classic risk analysis - the degree of the departure from classic norms of behaviour and the number of people affected.
Reuters today reports on the century's great battle - acquired information (Google) and the extent that our elected governments and their agencies (NSA) should be given access to our - private - information.
The RISK to individuals across the whole world is something that each and every one of us should weigh, reflect on and voice an opinion.
This is not paranoia.
Paranoia is what you get from smoking too much skunk.
“Paranoia is what you get from smoking too much skunk.”
Sep 11th, 2013 - 10:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0.....unless you are a Redneck...then you eat it!
http://www.wikihow.com/Image:Roadkill-Cafe.jpg
@42 I was not really aiming my question at you but you make some interesting points.
Sep 11th, 2013 - 11:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0There are many reasons for being paranoid, don't just blame the weed, though it is certainly a side effect of that habit.
Warmongering and weed don't go together.
Sep 11th, 2013 - 11:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0#45
Sep 11th, 2013 - 01:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0... They go together, but badly. White Rabbit, For What It's Worth. The End.
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