Literally nothing you do is safe from the CIA. There are numerous full-on spyware suites developed by them, mostly for iOS and Windows, but also targeting Android, Linux, OS X, and Solaris. Apps thought to be secure (Telegram with encryption enabled, WhatsApp, Signal) were compromised as well, as were a host of other devices (ie smart TVs).
THIS DOES NOT PERTAIN ONLY TO AMERICANS.
If you live in a Shengen area country, your country likely hosts several CIA backed cyberwar experts. They came in via the US consulate in Frankfurt. If you don’t, you likely do as well, but I can’t find anything without sifting through the files myself.
“I have nothing to hide, why does this matter?”: Because there are now multiple thousand “zero hour”- ie “developers get zero hours to fix”- vulnerabilities floating around that no one had any idea existed. The vulnerabilities themselves weren’t leaked, but it’s the fact that someone knew about these and didn’t say.
I hate to make this kinda clickbait-y thing, but this is honest to God one of the most important leaks in history. Our response to this is pretty much going to be life or death for privacy in the developed world. Be loud about this, be annoying about this, and do not shut up about this. Please reblog this and other posts relating to it.
Not just any someone, this is one of the U.S. federal government’s foremost intelligence agencies, the CIA, which even mainstream media has reported operates on a black (off the record) budget, infamous for handing over “full” reports that are almost entirely redacted.
It’s a wonder that anyone out there could believe they are not the subject of surveillance—everyone has something to hide.
The USA can access personal email, chat, and web browsing history. (Source)
The USA tracks the numbers of both parties on phone calls, their locations, as well as time and duration of the call. (Source)
The USA intercepts troves of personal webcam video from innocent people. (Source)
The USA is working to crack all types of sophisticated computer encryption. (Source)
The USA monitors communications between online gamers. (Source)
The USA can set up fake Internet cafes to spy on unsuspecting users. (Source)
The USA can remotely access computers by setting up a fake wireless connection. (Source)
The USA can use radio waves to hack computers that aren’t connected to the internet. (Source)
The USA can set up fake social networking profiles on LinkedIn for spying purposes. (Source)
The USA undermines secure networks [Tor] by diverting users to non-secure channels. (Source)
The USA can intercept phone calls by setting up fake mobile telephony base stations. (Source)
The USA can install a fake SIM card in a cell phone to secretly control it. (Source)
The USA can physically intercept packages, open them, and alter electronic devices. (Source)
The USA makes a USB thumb drive that provides a wireless backdoor into the host computer. (Source)
The USA can set up stations on rooftops to monitor local cell phone communications. (Source)
The USA spies on text messages in China and can hack Chinese cell phones. (Source)
The USA spies on foreign leaders’ cell phones. (Source)
The USA intercepts meeting notes from foreign dignitaries. (Source)
The USA has hacked into the United Nations’ video conferencing system. (Source)
The USA can spy on ambassadors within embassies. (Source)
The USA can track hotel reservations to monitor lodging arrangements. (Source)
The USA can track communications within media organizations. (Source)
The USA can tap transoceanic fiber-optic cables. (Source)
The USA can intercept communications between aircraft and airports. (Source)
And this leak shows that the CIA has all of these technologies and proliferates them to other entities who want this information all the time. You need your privacy to protect yourself and your information. If you have nothing to hide, you have plenty to hide:
The line “if you’ve got nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry
about” is used all too often in defending surveillance overreach. It’s
been debunked countless times in the past, but with the line being
trotted out frequently in response to the NSA revelations, it’s time for
yet another debunking, and there are two good ones that were recently
published. First up, we’ve got Moxie Marlinspike at Wired, who points
out that, you’re wrong if you think you’ve got nothing to hide,
because our criminal laws are so crazy, that anyone sifting through
your data would likely be able to pin quite a few crimes on you if they
just wanted to.
Some of the potentially sensitive facts those records expose becomes
obvious after giving it some thought: Who has called a substance abuse
counselor, a suicide hotline, a divorce lawyer or an abortion provider?
What websites do you read daily? What porn turns you on? What religious
and political groups are you a member of?
Some are less obvious. Because your cellphone’s “routing information”
typically includes information about the nearest cell tower, those
records are also a kind of virtual map showing where you spend your time
— and, when aggregated with others, who you like to spend it with.
We simply cannot possibly know when something is going to incriminate us and the State is not above scapegoating individuals or coercing them into submission. James Duane, a professor at Regent Law School and former defense attorney, notes:
Estimates of the current size of the body of federal
criminal law vary. It has been reported that the Congressional Research
Service cannot even count the current number of federal crimes.
These laws are scattered in over 50 titles of the United States Code,
encompassing roughly 27,000 pages. Worse yet, the statutory code
sections often incorporate, by reference, the provisions and sanctions
of administrative regulations promulgated by various regulatory agencies
under congressional authorization. Estimates of how many such
regulations exist are even less well settled, but the ABA thinks there
are ”nearly 10,000.”
The complexity of modern federal criminal law, codified
in several thousand sections of the United States Code and the virtually
infinite variety of factual circumstances that might trigger an
investigation into a possible violation of the law, make it
difficult for anyone to know, in advance, just when a particular set of
statements might later appear (to a prosecutor) to be relevant to some
such investigation.
Not just the State, but anyone could draw suspicion against you if they had the right information with the right circumstances. We are entitled to our privacy, and these institutions must be held to account.
Reblogging because the links in the bulleted list were broken, as someone brought to my attention.
The EURO-conversion was used by retailers to raise prices. Aldi, however, reacted with the biggest price reduction of its
corporate history. As a result, it was able to double its profits.
Paragraph edited for clarity – the original is on page 17.
Imagine that – taking market share by improving service and prices.
EDIT: Mind you, some of Walmart’s failure is absolutely because the government has put bars on the free maket that made it illegal for them to succeed:
With organic growth close to being a mission impossible for hypermarket operators
due to stringent* planning and zoning regulations
Soon faced with
rapidly mounting losses, Wal-Mart’s management resorted to staff cuts and closures to
reduce its above-average personnel costs. Due to strict worker protection regulations,
however, making surplus workers redundant can be a complicated, lengthy and costly
affair in Germany – a cumbersome fact of life for its German competitors, but, obviously,
terra incognita for Wal-Mart Germany’s (mostly) American executives
* Stringent is explained elsewhere in the text and it is, indeed, stringent.
Beautiful article. My favorite parts:
– The leading retail strategy in Germany is “hard discounting” which offers a very narrow selection of high quality products at “rock bottom” prices. Aldi rules at this and hard discount retailers control a third of the market. In the UK etc this accounts for less than a tenth of the market. This is the polar opposite of Walmart’s “sell literally everything” strategy. – Germany has zoning laws that favor smaller buildings. This works in favor of hard discounters because they offer a narrow selection and minimalist shopping environment. Compare to Walmart’s “browse an entire warehouse and grocery store then eat at one of several restaurants” model. – Germany has antitrust/fair trade laws that forbid merchants from permanently selling goods below cost. This is Walmart’s favorite strategy famously observed in the gallon-jar pickle campaign. – Germany only allows retailers to be open for 80 hours per week, compared to 196 in the UK, 96 in the Netherlands, and 144 in France. – Walmart refused to recognize the outcome of the collective wage negotiation process with their German unionized employees and were “completely surprised” when said unions promptly organized walkouts in 30 stores. They were probably surprised because of their millions of US employees, only 12 are known to be unionized. This gave Walmart a “union basher” rep in Germany where unions are influential and popular. – Walmart tried to pull their “hire a ton of employees and give them shitty part time hours so we don’t have to give them full-time benefits” but worker protection laws prevented this and Walmart was forced to compete on product margins and services rather than recouping losses by shafting their employees. Aldi was able to match their prices cent for cent, but offered better service and more value. – Walmart repeatedly defied German antitrust laws like “You must provide your balance sheet and annual profit/loss statement” and “You must provide a bottle/plastic refund system for products you sell.” None of the other leading German retailers had a problem sustaining growth and profit while complying with these laws. – Germany put some dude from Arkansas in charge of the acquisition. He didn’t speak German. Anyone who’s spent time with Germans can imagine how well this probably went over.
So basically Walmart rolled up to Germany and tried to play its usual game of “buy out entire supply chains, sell products below cost until competitors are dry, then use their market reach to demand bulk orders from suppliers at near-zero margins, all the while keeping stores open 24/7 to maintain a huge pool of redundant part time workers at minimum wage with no benefits to reduce operating costs and further subsidize more supply chain buyouts” and the heavily unionized, aggressively antitrust, worker protection, high value low price German market laughed in their dumb weasel faces and sent them packing.
Meanwhile, Aldi, who has been commanding the German market while complying with all these regulations, has been expanding seamlessly into the US and has owned Trader Joe’s since 1979, which sells twice as much per square foot as Whole Foods.
This article is a beautiful demonstration that the only reason shitty companies like Walmart keep biting us in the ass in the US is because our leaders refuse to put them on a leash.
Even IF the boys were cursing at the White man, why would the police
need to get involved??? The police are supposed to protect and serve,
not be customer service for White people who need someone to assuage
them.
Sarielgrace's things 