WikiLeaks Launches New Platform, Privacy Study 96
itwbennett writes "WikiLeaks has launched a new submissions platform, along with a study of the global trade in surveillance products. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told press conference attendees in London that all the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Gmail users in the crowd were 'screwed.' 'The reality is intelligence contractors are selling right now to countries across the world mass surveillance systems for all of those products,' Assange said."
Re:Whatever Julian (Score:5, Informative)
I think your snark detector is broken.
JA describes himself (accurately IMO) as a publisher which is an act of journalism one engages in without being an actual journalist. It's a more general term.
Whenever I look around at our current field of "respected" journalists and then back at JA I don't know how one can come to the conclusion that he's the evil one.
Re:"all the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Gmail users" (Score:2, Informative)
You are exactly the kind of person that oppressive governments want, boring, complacent, not a threat to the status quo. But the instant you try to make waves, to make any changes for the better, that's when they will come for you.
The continuing increases in surveillance, loss of privacy, militarization of the police, increased use of "non-lethal" weapons for crowd control, erosion of people's rights, corporate dominance over governments, union busting, dismantling public education, etc., etc., are all just symptoms of the coming world-wide fascist state.
But as long is it doesn't directly interfere with the worker-drones ability to make a little money at a menial job, then go home and drink beer while watching mindless entertainment... well, so be it, they weren't using those rights anyway.
Human Rights (Score:5, Informative)
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.
You have the right to privacy; that right is not predicated on being a political dissident. The fact that these companies are undermining that right is what Assange is referring to when he says that you have been screwed.
Re:EFF off (Score:4, Informative)
Software is never going to completely defend your privacy
Irrelevant; the point is to make it expensive to engage in mass surveillance, not to make it impossible.
the privacy of the millions upon millions of ordinary users who have never heard of your super-awesome encryption software
Yet the number of Tor users has been growing steadily over the past few years, and every time an authoritarian government tries to block Tor more people become interested in it.
Only the 'legalware' of challenging government (and non-governmental) intrusion in the courts can ultimately defend your rights.
Thus explaining this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsa_wiretapping [wikipedia.org]
And no, I think it's absurd that writing encryption software entitles you to lead the struggle vs survelliance.
You claimed that Julian Assange had no right to speak about online privacy because he had no experience with it. That is plainly false given his involvement with the cypherpunks movement and his involvement with a deniable encryption system. Now you are claiming that is not enough? Somehow, I think you are just an anti-Assange/anti-Wikileaks shill.