GCHQ Tried To Track Web Visits of "Every Visible User On Internet" 86
An anonymous reader writes with Ars Technica's story on the relevations reported today by The Intercept that the UK's GCHQ has been tracking World Wide Web users since 2007, with an operation called "Karma Police" -- "a program that tracked Web browsing habits of people around the globe in what the agency itself billed as the 'world's biggest' Internet data-mining operation, intended to eventually track 'every visible user on the Internet.'"
Radiohead fans? (Score:2)
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
This is what you get when you mess with us...
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This is better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Shachar
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Their facial recognition technology can now distinguish a "Hitler hairdo" with 89% accuracy. Arrests have been made.
Re:Radiohead fans? (Score:4, Funny)
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already used for the ... erm, nothing, no honestly, nothing. Yeah, very good point, we should have used that one, silly us.
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Old troll is old. (Score:1)
Added - this group is the GNAA and not (likely) APK. I had to edit the hell out of this post to make it pass the lameness filter.
That is a fairly old copypasta. They can be found and still have (or had) their IRC channel up. They're not thriving but they're active, sort of. I think they're growing up and in need of fresh blood.
They, among other groups, would make an interesting study. If it were my field then I'd consider doing the research and authoring a paper or two based on it. As it stands, I sometimes
Karma Police? (Score:2)
That sounds ridiculous. They should have used something with more of a verbal punch, perhaps recalling banditry and tracking on a live document [wikia.com].
Re:Karma Police? (Score:4, Interesting)
That sounds ridiculous. They should have used something with more of a verbal punch, perhaps recalling banditry and tracking on a live document [wikia.com].
All puns aside, the name is no more ridiculous than any bullshit justification for tracking "every visible user on the internet".
Yeah, go ahead three/four-letter agencies, I'd love to see what reasons you'll pull out of your ass for this one.
Re:Karma Police? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, go ahead three/four-letter agencies, I'd love to see what reasons you'll pull out of your ass for this one.
Advertising. Google tracks and profiles every visible user on the Internet. Do you use Google products or services?
Google is a corporation in the land of capitalism, with profit to create and manage, otherwise they no longer exist as a corporation. And for the intelligent computer user, they are already well aware that they are the product when they use Google.
Tell me again the bullshit reason any government agency needs to attempt to do the same thing, especially when that expense is paid for by the taxpayer.
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They only have issues with the government spying on them for some brainwashed libertarian reason.
Corporations spying, that's fine.. they've bought into the koolaid advertising and marketing that these corps can do no evil.
I'm sure if the government had the same marketing capabilities as say, Apple, people would be signing up to hand over their data, and would even wear some device that gave permission for the government to track them 24/7. Now think about that iWatch on their wrists.
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One is by choice, the other by force. How is this inconsistent? I don't know if you're willfully ignorant, stupid, or trolling. I hope you're just stupid. Stupidity is something we can work with, we can cure that.
For example, I use GMail and allow tailored search results. However, I block everything they use like ads and tracking scripts with uMatrix. I made the choice to give up some of my privacy for the convenience of tailored search results.
I did not choose to have the NSA spy on me. I elect what inform
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saying bad things about the poofs is not terrorism. Its just bulling at worst, trolling at best. There's a difference between discussion and actively trying to physically damage people.
Maybe that's the line to draw, in which case we'd never arrest anyone until after they'd killed a load of people, but maybe that's the price we pay for your attitude towards theses criminal's liberties.
For me terrorism is telling people what they should do, bullying them into submission with constant attacks on their views. A
Re:Not needed (Score:4)
The word "terrorist" has a clear-cut and unambiguous definition. A terrorist is someone who deliberately and intentionally targets and attacks non-combatant civilians to further his political goals.
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This definition would cover GCHQ/NSA themselves, no? Any definition of the word that covers all actual terrorists seems to cover a lot of people who aren't.
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Re:Not needed (Score:5, Interesting)
You cannot accuse much less convict people for something they haven't done yet. Once you do that, we're at despotism and there's nothing stopping them from convicting you or me for whatever reason. The laws have already been pushed too far. Why do you think it's time to abandon them? How likely are you to die in a "terror" event?
The whole point of the law is to ensure that everyone is guilty of something. That way, whenever you want to get some particular individual there is always something to catch him on.
You don't have to convict people for something they haven't done yet; theres always something they've done.
Why do you think there are so many laws and no one can be sure they aren't breaking one?
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You cannot accuse much less convict people for something they haven't done yet. Once you do that, we're at despotism and there's nothing stopping them from convicting you or me for whatever reason.
Allow me to introduce you to "conspiracy to commit ____."
https://www.law.cornell.edu/se... [cornell.edu]
Re:Not needed (Score:5, Insightful)
The solution was to track small groups of people down the the cell level and then offer each member a personal option: work for the UK intelligence services or not.
Over the years people where successfully advance up the cell structure exposing all existing and new cells they had command and control over.
Thats why the UK likes to watch everything and connect everything as it cannot be sure of how, where and when people of interest will meet and if they can even be observed without sat or other very costly and advanced platforms per person.
The "without further authorization" shows not much has changed from the 1920's or the classic Home Office Warrant (HOW) days. The pipes are fast, wide, always expanded as domestic and international data grows and collecting it all over every generation of optical upgrade.
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Wow, they picked a reassuring name (Score:3)
Considering the next lyrics in that song after "Karma Police" are... ..."Arrest this man".
I *totally* feel safer and more free already, and I don't even live under that regime.
Not that they couldn't just make one phone call across the pond and have whatever they want done to me in the dead of night with no trace. Yay freedom.
And you all think MS and Windows 10 is bad... (Score:3)
For all the snorting over Windows 10 and privacy... it is nothing compared to this nonsense...
And some people think, "oh, but I run Linux, so I'm safe!"
Yep, sure you are... :)
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Re:And you all think MS and Windows 10 is bad... (Score:4, Interesting)
This datamines via cookies. You consent to these (or not) via your browser. This is about the same as you walking down the street and deciding whether or not you care to dodge the cctv cameras watching you.
Windows 10 is your operating system and you have no idea what it does. How do I know this? Because I have no idea what it does. And I'm willing to bet 99% of Microsoft has no idea what the new telemetry of Windows 10 collects. This is the same as hiring a butler that watches everything you do over your shoulder and every 10 minutes, he speaks quietly into an encrypted walkie talkie and you have no idea what he's telling his association of butlers. But you do know one thing, which is that the NSA/GCHQ has access and power over this association.
So laugh away? Ha ha ha?
Re:And you all think MS and Windows 10 is bad... (Score:4, Informative)
For all the snorting over Windows 10 and privacy... it is nothing compared to this nonsense...
Newflash for those who don't already know: The Internet is insecure. There is no way to change this without assured failure and or imposition of tyranny.
Those who want security across a global communication network run by those with interests unaligned with their own must take responsibility for their communications by establishing trust and deploying end to end security.
Denying passive, untargeted en-masse Internet surveillance to the worlds governments, Intelligence agencies and (criminal) enterprises is a relatively trivial undertaking. We have only ourselves to blame for allowing this bullshit to persist.
What you do locally on your own computer on the other hand is none of the operating system vendors business. There is no ethical reason to intentionally leak information about you or what you are doing to the operating system vendor and by extension governments and criminal enterprises. This can be stopped by ditching the offending operating system.
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I run Qubes OS, you insensitive clod.
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I certainly don't agree with them but that you think you're the arbiter of what is and isn't welcome is, in fact, a greater problem than racism, homophobia, or any other type of bigotry. That you think you've a right to control the conversation or to insist that others adhere to your level (when you've certainly no right to determine such) is a far greater social problem than racism is.
That you tell them that you're the authority of what is and isn't quality or welcome is pretty much the definition of why y
You know... (Score:2, Insightful)
You know its getting a lot harder the tell the good guys from the bad guys, so much so I am not sure there is any meaningful difference.
"Tried to" (Score:4, Insightful)
Article suggests "does". The sequence will go as follows, or similar, looking at web site visits, search queries, benefitting from LE access to Facebook etc to see instant messages:
- genuine national security threats
- interest in Islamism
- anti-establishment politicians and their most powerful supporters
- all remaining politicians, to keep them in line
- high stakes economic criminals
- campaigners against government policy or government-friendly business
- the most dangerous suspects of crime, e.g. murderers
- people involved in distributing child pornography
- users of anonymising services
- people who view any pornography that doesn't pass regulations
- posters to prominent or troublesome political forums
- pirates, yarhh!
- posts to Grauniad CIF or BBC HYS
Eventually nearly everyone is either under suspicion of committing at least one crime or has said something which taken out of context looks dangerous enough to warrant further investigation should anyone want to make their lives miserable in the future. The rest have said or viewed something embarrassing enough that (you were depressed once and looked for help? Furry porno watched one curious weekend? A racist rant... oh, you were just trolling?), should they ever become relevant in any way, the media will somehow find out.
"...billed as the 'world's biggest'..." (Score:3)
Just think of the possibilities (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Just think of the possibilities (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd like to see the possibility of prosecutions explored, and at the very least the head of MI5 must now step down. He was on Radio 4 just a few days ago saying that there was no "population level" surveillance. Clearly that was a lie. He has zero credibility now.
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U.S. citizen here. It apparently being a common phenomenon that you have a harder time getting the straight scoop on what's going on inside your own country than it is from the outside, I'd have to say that while the U.S. is very buggered by it's own leadership right now, I'd still rather be living here than in England or anywhere in the UK. The only thing that sounds worse to me would be living in Australia or New Zealand. Anywhere in the EU is righ
I wonder if they ever get disappointed (Score:3)
I mean, if they've been watching since 2007 they've definitely seen me torrenting, but eventually they'd figure out I was just grabbing various Linux distros. That's gotta be a letdown.
Maybe we should all just keep seeding old and new versions of all the distros so GCHQ has something to keep themselves busy - they're obviously not interested in actually going out and tracking down terrorists.
Slow descent to fascism (Score:1)
Anybody who lives here knows our government is very sneaky about their eventual descent to out and out fascism. They have worked very hard over the last few decades to be able to monitor everywhere you go in the real world, everything you say over distance and everything you do in the online world.
Why would a government working for and behalf of the people want a dossier on the physical movements, conversations and browsing details of every single one of the people it supposedly serves? Nothing but good int
Take the sequoia trunk out of thine own eye. (Score:1)
It's sad, but as European politicians pontificate about the evils of the US, and consider banning sending personal user data to the US, they conveniently overlook their own spy agencies are even more intrusive.