Silk Road forums
Discussion => Security => Topic started by: TrustusJones on June 02, 2012, 02:54 pm
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This came out about a week ago... look on CNET if you want to read the article yourself, it is in the security section and came out May 22.
The FBI has recently formed a secretive surveillance unit with an ambitious goal: to invent technology that will let police more readily eavesdrop on Internet and wireless communications.
The establishment of the Quantico, Va.-based unit, which is also staffed by agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency, is a response to technological developments that FBI officials believe outpace law enforcement's ability to listen in on private communications.
While the FBI has been tight-lipped about the creation of its Domestic Communications Assistance Center, or DCAC -- it declined to respond to requests made two days ago about who's running it, for instance -- CNET has pieced together information about its operations through interviews and a review of internal government documents.
DCAC's mandate is broad, covering everything from trying to intercept and decode Skype conversations to building custom wiretap hardware or analyzing the gigabytes of data that a wireless provider or social network might turn over in response to a court order. It's also designed to serve as a kind of surveillance help desk for state, local, and other federal police.
The center represents the technological component of the bureau's "Going Dark" Internet wiretapping push, which was allocated $54 million by a Senate committee last month. The legal component is no less important: as CNET reported on May 4, the FBI wants Internet companies not to oppose a proposed law that would require social-networks and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail to build in backdoors for government surveillance.
During an appearance last year on Capitol Hill, then-FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni referred in passing, without elaboration, to "individually tailored" surveillance solutions and "very sophisticated criminals." Caproni said that new laws targeting social networks and voice over Internet Protocol conversations were required because "individually tailored solutions have to be the exception and not the rule."
Caproni was referring to the DCAC's charge of creating customized surveillance technologies aimed at a specific individual or company, according to a person familiar with the FBI's efforts in this area.
An FBI job announcement for the DCAC that had an application deadline of May 2 provides additional details. It asks applicants to list their experience with "electronic surveillance standards" including PacketCable (used in cable modems); QChat (used in push-to-talk mobile phones); and T1.678 (VoIP communications). One required skill for the position, which pays up to $136,771 a year, is evaluating "electronic surveillance solutions" for "emerging" technologies.
"We would expect that capabilities like CIPAV would be an example" of what the DCAC will create, says Steve Bock, president of Colorado-based Subsentio, referring to the FBI's remotely-installed spyware that it has used to identify extortionists, database-deleting hackers, child molesters, and hitmen.
Bock, whose company helps companies comply with the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and has consulted for the Justice Department, says he anticipates "that Internet and wireless will be two key focus areas" for the DCAC. VoIP will be a third, he says.
For its part, the FBI responded to queries this week with a statement about the center, which it also refers to as the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center (even Caproni has used both names interchangeably), saying:
The NDCAC will have the functionality to leverage the research and development efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement with respect to electronic surveillance capabilities and facilitate the sharing of technology among law enforcement agencies. Technical personnel from other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies will be able to obtain advice and guidance if they have difficulty in attempting to implement lawful electronic surveillance court orders.
It is important to point out that the NDCAC will not be responsible for the actual execution of any electronic surveillance court orders and will not have any direct operational or investigative role in investigations. It will provide the technical knowledge and referrals in response to law enforcement's requests for technical assistance.
Here's the full text of the FBI's statement in a Google+ post.
One person familiar with the FBI's procedures told CNET that the DCAC is in the process of being launched but is not yet operational. A public Justice Department document, however, refers to the DCAC as "recently established."
"They're doing the best they can to avoid being transparent"
The FBI has disclosed little information about the DCAC, and what has been previously made public about the center was primarily through budget requests sent to congressional committees. The DCAC doesn't even have a Web page.
"The big question for me is why there isn't more transparency about what's going on?" asks Jennifer Lynch, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group in San Francisco. "We should know more about the program and what the FBI is doing. Which carriers they're working with -- which carriers they're having problems with. They're doing the best they can to avoid being transparent."
The DCAC concept dates back at least four years. FBI director Robert Mueller was briefed on it in early 2008, internal FBI documents show. In January 2008, Charles Smith, a supervisory special agent and section chief in the FBI's Operational Technology Division, sent e-mail to other division officials asking for proposals for the DCAC's budget.
When it comes to developing new surveillance technologies, Quantico is the U.S. government's equivalent of a Silicon Valley incubator. In addition to housing the FBI's Operational Technological Division, which boasts of developing the "latest and greatest investigative technologies to catch terrorists and criminals" and took the lead in creating the DCAC, it's also home to the FBI's Engineering Research Facility, the DEA's Office of Investigative Technology, and the U.S. Marshals' Technical Operations Group. In 2008, Wired.com reported that the FBI has "direct, high-speed access to a major wireless carrier's systems" through a high-speed DS-3 link to Quantico.
The Senate appropriations committee said in a report last month that, for electronic surveillance capabilities, it authorizes "$54,178,000, which is equal to both the request and the fiscal year 2012 enacted level. These funds will support the Domestic Communications Assistance Center, providing for increased coordination regarding lawful electronic surveillance amongst the law enforcement community and with the communications industry." (It's unclear whether all of those funds will go to the DCAC.)
In trying to convince Congress to spend taxpayers' dollars on the DCAC, the FBI has received help from local law enforcement agencies that like the idea of electronic surveillance aid. A Justice Department funding request for the 2013 fiscal year predicts DCAC will "facilitate the sharing of solutions and know-how among federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies" and will be welcomed by telecommunications companies who "prefer to standardize and centralize electronic surveillance."
A 2010 resolution from the International Association of Chiefs of Police -- a reliable FBI ally on these topics -- requests that "Congress and the White House support the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center Business Plan."
The FBI has also had help from the Drug Enforcement Administration, which last year requested $1.5 million to fund eight additional DCAC positions. DEA administrator Michele Leonhart has said (PDF) the funds will go to "develop these new electronic surveillance capabilities." The DEA did not respond to CNET's request for comment.
An intriguing hint of where the DCAC might collaborate with the National Security Agency appeared in author James Bamford's article in the April issue of Wired magazine. Bamford said, citing an unidentified senior NSA official, that the agency has "made an enormous breakthrough several years ago in its ability to cryptanalyze, or break, unfathomably complex encryption systems" -- an obstacle that law enforcement has encountered in investigations.
Eventually, the FBI may be forced to lift the cloak of secrecy that has surrounded the DCAC's creation. On May 2, a House of Representatives committee directed the bureau to disclose "participation by other agencies and the accomplishments of the center to date" three months after the legislation is enacted.
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How long until they just say, fuck it.. we'll change the law so that all computers must have monitoring devices in them.
That shit is coming, there's no two ways about it.
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Right Jonesy, I am off out to buy an industrial sized roll of aluminum foil and about to break the record for the world's largest tin foil hat.
Fuck this shit man, I'm not even in the U.S and this shit scares the crap out of me.
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Right Jonesy, I am off out to buy an industrial sized roll of aluminum foil and about to break the record for the world's largest tin foil hat.
Fuck this shit man, I'm not even in the U.S and this shit scares the crap out of me.
Love the sarcasm ,mate . But why are you worried ? It's not like MI6 will knock on your door and ask for a cup tea .......
I wasn't actually being sarcastic. I find this stuff very worrying.
Cheers for the ass-hat comment though, love you too. <<< That is sarcasm.
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there is a saying... 'if you can't beat them at their game... change the rules'
That is how they plan to kill us in the long run... like a game of chess... five moves ahead
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Yeah for sure. We need to ensure our survival man, the question is how do we do this. :/
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Yeah for sure. We need to ensure our survival man, the question is how do we do this. :/
Two swedish blonde chicks. My place. Now.
But on a serious note.. you can't fight these fucks. If they want a real time monitoring of all computer activity, including your documents/Tor usage etc.. Eventually they'll get it.
Most people are fucking cretins and they'll easily sign off on some bullshit "terrorism" legislation putting this through. With the advent of tech at the moment.. I'd give it 5-10 years max.
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Yep: and the public won't care, they'll buy the fact that it's only probably going to be used on terrorists and kiddy porn and the like...and then when their kids start getting nailed on here they'll scream, but then it will be too late. I love much of what the digital world has brought us, but our privacy--and what few rights we had to it--has literally disappeared in just one generation.
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I hate to say this cause it hurts some vendors profits but this is why I refuse to buy security software or any type of computer/internet/software/bootable usb drives preloaded from SR.
How do you know these things have not been written and changed to have leaks only the Gov and or LEA's can use to check you out?
If you want these programs go to IRC or purchase them and read the Docs and do it yourself.
This is just another measure of safety and one can not have too many.
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This is seriously in correct behaviour. :'(
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I hate to say this cause it hurts some vendors profits but this is why I refuse to buy security software or any type of computer/internet/software/bootable usb drives preloaded from SR.
How do you know these things have not been written and changed to have leaks only the Gov and or LEA's can use to check you out?
If you want these programs go to IRC or purchase them and read the Docs and do it yourself.
This is just another measure of safety and one can not have too many.
An excellent point Klaw! I have been wracking my brains over this as I really would like to help introduce more people to SR and offer preloaded bootable USB drives with common software installed but in a way it's teaching bad habits as they'd have to put their trust in me that I wouldn't give out their password/GPG key or worse still clone previous USB drives so that multiple OS's have the same decryption key.
The only way round this quandry that I can see is to write step by step guides for people on how to create and encrypt their own LVM / USB sticks. If grateful newcomers want to pay a Bitcoin or two for the privilege they're most welcome!
V.
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I say that those fucks in power, if they want to monitor us, they should let us monitor THEM first.
I don't trust them.
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I say that those fucks in power, if they want to monitor us, they should let us monitor THEM first.
I don't trust them.
I don't know if I would be saying fuck you and all that stuff to the powers to be. I disapprove of their way of life and I think it is immoral and wrong but I can not fight for just the freedom to do and like the things I enjoy without at least respecting another persons even if theirs disagrees with mine. The difference between me and them is that I do not like what they do and I think it is evil but I respect their freedom to do so. At the same time I think the law they are upholding is immoral and evil so I am here. Doing just what Thomas Jefferson said to do "their is evil in an immoral law but it is even more evil to not stand up and fight against it"
As I have said many times I respect most law enforcement officers as I am not a criminal not in gods eyes and not in the eyes of the constitution of the united states of America. I am only a criminal in the eyes of corrupt and evil politicians who put these laws in place for their own self gain.
Most LEO's are decent people like you or me and I refuse to say fuck you or stick my finger in their face on here or in real life as they risk their lives daily and risk their families never seeing them again protecting us from those truly evil people. :NOTE: I say MOST cause many LEO's are immoral and evil but so are many plumbers and auto mechanics. I just want to be left alone and enjoy my pursuit of my own happiness so long as it hurts no one and hurts no ones property.
Everything is not always black and white and some LEO's need to understand that. I wanted to become a policeman at one time. I always would reference the film Robocop where the guy at first when human said he became a cop to defend the good and help the weak and many times he let petty crimes by teens or something slide cause he used good judgement and did not think like a machine and just lock the person up without using logic and emotion. When he became robocop he just did whatever he was programed to and arrested people for anything if it broke a written law.. In the end the human side started coming out and resisted that programing and wanted to die because he could no longer do what was best for the people and the public he could only do as programed to do. He responded by the name robocop up till the end when his human brain started to show and when he was address as robocop he responded by saying before he died "NO my name is Officer **** ***** and ended with honor and pride. for defending the public's rights and safety is a thing to be proud of not abused.
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Hey man, I'm all about peace, love, and respect, I was just saying that if they are sooo keen on monnitoring everyone else, they should have their personal data, conversations, surfing habits be made public as an example to everyone else as to how totally ok it is. I mean, what do they have to hide, right ;) It isn't an invasion of privacy to them.
Let them also submit to drug tests. They don't feel it's degrading at all.
If they allowed the boot to be put on their neck,maybe they would understand why others do not like it.
It reminds me of a Family Guy episode where the murderer in jail stabs himself with a knife to see how it feels, then he realizes the pain he put others in and regrets the things he has done in the past.
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thanks for the post tjones. people in government have no souls.
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thanks for the post tjones. people in government have no souls.
I second that.
All well most if not all politicians in the US senate and congress are millionaires and are not very bright. They achieve office through pay offs and bribes. John F Kennedy's election is a prime example.
The heads of state should be scientists,philosophers and those of high intelligence and high moral standards. Money is the root of every problem.
I tell everyone that if you want to be a criminal buy a suit and tie not a gun and do it the right way.
For REAL power is not something that is given to you it is something you TAKE!
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Let me add that at the same time men of action and aggression must also be in place cause diplomacy fails at times when you deal with insane men and insane men can not be bought or bartered with and such men that are immoral and evil must be removed.
The road to losing ones freedom (what freedom we have left) is through being passive.
The quote "Walk softly but carry a big stick" is a constant reminder of such a stance.
If everyone had a hippie love all never war attitude America would be saluting a Japanese and German flag right now. The Domino affect philosophy taken in after WW2 is very very practical.
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I say that those fucks in power, if they want to monitor us, they should let us monitor THEM first.
I don't trust them.
I don't know if I would be saying fuck you and all that stuff to the powers to be. I disapprove of their way of life and I think it is immoral and wrong but I can not fight for just the freedom to do and like the things I enjoy without at least respecting another persons even if theirs disagrees with mine. The difference between me and them is that I do not like what they do and I think it is evil but I respect their freedom to do so. At the same time I think the law they are upholding is immoral and evil so I am here. Doing just what Thomas Jefferson said to do "their is evil in an immoral law but it is even more evil to not stand up and fight against it"
As I have said many times I respect most law enforcement officers as I am not a criminal not in gods eyes and not in the eyes of the constitution of the united states of America. I am only a criminal in the eyes of corrupt and evil politicians who put these laws in place for their own self gain.
Most LEO's are decent people like you or me and I refuse to say fuck you or stick my finger in their face on here or in real life as they risk their lives daily and risk their families never seeing them again protecting us from those truly evil people. :NOTE: I say MOST cause many LEO's are immoral and evil but so are many plumbers and auto mechanics. I just want to be left alone and enjoy my pursuit of my own happiness so long as it hurts no one and hurts no ones property.
People make such a big deal about "cops risking their lives daily..." -- this is just so much horseshit. Construction workers have a ten-fold greater chance of being killed on the job than the average cop, but you don't see people lauding construction workers who die in the process of erecting the latest highrise condo complex, do you? You don't see them getting huge public funerals, do you? The amount of deference/public adulation given to police is disgusting. I wouldn't trust the average cop as far as I can throw 'em. They have only one function -- keeping the current political-corporate aristocracy in place. How many Wall Street bankers do you see in jail? You would get more time for having a few grams of smack or a half-pound of weed than these bastards who looted the economy, and got bailed out by the rest of us for their trouble.
Guru
The difference is you do not call a construction worker or any other hazardous fields employee to come to your aid when you need help. I agree many cops are immoral and evil but as stated earlier that is in every field you find a bad apple. The men and women who are law enforcement and become so to truly "PROTECT AND SERVE" the thing many officers forget about doing are the ones who I admire and have the utmose respect for and they risk their lives for a great cause than to build a building. They do it to protect people and keep them safe. MOST DO. I have yet to meet a narcotics officers who did not treat people like shit. I am sure there are good ones but I have met one who treated an offender like a decent human being. Not knowing if he is using drugs to hide an inner pain of abuse or because his brain needs those chemicals to keep from being depressed 24/7 or if it is a chronic pain suffer who needs it just to get out of bed and function and have some peace and happiness. It is always you are a junkie piece of shit and you are arrested and they do it with a smile in most cases.
It is the Narcotics agents that behave this way and the DEA agents and the politicians who have this attitude and defend this immoral behavior that I dislike but being a person of kind intent I hope and pray such people see the truth one day cause many have been brainwashed into thinking they are serving some grand cause for the public good when in fact if they would just separate their own likes,dislikes and bias for just a minute and examine the facts in front of them instead of what they have been told through the mouths of devils they might see and accept the truth.
Sorry thing is once you get to a certain stage in the halls of powers there is no reasoning with such men cause the change you suggest would strip them of their power and men of power are scared of nothing but losing that power.
That is why LEAP was created and why I so heavily indorse it and mention it. The DEA officers and Fed judges and prosecutors, senators and police chiefs and presidents who are members know the law and policy in effect now is a out and out failure and they say right out they do not endorse drug use but just want to make it legal and regulate it so it can be controlled and taxed and stop violent crimes across not only this country but Mexico as well . If something is outlawed then only outlaws will use it.
Americas founding fathers said it best with this statement
"Vices are those acts by which a man harms himself or his property.
Crimes are those acts by which one man harms the person or property of another.
Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property.
In vices, the very essence of crime --- that is, the design to injure the person or property of another --- is wanting.
It is a maxim of the law that there can be no crime without a criminal intent; that is, without the intent to invade the person or property of another. But no one ever practices a vice with any such criminal intent. He practices his vice for his own happiness solely, and not from any malice toward others.
Unless this clear distinction between vices and crimes be made and recognized by the laws, there can be on earth no such thing as individual right, liberty, or property; no such things as the right of one man to the control of his own person and property, and the corresponding and coequal rights of another man to the control of his own person and property.
For a government to declare a vice to be a crime, and to punish it as such, is an attempt to falsify the very nature of things. It is as absurd as it would be to declare truth to be falsehood, or falsehood truth."
" -Americas Founding Fathers
Will change ever come? Maybe and probably likely as generations change and change but to live in a world where innocent decent human beings are made to suffer and children having their parents taken away from them because the adult just wishes to open his mouth and swallow something that makes him HAPPY! Is a painful thing for any good moral human being. I can not fathom a person upholding that and adding to it while patting the murderers and violent street offenders on the back and keep them in power.
Karma is real folks and god works in crazy ways and be certain LEO"s...If you are like the immoral evil ones I mentioned above God has a place in hell waiting for you for it your acts inflicting pain and suffering upon good people. Not me and not what this site stands for.