New WikiLeaks 'spy files' show global surveillance industry

[RUSSO]

''Weaponizing'' of the technology? Now 9/11 make more sense to me. This is huge. Im aware almost of the members here already knew about this, but now we have the proof.

That's what makes corporate data so dangerous - people don't even notice it or consider it a threat. And the State can also be a customer

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange launched the website's new project Thursday, the publication of hundreds of files it claims shows a global industry that gives governments tools to spy on their citizens:





WikilLeaks founder Julian Assange tells smartphone and Gmail users 'you're all screwed' by intelligence contractors who sell mass surveillance devices for such technologies in the post 9/11 world :





Some quotes:

The Spyfiles

Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries

It sounds like something out of Hollywood, but as of today, mass interception systems, built by Western intelligence contractors, including for 'political opponents' are a reality. Today WikiLeaks began releasing a database of hundreds of documents from as many as 160 intelligence contractors in the mass surveillance industry.

Working with Bugged Planet and Privacy International, as well as media organizations form six countries – ARD in Germany, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism in the UK, The Hindu in India, L'Espresso in Italy, OWNI in France and the Washington Post in the U.S. Wikileaks is shining a light on this secret industry that has boomed since September 11, 2001 and is worth billions of dollars per year. WikiLeaks has released 287 documents today, but the Spy Files project is ongoing and further information will be released this week and into next year.

"These systems that are revealed in these documents show exactly the kind of systems that the Stasi (East Germany's secret police) wished they could have built," said Jacob Appelbaum, a former WikiLeaks spokesman and computer expert at the University of Washington.

"These systems have been sold by Western companies to places for example like Syria, and Libya and Tunisia and Egypt. These systems are used to hunt people down and to murder."

Orwell's World

Across the world, mass surveillance contractors are helping intelligence agencies spy on individuals and 'communities of interest' on an industrial scale.

The Wikileaks Spy Files reveal the details of which companies are making billions selling sophisticated tracking tools to government buyers, flouting export rules, and turning a blind eye to dictatorial regimes that abuse human rights.

http://wikileaks.org/the-spyfiles.html

http://news.yahoo.com/wikileaks-files-show-global-spying-industry-161606742.html



Right Question is, "Are we all screwed or being screwed"?

[RUSSO]

Some things to know about WikiLeaks Spy Files:

Its an article from the The Times of India, I will quote 3, but you can read the full content here:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/itslideshow/10960027.cms

25 countries snooped

Mass interception of entire populations is not only a reality, it is a secret new industry spanning 25 countries, according to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. These countries include India, US, UK, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey and Ukraine.

Big names involved

According to Assange, international surveillance companies are based in the more technologically sophisticated countries, and they sell their technology on to every country of the world.

This industry is, in practice, unregulated and has some 160 companies. Some of the significant names include, BEA, Dialogic, Cambridge Consultants, HP, Siemens, Nice Systems, Nokia Siemens Networks and Thales.

How it worked: Computers hijacked

Surveillance companies like SS8 in the US, Hacking Team in Italy and Vupen in France manufacture viruses (Trojans) that hijack individual computers and phones (including iPhones, Blackberries and Androids), take over the device, record its every use, movement, and even the sights and sounds of the room it is in.

[Dood]

Very Good Thread...Thanks!


I like the part where it says it is ILLEGAL in 'Western Countries' to do this kind of spying... 
HA...I have a real hard time buying that this would stop anyone from doing it here.
Not so much the governments (they would also to a degree) but, mostly Mega-Corps would be doing this and no National Boarder would 'stop them'.



I have a question: Is this in anyway connected to the damn Malware we get on our systems? (mainly PC's)
Ironically I am in the middle of HAVING to reformat my wife's PC because she has so much Malware on it.
So much so that my very good friend that is a Forensic Specialist cannot weed it all out.
(Well, he 'could' but, even for him the time to do it is not worth it...He already put three hours into it...And we will be putting more into it today... )
I wonder at times if Malware is not a ploy to get at our personal stuff and it is not just a scam to get our numbers and ID's.
Meaning to see what we say politically.  To see how we think... To see where the 'Flow of Thought' is going with major populations.

[Ellirium113]

Very Good Thread...Thanks!



I have a question: Is this in anyway connected to the damn Malware we get on our systems? (mainly PC's)
Ironically I am in the middle of HAVING to reformat my wife's PC because she has so much Malware on it.
So much so that my very good friend that is a Forensic Specialist cannot weed it all out.
(Well, he 'could' but, even for him the time to do it is not worth it...He already put three hours into it...And we will be putting more into it today... )
I wonder at times if Malware is not a ploy to get at our personal stuff and it is not just a scam to get our numbers and ID's.
Meaning to see what we say politically.  To see how we think... To see where the 'Flow of Thought' is going with major populations.

Unfortunately companies like Microsoft have implimented back-doors into their operating systems on purpose (believe it or not but this has been going on at least since the inception of windows 3.1) to allow for unwarranted govt. intrusions. The Malware infecting your typical machines is a combination of personal snooping of your browsing habits, recording your passwords and histories, some types will even go so far as to lock you out of your own system and use your PC to spread itself to everyone on your mailing list. To me a lot of it seems to be data mining which in turn allows more and more access to people that know what to do with that information. Even if you only have 1 computer at home you should be setting it up as though it were on an unsecured network and password protect anything you can with DIFFERENT passwords. This is an issue that is never going away so we need to learn to work around it.

[Ellirium113]

Apple Took 3+ Years to Fix FinFisher Trojan Hole

The Wall Street Journal this week ran an excellent series on government surveillance tools in the digital age. One story looked at FinFisher, a remote spying Trojan that was marketed to the governments of Egypt, Germany and other nations to permit surreptitious PC and mobile phone surveillance by law enforcement officials. The piece noted that FinFisher's creators advertised the ability to deploy the Trojan disguised as an update for Apple's iTunes media player, and that Apple last month fixed the vulnerability that the Trojan leveraged.

"The iTunes program checks that the binary is signed by Apple but we can inject content into the description as it opens a browser, with a malicious binary so that the user thinks its from Apple," Amato said of his attack tool.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2011/11/apple-took-3-years-to-fix-finfisher-trojan-hole/

Well isn't that special?       Viruses introduced to your system through reverse engineered patch updates so you think it is from the OEM. Take heed to this warning ...only EVER update from the OEM not from a 3rd party website because you just never know.

Observe how easy and quick JAVA can be manipulated in this way:

[sky otter]

it sucks big time
and even if it isn't on the computer it is everywhere...
i bought some flea stuff for my cats the other day and inside the box was a little oblong plastic thing..it was a tracting device to see where the 'product' ended up..i used the scissors on it in the parking lot.
i have put others like it straight into the gargabe outside the store..lol
they are on most cosmetics boxes and if you look you will be pissed at how many of them are in things you buy over 15 bucks.

the on star tracking system  in my car was 'accidentally' disconnected..and the current law suit said they had to stop collecting data on previous customers that were no longer buying thier service
before you had to 'opt out' but they still kept track of your movements..

the delivery services can't use their gps systems to find me cause the map has my residence in the wrong place..i ain't fixin it either

i will not own a cell phone..more tracking and i use a land line in the house..they still need a warrant to listen in on that....the hand held's can all be listened too way too easily..

and i still use paper and not electronics for banking..

you guys probably know all about this stuff..so just call me cynical and paranoid and uncooperative about being in  the studies of what folks are doing..sorry for that little rant

[Ellirium113]

it sucks big time
and even if it isn't on the computer it is everywhere...
i bought some flea stuff for my cats the other day and inside the box was a little oblong plastic thing..it was a tracting device to see where the 'product' ended up..i used the scissors on it in the parking lot.
i have put others like it straight into the gargabe outside the store..lol
they are on most cosmetics boxes and if you look you will be pissed at how many of them are in things you buy over 15 bucks.

the on star tracking system  in my car was 'accidentally' disconnected..and the current law suit said they had to stop collecting data on previous customers that were no longer buying thier service
before you had to 'opt out' but they still kept track of your movements..

the delivery services can't use their gps systems to find me cause the map has my residence in the wrong place..i ain't fixin it either

i will not own a cell phone..more tracking and i use a land line in the house..they still need a warrant to listen in on that....the hand held's can all be listened too way too easily..

and i still use paper and not electronics for banking..

you guys probably know all about this stuff..so just call me cynical and paranoid and uncooperative about being in  the studies of what folks are doing..sorry for that little rant

LOL as paranoid as you might seem to think you are, it may not be nearly enough once you come to grips with the full extent of their spying capabilities...You might want to get rid of more stuff yet.

RFID Tags in New US Notes Explode When You Try to Microwave Them

Note: This article has been linked all over the Internet. We want to make it clear that $20 bills will only 'pop' or 'explode' in certain microwaves. We've had E mails saying they do, they don't, 'you're all kooks' etc etc. What is confirmed is the public policy to embed US and European money with high tech tracking devices as part of the hulking surveillance society.

http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904rfidtagsexplode.html

Most home electronics now have some sort of capability to spy on you to some degree, now most credit cards are chipped as well. It is getting harder and harder to stay anonymous yet it hasn't really solved anything...killers are still at large and we are all still paranoid. I wonder...what could be the harm if we throw religious dogma into the mix? 

[sky otter]

yeah..i know it's there..some of it you can dump..some you can't
hubby thought i was a nut job when i tried to disconnect the conference ap on the tv..sigh
i couldn't figure it out without ruining the dang thing...
do i cover it with a towel..nope i set an illuminated battery clock facing it ..lol..yeah i know who cares..

my computer faces the book shelves in the library..(the conspiracy section) and when i get cash from the bank i do ask for old money..they laugh and tell each other..hey here's the lady who doesn't like the new monopoly colored money...
haven't microed any 20's..not sure why you would..maybe a day in the freezer..lol

there are ways to change their reception with a bit of cooper wire and trinkets (?) and really unless you to do nothing else but worry about it..sometimes you have to let it go ...

put a nice positive spin on it that they are employing a lot of folks that would be jobless otherwise..and that they are youngish with no real driving need to be arcurate..hahahahahahah
there..dusting my hands and walking away..