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Number 10 has had Video Conferencing since 1998 (I set it up with college and received first call from there), was H320 via ISDN2 affair and had dedicated black
by Zenst 7y ago
Number 10 has had Video Conferencing since 1998 (I set it up with college and received first call from there), was H320 via ISDN2 affair and had dedicated black box encryption unit GCHQ supplied and dealt with.
DOH (Department of Health) also had dedicated VC rooms as did all the regional officers and MCU bridging for multi point conferencing was outsourced when needed. All main DOH sites could do upto 384 with bonded ISDN line (UK ISDN was 64k per channel and seperate D channel, no bit stealing going on here).
That without a doubt all changed many times and somewhat supprised they are using Zoom, and would of thought at least would of contracted to run their own private server connected via VPN. Very supprised and when American politicians all loved their blackberry's, they had their own dedicated servers they controlled access to, supplied by RIM.
But the DOH and all the other government departments are entities unto themselves, and I'm not that up on anything the last couple of decades, but suspect that there isn't any common solution to enable what they need to do for remote working in isolation. I'm sure much will change after this. Also fairly sure GCHQ probably bashing their heads on the table.
But I can see how they got to where they are, knowing aspects of government workings and departmental fencing, still - does kinda make you go WTF still.
- harry8 7y ago>Also fairly sure GCHQ probably bashing their heads on the table. Not nearly hard enough. Not even close to hard enough. They need help with that, possibly with heavy machinery.
- girvo 7y agoA hydraulic press could be useful here, I think.
- simonh 7y agoThere is absolutely now way GCHQ signed off on this.
- harry8 7y agoAnd yet they are powerless. Back to recording private conversations like the Stasi then. What a wonderful institution. They're useful how, exactly? Not smacking their heads into the table nearly hard enough. Not even close.
- ben_w 7y agoThat hyperbole might be an improvement. Literally copying the literal Stasi approach to spying (not the rest, just spying) would simultaneously improve the quality of the data and reduce the negative side effects relative to the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act 2016.
- simonh 7y agoBy definition, in their line of work if you knew exactly how useful and effective they were they would not be doing their job properly. They report to the UK government, not to you and not to me even though I am a UK citizen (as you may be, I don't know). They have worked for governments lead by or including all three main political parties in the UK and they all decided they were useful enough to them to keep, in pursuing their goals on behalf of the people who elected them. That's good enough for me.
- harry8 7y agoBut we do know how effective they aren't. And we do know that they have placed themselves above the law. If that doesn't concern you it really should. The macho pose that comes out everytime someone suggests they should be subject to, you know, the law and behave better than Stalin's henchmen is very worrying. So who is the politician who will is effective enough to provide true oversight and rein them in when required. Name that politician. Any party. Do you see the problem now?
- simonh 7y ago>...and behave better than Stalin's henchmen Yes see, this is why almost nobody in the general population takes opinions like yours at all seriously.
- flir 7y agoI worked on a minor, non-secure, tangentially GHCQ-aligned project. They're the most risk averse organisation I've ever met. Like, pathologically risk averse. I'd bet a small mortgage they had no oversight of that call.
- flurdy 7y ago> > Also fairly sure GCHQ probably bashing their heads on the table. Core parts of GCHQ might love the potential honey pot. But their offshoot NCSC [1] will be table-flipping big time. * [1] https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/ https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/
- cs02rm0 7y agoThey'll undoubtedly have new iterations of that, based on the same premise that they install and own the kit at each end. I suspect Zoom just happens to be the choice this particular group has settled on. While across government people have been scrabbling to just make something work now that security's previous modus operandi is being trumped by the need to let people work from home. Government even more than the private sector have been slow to allow for home working. I'm hopeful this will change that.
- whazor 7y agoI think video chatting with normal citizens would be quite difficult if you expect them to install VPN's and special video conference software that probably only works with gov.uk accounts. Grabbing a random laptop, connecting to the internet and using zoom sounds a lot easier.
- ben_w 7y agoThe link shared by @verytrivial to Boris Johnson’s twitter account isn’t showing “normal citizens”, it is showing the executive branch of the UK, plus an account identified only as “iPhone” who has their camera and microphone switched off.
- tadhgf 7y agoDominic Cummings?
- tomcooks 7y agoIn 2020 open source conferencing software requires ZERO software apart from any recent browser or login. e.g. https://meet.jit.si/hellozoomhowareyou https://meet.jit.si/hellozoomhowareyou