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Possible Governmental Backdoor Found ("case R2D2")
- specialist 15y agoDigging down to the source material, the Strong Towns group does address Government Transfer Payments, explaining that all suburbs are subsidized. But they avoid offending anyone by pointing out that the suburbs were financed by the urban areas. In my experience, suburban dwellers don't like learning that they're parasites.
- bahman2000 15y agodid we read completely different articles?
- WalterGR 15y agoYou're looking for the "A Complete Guide To The Ponzi Scheme That Is Suburban America" submission. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3090385 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3090385
- specialist 15y agoHaha. Oops! How'd that happen...?
- Hoff 15y agoRelated thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3088687 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3088687
- buster 15y agoThat's really a big deal and just shows how governments treat their own laws and how important an open government is, in which such things can be verified and controlled!
- canistr 15y agoWhile an open government would be ideal, it won't change the fact that the CIA or any government organization will never admit to working on viruses.
- buster 15y agoWith an open government they wouldn't be able to do this in the dark. Also, they don't need to admit it, it's not like nobody knows that this software exists.
- tptacek 15y agoWhy doesn't it simply stand to reason that software like this exists? Phone taps are far more sinister than trojans.
- wnight 15y agoHow so? The phone is largely someone else's device and as such not as trusted as your own PC. Also, phone taps record what you say in one particular case versus PC trojans which could record everything you do or say near the computer, and everything you do on it. Trojans also put your whole computer under the attackers control and makes can make it appear, forensically, that you were doing things. If they download porn, it appears that you downloaded porn. If they send spam, it appears that you sent spam... If sinister means dangerous, then I think trojans win hands down.
- canistr 15y ago>With an open government they wouldn't be able to do this in the dark. Please don't tell me you actually believe this.
- buster 15y agoIn an ideal world it would be like that, this doesn't mean i can't hope to get as near as possible to "ideal". Let's say it like that: open government is better then the partially closed down shit we have now, ok?
- buster 15y agoGermans interested in similar news should check Felix von Leitners blog, who brings up interesting articles almost every day: http://blog.fefe.de/ http://blog.fefe.de/
- ugh 15y agoAnd crazy conspiracy theories!
- buster 15y agoIt's a personal blog and as such he adds his own notion to the text but it has always been worthwhile for me to check the source articles (which are almost always renowned news agencies). You should always read the sources and make up your own mind, but i found his blog to be very good at finding those sources.
- aw3c2 15y agoThe crazy conspiracy theories are an advertised feature of his blog and I love them.
- spullara 15y agoI'd be more worried if this was a backdoor in a popular program or operating system that was specified by the government and implemented by the original software author rather than more typical malware/trojan more akin to a wiretap. The former would be widespread and affect millions of users, while this appears to be a tool for use by law enforcement to carry out legitimate surveilance in criminal investigations. Presumably every modern government has such capabilities or they are really asleep at the switch.
- lachenmayer 15y agoThe main gripe the authors of the paper have is not that this trojan exists - there are indeed German laws that allow for such a trojan - but that it has been so insecurely implemented, and also collects information that cannot be identified as "communication" (which is a requirement for this German law). Any data received from the command and control server is sent unencrypted and unchecked. Additionally, the trojan contains a "backdoor within a backdoor", which allows any code to be attached to the trojan and executed unchecked! Moral issues of computer surveillance aside, this trojan is a shocking example of the German government's (if indeed this is a government effort) incompetence regarding the internet.
- timrod 15y agoanother gripe was the fact that the "backdoor within a backdoor" functionality (which AFAIK was ruled unlawful by German courts) is the only part of the trojan that tries to hide what it does.
- joe_the_user 15y agoI would challenge the concept of the government carrying out "legitimate surveilance" through this dubious means. The person surveiled has not been has not convicted of a crime yet the state has taken onto itself to install software that would leave the person open to further hacking by random individuals. This is akin to the police not simply breaking into the house of a man they suspected of a crime but also them leaving his door a-jar after they left. See the Sony Rootkit.
- sciolizer 15y agoPOE = Purity of Essence?
- raphman 15y agoPoe was a protocol droid owned by Grand Duke Gror Pernon. He acted as the Rogue Squadrons diplomatic liaison to the people of Eiattu.[1] [1] http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Poe http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Poe