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This is an amusing take: > "But the U.S. government, concerned about the potential for Chinese spying on these sensitive communications cables, ran a successfu
by photochemsyn 4y ago
This is an amusing take:
> "But the U.S. government, concerned about the potential for Chinese spying on these sensitive communications cables, ran a successful campaign to flip the contract to SubCom through incentives and pressure on consortium members."
The U.S. government is equally concerned about losing the ability to spy on cables itself, although the above statement is not false either. Both parties want to collect, filter and mine all the traffic on the global Internet trunks, that's obvious enough. There's always the submarine spy option I suppose:
> "(2014, pdf) In 2005 it was reported that the submarine USS Jimmy Carter was being used to transport technicians to the bottom of the ocean to tapfiber-‐optic cables. This would indicate that the NSA continued the practice of mid-ocean cable taps until at least as recently as nine years ago..."
That's a risky operation, however, compared to:
> "...the easiest and most reliable way is to have the consent of the transit
company and split the wires. Given the apparent relationship the NSA has with
telecommunications companies and its history of tapping AT&T’s cables, it seems likely that it has gained companies’ consent and access to landing stations or otherwise to install splitters."
https://surveille.eui.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/04/SURVEILLE-NSA-paper-based-on-D2.8.pdf https://surveille.eui.eu/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2015/04...
- pacija 4y agoaes-256-gcm Good luck ;)
- avidiax 4y agoMetadata is still very useful.
- nine_k 4y agoAny channel that really cares about eavesdropping transmits constantly, at the same rate, mixing real encrypted packets and random data to keep the bit rate unchanged. This, of course, eliminates any possibility to share the bandwidth with any other users, so it's more expensive.
- VWWHFSfQ 4y agoJust because they can't decrypt it now doesn't mean they won't be able to eventually. The Utah data center is storing a lot of encrypted internet traffic with the expectation that it will be decryptable at some point.
- tempestn 4y agoProjected to be within the next couple of decades using quantum computers, I believe, although obviously there's a lot of uncertainty in that estimate.
- waffleiron 4y ago> through incentives and pressure on consortium members. No doubt this would be "bribes and threats" if it were done by a geopolitical opponent.
- nonethewiser 4y agoWe take for granted the fact that we even have a globally connected world. The US spearheaded this with free trade and security guarantees during the Cold War.
- sealeck 4y agoI really don't know how to interpret this comment. Is it supposed to be a defence of the US illegally spying on other people's communication infrastructure?
- fnordpiglet 4y agoIs it illegal to spy on communications under sea in deeply international water? It should be a crime to communicate across any public link without encryption. I’m surprised there anything of value on these links besides flow analysis.
- renonce 4y agoIf you know the src and dst IPs, you can impose arbitrary firewall rules and cut down specific connections. That’s what China is already doing with their national firewall. I’m not sure if there is an additional layer of encryption at both ends that would encrypt packet headers as well.
- lazide 4y agoFor it to be illegal, it would need to be in some sort of jurisdiction. Which like it or not, undersea cables usually are not.
- nitwit005 4y agoEven before the American colonies rebelled, they were drinking tea and wearing silks from China, using ink made with Syrian ingredients, and eating South American chocolate. The main thing that has changed isn't American power, but how cheap shipping has gotten.