5 ms·

There was a movie about this exact thing. Antitrust (2001) was about a Microsoft-like company monitoring everyone’s computer and stealing code. 23 years later

There was a movie about this exact thing. Antitrust (2001) was about a Microsoft-like company monitoring everyone’s computer and stealing code. 23 years later and here we are.

ch4ch4 2y ago
That was an enjoyable movie, aside for the fact that the writers thought fiber optic cables are used for hidden cameras.
- tomalpha 2y ago
  https://www.detective-store.com/optical-fibre-micro-camera-ss-3427-72.html https://www.detective-store.com/optical-fibre-micro-camera-s...
- gravescale 2y ago
  In 2001, image sensors and the electronics to drive them were far larger then they are today, an endoscope-style fibre optic isn't necessarily ridiculous if you only had a tiny hole to sneak through a thick obstruction. Even today, a non-CIA-grade camera head is probably 2-3mm across and the optics on a fibre optic can be far narrower. You can only have a pinhole spy cam if you have a void directly behind the pinhole.
  - kjkjadksj 2y ago
    Whats the spec on the CIA grade stuff then?
    - gravescale 2y ago
      Well, I assume they can do better than a £10 USB endoscope from AliExpress! But even if you have some ultratiny thing hot out of a classified lab, fibre optics also keep the active electronics further away and harder to detect.
    - thebruce87m 2y ago
      They probably don’t even have to bother, just hack the targets phone, tv, iPad, laptop to get every bit of content they consume and conversation they have.
aleph_minus_one 2y ago
When I watched this film, I immediately thought during the finale of this film that the story of this film is so "wrong" because the public will barely care about the misdeeds of NURV (or rather: those who do care basically already "know"). From todays's perspective, considering for example the Snowden and Wikileaks revelations that caused exactly these barely-nil reactions in the public, I know that I was right regarding this feeling.
- accrual 2y ago
  I wouldn't say they caused barely-nil reactions. Maybe to the general public and to a random bystander if asked, but they still had implications for the public's overall trust in the government. And for users in the affected spaces (tech, security, etc.) the reaction was stronger and longer lasting.
  - aleph_minus_one 2y ago
    > but they still had implications for the public's overall trust in the government. In my observation it really was as I described: - those who already deeply distrusted the government continued to do so - the others (the huge majority) simply did barely care or even attempted to justify the crimes Concerning your point about tech and security sectors: those who form the inner core of the people working in these sectors basically already knew what was happening since at least the 90s.
  - vasco 2y ago
    Nobody votes for net neutrality or internet rights or privacy focused groups. I agree that there were almost no reactions. June 6th people will vote for European elections, lets see how many seats the pirate party gets.
- makeitdouble 2y ago
  It depends on what you see as an appropriate reaction to wikileaks and Snowden. It was a structural problem, and no governing parties ever tried to stop it so voting it out for instance wasn't a solution. Perhaps Trump's support could be a far reaction to it, with no clear direction but just a strong wish to screw it all. We see the same in other countries where people go to the extremes as discomfort rises with no actionable way.

There was a movie about this exact thing. Antitrust (2001) was about a Microsoft-like company monitoring everyone’s computer and stealing code. 23 years later and here we are.

ch4ch4 2y ago

That was an enjoyable movie, aside for the fact that the writers thought fiber optic cables are used for hidden cameras.

tomalpha 2y ago
https://www.detective-store.com/optical-fibre-micro-camera-ss-3427-72.html https://www.detective-store.com/optical-fibre-micro-camera-s...
gravescale 2y ago
In 2001, image sensors and the electronics to drive them were far larger then they are today, an endoscope-style fibre optic isn't necessarily ridiculous if you only had a tiny hole to sneak through a thick obstruction. Even today, a non-CIA-grade camera head is probably 2-3mm across and the optics on a fibre optic can be far narrower. You can only have a pinhole spy cam if you have a void directly behind the pinhole.
- kjkjadksj 2y ago
  Whats the spec on the CIA grade stuff then?
  - gravescale 2y ago
    Well, I assume they can do better than a £10 USB endoscope from AliExpress! But even if you have some ultratiny thing hot out of a classified lab, fibre optics also keep the active electronics further away and harder to detect.
  - thebruce87m 2y ago
    They probably don’t even have to bother, just hack the targets phone, tv, iPad, laptop to get every bit of content they consume and conversation they have.

aleph_minus_one 2y ago

When I watched this film, I immediately thought during the finale of this film that the story of this film is so "wrong" because the public will barely care about the misdeeds of NURV (or rather: those who do care basically already "know"). From todays's perspective, considering for example the Snowden and Wikileaks revelations that caused exactly these barely-nil reactions in the public, I know that I was right regarding this feeling.

accrual 2y ago
I wouldn't say they caused barely-nil reactions. Maybe to the general public and to a random bystander if asked, but they still had implications for the public's overall trust in the government. And for users in the affected spaces (tech, security, etc.) the reaction was stronger and longer lasting.
- aleph_minus_one 2y ago
  > but they still had implications for the public's overall trust in the government. In my observation it really was as I described: - those who already deeply distrusted the government continued to do so - the others (the huge majority) simply did barely care or even attempted to justify the crimes Concerning your point about tech and security sectors: those who form the inner core of the people working in these sectors basically already knew what was happening since at least the 90s.
- vasco 2y ago
  Nobody votes for net neutrality or internet rights or privacy focused groups. I agree that there were almost no reactions. June 6th people will vote for European elections, lets see how many seats the pirate party gets.
makeitdouble 2y ago
It depends on what you see as an appropriate reaction to wikileaks and Snowden. It was a structural problem, and no governing parties ever tried to stop it so voting it out for instance wasn't a solution. Perhaps Trump's support could be a far reaction to it, with no clear direction but just a strong wish to screw it all. We see the same in other countries where people go to the extremes as discomfort rises with no actionable way.