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Cameras Catch Mystery Break-In at Whistleblower’s Law Firm
- Kapura 13y agoThis story seems to heavily imply that the government authorised somebody to break into the firm and steal the data relating to the whistleblower's case. That strikes me as highly unlikely. This entire story seems like the ultimate in yellow journalism. Maybe we should wait and see if the thief gets caught before we jump the gun and claim it's a conspiracy.
- patrickod 13y agoNot at all unlikely since the FBI has been in the practice of using surreptitious entry since at least the 1970 at the behest of the NSA and the CIA in a bid to recover cryptographic keys and other information instead of having to brute force them. Why spend all that money on computation when you can just break into someone's Embassy instead and steal it? James Bamford discusses this at length in The Puzzle Palace - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puzzle_Palace https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puzzle_Palace
- CamperBob2 13y agoYeah, nothing like this has ever been done in recent history, so it seems premature to jump to conclusions. /s
- rayiner 13y agoOn the contrary, the article highlights the firms guess that it was an Obama or Hilary supporter, not the state department.
- rpedroso 13y agoThe specific paragraph, for reference: After assessing the surveillance footage, Schulman said he believed the motivations were likely political, but did not suspect department involvement. "It wasn't professional enough," he said. "It is possible that an Obama or Hillary supporter feels that I am unfairly going after them. And the timing of this is right after several weeks of very public media attention so it seems to me most likely that the information sought is related to that case. I don't know for sure and I want the police to do their work."
- rm999 13y agoI read a lot of news articles and editorials and have taken a couple of journalism classes and IMO this reads like a very objective article that properly quotes every party that's involved. "Yellow journalism" is a really strong and misguided criticism. The article quotes an employee of the law firm clearly stating he doesn't suspect the state department was involved. It also reports that the state department has repeatedly denied any involvement. Neither the headline nor any part of the article declares that the government was involved in the breakin.
- fnordfnordfnord 13y ago>That strikes me as highly unlikely. Why? Are you new here? Want to read some transcripts of Nixon ordering all kinds of shady things along a similar vein? http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/ellsberg/nixononpp.html http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/ellsberg/nixon... That said, it could just as easily be foreign intelligence operatives looking for material with which to extort US spies/diplomats.
- falk 13y agoThe government broke into Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office so that they could steal his patient files and use them to discredit him. Fortunately they couldn't find the files. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg#Fielding_break-in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Ellsberg#Fielding_break-... http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/opinion/30krogh.html http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/opinion/30krogh.html
- lightyrs 13y agoInteresting that in your 123 days here, you've made a point of defending the government in almost all of your comments. What makes you so secure in your trust?
- chrischen 13y agoMaybe he's part of the conspiracy?
- lightyrs 13y agoWhat conspiracy are you referring to?
- chrischen 13y agoHe's an agent of the government!
- Alex3917 13y agoConsidering we already know that they're paying people to post on social news websites like Reddit and HN, it's not especially unlikely.
- beedogs 13y agoHad someone on reddit attack me pretty vehemently this morning for suggesting something similar there. The account in question was pretty much hanging on the US government's nuts in every comment.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- rorrr2 13y ago> This story seems to heavily imply that the government authorised somebody to break into the firm and steal the data relating to the whistleblower's case. That strikes me as highly unlikely Chances are, it was. Just look for the agency with the most interest in their documents. Do you have a better hypothesis?
- mpyne 13y ago> Just look for the agency with the most interest in their documents. Maybe it would have been done by a group interested in having it look like the government was trying to steal data relating to this whistleblower case? Even weirder things than that have happened IRL.
- meepmorp 13y agoI think I accidentally downvoted you. Sorry.
- mpyne 13y agoNo worries, I've done it too, and I'm used to seeing an occasional comment in light gray by now anyways. ;)
- rorrr2 13y agoMaybe, but is it more likely than the government stealing the data?
- mpyne 13y agoI thought the government already had it? :) :)
- steven2012 13y agoOr they left something, cameras, ethernet sniffers, or other recording devices.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- wikiburner 13y agoI don't think you would make that much of a mess and steal three computers if your goal was to surreptitiously plant listening devices. Call me crazy.
- chrischen 13y agoA little irrationality thrown in is to your advantage ;)
- jlgreco 13y agoGee, this sounds familiar... Popping open filing cabinets and ignoring other things. I guess they are still working from the same playbook.
- dsl 13y agoIn computing we often try to find new and extravagant ways to do the same old tasks. i.e. I'm going to use a new language that lets me write {beautiful, functional, etc} code... Exciting new things are fun! In an op like this, exciting can get you killed. Proper tradecraft is very much focused on executing a successful mission within a very narrow operating window. When planning you try to build in as many opportunities for adaptation as possible, but in execution try to use as few of them as possible. A boring uneventful operation is a good day at work because you get to go home to your family. Just because they used methods that work doesn't mean they are running from the "same playbook." They are staying safe and getting the job done. Have some respect for fellow professionals, regardless of trade.
- jlgreco 13y agoEh, it probably couldn't hurt to kick over a desk or two on your way out.
- dsl 13y agoNever in a million years would I have wrecked a place unless it was necessary. Not only is it a huge compromise of operational security and adds nothing to your cover, it is just a dick thing to do. Some poor secretary is going to have to stay late a month from now, and I don't want her to be freaking out worrying that someone violent might be coming back.
- jlgreco 13y agoSeems awfully considerate for somebody kicking in a wall and robbing a place.
- SideburnsOfDoom 13y agoAnyone got a link to the same story without the signinwall? This article is not viewable without it.
- yock 13y agoI used Quick Javascript Switcher for Chrome to disable JS and skip the paywall. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/quick-javascript-switcher/geddoclleiomckbhadiaipdggiiccfje https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/quick-javascript-s...
- stephengillie 13y agoI left Javascript disabled and didn't notice anything.
- jessaustin 13y agoJust press "stop" before the modal dialog loads.
- blaze33 13y agoI used viewtext: http://bit.ly/14YE0GD http://bit.ly/14YE0GD
- voidlogic 13y ago>This article is not viewable without it. 5 seconds of firebug magic fixes that. :)
- Steko 13y agoYou can also jump from Google. https://www.google.com/search?q=foreign+policy+cameras+catch+whistleblower&safe=active https://www.google.com/search?q=foreign+policy+cameras+catch...
- jlgreco 13y agohttp://nation.foxnews.com/2013/07/08/cameras-catch-mystery-break-whistleblowers-law-firm http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/07/08/cameras-catch-mystery-b... Same video on both pages.
- RKoutnik 13y agoYou can skip the splash screen by running the following in the JS console: $('#TB_window').hide() $('#TB_overlay').hide()
- stephengillie 13y agoOr you can just disable Javascript by default.
- dudus 13y agoOr you can use google. When the referral is google sites can't have a paywall on the first page. http://www.google.com/search?q=site:http%3A%2F%2Fthecable.foreignpolicy.com%2Fposts%2F2013%2F07%2F07%2Fcameras_catch_mystery_break_in_at_whistleblowers_law_firm&oq=site:http%3A%2F%2Fthecable.foreignpolicy.com%2Fposts%2F2013%2F07%2F07%2Fcameras_catch_mystery_break_in_at_whistleblowers_law_firm http://www.google.com/search?q=site:http%3A%2F%2Fthecable.fo...
- AUmrysh 13y agoDidn't stop it from happening when I loaded the page :(
- hobs 13y agoThank you noscript!
- yogo 13y agoI like $('#TB_window, #TB_overlay').hide() better :P
- mmastrac 13y agoWhy all those extra characters? :) $('div[id^=TB_]').hide()
- tzs 13y agoIf you are using Safari, just hit the "Reader" button, and the story comes up above the splash screen.
- wikiburner 13y agoWhat's interesting to me is that the CBS reporter who has done much of the reporting in question on the State Department (Sharyl Attkisson) recently had her computers hacked: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5885212 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5885212
- rdl 13y agoIt's sad how bad the (physical and IT) security is at most law firms (and how high the return would be from breaking in -- especially firms handling public-company M&A transactions).
- bdamm 13y agoHere's the link without the annoying popup: http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/07/cameras_catch_mystery_break_in_at_whistleblowers_law_firm?page=0,0 http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/07/cameras_c...
- gcb0 13y agoThis is what you would call "evidence feast". Often planted evidence is made such that it raises no doubt that other party is guilty that it's also blatantly obvious that it's suspect. What's the tripping point for me? being reported only by fox news. even in the interview quotes they say "obama administration"...
- driverdan 13y agoThis story highlights how important remote backup and full disk encryption are. If they have automatic remote backup they can be back online the next day with nothing lost. If they use full disk encryption their data will be safe.