3 ms·

It's news to my mother. Half of the UK and US government are saying it's news to them. The world's press seems to think it qualifies as news.

DanBC 13y ago
> It's news to my mother. 2001, in mainstream UK newspaper http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/30/eu.politics4 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/30/eu.politics4 > the European Parliament warned EU citizens of the threat to their privacy from Echelon, a global eavesdropping network run by the US National Security Agency in cooperation with Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. As we reported on Saturday, it concluded that the primary purpose of the system is to "intercept private and commercial communications". It urged individuals and businesses to use codes to protect their communications. > Half of the UK and US government are saying it's news to them 1999, from the website of this secret agency https://web.archive.org/web/19990428012157/http://www.gchq.gov.uk/textversion/technol.html https://web.archive.org/web/19990428012157/http://www.gchq.g... > GCHQ employs one of the largest long term bulk near line storage systems in the world. Data is stored in a number of locations on a variety of media, including magnetic tape, cartridges, recordable Compact Disc and optical storage technologies. What did they think was being done with the largest long term storage system in the world? > GCHQ has an interest in all aspects of modern telecommunications and uses a variety of systems designed to operate on all frequencies over which data can be transmitted. I'll admit that the GCHQ FAQ got a bit slimier later on. See this page from 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/20040604234303/http://www.gchq.gov.uk/about/index.html https://web.archive.org/web/20040604234303/http://www.gchq.g... > People sometimes think that we cannot be accountable because we do not disclose much about GCHQ's operations and methods. > Nothing could be further from the truth. > In fact, GCHQ is subject to very rigorous oversight both by Parliament and senior members of the judiciary, and works entirely within a legal framework which complies with the European Convention on Human Rights. > Activities at GCHQ are underpinned by the Intelligence Services Act 1994 (amended most recently by the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001) and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The purposes for which interception may be permitted are set out explicitly in these Acts: national security, safeguarding economic wellbeing, and the prevention and detection of serious crime. Interception for other purposes is not lawful, and we do not do it. But I've already condemned this kind of wording used to justify unjustifiable privacy violation. EDIT: It's mildly interesting reading through the technology pages to see it iterating. They list Win3.1 in the early versions!
- dreamfactory 13y ago
  It could maybe be described as hidden in plain sight. If you dug around there were pieces in the public domain that you could put together. But if you suggested this, you would have been dismissed as a tinfoil hatter by most people. More to the point, the fact that it is a huge story in the news across the world proves that most people were simply unaware. So it doesn't mean much to say that this was already known when to most it wasn't. That could be taken to imply that there is nothing to see here and that people who are bringing it up are a little slow - which is simply disingenuous. The fact that my mother doesn't read every page of every newspaper doesn't mean she should be disenfranchised. And it also doesn't change the fact that many businesses are only now changing their behaviour and moving away from US companies and reconsidering architecture for IT projects and business operations.
  - DanBC 13y ago
    You're managing to change my mind. I should say that I'm glad it's now being taken seriously by many people. I'm a bit worried about the number of toy crypto systems popping up. I'm frustrated that people still release apps that have over-broad privacy intrusions.

DanBC 13y ago

> It's news to my mother. 2001, in mainstream UK newspaper http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/30/eu.politics4 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/may/30/eu.politics4 > the European Parliament warned EU citizens of the threat to their privacy from Echelon, a global eavesdropping network run by the US National Security Agency in cooperation with Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. As we reported on Saturday, it concluded that the primary purpose of the system is to "intercept private and commercial communications". It urged individuals and businesses to use codes to protect their communications. > Half of the UK and US government are saying it's news to them 1999, from the website of this secret agency https://web.archive.org/web/19990428012157/http://www.gchq.gov.uk/textversion/technol.html https://web.archive.org/web/19990428012157/http://www.gchq.g... > GCHQ employs one of the largest long term bulk near line storage systems in the world. Data is stored in a number of locations on a variety of media, including magnetic tape, cartridges, recordable Compact Disc and optical storage technologies. What did they think was being done with the largest long term storage system in the world? > GCHQ has an interest in all aspects of modern telecommunications and uses a variety of systems designed to operate on all frequencies over which data can be transmitted. I'll admit that the GCHQ FAQ got a bit slimier later on. See this page from 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/20040604234303/http://www.gchq.gov.uk/about/index.html https://web.archive.org/web/20040604234303/http://www.gchq.g... > People sometimes think that we cannot be accountable because we do not disclose much about GCHQ's operations and methods. > Nothing could be further from the truth. > In fact, GCHQ is subject to very rigorous oversight both by Parliament and senior members of the judiciary, and works entirely within a legal framework which complies with the European Convention on Human Rights. > Activities at GCHQ are underpinned by the Intelligence Services Act 1994 (amended most recently by the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001) and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000. The purposes for which interception may be permitted are set out explicitly in these Acts: national security, safeguarding economic wellbeing, and the prevention and detection of serious crime. Interception for other purposes is not lawful, and we do not do it. But I've already condemned this kind of wording used to justify unjustifiable privacy violation. EDIT: It's mildly interesting reading through the technology pages to see it iterating. They list Win3.1 in the early versions!

dreamfactory 13y ago
It could maybe be described as hidden in plain sight. If you dug around there were pieces in the public domain that you could put together. But if you suggested this, you would have been dismissed as a tinfoil hatter by most people. More to the point, the fact that it is a huge story in the news across the world proves that most people were simply unaware. So it doesn't mean much to say that this was already known when to most it wasn't. That could be taken to imply that there is nothing to see here and that people who are bringing it up are a little slow - which is simply disingenuous. The fact that my mother doesn't read every page of every newspaper doesn't mean she should be disenfranchised. And it also doesn't change the fact that many businesses are only now changing their behaviour and moving away from US companies and reconsidering architecture for IT projects and business operations.
- DanBC 13y ago
  You're managing to change my mind. I should say that I'm glad it's now being taken seriously by many people. I'm a bit worried about the number of toy crypto systems popping up. I'm frustrated that people still release apps that have over-broad privacy intrusions.