Silk Road forums
Discussion => Philosophy, Economics and Justice => Topic started by: Praetorian on August 30, 2013, 06:01 pm
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Just trying to keep up with the smear campaigns that are distracting us from how fucked we are as a species, and I came across this:
***CLEARNET LINK: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/08/black-budget/ ***
The latest published leak from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden lays bare classified details of the U.S. government’s $52.6 billion intelligence budget, and makes the first reference in any of the Snowden documents to a “groundbreaking” U.S. encryption-breaking effort targeted squarely at internet traffic.
Snowden, currently living in Russia under a one-year grant of asylum, passed The Washington Post the 178-page intelligence community budget request for fiscal year 2013. Among the surprises reported by Post writers Barton Gellman and Greg Miller is that the CIA receives more money than the NSA: $14.7 billion for the CIA, versus $10.8 billion for the NSA. Until this morning it’s generally been believed that the geeky NSA, with its basements full of supercomputers, dwarfed its human-oriented counterparts.
The Post published only 43 pages from the document, consisting of charts, tables and a 5-page summary written by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. The Post said it withheld the rest, and kept some information out of its reporting, in consultation with the Obama administration to protect U.S. intelligence sources and methods.
One of those methods, though, is hinted at in the Clapper summary — and it’s interesting. Clapper briefly notes some programs the intelligence agencies are closing or scaling back, as well as those they’re pouring additional funds into. Overhead imagery captured by spy satellites was slated for reduction, for example, while SIGINT, the electronic spying that’s been the focus of the Snowden leaks, got a fresh infusion.
“Also,” Clapper writes in a line marked “top secret,” “we are investing in groundbreaking cryptanalytic capabilities to defeat adversarial cryptography and exploit internet traffic.”
The Post’s article doesn’t detail the “groundbreaking cryptanalytic capabilities” Clapper mentions, and there’s no elaboration in the portion of the document published by the paper. But the document shows that 21 percent of the intelligence budget — around $11 billion — is dedicated to the Consolidated Cryptologic Program that staffs 35,000 employees in the NSA and the armed forces.
In a WIRED story in March of last year — the pre-Snowden era of NSA reporting — James Bamford reported that the NSA secretly made some sort of “enormous breakthrough” in cryptanalysis several years earlier.
Previous Snowden leaks have documented the NSA and British intelligence’s sniffing of raw internet traffic. But information on the NSA’s efforts to crack the encrypted portion of that traffic — which would include much of the email transiting the net — has remained absent; conspicuously so, given the NSA’s history as world-class codebreakers. The leaked budget document is the first published Snowden leak to touch upon the question of how safe routinely encrypted traffic is from cutting-edge nation-state spying.
The Post is silent on when Snowden leaked the black budget. As a condition of his asylum, Snowden agreed not to release any more U.S. documents while in Russia. But he may well have passed the budget to the paper in May at the same time that he turned over documents on the NSA’s PRISM program.
* The Clock is Ticking * Thoughts?
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I'm going to need a longer password...
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Depressing, but inevitable. A couple of points:
1. As far as ANYONE knows mathematical encryption is unbreakable in any kind of meaningful sense; there are hacks (like the software that exploits private keys stored in RAM) and there is brute-forcing weak passwords, but no blackbox universal decrypter (a la Sneakers - Too Many Secrets) is possible with current technology to the best of anyone's knowledge. These are fundamental aspects of number theory, so unless the NSA has a mathematician or two locked away who is far superior than any other alive, including Grigori Perelman who is the only person to have solved one of the Clay Millenium Problems (but who turned down the award and $1m prize as he considers it an intellectual endeavour) this is likely to be money thrown down a big hole, and no matter how good the mathematician there is still the [strong] possibility it is actually impossible - I'm not gonna weep over that!
2. Because of the above, I strongly suspect most of their efforts are with the hacks I just mentioned, along with R&D for a quantum processor (I believe the OS and algorithm for cracking encryption have already been developed, only the actual working quantum processor is required). If they achieve a quantum processor - bad times. That said, there are already serious efforts afoot for quantum-proof encryption systems, since so much legitimate business relies on good encryption; banking, national security, etc.
3. IF the NSA ever cracks conventional encryption, they will only have a very narrow window of utility, due to point 2. above; if NSA can crack it, so can others, weakening Nat.Sec., weakening banking. It will be similar to cracking the enigma code, only there will be a VERY strong imperative to strengthen encryption soon after. If you see banks one after another resorting to Encryption2.0 you know the NSA has cracked the old encryption....
4. Overall I am not worried about this as ATM by far the biggest ally we have is sheer volume of data; the NSA cannot utilise or analyse the unencrypted data it's already gathering. There simply is not the resources available. They can pick a target or two and trace back a trail through the data post-hoc, but pick a target out of the data? I doubt they'd get much that way, too many false-positives to weed out...
5. IMO this is an empire-building exercise and a way to divert money from the public into the defence industry. It'll either carry on in secret, going nowhere, or go the way of the Star Wars program or the SSC...
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I'm going to need a longer password...
Haha. You and me both, brother.
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I really dont want to think about this... maybe when im tripping. lol Ill be back
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Isn't the CIA getting more money for this? I can't remember. It seems to me the real interest is in intelligence gathering, spying, etc.. I do think they have an agenda to spy on all Americans but I don't think you'll see much exposure of what they are capable of for a long time because it won't be used to enforce laws, it will be used to for foreign intelligence gathering primarily. That's my guess anyway.
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I am happy me, and presumably this place, are not the #1 threat to the USA.
Real-time decryption seems implausible.
As a boring, unimportant citizen, I am not scared.
Maybe I should be though? Fucking ignorance, it is not bliss if you are paranoid. Hehe.
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The funniest thing I read in the media about this story was "at one point they refer to the public as 'adversaries' which is telling as to their attitude towards those they allegedly serve".
I almost expected the next line to be "also, people called Alice and Bob seem to be particular targets for NSA snooping"
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Wouldn't it be easier to just outlaw cryptography in the private sector completely? Or force the citizens to reveal their passwords like (I think, don't slap me if it's wrong ;)) UK does?
Cryptowars reloaded.
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Well, considering now they have both Freedom Hosting(tormail.org) servers, and Silk Road main site...
I'd say now would be the time to start being a little less confident, and a little more worried. Sure, real-time decryption might seem 'virtually impossible', but so did the arrest of DPR, and the downfall of SR. Certainty is an error within the human mind. Always be uncertain, always proceed with caution and care.
Luckily, I have not used SR mainsite in several months, encrypted 4-5 bullshit messages for every 1 legitimate one, and operated through some 50 random accounts. Plus, I always made sure I wiped my in and out boxes every time before logging out. Even DPR thought I was "paranoid" ...
Thus, DPR is in jail, and I am not. My net worth isn't 85 Mil, but it's also nothing to brag about on here.
Quantum computers exist. Just a matter o time, folks. Nothing lasts forever.
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The NSA didn't exist for 40 years. There is a known military tactic of releasing information about current projects as disinformation, if they are saying they are working on it simply read that they have done it.
The NSA have probably cracked quantum computing and are undoubtedly lightyears ahead of us, Snowden told researchers nothing new, he just confirmed that there are active low-level projects still in operation. I know from personal experience the extent of their technologies, it seems like magic until you understand the branches of technology they have been specialising in since WWII, scalar weaponry, mind control(MKULTRA was a surface project) and advanced computing.
This shouldn't scare you, it should just be a reality check. The secret history of the NSA is something few outsiders have managed to piece together but there is plenty to demonstrate they have far more advanced capabilities than they are bragging to the press about.
Our enemy isn't the NSA, it doesn't seem like the NSA caught DPR unless the sketchy story around his arrest is a cover for information plundered via ECHELON/PRISM.
Jah Bless
The Doctor
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The NSA didn't exist for 40 years. There is a known military tactic of releasing information about current projects as disinformation, if they are saying they are working on it simply read that they have done it.
The NSA have probably cracked quantum computing and are undoubtedly lightyears ahead of us, Snowden told researchers nothing new, he just confirmed that there are active low-level projects still in operation. I know from personal experience the extent of their technologies, it seems like magic until you understand the branches of technology they have been specialising in since WWII, scalar weaponry, mind control(MKULTRA was a surface project) and advanced computing.
This shouldn't scare you, it should just be a reality check. The secret history of the NSA is something few outsiders have managed to piece together but there is plenty to demonstrate they have far more advanced capabilities than they are bragging to the press about.
Our enemy isn't the NSA, it doesn't seem like the NSA caught DPR unless the sketchy story around his arrest is a cover for information plundered via ECHELON/PRISM.
Jah Bless
The Doctor
Just letting you know that when you say "The NSA have 'probably' cracked", you are admitting uncertainty. In the very next sentence, you claim to know the 'extent' of their technologies from 'personal experience' ...
Just be aware that the NSA, in fact, have quantum computing capabilities. The National Security Agency is part of a conglomerate under the Dept. of Homeland Security, who was very much involved in the bust of DPR. Behind closed doors, I assure you, they're at the forefront of the war on drugs. Even if the FBI or DEA always take the credit.
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I am not saying that I know these things for certain, other than that they have been working on MK projects, tech development and ECHELON style projects for some time. I also know for certain that intelligence agencies don't give a heads up on things they are working on, they say they are looking into it once it has finished. I remember reading in a book by a Naval Intelligence officer how this was managed with three to four sub and outer projects announced to the public, thus obscuring the actual project should it be compromised. There is a three-ring approach taken within the US Navy so I very much doubt the NSA is being totally honest when they say they are 'working on it', that is one of the examples given in the book as quite literally a textbook obfuscation for an active project. Hell look up Donald Rumsfeld being asked about scalar/microwave weaponry, he claims they are looking in to it and maybe in the future will research it, they have active microwave and scalar weaponry deployed in Iraq and have used them domestically in crowd control.
I am saying it is safe to assume the NSA is 20-50 years ahead of the public technologically. What they do is illegal and done outside of government, therefore it cannot be used in run of the mill arrests but I'm sure they know who each and every one of us are one way or another.
They managed to keep the concept of the NSA a secret for around 40 years, anything we know publicly about them can be presumed to be PR given that they managed to remain secret for so long.
This is not meant to be defeatist in any way, I just don't believe the NSA are busting small time dealers, they use the data for other purposes more related to social engineering than policing.
Sorry if I seem a little out of my depth on the technological stuff but honestly I am no stranger to former intelligence service employees, I don't talk about it much because it is too ridiculous to be believed but I had some very odd experiences.
Sorry for rambling, I bow to your technical knowledge but the NSA are sneaky little tricksters.
Jah Bless
The Doctor
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Agreed. This was one of Snowden's 'leaks' though, not PR.
Then again, if you ask me, Snowden's 'leaks' are just a smear campaign. Real news does not get reported in the United States, just competitive television, and 'reality' television.
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Agreed. This was one of Snowden's 'leaks' though, not PR.
Then again, if you ask me, Snowden's 'leaks' are just a smear campaign. Real news does not get reported in the United States, just competitive television, and 'reality' television.
My opinion is that Snowden is a Straw Man, there is no point in building a panoptican if you don't inform the prisoners.
I know when I worked with NSA whistleblowers they certainly didn't get Sky News coverage, they had friends murdered and gaslighting. It all feels too well orchestrated, much like the limited hangout Wikileaks. But then the people I was talking to weren't talking about known projects like ECHELON, it was all about drugs.
It's funny how when you blow the whistle on spying you become a folk hero but when you come forward to say you were a drug trafficker employed by the state nobody wants to hear it.
I like the Wikipedia page for the Panoptican, I don't think it does a good job of applying it to social architecture though. it is worth a read to put in context the idea of surveillance on a mass level and how it is designed to create subconscious reform.
Jah Bless
The Doctor
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Isn't it funny how the "subconscious reform" of "social architecture" seems to be going in completely the opposite direction of what they want? A record amount of people are now using encryption and its usage is increasing exponentially. PEOPLE ARE AWAKE.
The government's mass surveillance will just be the catalyst behind creating a new internet on top of the existing one with a whole new set of completely secure and encrypted protocols. More people are aware of freedom and libertarianism today than ever before and they're being adopted at an exponential rate too. The same with drug prohibition and the marketplace availability of the actual drugs. The online distribution model has already made it possible to get the highest purity drugs at the lowest possible prices to the greatest audience. A lot of people don't have to balls to buy drugs IRL due to concerns about purity and dealing with possible violence and obvious ugliness. That all disappears online. And of course Bitcoin goes hand in hand with all that.
The government has shut down the #1 online marketplace for illegal drugs and created a crusade in the process. If you doubt me then just look at these boards. People are more compelled than ever to continue buying and selling. Damn the torpedoes! Everyone here got a very quick education in the operation of LE during SR's takedown. The government threw down the gauntlet but in doing so has sown the seeds of its own destruction. Now more than ever they're on borrowed time. So fitting that this all happened during the government "shutdown". You won't have to wait too much longer until the free market causes a REAL and permanent government shutdown. No violence. No chaos. Just a shutdown when enough people wake up and realize what a true waste and abomination our current system is. How useless it is. That modern corrupt dysfunctional government is no longer needed for us to live in peace. That our destiny lies in individual responsibility. Not collective sacrifice.
I like the Wikipedia page for the Panoptican, I don't think it does a good job of applying it to social architecture though. it is worth a read to put in context the idea of surveillance on a mass level and how it is designed to create subconscious reform.
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LOL Silkroad. American Thread #1.....
Should post up a list of the THOUSANDS of unsolved murders but their wasting time on this place.... Bunch of Goofballs...
Wonder how much money USPS will lose because of SR being taken down.