

 Possible Governmental Backdoor Found ("case R2D2") - FSecurePal
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002249.html

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Hoff
Related thread: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3088687>

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buster
That's really a big deal and just shows how governments treat their own laws
and how important an open government is, in which such things can be verified
and controlled!

~~~
ceejayoz
> That's really a big deal and just shows how governments treat their own
> laws...

Not really. My understanding is that German law permits trojans for
surveillance.

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buster
<http://news.ycombinator.net/item?id=3090951>

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spullara
I'd be more worried if this was a backdoor in a popular program or operating
system that was specified by the government and implemented by the original
software author rather than more typical malware/trojan more akin to a
wiretap. The former would be widespread and affect millions of users, while
this appears to be a tool for use by law enforcement to carry out legitimate
surveilance in criminal investigations. Presumably every modern government has
such capabilities or they are really asleep at the switch.

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joe_the_user
I would challenge the concept of the government carrying out "legitimate
surveilance" through this dubious means.

The person surveiled has not been has not convicted of a crime yet the state
has taken onto itself to install software that would leave the person open to
further hacking by random individuals.

This is akin to the police not simply breaking into the house of a man they
suspected of a crime but also them leaving his door a-jar after they left. See
the Sony Rootkit.

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palish
It's a little naive to believe governments _don't_ do this kind of thing
(software surveillance), don't you think? Even if they "shouldn't".

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joe_the_user
What in my post lead you to believe I thought that governments don't engage in
a variety of dubious surveillance (including surveillance which leaves open
back doors to the victims machine)? They certainly do.

The thing is that exposing these acts and fighting all efforts to make such
acts legal is still important for limiting how _much_ the state can do.

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palish
Nothing, sorry.

My point was, there's nothing to be done about it. They're going to do it,
just as sure as gravity.

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buster
Germans interested in similar news should check Felix von Leitners blog, who
brings up interesting articles almost every day: <http://blog.fefe.de/>

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ugh
And crazy conspiracy theories!

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buster
It's a personal blog and as such he adds his own notion to the text but it has
always been worthwhile for me to check the source articles (which are almost
always renowned news agencies). You should always read the sources and make up
your own mind, but i found his blog to be very good at finding those sources.

~~~
aw3c2
The crazy conspiracy theories are an advertised feature of his blog and I love
them.

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sciolizer
POE = Purity of Essence?

~~~
raphman
_Poe was a protocol droid owned by Grand Duke Gror Pernon. He acted as the
Rogue Squadrons diplomatic liaison to the people of Eiattu._ [1]

[1] <http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Poe>

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specialist
Digging down to the source material, the Strong Towns group does address
Government Transfer Payments, explaining that all suburbs are subsidized. But
they avoid offending anyone by pointing out that the suburbs were financed by
the urban areas.

In my experience, suburban dwellers don't like learning that they're
parasites.

~~~
WalterGR
You're looking for the "A Complete Guide To The Ponzi Scheme That Is Suburban
America" submission. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3090385>

~~~
specialist
Haha. Oops! How'd that happen...?

