
Obama orders US to draw up overseas target list for cyber-attacks - schrofer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/07/obama-china-targets-cyber-overseas
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anigbrowl
Well, duh. We point spy satellites everywhere as well, for exactly the same
reasons (and I'm pretty sure that a) nobody's going to quit using Google Earth
and b) the government pays attention to what people chatter about in the GE
forums and so on because some of that has intelligence value). All significant
military powers maintain lists of strategic targets in other countries as a
matter of course.

Next you'll be telling me that military compiles detailed maps of foreign
nations for potential distribution to troops, and that we have spies on our
payroll.

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Sambdala
On the other hand, at a time when someone might be examining their opinions
and conclusions on what limits governments should have on spying and
information gathering on people living in the country's borders, it also seems
prudent to examine actions governments take against those who don't live
inside those borders.

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MrQuincle
There is one very efficient way to thwart these big data collection attempts:
build fake profiles and build fake networks. If everyone would use a little of
his or her time to do this, it would be extremely difficult to find the real
address or security number or phone number of a person.

I foresee quite some opportunities for startups who would automate this. In
this case not for "evil" purposes such as fake product reviews, or spam, but
for - I would say - this ethically acceptable purpose of making it a tad
harder to mine your personal information online.

~~~
cglace
I was thinking if everyone increased the noise to signal it would thwart their
attempts. If everyone talks about illegal stuff their monitoring will useless
for finding people that are actually trying to do illegal things.

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joewee
Anyone else thinking this could be a coordinated effort by Chinese
intelligence to discredit the USA?

Not passing judgement, but as a outsider this looks like a full fledged cold
war.

~~~
doe88
In this case I don't think we needed the quote of a disgruntled or corrupted
official to know how offensive the US has become in _cyberspace_ in recent
years (see all the malwares attacks Stuxnet/Flame against Iran). (Note I used
the terms _disgruntled_ , _corrupted_ to assume the worst case scenario, but
it could as well be a _patriotic_ official who is concerned by what happens
and wanted to raise the issue).

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Aqueous
Again, not surprising, since other countries are actively engaged against us
in the same manner.

~~~
mtgx
At least they can stop being hypocritical about it, and stop pretending
they're only ramping up cyber capabilities and trying to pass new bills for
"defense", when it's obviously much more about offense than rather defense and
real security.

~~~
toyg
That's always been the case. You'll never see a Department of Offense or a
Ministry of Destruction. Even when we're busy bombing and invading foreign
countries, we do it to " _defend_ strategic interests". It's doublespeak, of
course, but it's always been like that.

~~~
btilly
It has not always been the case. Until 1947 the USA had a Department of War.

However since then we've been marching towards euphemism.

