Lawful for cops to hack into your computer/phone

Strider590

VPN is worth having, not so much for being spied on, but for being able to access the full internet, without blocks or filters.

I got sick of legit websites being randomly blocked and i'm concerned that the control of the blocking filters is in the hands of an unknown/undisclosed commercial entity, yes it's better than a bunch of idiot politicians, but the potential for corruption is staggering.

gjchester

Lumstorm wrote: »

For a lot of encryption systems out there they don't have a work around there are flaws found in systems like Tails but they are soon fixed. .

Publicly revealed flaws may be fixed, but given the resources of governments they can actively search, find and exploit a fix for a long time before its publicly found.


Possibly the best known example is Stuxnet, its believed to have been worked on from mid 2009, but only became known mid 2010. Its thought that someone made a mistake in programing it and it got out further than the original plants it was intended for, If it hadn't then it may not have been detected for many months.


If you are a target of interest then they'll not only be looking at your traffic from your PC but possibly have feeds from your ISP. You may VPN out but your incoming mail is likely held on a normal mail server that an admin can access.


Government access to your communications (be that email, web phone or post) has always been legal usually under a warrant, this is nothing new.

kwikbreaks

I was surprised with the extent of government snooping revealed by Snowden but doubt they have any real interest in me and even greater doubts that I could hide much from them using modern communications methods even if I could be bothered to do so.

I'm amazed that nobody has recommended a tin foil hat yet - I'm sure one would be just as effective as amateur attempts at concealing communications.

Strider590

kwikbreaks wrote: »

I was surprised with the extent of government snooping revealed by Snowden but doubt they have any real interest in me and even greater doubts that I could hide much from them using modern communications methods even if I could be bothered to do so.

I'm amazed that nobody has recommended a tin foil hat yet - I'm sure one would be just as effective as amateur attempts at concealing communications.

Be careful, "I don't care, it won't affect me" is what got us into this mess in the first place.

We basically sleepwalked into internet censorship and monitoring, mumbling "it won't affect me".

kwikbreaks

OK then - I'll nip down to Tesco and get some Bacofoil. Can you recommend a hat design?

The plain facts are regardless of how much I may or may not care there is SFA I can do to make any difference.

gjchester

Strider590 wrote: »

We basically sleepwalked into internet censorship and monitoring, mumbling "it won't affect me".

Don't forget the "we are also doing this to protect our children" line.

50Twuncle

Widelats wrote: »

This!! And people act shocked when they find out some gov agency has been spying their data and bills and who they phone for 10 years - well thanks, i will look into this this TAILS and stuff and keep my conversations private in future,

If you are that concerned - I recommend an old system called Royal Mail - where we actually used an ancient method of communicating called HANDWRITING - which is absolutely 100% safe from hackers - because they need a kettle to access your data without you being aware of it - and how many hackers have a kettle on them 24/7 ?

Mr_Toad

It always amazes me that people think the government, or anyone else, is interested in their ordinary little lives, beyond a few targeted adverts, which are easily blocked.

They have enough trouble catching real criminals without wasting resources tracking the rest of us.

Why don't you get rid of your mobile so they don't know where you are while you're at it?

And don't forget the tin foil hat :rotfl:

C_Mababejive

ChiefGrasscutter wrote: »

Well one thing for sure is that using the sort of things the OP mentioned in their post is likely to attract the attention of the security services!

Here is one such link which the OP was unable to find by using google....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/may/15/intelligence-officers-have-immunity-from-hacking-laws-tribunal-told

The reason its not been really reported is most people who get on with their busy lives, are really not bothered by it.

I believe it is an abuse and that individual permission should be sought in all cases . If there is legitimate cause then such permission no doubt will be granted. We cannot have unaccountable authority.

C_Mababejive

50Twuncle wrote: »

If you are that concerned - I recommend an old system called Royal Mail - where we actually used an ancient method of communicating called HANDWRITING - which is absolutely 100% safe from hackers - because they need a kettle to access your data without you being aware of it - and how many hackers have a kettle on them 24/7 ?

I just use a strong lightbulb. Kettles are so passe.