Literally nothing you do is safe from the CIA. There are numerous full-on spyware suites developed by them, mostly for iOS and Windows, but also targeting Android, Linux, OS X, and Solaris. Apps thought to be secure (Telegram with encryption enabled, WhatsApp, Signal) were compromised as well, as were a host of other devices (ie smart TVs).
THIS DOES NOT PERTAIN ONLY TO AMERICANS.
If you live in a Shengen area country, your country likely hosts several CIA backed cyberwar experts. They came in via the US consulate in Frankfurt. If you don’t, you likely do as well, but I can’t find anything without sifting through the files myself.
“I have nothing to hide, why does this matter?”: Because there are now multiple thousand “zero hour”- ie “developers get zero hours to fix”- vulnerabilities floating around that no one had any idea existed. The vulnerabilities themselves weren’t leaked, but it’s the fact that someone knew about these and didn’t say.
I hate to make this kinda clickbait-y thing, but this is honest to God one of the most important leaks in history. Our response to this is pretty much going to be life or death for privacy in the developed world. Be loud about this, be annoying about this, and do not shut up about this. Please reblog this and other posts relating to it.
Not just any someone, this is one of the U.S. federal government’s foremost intelligence agencies, the CIA, which even mainstream media has reported operates on a black (off the record) budget, infamous for handing over “full” reports that are almost entirely redacted.
It’s a wonder that anyone out there could believe they are not the subject of surveillance—everyone has something to hide.
The USA can access personal email, chat, and web browsing history. (Source)
The USA tracks the numbers of both parties on phone calls, their locations, as well as time and duration of the call. (Source)
The USA intercepts troves of personal webcam video from innocent people. (Source)
The USA is working to crack all types of sophisticated computer encryption. (Source)
The USA monitors communications between online gamers. (Source)
The USA can set up fake Internet cafes to spy on unsuspecting users. (Source)
The USA can remotely access computers by setting up a fake wireless connection. (Source)
The USA can use radio waves to hack computers that aren’t connected to the internet. (Source)
The USA can set up fake social networking profiles on LinkedIn for spying purposes. (Source)
The USA undermines secure networks [Tor] by diverting users to non-secure channels. (Source)
The USA can intercept phone calls by setting up fake mobile telephony base stations. (Source)
The USA can install a fake SIM card in a cell phone to secretly control it. (Source)
The USA can physically intercept packages, open them, and alter electronic devices. (Source)
The USA makes a USB thumb drive that provides a wireless backdoor into the host computer. (Source)
The USA can set up stations on rooftops to monitor local cell phone communications. (Source)
The USA spies on text messages in China and can hack Chinese cell phones. (Source)
The USA spies on foreign leaders’ cell phones. (Source)
The USA intercepts meeting notes from foreign dignitaries. (Source)
The USA has hacked into the United Nations’ video conferencing system. (Source)
The USA can spy on ambassadors within embassies. (Source)
The USA can track hotel reservations to monitor lodging arrangements. (Source)
The USA can track communications within media organizations. (Source)
The USA can tap transoceanic fiber-optic cables. (Source)
The USA can intercept communications between aircraft and airports. (Source)
And this leak shows that the CIA has all of these technologies and proliferates them to other entities who want this information all the time. You need your privacy to protect yourself and your information. If you have nothing to hide, you have plenty to hide:
The line “if you’ve got nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry
about” is used all too often in defending surveillance overreach. It’s
been debunked countless times in the past, but with the line being
trotted out frequently in response to the NSA revelations, it’s time for
yet another debunking, and there are two good ones that were recently
published. First up, we’ve got Moxie Marlinspike at Wired, who points
out that, you’re wrong if you think you’ve got nothing to hide,
because our criminal laws are so crazy, that anyone sifting through
your data would likely be able to pin quite a few crimes on you if they
just wanted to.
Some of the potentially sensitive facts those records expose becomes
obvious after giving it some thought: Who has called a substance abuse
counselor, a suicide hotline, a divorce lawyer or an abortion provider?
What websites do you read daily? What porn turns you on? What religious
and political groups are you a member of?
Some are less obvious. Because your cellphone’s “routing information”
typically includes information about the nearest cell tower, those
records are also a kind of virtual map showing where you spend your time
— and, when aggregated with others, who you like to spend it with.
We simply cannot possibly know when something is going to incriminate us and the State is not above scapegoating individuals or coercing them into submission. James Duane, a professor at Regent Law School and former defense attorney, notes:
Estimates of the current size of the body of federal
criminal law vary. It has been reported that the Congressional Research
Service cannot even count the current number of federal crimes.
These laws are scattered in over 50 titles of the United States Code,
encompassing roughly 27,000 pages. Worse yet, the statutory code
sections often incorporate, by reference, the provisions and sanctions
of administrative regulations promulgated by various regulatory agencies
under congressional authorization. Estimates of how many such
regulations exist are even less well settled, but the ABA thinks there
are ”nearly 10,000.”
The complexity of modern federal criminal law, codified
in several thousand sections of the United States Code and the virtually
infinite variety of factual circumstances that might trigger an
investigation into a possible violation of the law, make it
difficult for anyone to know, in advance, just when a particular set of
statements might later appear (to a prosecutor) to be relevant to some
such investigation.
Not just the State, but anyone could draw suspicion against you if they had the right information with the right circumstances. We are entitled to our privacy, and these institutions must be held to account.
Reblogging because the links in the bulleted list were broken, as someone brought to my attention.
I’m going to add to this: the two ghost cats the guy has are amazing. Those are fuckin’ Nekomata. It means they lived long enough to transform into yokai before they died. This means he took very good care of them, because otherwise they wouldn’t have gotten that old.
Thank you for the explanation. I was very confused at first.
Next up on Worth Reading: The other team should just fucking let me win when I play baseball.
well this isn’t necessarily a bad point. there are games with great stories and really awful shoehorned fighting sequences. then you also have handicapped/disabled gamers who don’t necessarily have the dexterity to finish a game but would still like to be able to.
optional “cakewalk” modes aren’t that bad of an idea.
what if i want to just see the story of the game and dont want to actually play it? like??
as it is i would never pay for a bioshock game or a fallout game but i am very interested in the story. so i just watch youtube videos of it. they could get money from me if they sold the skip combat mode
i’m a games developer and an avid gamer and i really really think games should let you skip combat
honestly one of my favourite things about la noire was when you failed a sequence twice the game was like “yo do you just wanna skip this bit?”
the gaming industry/community has a huge problem with accessibility tbh. like, thank god for standardised control schemes (although bring back full customisation jfc not enough games have that anymore) but fights require time, literacy in both that type of gaming & in the individual game, you need to be able to navigate the system which can be anywhere from slightly difficult to hellish for people with visual/audio processing disorders. and tbh sometimes you just wanna enjoy the story and not get stressed the hell out doing the sAME FIGHT 700 times. it’s why i always put a game on easy/casual when I’m replaying unless i’m specifically going for difficulty based achievements.
not to mention SO MANY GAMES have either poorly designed battles or fights that have been shoved in for no reason other than to pad out the game (dxhr & da2 come to mind immediately) that sometimes it’d honestly improve the gameplay to just skip them altogether
Imagine if you were a gamer with arthritis or MS or some other disability that took away your ability to click buttons quickly, and every fight became as frustrating as THAT GODDAMN DA: ORIGINS OH FUCK I’M ON FIRE SLIDE PUZZLE.
Yeah. Skipping combat might seem like a not bad idea then.
Mass Effect 3 has this:
[Screenshot from a Mass Effect 3 menu, with title: “Choose Your Experience”, showing the options ‘action’, ‘role playing’ and ‘story’.]
‘Action’ makes most story choices for you and conversations become straight up cutscenes. ‘Role playing’ is the default experience, both challenging gameplay and character/story building. And ‘story’ has the roleplaying but very easy combat, letting you breeze through it. (You also have a ‘casual’ difficulty setting that’s a bit more rewarding but still pretty easy.)
The thing about video games (particularly RPGs or in general games that allow you to explore or direct the story) is that the interactivity is what makes it different from movies or watching LPs on youtube. And I’ve played games that got FAR stronger emotional reactions out of me simply because I had to carry out the actions myself rather than just watching. And that experience should be more accessible.
Because SHOCKINGLY: games aren’t always about winning, or being good at it. It’s about having fun. This is kindergarten education here.
Yeah, it always baffles me when I see people react so negatively to a perfectly reasonable suggestion like this.
Why the hell shouldn’t games let you skip combat if you want to? Why shouldn’t there be a super-duper-easy-peasy mode for everything? No-one is gonna force YOU to play it like that if you don’t want to! Continue to be as hardcore as you like!
I just don’t understand the resistance at all. What we’re talking about is simply having more options for gamers. You’re adding something that would make games more accessible and fun for loads of new fans, and you’re not taking ANYTHING away from existing fans.
Like…do you…not want more people to enjoy these games?? Do you really hate the idea of other people having fun so much that you’ll rile against it even when it literally has no effect on you or your experience whatsoever?? Are you honestly that selfish??
I am *horrifically* bad at gaming, but it’s a genre that I’m intensely interested in and very desperately want to be more immersed in. I would HAPPILY buy so many more games if combat was a skippable option.
Not to mention one of the best indie games out right now is pretty much telling you if you want the best ending, don’t fight.
Yeah, I hate the elitist mentality that only those ~*~*hardcore*~*~ enough should be allowed to enjoy video games. I mean, gaming should be an experience to be had and not just an obstacle to clear, right?
Then again, my poor mental health situation and chronic pain+mobility issues on my right hand means that my gaming options are severely limited nowadays. So I’m all about making gaming accessible for everyone in the first place.
Anyone who thinks gaming will be ruined by making it more accessible need to realize that they have already ruined gaming for many.
Anyone who thinks gaming will be ruined by making it more accessible need to realize that they have already ruined gaming for many.
I love video games. Love them. But a lot of the newer engines fuck with my head and give me vertigo. They have for years. I also can’t aim worth shit and FPS are not my thing, even when they have amazing storylines. Not to mention?
Despite the whole gender fluid thing, I’m female coded. I sound like a girl, and at times? I sound like a super fucking flighty vapid chick. You put me in a co-op game, which a lot of them are these days? And that’s just not something I feel like exposing myself to.
Add in the arthritis, the vertigo, etc, and I get locked out. Games are so fucking pretty and have amazing stories, but the Industry has let me know that they’re not for me. I know I get looked down on for sticking to RPGs and they get fewer every year, and it sucks. But they don’t bring in the income the Industry wants and hey, I get it. I just wish they’d consider the people on the side a little more often.
I’m also a game developer. I balk at the idea of telling someone that they should spend upwards of $60 to *not* be allowed to get the experience they want out of it.
If I can put in a non-combat version of a game, I’m gonna do it.
listen sometimes you can’t keep track of all the people you’re supposed to hate for what reasons so like please don’t go off on someone for not being 100% hostile towards some random celebrity who’s kind of a shitty person. note that i said “kind of a shitty person” not “actual nazi and/or walking scum.” like for example i think most everyone is aware by now that bill cosby is unbelievably awful so people regarding him with any level of fondness are to be treated with Suspicion but like… don’t jump on someone because they were like “oh this b list actor did a good job in this random movie” when the actor said a gross thing once, recently or otherwise. chill the fuck out and tell them calmly or not at all. basically, choose your battles guys. save your energy for destroying capitalism and facism and stop attacking each other for dumb shit
I know I get looked down on for sticking to RPGs and they get fewer every year, and it sucks. But they don’t bring in the income the Industry wants and hey, I get it. I just wish they’d consider the people on the side a little more often.
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