Google’s Earth: how the tech giant is helping the state spy on us

[Teddy07]

I´m fine with them spying on me because this means at least the incompetent German government isn't doing it.

[mynameisjuan]

38 minutes ago, The Benjamins said:

That is what they want you to think.

Insert aluminum foil was created by the government conspiracy here 

[Drak3]

4 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

Insert aluminum foil was created by the government conspiracy here 

Governments are a government conspiracy.

[Guest]

If this means more child porn networks, slave networks, drugs networks will be shutdown i would be 100% for it... then again, i also still feel that your surfing behaviour should be safe from prying eyes unless one of the above or other criminal activities is at stake 

[Tech_Dreamer]

i like how where we were at at way back at those old days thinking it was a weird crazy conspiracy theory that every bit of data was being tracked & tailored to form a profile, now we're at that year where it's just common knowledge.

[Doobeedoo]

Really no surprise anything regarding corporations and data harvesting. Over decade now before all mainstream social media, modern apps and phones, such was known and expected direction it would go to. 

People will sacrifices privacy for convince and entertainment so. They will only complain if something gets leaked or if they get endangered. Most are not even aware of how stuff works. 

[Fasterthannothing]

Orwell couldn't have written the prequel any better himself. Also you people do realize the government has always had it's hands in the digital cookie jar since the internet was made. Not saying it's good, doesn't need to be stopped, or that there shouldn't be a lot more privacy focused laws put in place before we go full on 1984 however it's not surprising.

[mxk]

37 minutes ago, Drak3 said:

Governments are a government conspiracy.

oh shit

[mxk]

I mean honestly, even if people are posting tin foil pics to this post's truth, people really don't care anymore. I've been hit too hard.. I have to use a google laptop for school, my last phone had spyware built into the OS, my current phone is chinese, and 6 of my town of salem accounts all got hacked in the data breach.

[Bananasplit_00]

yah i cant say i doubt any of this tbh. i try to limit my data exposure to a point, since i dont play a lot of games anymore that should become much easier if i swap over to Linux. there is no doubt in my mind that the US along others have extensive surveilance of the internet and people using it. the Bezos thing i havent heard about before but the rest dosnt seem to new to me tbh

[BuckGup]

2 hours ago, TheRandomness said:

It's funny because those tend to not actually block anything out.

Mine is lined with a faraday cage

[Taf the Ghost]

There's two main problems with the Guardian's story.

 

1) Keyhole was just Google feeding money back to their dark fund backers. They have the pattern reversed.

2) The Guardian is, itself, a propaganda front but for very different factions. While what they're reporting is generally true, the GCHQ is probably the worst offender around. 

 

Google is pretty evil, but those in the media complaining aren't complaining about the "evil" part. They're complaining because it's power & control they don't have access to. It's petty factional fighting among the global elites. It'd be really pathetic if the consequences weren't so serious. 

 

I don't want to downplay the seriousness of this, but this trend will continue for a while. Then civil wars will break out, most of the ones that made all of their money off this stuff will be publicly executed, and then societies will continue to move on. If you read a bit of history, we're in the "running up the debt that someone else has to deal with" phase. The only benefit is that we're in the phase where the ones that want a true, one-world government aren't yet keen on something like a Communist Police State. Probably because the food is terrible in those.

 

The only thing Orwell really got wrong is that they inverted his view for what they'd do with sex and the food is much better. Otherwise, it really is the warned about dystopian future, but it's our present. 

 

[Brooksie359]

38 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

Mine is lined with a faraday cage

Mine is lined with mercury

[straight_stewie]

Why does everybody act like they are just now waking up and haven't noticed that the NSA exists?

Seriously, the NSA owns a data center with more memory than all major US tech companies combined. What did you think was going on, hard drive mining?

[Brooksie359]

I honestly could care less what if the government has all my data. Seems like all they are getting is a bunch of boring data from me so I don't what they are going to do with it. Anyways our data being collected and sold is just a reality of modern technology and is kinda unavoidable so I don't really see what the point in getting all worked up about it. 

[Commodus]

4 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

I honestly could care less what if the government has all my data. Seems like all they are getting is a bunch of boring data from me so I don't what they are going to do with it. Anyways our data being collected and sold is just a reality of modern technology and is kinda unavoidable so I don't really see what the point in getting all worked up about it. 

While I don't subscribe to the OP's paranoia and far-right hysteria, I don't think this is a good argument.  You're using the classic "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" line.  Yeah, that's fine... up until the government decides that something you value deeply is illegal.  And besides, what if the targets are activists for noble causes?  It's good to care about responsible data collection even if you aren't affected right now -- just so long as you don't end up like the OP.

[Fasauceome]

4 hours ago, Delicieuxz said:

and that being perpetual victim of their taking and using our personal and personally-owned data means that societies are subjugated by those state agencies and are living in slavery to them.

This is probably the part that makes people feel like they should harp on this post for being a tin foil hat type post. The masses don't necessarily feel subjugated or enslaved in the least, because the kind of convenience that this "spying" has latched on to doesn't affect most people in the least. Sure Amazon knows your buying habits, but then when does that come back to bite you? When you get a targeted ad? Not so bad to most people.

[Taf the Ghost]

7 minutes ago, Commodus said:

While I don't subscribe to the OP's paranoia and far-right hysteria, I don't think this is a good argument.  You're using the classic "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" line.  Yeah, that's fine... up until the government decides that something you value deeply is illegal.  And besides, what if the targets are activists for noble causes?  It's good to care about responsible data collection even if you aren't affected right now -- just so long as you don't end up like the OP.

Other thing is they can just digitally "plant" all of the data they could want you to have, if you came to their attention. For most people, that's actually the issue. Everyone is simply trying to keep their head down, at the end of it. Which is actually the more insidious issue. If the local government has it in for you, they used to at least have to put some effort in. Now, they don't even have to do that.

 

The one saving grace is most of them aren't too bright.

[Taf the Ghost]

6 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

This is probably the part that makes people feel like they should harp on this post for being a tin foil hat type post. The masses don't necessarily feel subjugated or enslaved in the least, because the kind of convenience that this "spying" has latched on to doesn't affect most people in the least. Sure Amazon knows your buying habits, but then when does that come back to bite you? When you get a targeted ad? Not so bad to most people.

It's not a problem until the exact moment it becomes a problem, at which time it's already far too late for them to do anything about it. That's how you control the masses of people. "Conspiracy Theory" and the related "Conspiracy Theorist" were phrases developed by the CIA for memetic warfare reasons. It's a way to isolate anyone that notices something is wrong, but make them generally unbelievable to "normals" because the media programming has been found to work very well. 

 

They hide it pretty well, but most of the public-facing nutty-types are paid by security agencies. It's a trick that's at least 1000 years old. The most brutal example, in recent times, was when Algeria ran their own civil war. The opposition leadership was controlled by their intelligence agency. It acts as a way to burn off the actual opposition within your country.

 

I brought up civil wars because that's where this always ends up, but I think it's hard for most to be circumspect enough about "why" this is happening. The American Revolution was really about 50 guys in Boston pissed off at the Crown. From a network analysis point of view, it was really Paul Revere & Sam Adams' revolution. Really. That's what they actually want to prevent. They really don't care about anyone on this forum or reading this. They care about snuffing out the next generation of Paul Reveres. That's the actual point.

 

I still recommend good data practices. I also recommend good money management & ex-filtration planning. The Data Collection is a backdoor around the protections that America's founders were really pissed off they didn't get from the Crown. This will end in a lot of bloodshed, but we're not quite there yet.

[Monkey Dust]

3 hours ago, hobobobo said:

Honestly, while kinda sinister, the wonder of possobilities is overwhelming. The insight into human condition this data, properly organized and analyzed, could grant is invalueable, its like having a standart model for humanity. Whether its wise is an open question, but fascinating none the less

They're working on in, all in the name of selling us shit we don't need.

 

Going back to the conspiracy theories 99.9% of us are too boring for our Governments to take any notice of, and there is too much data for them to pick through anyway. Unless you've done something to bring yourself to the intelligence services attention, I doubt getting caught selling weed will count, any data they hold on you will never get looked at. The flip side is we expect the state to protect us against the actions of other states, terrorists and organised crime, for which they require information on people both inside and outside their borders.  

[Subway]

5 hours ago, yian88 said:

I could say what else is new, or that no one cares anymore( they dont). 

There is nothing we can do, at best you can get rid of windows in favor of linux, stop using google use duckduck go and somewhat trusty VPN outside of US, use a custom android build, disable most google stuff, dont use google account, install most apps by apk to avoid play store, dont use email for anything data critical since its unsafe even if they claim its encrypted,  use something like signal to communicate and even that keep it minimal, maybe build a custom app that's encrypted and talks peer to 2 peer and use signal to exchange ip/connection keys unique each time you want to reconnect.

Also build a bunker in the mountains and supplies just in case of WW3, nukes or alien invasion.

We are fucked man, unless we vote politicians who change laws and enforce them in favor of privacy we are fucked globally.

Just wait until US starts using all the data for social credit like China, just wait until Trump loses eventually and marxists take over government again and use that data against you in new social exclusion systems or worse.

All of this means shit for most people, they live their lives, work, waste money on shit, dont give a shit about anything privacy, global warming, pollution, ocassionally they protest that others should do something but not them ofc and thats how we roll, into  the future.

1) Are you using a VPN now?

 

2) You might as well decide to abandon this society and live in the jungle or rural area. Good old day cowboy and farmer. 

 

3) There are some evidence that VPN no logging policy is true. Here are the proof.

https://www.bestvpn.com/privacy-news/expressvpn-cannot-hand-over-logs/

https://restoreprivacy.com/no-logs-vpn/

Quote

1) ExpressVPN – As part of an investigation into a crime in Turkey, Turkish authorities demanded user information from ExpressVPN. ExpressVPN denied the data request because they did not have any logs to provide, and they also did not fall under Turkey’s legal jurisdiction (based in the British Virgin Islands). As a final attempt, Turkish authorities then raided the datacenter and seized ExpressVPN’s Turkey server – but they still were not able to obtain any logs or customer data.

2) Perfect Privacy – Authorities in Rotterdam, Netherlands were attempting to obtain customer data and seized one of Perfect Privacy’s servers. They were not able to obtain any information and customer data remained secure.

3) NordVPN – In November 2018 NordVPN released an audit that successfully verified their “no logs” claims. The audit was carried out by a reputable “Big 4” accounting firm and confirmed NordVPN’s claims and practices.

4) VyprVPN – In order to transition to a no logs VPN service, VyprVPN underwent a full audit and consultation from Leviathan Security Group. They have successfully transitioned from a VPN service that kept connection logs to a fully-compliant and verified no logs VPN service, which was independently audited in November 2018.

5) Private Internet Access – PIA’s no logs claims have been verified in two separate court cases – one in 2016 and another in 2018.

4) I know this is old,but I view USA as Nazi because NATO alliance main objective is to put all small boys under the big boy umbrella USA. One world government and new order as the Nazi failed to achieve. Not going to bring up politics argument here. 

 

5) If WW3 happens, A LOT of us will be dead. There's no need to bring soldiers or jets to bomb the country. A couple of nuke missiles will do all the talking.  

 

 

[Delicieuxz]

1 hour ago, Commodus said:

While I don't subscribe to the OP's paranoia and far-right hysteria...

I'm not even slightly right-leaning, nor is aggregating factual information as I have hysteria and paranoia. Some people can't deal well with large concepts and so rationalize them into tropes to make them easier to dismiss and not have to deal with. I guess maybe that's you.

[Commodus]

45 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

I'm not even slightly right-leaning, nor is aggregating factual information as I have hysteria and paranoia. Some people can't deal well with large concepts and so rationalize them into tropes to make them easier to dismiss and not have to deal with. I guess maybe that's you.

You cited Daily Caller as a source of information.  You know, a far-right site known for lies and spin.  It actually makes Fox News seem relatively level-headed.

[Delicieuxz]

14 minutes ago, Commodus said:

You cited Daily Caller as a source of information.  You know, a far-right site known for lies and spin.  It actually makes Fox News seem relatively level-headed.

No, I don't know what the site is known for and I don't take your claims as fact. Regardless, assuming a person is of a political persuasion because they link to a particular site, even though the article has nothing to do with a political side, is confirmation bias. It also doesn't make sense to do because I linked to a lot of articles from news sites that are perceived to be on all points along the political spectrum.

 

Here is the same report as the Daily Caller link you mentioned, but coming from other sites:

 

https://theintercept.com/2017/11/02/amazon-amendment-online-marketplaces/

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/15/business/amazon-government/index.html

https://www.engadget.com/2018/12/26/amazon-advised-us-government-on-a-portal-that/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/26/amazon-anne-rung-government-services-authority

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/08/has-bezos-become-more-powerful-in-dc-than-trump

https://www.nextgov.com/policy/2017/11/congress-may-be-making-pentagon-amazons-next-big-customer/142510/

https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/359514-monopoly-critics-decry-amazon-amendment

https://www.thestar.com.my/tech/tech-news/2017/11/15/amazon-amendment-could-put-billions-in-us-federal-spending-onto-e-commerce-giants-platform/

http://www.siliconbeat.com/2017/11/11/amazon-amendment-put-billions-federal-spending-onto-e-commerce-giants-platform/

 

What you called "far-right hysteria" is actually just fact.

[Curufinwe_wins]

Anyways... so being perfectly realistic here...

 

Geotracking information was never fully decoupled from the military and the benefits to literally everyone involved have been dramatic more than worth the "oversight increase from sole military involvement"

 

So yes, I expect other companies and countries to continue to develop their individual geotracking networks, which diminishes a bit of that risk. But yes, geotracking has always been linked with the military, and likely always will be. Like for better or worse, space travel. Does that mean we need to kill either of those things? Absolutely not.