NSA Breaks Encryption – Here We Go Again There is nobody and nothing they have not tapped
The Guardian was the first the break the news as always on the latest NSA scandal – this time it is defeating encryption services for people’s bank accounts to private sensitive corporate information. The Guardian has been joined by the New York Times and ProPublica. All three have now jointly reported that the NSA has been investing millions in its attempts to gain access to enciphered data sent over the Internet. The NSA has made a significant breakthrough in 2010 that enable it to monitor vast amounts of data that flow through the world’s fiber-optic cables by cracking encryption. Previously, it has been reported that with the X-KEYSCORE Internet surveillance system, the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ have been able to gain access to data sent over virtual private networks. Such networks are commonly used by businesses and privacy-conscious Internet users to encrypt browsing traffic and conceal their IP addresses.
The NSA has also worked to deliberately insert vulnerabilities into some international security standards, in an apparent attempt to undermine encryption to make it easier to break. This is outrageous. As a programmer, once you create back-doors, others will find them as well. That is why NASA abandoned Windows 8. I warned that Windows 8 was doing more than phoning-home for updates. It was phoning home and reporting every piece of software you installed. I first reported this and many emails said I was wrong. Now it is becoming widely understood that is precisely what is going on. Creating that backdoor into you computer allows hackers to get in as well.
The NSA has also worked to deliberately insert vulnerabilities into some international security standards, in an apparent attempt to undermine encryption to make it easier to break. This is outrageous. As a programmer, once you create back-doors, others will find them as well. That is why NASA abandoned Windows 8. I warned that Windows 8 was doing more than phoning-home for updates. It was phoning home and reporting every piece of software you installed. I first reported this and many emails said I was wrong. Now it is becoming widely understood that is precisely what is going on. Creating that backdoor into you computer allows hackers to get in as well.
The NSA’s decryption capabilities are still being ascertained. The latest Snowden revelations paint a truly apocalyptic vision of a world. Here you pay companies for encryption to secure your data and you find out they are also working with the NSA and what you have paid for is worthless. Encryption has all been rendered useless because of NSA supercomputers and the companies cooperating with them as did Microsoft, Yahoo and Google to mention a few. In some cases, the NSA is still often forced to rely on vulnerabilities to hack into targets’ computers to circumvent encryption. They need to unscramble information. , the agency also has to find ways to obtain the private “keys” that in public-key cryptography are used to decrypt information that has already been encrypted.
The Guardian reported that the NSA has “capabilities” that can be used to crack Internet traffic encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): How It Works is straight forward. When a Browser Encounters SSL, it attempts to connect to a website secured with SSL. The browser then requests that the web server identify itself. The server sends the browser a copy of its SSL Certificate. The browser checks whether it trusts the SSL Certificate. If so, it sends a message back to the server. At this point, the server then sends back a digitally signed acknowledgement to start an SSL encrypted session. The encrypted data is then shared between the browser and the server and it shows up in the browser as HTTPS (unlike unencrypted HTTP).
The Guardian reported that the NSA has “capabilities” that can be used to crack Internet traffic encrypted using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL): How It Works is straight forward. When a Browser Encounters SSL, it attempts to connect to a website secured with SSL. The browser then requests that the web server identify itself. The server sends the browser a copy of its SSL Certificate. The browser checks whether it trusts the SSL Certificate. If so, it sends a message back to the server. At this point, the server then sends back a digitally signed acknowledgement to start an SSL encrypted session. The encrypted data is then shared between the browser and the server and it shows up in the browser as HTTPS (unlike unencrypted HTTP).
The NSA seems to have coerced the major companies into handing over their private SSL keys. What they did not get their hands on, the NSA most likely obtained the keys through hacking. The NSA has not fully worked out how to instantly decrypt SSL traffic. If they did, then the PRISM program would have been unnecessary. Smaller companies are likely to be less vulnerable that the big ones.
Clearly, the NSA is the most aggressive spying organization known to history. These people cannot sleep at night worrying about someone might have said something they didn’t listen to. OMG. It could have been derogatory toward them. They have beaten the Stasi of East Germany, the most paranoid sweeps of people by Stalin and they are far beyond Hitler. If Hitler had today’s technology, not a single Jew would have survived. This overarching in the name of security is so dangerous it is insane. Liberty, Freedom, and Democratic establishments cannot not exist under such policies. It would be far better to announce the terrorists won and get the hell out of the Middle East to preserve our American Liberty. The people should have had a right to approve this. Not closed-door hearings in Congress.
Snowden has stated back in June that “encryption works” if implemented properly. PGP—used to strongly encrypt email and other data—is still likely to cause the NSA, GCHQ, and other spy agencies serious difficulties. The same can be said about some peer-to-peer encrypted communications tools that have recently shit down because of NSA demands such as Silent Circle. What the NSA intimidate to get the keys to encryption, they then can still hack into systems. They can use a spy Trojan that will infiltrate a computer or even a smartphone, which will bypass the encryption.
Any communications about money are being sent to the IRS and you can bet on that one.
EU imposes Travel ban for “troublemakers”/demonstrators in Europe
The EU wants to outlaw “troublemakers” from crossing borders within Europe. They mention those who riot at football matches, but they include the suppression of civil rights by including protesters at EU summits. As the economy declines, Europe is determined to suppress the people rather than reform or even invest in a mirror. It would be nice just for once to admit that their ideas are destroying civilization and that Marxism failed – get over it.Dirty Dealing on Syria in Washington
The only key Arab nations supporting Obama are Saudi Arabia and Qatar and that is all about the pipeline blocked by Syria. There are even rumors that the Cyprus event was used to cripple Russians and cut-off their eventual access to a huge gas field there yet to be brought into production. If the Russians gained control of that, then they would really have a stranglehold on Europe.
Credible sources keep pointing to a massive cover-up surrounding Syria – Benghazi Connection. The United States has literally trashed the region with its crazy foreign policy run by people who are truly clueless about the region and the religious conflicts. They messed up Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan and now Libya is in chaos yet the press will not report that in the USA. The British Independent wrote:
Special report: We all thought Libya had moved on – it has, but into lawlessness and ruin
The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, General Martin Dempsey, backed by his Joint Staff generals and admirals, has stood his ground between a rushed and politically incoherent President Obama who has been intent on launching a military attack on Syria while Congress was on vacation. Some have claimed Dempsey lied to Congress over the Benghazi affair stating the troops were sent to Tripoli when they were needed in Benghazi. However, Dempsey may have been out of the loop altogether accounting now for his stand against Obama and Syria – not again.
Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice has ZERO military experience. This is akin to a man trying to explain what child-birth feels like. There there is UN ambassador Samantha Power, and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, have also been advocates to blow-up the Middle East even unilaterally. They take the position that this is not a real democracy where the people have any say whatsoever. They adopt the position of a dictator arguing they trump congressional approval citing the attack is not war but a humanitarian operation that does not require approval under the War Powers Resolution or Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.
Neither Rhodes, Rice or Power have any military experience. Rhodes’s brother, David Rhodes, is formerly an executive with Fox News and is the president of CBS News. Then there is Obama’s special adviser, Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, whose brother is Ben Sherwood, President of ABC News. This is just a hint at how mainstream media is linked into the Obama Administration. This is called inside information in the private world of finance.
Dempsey dashed to the White House during the early morning hours of Saturday to make one last final plea to hold off on any attack. Dempsey told Obama then and there that his military plan would NOT work. He warned that Obama would drag the USA even deeper into the affair with dangerous consequences.I reported previously that three letters were sent to Obama demanding he wait for the return of Congress. More than 200 members signed those letters. Acting without congressional approval and a botched military action, Obama would go down in flames when Dempsey warned him his mission would fail. It was Dempsey who persuaded Obama to hold off on any attack until Congress reconvened after Labor Day.
There is clearly a side-benefit to this Syrian affair. It has taken the spotlight from the IRS abuse, NSA scandal and the Benghazi affair. This has capturing the attention and derailing any discussion of those issued for the next election.
Administration officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden, have been out in full force to demand action against Syria. John Kerry had the audacity to actually compare US inaction against Syria to early efforts to appease Nazi Germany. Simply unbelievable. He will say anything. Obama will need 60 votes to overcome a potential filibuster in the Senate. The Democrats passed the joint resolution in the committee 10-7, to authorize limited military strikes. The full Senate is scheduled to vote next week. In the House, Obama will need 217 votes out of 435 with seats vacant.
The Israeli Lobby organization, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has also tremendous political influence over Congress. They pour money into election campaigns at Goldman Sachs levels or more. They really own Senator John McCain who has been a champion of Syrian rebels, including the human organ-eating Al Qaeda-affiliates, donating $772,327 in funds to him. The poured $343,394 into New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez pockets. Menendez is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who has also supported the attack upon Syria. These key people can be bought like a street-hooker who could care less who is next.
However, this whole Syrian-Benghazi affair is far deeper than most suspect. There are leaks coming from the Pentagon to members of Congress stating that proof exists that Obama and CIA director John O. Brennan personally authorized the transfer of arms and personnel from Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al Sharia Islamist rebels in Libya to Syria’s Jabhat al Nusra rebels, who are also linked to Al Qaeda. This is most likely the real reason Stevens was killed. This is not much different than the alleged Iran-contra scandal. Many sources are saying they have been linked with Prince Bandar bin Sultan al Saud and Al Qaeda. They were personally aware that arms from the caches of the late Muammar Qaddafi of Libya were transferred to Al Qaeda forces in Syria for use in terrorist attacks. This is why some of the weapons have made it back to the streets in the USA. The level of arms transfers is directly involved in the alleged Libyan Islamist rebel attack on the CIA annex in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Obama and Clinton have been unable to extricate themselves from this stinking mess.
Some have claimed Saudi is trying to install a Sunni fundamentalist regime in Syria. But this makes no sense. It appears to be all centered around the gas pipeline.
Obama has sought life-imprisonment for any whistleblowers contrary to everything the Constitution stood for. This is to cover-up what is going on in the Middle East and the rising tensions once again with Russia. The White House is clearly practicing a propaganda and disinformation campaign in this whole Syrian affair. The BBC has been caught using photographs of dead civilians in Iraq to show claimed victims of Assad’s alleged chemical attack. Likewise, Al Jazeera, a conduit for the Muslim Brotherhood power brokers in Qatar has shown footage of victims of Assad’s government that were covered with fake bandages and Hollywood blood.
Today he is in Russia saying he was not elected to start wars, but to end them. Yet he claims human rights were violated so the US must act. Bullshit. Where was the US when Stalin murdered tens of millions. Where was it when Mao was marching? Where is the US with its own human rights violation and why does it imprison more people that all of Europe, Russia and China nearly combined? Because he seeks to imprison people like Bradley Manning for exposing human rights violations by the USA or the criminal charges files against Edward Snowden for espionage. Only 4% of the people in prison are there for violence. As John Stuart Mill wrote:
The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.
Who has any Right To Force another to be Civilized
I am not aware that any community has a right to force another to be civilized.
John Stuart Mill
Another, Community, Force
Lack of a Rule of Law Destroys Businesses
Small business is far too often the victim of nasty state tax collectors who seem to live to destroy jobs and businesses so they climb the ladder to get gold stars. New York State attacked the Melleadys who opened a Philly Pretzel franchise. The state tax collectors are free to interpret the laws any way they see fit. This introduces a huge problem for business. Even the IRS, if you asked if something is taxable and they say no, you owe taxes and penalties if some other agent says yes years later. You can NEVER hold any government to anything – they must win at all costs.
The destruction of this Philly Pretzel shop in New York illustrates why government is out of control. Pretzels, they were told, were not subject to sales tax as a food item like in a grocery store. However, the tax collectors changed their mind and said they should have been collecting taxes for any plain, regular pretzel sold without toppings and not purchased with any other items because they were now a restaurant item. The Melleadys, both age 44, say that stance contradicts what the very same tax department told them before they opened the franchise. The owner told the press after the state forced the closure of their store demanding taxes equal to 16% of all their revenue; “It drained the life out of us. Absolutely destroyed us. If anybody came to me and said they were opening a small business in New York, I’d say, ‘you’re crazy.’ ” The Melleadys put their business into bankruptcy on April 25 and moved to Pennsylvania. Among their debt, they owe $100,000 to relatives on both sides of the family.
When gold was legalized in 1975, Senator Walter Foran of the State of New Jersey came to me and asked me to write the law for the state to ensure gold was not subject to sales tax since anyone in the state who traded on the COMEX would then have to pay sales tax when they bought with no refund when they sold. I wrote the law and made the language clear: Gold was not taxable unless “converted to use.” When 1980 came, the state tax collectors walked in the same way and said I owed sales tax on all back sales of gold since 1975. I told them no way. I wrote the damn law. They stared at me in the eye and said their “interpretation” was gold was taxable for the “use” was “investment use.” I lawyered-up as they say and demanded a trial. Senator Foran demanded to testify. The judge would allow him only to testify as an “interested individual” and not as a Senator. I was DENIEDthe right to testify saying whatever I had in my mind when I wrote the law may have been my misinterpretation of what the Senate asked me and hence my testimony would be irrelevant. We then tried to subpoena the entire Senate. That was denied. So you cannot win. I had the “legal” right to go back to every person who ever bought gold and demand they pay the sales tax. That would have occupied probably the next 20 years and the cost would have been far more than what I would get back.
Then the IRS walked in and said I was a bank and had to report every transaction of $10,000 or more buying and selling by clients. The fine was $50,000 per transaction or up to the full amount of the transaction. I looked at them and asked –“Do you just want the keys?” They said no. They realized I did not think I was a bank. They said they would forego any fines and penalties, but wanted access to all my records. In came the agents. I walked by a desk and saw they were pulling out names of $3.000 – not $10,000. When I asked what were they doing, the agent looked at me and said: “If you don’t want any trouble, keep your mouth shut.” The next day they pulled up with trucks and took all my records. I didn’t see them again for 4 years. They audited over 3,000 of my clients. I had enough and retired.
Their “interpretation” that can be used against anyone again today at any time was that Nixon simply closed the gold window. Gold was never “officially”monetized. In 1964 they allowed collectors to have gold certificate notes but denied them convertibility. In 1975 President Ford legalized gold ownership and in 1977 they legalized gold clauses in contracts. So they can do as they like at any time and you have not a prayer in Hell as the say. It was only the ownership that was made illegal – not any monetary status. They could make ownership illegal, make taxes payable in gold, tax gold, or order it be converted to paper. It is whatever they interpret that fits the moment.
People have to get this through their head. There is ABSOLUTELY no rule of law. These tax collectors can interpret whatever they want. It is your obligation to fight in court and you will not win. So there is never a rule of law under the American system. This is why the law Barbara Boxer sneaked in the Highway Bill that “IF” the government THINKSyou owe money under and theory whatsoever, they revoke your passport. They could revoke your passport if the THINK you have not turned over gold. They can and will do anything they like. When they stack the courts with former prosecutors, good luck. They rule in favor of government.
We no longer live in a free society. These people spend money as they desire and then hunt us down to pay their bills.
Behind-the-Curtain – Why Syria Must Go – It is Gas this Time
Way too much evidence is showing that it was the Saudis who have supplied the rebels with chemical weapons not Assad. So why are the Saudis intent upon getting rid of Assad? The Saudis are planning together with Qatar a pipeline, which will run from the Gulf to Turkey. This will result in the Russian Gazprom having competition for the important European market. Currently, Russia controls all Gas into Europe.
Qatar has supported Syrian Rebels with $3 billion as well. Why have the Saudis and Qatar teamed up against Syria? Because Assad is blocking the pipeline and that protects the European market for the Russians. So as long as there is Assadin Syria, this pipeline will not be built because Russia wants to prevent this competition absolutely.
Then there is the Russian efforts to unseat the dollar as the world reserve currency. As long as the Saudis are in control of the Middle East, the dollar will remain as the energy currency. Those in power fail to understand that the reserve currency status has nothing to do with energy. It is the depth of the dollar market that can absorb capital – not what currency you price oil in. Make it Swiss francs. What will happen you buy the Swiss to settle the trade but you cannot park trillions of dollars in the Swiss. Only the Sovereign Debt Crisis will alter the reserve status of the dollar.
Since the meeting between Putin and Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia, the Western pressure has increased steadily in the direction of a military strike against Syria. After the British Parliament rejected a military strike, the US is bullshitting the world because it will strike alone. The French president Francois Hollande is supporting this effort to see competition with Russia in gas. France is in its own economic crisis where the oil prices are not entirely controlled by a cartel. Hollande wants to get his hands on the gas to better tax and control the flow into France to eliminate any ultimatums from Russia.
The Saudis assume that they can use the religious rebels to accomplish their goals but later control them so they do not gain power. That is a huge assumption. What if they are wrong?
Communism v Socialism
QUESTION: You said communism fell by itself. Is this what is taking place with socialism?
ANSWER: Absolutely. Communism fell all by itself. There was no great battle with the West. State centralized planning eliminates innovation by the people (Invisible Hand) whereby necessity and opportunity are the keys to further society. If you even take the period known as the Younger Dryas whereas this was the reason why North America lost the unique megafauna that roamed the continent, including huge saber-toothed cats, a giant sloth, and colossal camels. This cold period is also thought to have spurred the shift from hunter-gathering to agricultural-society as the means of production for humanity. As temperatures dropped from the impact of a comet in Canada around Quebec, animal life declined and this scarcity in food forced humans to control their food supply developing agriculture. This also then reduced roaming and transformed humans into territorial creatures. This was the Invisible Hand where we adapt to conditions out of necessity and opportunity.
Socialism is dying because of the very same disease – state centralized planning/regulation. Keynesianism is all about trying to manipulate the demand of the population. But the state emerges as its own entity. Therefore, the state will pursue its own self-interest and thus it exploits the people to maintain its existence. This is why we also must crash and burn. You cannot tell government it should do this or else that will happen. They will not act in the interest of the people – only themselves.