Euro Parliament votes to end data sharing with US – the NSA swiped the bytes anyway The European Parliament has voted to halt the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program (TFTP), an agreement to share data on financial transactions in the Continent with the US – after documents leaked by Edward Snowden showed the NSA was hacking the system anyway. "Parliament stresses that any data-sharing agreement with the US …
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'Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee' Any committee that is based on intelligence is doomed to fail if its leadership does not display measurable intelligence.
That old bat is either incredibly stupid or crazy, or both. The things that come out of her mouth are so consistently wrong it is impressive. I don't mean 'wrong' as in I disagree with her policies, I mean 'wrong' as in water isn't wet or the sky isn't blue wrong: Factually incorrect to the point it invalidates everything else she says. Basing committee appointments on seniority is a terribly dumb way to manage a government, you end up with crap like this.
The sky isn't actually blue either I'm afraid.
It's typical composition scatters blue light more than others. A change in the composition of the atmosphere will change the colour.
"Sunlight reaches Earth's atmosphere and is scattered in all directions by all the gases and particles in the air. Blue light is scattered in all directions by the tiny molecules of air in Earth's atmosphere. Blue is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time."
In other news, light bulbs don't work by magic and the internet runs on swiss cheese. Oh and Father Christmas is just the local homeless guy dressed up, that's why he smells of piss and Special Brew.
[:news brought to you by the killjoy foundation for kids]
"Wait, water is still wet though, right?"
Well, I had to double check to be honest. It turns out that it is our senses that provide 'wetness' feedback - so it's not really objective to say that water is wet, but I felt I was sticking my head above the parapet far enough as it was :)
You are correct on both counts Sir killjoy Spoon. The 'wetness' of water can also be modified with the addition of additives, so you can have 'dry' water as well as 'wetter' water too :)
However, I doubt the esteemed Senator would dare venture into the actual reasons for any given thing. Discovering valid information would certainly break the spell that keeps her body animated and she would instantly wither and blow away if she were exposed to such things.
"Basing committee appointments on seniority is a terribly dumb way to manage a government, you end up with crap like this."
IIRC the US also favors committee membership with vested interests on the ground they will know something about the subject.
What could possibly go wrong with such staffing policies?
Vested interests play a role, as do party contributions. The total amount of funds you raise on behalf of your party has a direct impact on the committees you get on. Raise more money, get seats on more commissions, and you are instantly rewarded with an increase in contributions.
The actual pay raise itself from committee seats isn't too big, but the chair of any given committee sees a near quadrupling in their annual fundraising. While they no longer get to pocket part of those proceeds, it sure does make their 'campaigning' a lot nicer. You don't have to mix with the proles, as you travel by private plane and your car and its driver get upgraded too. It's all nasty shit really.
The internal workings of Congress are by far the most complex factor in US politics. It's murky, dirty and 'we the people' aren't privy to the actual goings-on. The actual operational details are shrouded by laws that are intended to 'allow the body to operate without undue influence from outside' but simply result in backroom scheming and horse trading on the backs of the people.
I wonder who else noticed the superposition in "The European Parliament has voted ... The resolution is non-binding, however, since only the European Commission can bind member nations to the decision" Well, of course European Commission is unelectable. I guess they probably do not share concerns expressed by the Parliament .
COM, EP & Council form a trilogue. Council you've already voted for as they are your Dear Leaders (the 28MS). EP you do get to vote for, and next summer the EP will (for the first time) be doing a lot of scrutiny of the likely successors to Barroso et al at 'neutral' COM. It's admittedly a bit novel, and well 'European', but I think the triple executive is finally starting to work! We certainly don't necessarily share views or always agree with EP or Council. Eventually we reach a best applicable compromise, in the interests of the EU Citizen.
Back to the NSA, was Frau Merkel's metadata & content *worth* potentially losing ttfp, swift, eu-usa trade & cloud business due to blowback?
I for one welcomed the idea of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) being added to every eu/uk foodstuff.....
"Back to the NSA, was Frau Merkel's metadata & content *worth* potentially losing ttfp, swift, eu-usa trade & cloud business due to blowback?"
Clearly it was, because if you're doing something like that you have to weigh the consequences of the short term benefits against the longer term raised probablility of being discovered. But you use the term "worth", and I think you're on the right track there, that the benefits were tracked as "financial value in dollars" and the risks as "potential embarassment and need for insincere denial". Even the comment that they aren't now and won't monitor Merkel's phone doesn't mean "we won't get a poodle to do it for us in future".
But the interesting aspect of this is that it shows so clearly that the NSA's global spying isn't about terrorism - they've not had many successes that we the public can see, in the same way that GCHQ in the UK have achieved little, but Germany isn't a global interventionist, nor terrorist havem, not failed state, nor a political or military threat. So the only reason for intercepting her phone (and undoubtedly those of German ministers and civil servants, and other European countries) is for economic intelligence.
Put more simply, the Yanks (and the Brits as their spy-dog poodle) have been collecting intellgence to advance American business interests, although I'm fairly sure that the UK government isn't organised or smart enough to use any intelligence in GCHQ's hands to help British business). The pained expression on Cameron's shiny, over-fed face, and his silence over the Merkelgate affair tell the whole story about who actually did the dirty deed.
"Back to the NSA, was Frau Merkel's metadata & content *worth* potentially losing ttfp, swift, eu-usa trade & cloud business due to blowback?"
Given that the EU don't seem to know exactly how the NSA got hold of that info in the first place it seems very probable that the flow of data to the NSA is still happening, so I doubt they give a flying toss at a rolling donut.
"I for one welcomed the idea of HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) being added to every eu/uk foodstuff....."
I don't welcome people welcoming corn syrup in everything. Do you really want bread that tastes like a Rich Tea biscuits, I'd prefer to have the choice not to have the humble slice of bread wreck my bacon sandwiches.
We Brits should remember the European Commission is unelected at the insistence - primarily - of the UK government. The same people who have succeeded in getting Europe run from a smoke filled room. Any Tory politico mouthing about the democratic deficit in Brussels is ranting about something he worked very hard for ...
Senator Dianne Feinstein, chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee and NSA cheerleader,
Let's hope she is never allowed to cheerlead in a Ra-Ra skirt, jump up and down and do the splits.
Urgghh! the thought has put me off my tea!
As for the damned Uropeens withdrawing their support for the TFTP, well that's why they spy on them.
They can't be trusted and now they'll have to be spied on more. Another couple of billion in the budget please!
Thank you very much.
The evidence that the USA is using terrorism as an excuse for waging a total information and economic war against the rest of the world, allies included, is quite overwhelming. Kudos for the European Parliament for taking measures against this, at last.
Of course, there is a very definite risk that the USA will 'allow' - or even promote- a terrorist attack on European soil, to soften the public opinion and regain control. If that happens, I hope European citizens understand that one of the costs of being free is accepting risks.
Please, Americans, clean your own house before things get really nasty.
Of course, there is a very definite risk that the USA will 'allow' - or even promote- a terrorist attack on European soil, you just forgot to end that sentence with the word "again"
As CIA encouraged/trained/paid-for all the stay-behind armies from the fifties to the eighties - with many deaths. The recently re-elected Luxembourg state security even managed to detonate 22 bombs, thankfully without loss of life in that case, and they supposedly still refuse to disband their Gladio army as the correct codeword hasn't been given?
Let's say, for example, that you have a trusting relationship with your partner.
You both agree to tell each other the truth, and not to hide anything pertinent from the other.
When one day you find out that even though you've been honest and scrupulous in this regard your partner has been tapping your phones lines, hacking your computer, reading your texts, listening to your voice-mail and keeping tabs on everyone you come in to contact with.
I've just realised that I have implied that the EU is honest and scrupulous, but you get the idea I'm sure.
My main gripe with the US is that the fucking spell checkers don't recognizse English words..
Colour
Recognise
Friend
Honour
Neighbour
"Interesting times perhaps?"
Not at all. All they've said is "We're really, really cross about this". Had EU leaders grown some, they would have cancelled the forthcoming trade talks as a symbol of their anger, as a marker of unwillingess to be reated like sh**, and because any economic talks will be on an uneven playing field given the incessant political data scraping of the NSA.
The other thing they should have done would have been to have announced that Europe was open to, and would welcome Edward Snowden, with guarantees of immunity against prosecution, exrtadition, or rendition. Now THAT would be the way to show Washington that their behaviour won't be tolerated.
But that's all a bit radical for Europeans.
if you look back, way way back into the history of Hillary Rodham Clinton, there's some episode where all of the financial investments made on her behalf had an amazing return rate, consistently.
under the laws of quantum mechanics the implausible can spontaneously occour, but massive spying leading to derived insider intelligence/trading could also be an wacky explanation - not that I'm implying that's the situation in her case, of course not, allegedly.
Peter Wright (Spycatcher) mentioned that UK Gov just used to lean on the GPO (was it?) to give a 'random' ERNIE Premium Bond payout when the MI5/6 needed some slush-fund... transparently GCHQ don't have a robust financial department otherwise they wouldn't need the US NSA bribery of ±£30,000,000/pa for spying on the US citizens that the NSA can't legally do.... No FISA necessary for field station Harrogate
Many of the 'Office of Tailored Access' products - that the NSA use to find, then exploit vulnerabilities in their targets - from all Americans to Chancellor Merkel - these exploited PC's/device can easily be GIVEN data - rather than just Vacuuming it up. There must exist an false-blackmail/bugger/kiddiepr0n log of 'who has been taken-out' somewhere - and presumably this individual attack form of Cyberwarfare hasn't been FISA discussed either!
So apart from the ability to subvert legitimate private correspondence, presumed illegal unwarranted surveillance & post-factum legal-process invention/perjury to hide the NSA surveillance, alleged reprisals against individuals who dared say 'NO' (Nacchio/Qwest), whatever they did to Gareth Williams (& whoever did it), possibly tampering with SWIFT, VISA etc financial transactions, possible/probable corruption of senators congressmen presidents lawmakers judges journos, ignoring the explicit words and context of the constitution, backdooring internet commerce & safety & security products' crypto, biasing telecoms & networks Standards, scarfing our data, lying cheating stealing, further lying about lying, denying...., stockpiling all our data in FVEY establishments where Russkie spies like Delisle were able to raid their/our Honey-Jar, having zero insider effective security (Snowden 2013 & Mafia/PRC/Al-Q earlier..?)... what has the NSA done for us?
er, yeah, Right!
What you are not catching is the fact that more and more political statements, of increasing importance, are being made against the whole NSA debacle, and now against the USA directly. That in itself is important because it means that there is a growing movement that will end in a serious backlash.
Ever since Snowden outed himself, official malcontent has been rising. All of those stating that it is hypocritical to rail against known spying are missing the point : there is now an opportunity to crack down on this unacceptable situation, and politicians are nothing if not opportunistic. And hypocritical, of course, that goes without saying.
The important thing is that yes, everyone has always been spying on everyone (Nixon : prior art - and he paid for it, not like current presidents), but this horse bolted way farther than anyone had ever thought possible. Now, politicians all over the world are beginning to grasp just how vulnerable they are, and they don't like what they see. So Snowden has given them the chance to clamp down on the extent of this spying, and make themselves look good in the process. For any politician, this is much too much a win-win position to miss.
The fact that it potentially benefits them all personally since their little sexual affairs and financial mismanagement will be that much harder to uncover when the NSA gets its claws clipped is just cherry on the cake.
It ist quite obvious that the US and the UK Governments and secret services do not understand deep down just how badly they managed to screw up.
When Merkel, the various ministers of her government an spokespeople of the German secret services state that one does not spy on friends, it means just that. I am quite convinced that the German secret services do not spy on their partners and the the German politicians would consider that to be dishonorable, because you don't do that to friends. Naive? Quite possibly. But that's how the German government is wired. Until now...
Any such program on the side of the German security Services, if it came to light, would have resulted in a domestic political meltdown. Until now...
What will infuriate the Germans, and quite possibly the rest of Europe, even more is the blatant sanctimoniousness meretriciousness of the official comments in both the US and the UK, running, as they do, along the lines of "Well, everybody does it, so there!". The Germans don't see it that way.
The backlash will hurt UK industry. Think about public contracts in Germany and the rest of the EU and bidders like Computacenter and British Telecom, who as British companies, and thus being subject to the wims and vagaries of GCHQ and whatnot, are now a priori untrustworthy. This will hurt the UK as a service provider.
And both the US and UK services will find doors slamming in their faces if they don't come clean real soon now.
You're indulging in wishful thinking if you believe the Germans are not doing something like this. It's already been shown in the Snowden leaks that the NSA is sharing technology, training and tools with the German SigInt agency. It's probably just that like the rest of security-related spending, Germany spends x, and the U.S. spends 10x.
'Senator Dianne Feinstein .. argued that the spy agency's mass data trawls of phone records and other data was necessary because the spooks need to act quickly to catch terrorists and need "the haystack of records in order to find the terrorist needle."`
Yes, all my terrorist acquaintances use Facebook, Second Life and Twitter to plan outrages ..
Right. They may catch a few amateurs that way, but the ones they really need to stop, the most dangerous, are most likely just as intelligent as they are and would never use any kind of traceable public comms system. If you are doing something dodgy, you would have to assume that everything is suspect. Wasn't it Osama BL that used personal trusted couriers for communication ?.
All this snooping on the soft target of computeres and electronc communications suggests more than a whif of self agrandisement, justification for big budgets, illusions of grandeur and posturing and for what end ?. Reminds me of the old Spy vs Spy strip in Mad magazine. Seemed funny at the time. (Heck, did I ever read that :-). Yeah, i'm sure there are real threats, but submitting to all this just to stop the occasional bomb in a crowded shopping centre seems like a bad deal to me. There will always be those that get through the net and we have to accept that.
In the end, it's about the sort of society we want to live in: One in which the assumption is that most people are honest and have decent intentions, or the sort where everyone is always a suspect. The latter encourages paranoia, extremism and has a corrosive effect on all human interactions. Even Thatcher didn't turn this country into a police state after the outrage of the Brighton bombing, so why should we have to submit to it now ?...
If you ask me, the correct response from, say, Germany, would be to grant Edward Snowden asylum.
Logistically I don't know how that would work but in principle, the message is a strong one - essentially saying that any whistle-blower in the NSA who makes it there will be protected.
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