Meeting with three men who have tried for years to warn about the dangers of generalized surveillance, in vain….
Since the turn of the millennium, groups of hackers and free Internet activists have argued that US intelligence agencies would set up a planetary-scale surveillance system capable ofto spy whole countries.
Among these whistleblowers, Christopher Soghoian, Jérémie Zimmermann and Jacob Appelbaum. THE relations listened to them, then forgot them, because they did not bring usable material evidence. They were sometimes taken for paranoiacs or extremists misled by their anti-Americanism.
Everything changed in the spring of 2013, when a consultant for the American National Security Agency (NSA), Edward Snowden, provided the media with thousands of documents authenticated de facto by the United States government, which did not dispute their provenance. . Today, the theories and intuitions of free Internet activists have acquired new weight.
Computer scientist, free Internet activist, Jacob Appelbaum is one of the designers of the TOR project, a vast network of servers allowing navigate on the Internet without help spot. He was also the spokesperson for WikiLeaks in the USA. In 2013 he moved to Berlin to to run away the police harassment of which he was the victim in his country.
What answeryou to those who say: "All this does not concern me, I have nothing to hide »?
Jacob Appelbaum: When someone says this to you, answer them: “So get naked, get naked in front of me, now. » Not only will he not do it, but he will get angry, because he will understand that you are trying totake le pouvoir on him. Then it will reflect.
Which help against the NSA when you're a private citizen?
On a personal level, not much. Se protect all alone in his corner, it's like to recycle three wastes for save the planet. This new mass surveillance system is totalitarian in the strict sense of the word, because there is no escape. Even if you don't go on the Internet, you are monitored, identified, located, in a thousand ways, including when you use your electronic pass in the metro – but you still go say I'm paranoid...
Many have not yet understood that they can but wish to remain conscious monitored, even if they are not of interest to services secrets. You will be stuck because you are the friend of a friend of someone they are interested in, or you meet him by chance. Instead of breeding information, the NSA keeps everyone's data, forever. Given their means and the continued decline in storage costs, it is doable.
What can help theEurope ?
First, Europeans must understand that this surveillance of entire countries is a new form of colonization. When I asked German elected officials why their country did not grant asylum policy to Edward Snowden (currently a refugee in Russia), several replied: “It's impossible, he wouldn't be safe here. » It is an implicit admission: facing the United States, theGermany is not quite an independent country.
Angela Merkel's phone has been tapped since 2002, long before she became chancellor. So don't think that she is the only German official to but wish to remain conscious spied on by the NSA. Or, facing the United States, theEuropean Union is weak, it practices the disastrous policy of appeasement. On the contrary, it should investigate in depth, all put on the table, everything publishthen lancer a major “Truth and Reconciliation” type operation.
What if no one reacts?
everything is fine to get worse. By constantly collecting masses of data about you, the surveillance system manufactures your digital doppelgänger, a double that becomes more real than you. Your profile and your graph social(mapping of your surroundings) are undoubtedly filled with erroneous information, but you will never be able to help rectifier, because you do not know they exist.
In countries where the United States carries out drone attacks to kill people identified as enemies, a person's guilt can but wish to remain conscious decreed by machines, which monitor communications andinvestments from his phone. No need to know his name, he is sentenced to death by a computer, because of his phone. I predict that the United States will extend their program of drone attacks, including in countries which today believe they are completely safe.
The worst thing about this case is that the NSA people are assured of impunity. Me, if I lie under oath in front of Congress, or if I hack into servers, I'm going to jail. Not them. That said, I can alsoto estimate happy. If I'm still alive, it's probably because I'm an American citizen, I'm Jewish and I have white skin. If I was a foreigner, black or Muslim, I would be dead today.
What counter-offensive would be effective?
The only solution is to multiplier leaks of secret documents. The world needs more brave men like Edward Snowden, who risk their lives to impose transparency. It is easy today for a young person who is technically well trained toinfiltrate these agencies, because they constantly need new talent. We must also Modify the tone of the surrounding speech. Everyone talks about “cyberwar” as if it were inevitable. It shouldStop a little, and speak rather "cyberpeace". Our role is to pacifier Internet.
Christopher Soghoian has three passports. After an adventurous life as a hacker and independent activist, he was hired in 2012 by the American Civil Liberties Union as an expert in "freedom of expression, respect for vie privée and technology”. He lives in Washington.
What effect does it haveto have been right before everyone else?
Christopher Soghoian: It's not encouraging, it's a bit like if I had repeated to a smoking friend that he was going to catch the cancer. The day he finds out he has cancer, I won't aller le tease shouting, "I told you so! I am terrified of Edward Snowden's revelations. I knew that the American State was watching us, but I had underestimated the extent of the means implemented. That said, it's nice to note that my friends have stopped believe that I was completely paranoid. It's an exciting time for people like me.
Have you changed your daily behavior?
Already, before the Snowden revelations, I paid for my purchases in cash, I did not have an account Facebook and, when I was in an important meeting, I removed the battery from my phone. Now, I take even more precautions, I have reinforced the security of my communications and my devices. For important interviews, I ask my interlocutors to venir se to walk with me in a park in Washington.
Are things going Modify in the USA ?
I have some hopes on the side of BUSINESSES. Many IT professionals working in the private sector are very angry. Their relations with official agencies will be distend. Some major internet services will no doubt reinforce personal data protection systems, in particular through encryption. Can also imagine than giants like Google ou Facebook find themselves in competition with newcomers, offering users more secure services. Through the simple play of the market, security could progress all over.
And for Europe?
Europeans must understand that elected American officials, even those who are very critical of the NSA, have no vocation to protect The foreigners. Europe's salvation will not come from this side. On the other hand, even if the United States government promises the Europeans not to to spy, he will not respect his word, he will continue to cheat and lie.
For Europeans, the only solution is technological. They can decide no longer utiliser US services, software and hardware. That said, the problem is deep. The creation of a European “sovereign cloud” will not lead very far. Even if Europeans keep their data on their territory, as long as their servers are connected to the Internet, the American secret services will be able to enter. They are very strong.
On the other hand, a country which is incapable of make proven own communication equipment is in a position of fundamental inferiority vis-à-vis the countries supplying the equipment. As long as French political and economic leaders use iPhone, they will have no hope ofescape under US supervision.
Jeremy Zimmerman is the co-founder of La Quadrature du Net, an association of to the defense citizens' freedoms on the Internet, installed at Paris.
How does a free internet activist feel today?
Jeremy Zimmerman: The fact ofto have alerting public opinion to this problem for years now gives us a great responsibility, because society as a whole looks to us to us solutions. We are at the forefront of this battle, and we will deliver. It's the mother of all battles because if we lose the freedom toto have a private life, we will to lose all the others.
How should target countries react ?
The first step is to admit that the problem exists, which is not obvious, and the second to to have want to solve. In some countries, such as Germany or Brazil, public opinion is cross these two steps. The third will be to imagine an alternative. This is the business of free Internet experts and activists. First we have to help an audit of the services and applications used by the general public. Everything that comes from the big Companys American is unrecoverable at the security level: direct trash.
The same goes for closed proprietary software, which cannot be inspect the internal workings. But it goes further. Must also examiner free software and encryption systems, for see if some have not been compromised. Then we will have to design alternative solutions – impose free software everywhere, to build decentralized networks, installer automatic encryption systems for all communications…
And in the longer term?
For finishit will take apply our solutions in the real world, it will be the business of the whole society. We should to start by countries with the political will to lancer this construction site.
We will also have to fill in our delay in the field of "free material". So far, hackers have focused on free software, and haven't known propose a credible alternative when it comes to devices. It is a mistake.
We have not fought enough against the arrival of new devices offered by the big manufacturers, whose business strategy is entirely based on information gathering and control. Today we can say that a smartphone is a machine to spy also allowing to call.
TAX REPORTING: EMPLOYEES PROTECTED WHISTLEBLOWERS
The law relating to the fight against tax evasion and major economic and financial crime, published in the Official Journal on Saturday 7 December 2013, notably improves the protection of whistleblowers.
No employee of the private or public sector (civil servant and agent not entitled to public law) may be sanctioned for having related or testified, in good faith, to facts constituting an offense or a crime of which he would have had knowledge in the exercise of his functions, including if this testimony was addressed to the press. Recruitment procedure, access to an internship, remuneration, dismissal, tenure, training, promotion…: article 35 of the law protects whistleblowers against any reprisals taken against them.
Please note: some associations which, through their statutes, aim to fight corruption can now exercise the rights granted to civil parties, in particular with regard to the offenses of corruption, influence peddling, concealment and money laundering.
See as well : The NSA practices massive geolocation of millions of mobile phones
– Video: Hacker Jacob Appelbaum explains the global surveillance system to the European Parliament
Source (s): Hoszhana.wordpress.com via Rowboat
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