Assange Watch

nexus · Post by **nexus** » 27 Jun 2013, 11:22

Have you read his new book em? I'm part way through it- just finished the political collapse chapter, in it he says some very prescient things about governments spying on their populaces.

If you've read it what did you make of it? I am getting a lot from it, he's really fleshed out his previous arguments and thinking. I agree too with your analysis that stages one and two are overlapping and ongoing and in the last two years we've seen the worldwide start of stage three.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 27 Jun 2013, 11:31

Don't be misled by its sub-title - "a survivors' toolkit" - it's not a "here's how to prepare", stockpiling and jam making sort of thing. I think that may be a disappointment to some not attuned to Orlov's way.

A large part is an analysis of present-day or recent 'cultures' which have survived or collapsed, in an attempt to get the reader to place the reasons for those collapses/survivals in a wider context.

In other words, it's mainly about getting you analysing your own life, society, culture and country and mentally preparing. It's intended to be subversive.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 27 Jun 2013, 11:46

vtsnowedin wrote: You have to wonder how clever the fellow is? If he thought it out he will have kept some very important secrets, secret and let those that are pursuing him know that if he is arrested or turns up dead they will be released by some mechanism that works regardless of their acts against him.

You aren't following this very closely, are you? That is EXACTLY what he has done.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 27 Jun 2013, 11:49

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 27 Jun 2013, 14:06

emordnilap wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote:If he thought it out he will have kept some very important secrets, secret and let those that are pursuing him know that if he is arrested or turns up dead they will be released by some mechanism that works regardless of their acts against him.
Have a read.

And the moral of the story is: Never, ever, p!ss-off your SysAdmin.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 27 Jun 2013, 15:06

Obama is backing off on the rhetoric.

Seems to know when he is beat.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23084166

"I am not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker," he added

Never stopped them before...

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 27 Jun 2013, 15:23

From a genocidal war against the continent's original inhabitants to the institution of slavery to Jim Crow . . . to Vietnam, Agent Orange, the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, shock and awe bombing, torture, ecocide, drone warfare . . . to the millions of people trapped in our prison gulag . . . the agenda of empire has been going on, with unquestioning public support, for far too long. What the empire fears most is the day that it can no longer take this support for granted. That day is coming.

More here.

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 27 Jun 2013, 20:19

Our spring is coming

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 27 Jun 2013, 20:33

emordnilap wrote:
From a genocidal war against the continent's original inhabitants to the institution of slavery to Jim Crow . . . to Vietnam, Agent Orange, the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, shock and awe bombing, torture, ecocide, drone warfare . . . to the millions of people trapped in our prison gulag . . . the agenda of empire has been going on, with unquestioning public support, for far too long. What the empire fears most is the day that it can no longer take this support for granted. That day is coming.
More here.

Very well written, and right to the point. Excellent.

JavaScriptDonkey · Post by **JavaScriptDonkey** » 27 Jun 2013, 21:45

UndercoverElephant wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote: You have to wonder how clever the fellow is? If he thought it out he will have kept some very important secrets, secret and let those that are pursuing him know that if he is arrested or turns up dead they will be released by some mechanism that works regardless of their acts against him.
You aren't following this very closely, are you? That is EXACTLY what he has done.

Hmmmmm.

I think that the chances of a NSA contractor having access to the encrypted versions of top secret dirt files is slim to none. I also think that the chance of him ever having access to the decrypt keys is absolutely zero.

What he knows is going to revolve around the scope and scale of the snooping on US citizens. The average US citizen couldn't care less that the USG has been caching every bit flowing through the country from foreign traffic for years but has a constitution to defend their rights to privacy in their own country.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 27 Jun 2013, 22:09

JavaScriptDonkey wrote:
UndercoverElephant wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote: You have to wonder how clever the fellow is? If he thought it out he will have kept some very important secrets, secret and let those that are pursuing him know that if he is arrested or turns up dead they will be released by some mechanism that works regardless of their acts against him.
You aren't following this very closely, are you? That is EXACTLY what he has done.
Hmmmmm.

I think that the chances of a NSA contractor having access to the encrypted versions of top secret dirt files is slim to none. I also think that the chance of him ever having access to the decrypt keys is absolutely zero.

It was him who encrypted them, presumably. If not, the story doesn't make any sense.

As an aside, a long time ago I worked for the computer systems department at BAe. And I had access to all sorts of things that would have breached the official secrets act had I stolen and released them. Not one of them was encrypted.

JavaScriptDonkey · Post by **JavaScriptDonkey** » 27 Jun 2013, 23:47

UndercoverElephant wrote:As an aside, a long time ago I worked for the computer systems department at BAe. And I had access to all sorts of things that would have breached the official secrets act had I stolen and released them. Not one of them was encrypted.

It is still common in places that should know better

However modern processor speeds, TPM infrastructures, whole disk encryption, claims policy access rights management and the universal availability of complex certificating authorities now make secure file encryption a triviality for anyone that wants it.

I have to assume that the NSA (who wrote these standards) want it.

I still suspect that it will evidence of wholesale breaches of trust of the US people conducted by the USG on US soil that is most feared.

The shadow of Nixon looms large.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 28 Jun 2013, 01:49

UndercoverElephant wrote:
vtsnowedin wrote: You have to wonder how clever the fellow is? If he thought it out he will have kept some very important secrets, secret and let those that are pursuing him know that if he is arrested or turns up dead they will be released by some mechanism that works regardless of their acts against him.
You aren't following this very closely, are you? That is EXACTLY what he has done.

Exactly correct. At present I am working ten to twelve hour days working with a construction crew repaving a stretch of interstate highway and the only thing I am monitoring closely is the next hours weather forecast as paving in the rain doesn't work well at all and loads of asphalt wasted cost $1600 each.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 28 Jun 2013, 15:32

This is interesting.

The relationship provides a rare window into the U.S. law enforcement investigation into WikiLeaks, the transparency group newly thrust back into international prominence with its assistance to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Thordarson’s double-life illustrates the lengths to which the government was willing to go in its pursuit of Julian Assange, approaching WikiLeaks with the tactics honed during the FBI’s work against organized crime and computer hacking — or, more darkly, the bureau’s Hoover-era infiltration of civil rights groups.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 28 Jun 2013, 15:41

The US, hypocrisy and Edward Snowden: a Marxist view.

Putin certainly hasn’t suddenly become a convert to human rights. Rather he has in mind the various political opponents of his that are wanted for tax-fraud in Russia, but are currently living a life of leisure in the UK and the US. Two can play this game, is what he is really saying.

Snowden and Assange are effectively imprisoned - and for the US, 'guilty until proven.' Well no actually, simply guilty.