The NSA Is Looking To Contribute To A New x86 Security Feature To Coreboot

[deusexmachina]

First of All,
Thanks for Accepting my Apologies

Yes, I know that Security Agencies are needed,
The first thing that come to my mind is the Recent terrorist attach in the subway in St. Petersburg..very dramatic!!

But FSB is legislated by Law,they need to request Court access to data, I believe that FBI in the US is also obligated to do that...
NSA is another thing.. another entity with a 'black hole' in the Law System..

Does Russia has a Agency like NSA?
Because SVR,FSB are security forces, like CIA,FBI..

I believe Russia Doesn't own such a thing like the global colossus NSA( outside the Law ), even tough that Russian NDMC, is 19 times more powerful than what Pentagon have in the US..
But Russia NDMC is a military operation Center( like Pentagon in the US ), *I believe* its done inside the Law, and for military, terrorist threat's and so one..

NSA is a different thing, it was created with mass surveillance from the beginning, and that is scary..
And now they are pushing code in key opensource projects,
The outcome, if it can be predicted by any person( ... that reads news worldwide ), is to spy on people, this is my guess..

So in my Opinion Mass spy agencies should not be allowed to participate in OpenSource programs,
Like Coreboot,and others, because they derail entirely the project essence

A lot of Open-source projects, had their base in Freedom values, Privacy of its users,
This statements are not compatible with accepting mass spy agencies code inside..

And I don't know of another mass surveillance agency other than NSA itself..

Have any info on which OSS project NSA pushed code to? Any superior methods to vet?

[DavidKL]

Before Pollyannas ask us to trust blindly, remember that National Geographic literally has a televised documentary about the intelligence agent who was thrown out of a tall building, by his agency, to stop him from blowing the whistle. The agency didn't even know he would do that but decided he was a risk, so it went beyond Obama's "preventative detention" (lock someone up, indefinitely, for future crimes) to "preventative elimination".

And, yes, the government recently paid off the family.

Remember this example when thinking that outsiders, let alone the very people working for such agencies, are having their best interests kept at the forefront of policy and action. There are more resources available than tall buildings these days. Pretty soon, every square foot of human-occupied space will be monitored by a dozen devices, all the data going to massive computing complexes that greatly outstrip the ability of ordinary people to compete with (just as corporations will leverage AI to become even more "super people" than the Supreme Court already made them). Google is already working with the military to create drone assassination systems in the Middle East that anyone who is cautious should assume will be brought stateside. The only reason anything is known is because a judge decided to stop using the "standing" illogic to give carte blanche to the government. Need I also mention such things as Tuskeegee and the current situation with ethylene oxide?

[DavidKL]

Adjust your thinking: The fact that you are allowed to criticize your own country, it's Federal government and spy agencies shows you have true freedom. Chinese citizen criticizing it's own Government or spy agencies would have security troops storming his/her home within hour. After multiple infractions, he/she'd be imprisoned or sent to re-education camp. The total domestic surveillance Chinese put even on their own citizens, is literally insane. Orwell's "1984" feels like good naive amateur humor in comparison.

Tu quoque fallacy.

There is nothing close to "true freedom" in any nation. True freedom would mean everyone has the same personal resources. The same intelligence, looks, connections, nutrition from before birth, air/water/food quality, etc. Even different names can affect life outcomes, as research shows. Students with family names that start with A and B do better, statistically, in school than those with family names that start with T and W — simply because most teachers place students were "early letters" at the fronts of classes where they get more attention and are generally forced to be more attentive. Data shows that men who are given androgynous names like Robin do more poorly in life than those given names that are considered more masculine. This is why names like Leslie and Blanche, which were originally not "female names" became rare to non-existent for men. Once the taint of femininity was added to the name it became less of a seller for parents, in terms of naming their boys for the economic competition of their lives. Those are both minor factors. Add all the minor factors to the major ones and you don't have anything remotely close to true freedom. Of course, the paradox is that the death of individuality is a massive loss of liberty as well. Freedom is paradoxical. Not only is the individual always in conflict with society (and vice-versa), individuality both increases and decreases life quality — simultaneously.

Moving beyond those things, your argument is fallacious because it compares extremely terrible systems with a very poor system. It seems that you haven't taken into account how effective it can be to intimidate the masses by giving them some transparency. Let them know just how vulnerable/powerless they are. Let them complain. Societies have a long history of letting people "blow off steam" with things like carnivale, for good reason. It helps to maintain the status quo to give people the illusion of liberty, while also reminding them of their powerless status. It could be argued that one reason China is considered "developing" is because it hasn't mastered the approach of robbing people blind without making the boot on them so obvious. It's arguably better to make people actually think what's happening is in their interest. Bread, circuses, and credit cards.

[deusexmachina]

Tu quoque fallacy.

There is nothing close to "true freedom" in any nation. True freedom would mean everyone has the same personal resources. The same intelligence, looks, connections, nutrition from before birth, air/water/food quality, etc. Even different names can affect life outcomes, as research shows. Students with family names that start with A and B do better, statistically, in school than those with family names that start with T and W — simply because most teachers place students were "early letters" at the fronts of classes where they get more attention and are generally forced to be more attentive. Data shows that men who are given androgynous names like Robin do more poorly in life than those given names that are considered more masculine. This is why names like Leslie and Blanche, which were originally not "female names" became rare to non-existent for men. Once the taint of femininity was added to the name it became less of a seller for parents, in terms of naming their boys for the economic competition of their lives. Those are both minor factors. Add all the minor factors to the major ones and you don't have anything remotely close to true freedom. Of course, the paradox is that the death of individuality is a massive loss of liberty as well. Freedom is paradoxical. Not only is the individual always in conflict with society (and vice-versa), individuality both increases and decreases life quality — simultaneously.

Moving beyond those things, your argument is fallacious because it compares extremely terrible systems with a very poor system. It seems that you haven't taken into account how effective it can be to intimidate the masses by giving them some transparency. Let them know just how vulnerable/powerless they are. Let them complain. Societies have a long history of letting people "blow off steam" with things like carnivale, for good reason. It helps to maintain the status quo to give people the illusion of liberty, while also reminding them of their powerless status. It could be argued that one reason China is considered "developing" is because it hasn't mastered the approach of robbing people blind without making the boot on them so obvious. It's arguably better to make people actually think what's happening is in their interest. Bread, circuses, and credit cards.

Are you a baby boomer?

[tuxd3v]

Have any info on which OSS project NSA pushed code to? Any superior methods to vet?

I don't know mutch,
It seems that Coreboot could be the last one..
SeLinux is another
The AES system,
There are a lot of them for sure..
they also host a github, but for other projects..
_https_:_/_/github_.com_/_National_Security_Agency

The Tor project( for me is also of dubious origins, to be honest.. ),
It was also started by Agencies, and not by 'Freedom Evangelist's',
With the objective to project their 'operatives in the field', giving them a way to communicate, without their targets know about it..

But a lot of people uses it and think its a secure thing..
I would never use it, for obvious reasons.. to use it, I would need to check its code in all, understand it, and then, check all the network, were it operates on..