[BleepingComputer] UK Passes the Most Extreme Surveillance Law in the History of Western Democracy
- Thread starter parityboy
- Start date
I've certainly worked in the field, and I know some of the technologies involved.
Firstly, criminals will simply use other methods of communication, eg the unencrypted text messages used to coordinate the Paris attacks. Or simply use communication channels outside the remit of UK ISPs.
Secondly, there is absolutely no reason to think that bulk data collection will actually throw up any useful information (for fighting terrorists - the information will of course be useful for a government that wants to profile its people). It's one thing to collect huge amounts of data, but unless the government gets lucky - and thats all it will be really - it takes a long time to process it into information.
Then there is the concern of a single (or of course distributed) source of private data, with multiple sources of ingress. Do we think that anyone of the 48 agencies that have access to this information won't be the target of hacks?
Its a fairly obvious fallacy though that people seem to fall foul of in many walks of life - if people have options they will use them - criminals will hide behind an encrypted chat service because they know (or think) it provides some level of protection - once they know those services are monitored/weakened they have no reason to continue using them - they have other options for hiding their communications but unfortunately some people don't seem to understand that. All you do here is make everyone more vulnerable to criminals while chasing something that has moved on and the odd ones you do catch are the sloppy ones who would be possible to also catch via other methods - so it would be far better use of the resources to invest in the ability of the intelligence services to carry out their job.
Last edited:
No need for a hack, just wait until someone leaves a laptop with access on a train
Or saves some of the data to an internet connected hard drive with no password
Not sure if this was covered earlier, but this part is specifically gaining some traction now
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/30/investigatory_powers_act_backdoors/
"one that has not gained as much attention is the apparent ability for the UK government to undermine encryption and demand surveillance backdoors.
As the bill was passing through Parliament, several organizations noted their alarm at section 217 which obliged ISPs, telcos and other communications providers to let the government know in advance of any new products and services being deployed and allow the government to demand "technical" changes to software and systems."
"And in the broader picture, will the UK government be able to force the likes of Twitter or Facebook or Google or Apple to introduce backdoors and/or hand over user data? And the answer to that is: let's wait and see.
The UK government can certainly insist that a company not based in the UK carry out its orders – that situation is specifically included in the new law – but as to whether it can realistically impose such a requirement, well, that will come down to how far those companies are willing to push back and how much they are willing to walk away from the UK market."
I look forward to them asking apple, who have made their position on encryption quite clear in the past.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/30/investigatory_powers_act_backdoors/
"one that has not gained as much attention is the apparent ability for the UK government to undermine encryption and demand surveillance backdoors.
As the bill was passing through Parliament, several organizations noted their alarm at section 217 which obliged ISPs, telcos and other communications providers to let the government know in advance of any new products and services being deployed and allow the government to demand "technical" changes to software and systems."
"And in the broader picture, will the UK government be able to force the likes of Twitter or Facebook or Google or Apple to introduce backdoors and/or hand over user data? And the answer to that is: let's wait and see.
The UK government can certainly insist that a company not based in the UK carry out its orders – that situation is specifically included in the new law – but as to whether it can realistically impose such a requirement, well, that will come down to how far those companies are willing to push back and how much they are willing to walk away from the UK market."
I look forward to them asking apple, who have made their position on encryption quite clear in the past.
No need for a hack, just wait until someone leaves a laptop with access on a train
Or even more insidiously gets bribed for their access.
I am using Free VPN but i am thinking to get premium VPN. Express OR PureVPN but expres is quite expensive than pure.
You are 100% correct
Last edited:
Deleted member 68110
Deleted member 68110
Thanks for that quote - I hadn't seen that. The "Nothing to hide, nothing to fear" logical fallacy is so f-ing annoying and endemic.
Thanks to you I found some other good stuff he said that I hadn't seen:-:-
"Nobody needs to justify why they 'need' a right...The burden of justification falls on the one seeking to infringe upon the right."
"You can't give away the rights of others because they're not useful to you."
Associate
- Joined
- 28 Nov 2016
- Posts
- 64
How is the service going - Hows the speed throughput while connected to the VPN?
By using their desktop client, they call it Eddie, my main PC connects to a VPN server if my choice, depending on load and ping etc. That tends to give me around 95+% of what speed I would expect without using a VPN. Sometimes full speed. I'm still testing that aspect of the service.
I have configured my router to use OpenVPN client and so connect to another of their servers that way and so route other PC's etc through that. Other connections I just use the WAN connection of the router, things like TV's and bypass the VPN.
If you check their website and do some reading they seem to be a pretty good choice amongst those providing a VPN service.
They aren't the cheapest but maybe to choose a VPN service on cost only isn't the best way to do it.
Associate
- Joined
- 28 Nov 2016
- Posts
- 64
Thanks for your feedback - Much appreciated
Does the App have an option to "Connect on Bootup" , my Virgin Hub cannot be configured to run a VPN so i would use the bootup option , which is probably the same "way" as using a VPN Router?
Yes it does. It also has the option to connect to the previously connected server or the one it believes is the best available.
It can also use other options as well as a network lock until connected.
There are guides available in their forums which go into detail.
I use the.2.11 RC version of their client. The stable version is 2.10.
The advantage of the client over the router is that if using a fast connection it doesn't overload the router, which can easily happen.
You can request a 3 days free trial with them.
Last edited: