Next Up: the Jamming Wars 209
chicksdaddy writes "ITWorld has an interesting opinion piece on the next privacy battleground, which they say will be over citizens' rights to use jamming technology to (forcibly) opt-out of ubiquitous surveillance, as sensors pop up in more and more public spaces and private homes alike. 'Given the rapid pace of technological change, we don't know exactly what the future holds for us. But one thing is certain: personal privacy is going to turn from a "right" to a "fight" in the next decade, as individuals take up arms against government and private sector snooping on their personal lives.' The article mentions some skirmishes that have already occurred: employees using GPS jamming hardware to prevent employers from tracking their every movement, and the crush of new business for encrypted voice, video and texting services like SilentCircle (up 400% in the last two months). 'Absent the protection of the law, citizens should be expected to do what they do elsewhere: take matters into their own hands: latching onto tools and technology to give them the privacy that they aren't afforded by the legal system. However, there may not be an easy technology fix for ubiquitous, unregulated surveillance. Writing in Wired this week, Jathan Sadowski warns that the tendency for individuals to focus on securing their own data and communications and using technology to do may be misleading. 'The problem is that focusing on one or both of these approaches distracts from the much-needed political reform and societal pushback necessary to dig up a surveillance state at its root,' Sadowski writes."
Re:When Paintball Guns are Outlawed... (Score:5, Insightful)
Worse - you don't bring a paintball gun to a tactical nuclear weapons fight. Sure, us little guys can buy gizmos and change habits but if you have the power of any major government after your ass, you're toast. Even sophisticated people like Laura Poitras [nytimes.com] are hassled to the point of having to leave the country.
Unless you've got some major new technology that can defeat the status quo, the only answer is to fight them at the ballot box.
Goodluckwiththat.
Re:Easy solution (Score:2, Insightful)
Be warned however; while this won't happen to humans, animals like cats have eyes which produce similar effect.
Yeah, people never get red-eye in photos.
Re:LIcense Plate Scanners (Score:5, Insightful)
It'd be easier if citizens, fed up with them, just spraypainted over their apertures.
There is spray paint covering half of Baltimore. Why not just add a little more?
Re:LIcense Plate Scanners (Score:5, Insightful)
I cannot imagine how people think deliberately obscuring your license plate could ever possibly be legal.
Because it isn't obscured - to humans. The law doesn't say it needs to be readable by machines.
Re:LIcense Plate Scanners (Score:5, Insightful)
This one is only good for those cameras that use a flash:
The ones that take your photo when you break the speed limit? If only there was some other way to avoid getting your photo taken by those...
Re:jamming tech wont be allowed (Score:2, Insightful)
FWIW, I really, really want to take your post seriously, but it's nigh impossible to do so when you consistently mis-spell the word, "surveillance"
Our fault (Score:5, Insightful)
We have been blithely feeding bits of our privacy to corporations for years. Neilsen, survey companies, members discount store cards, google, facebook, mobile phone providers. The list goes on and on. The data is there and we GIVE it away for things we ostensibly want.
Is it any surprise now that the government wants the same and more? Google is an advertising company. They have show how much can be made in this way, and the data that can be gathered. They give us the tools that we need in order to be able to better serve their customers. Government is supposed to protect the people, and as is often the case, has taken it to far. The individual NSA analyst may think he is doing a greater good sifting through your 'metadata' and believe it whole-heartedly. However he is really just feeding the military-data complex, which is simply an offshoot of the military-industrial complex. It is tied up with money galore, corporate greed and self interest, and kickbacks and graft, um I mean campaign donations, to grease up the politicians who feed it to us if they don't buy it for free
This thing has inertia, it is armed, and comes with more power than even a large group of 'regular' joes can easily fight. Especially since most of the country is apathetic and/or splintered of bullshit issues like gay marriage. This has been a long time coming, and people have fought, but they get swept up and under by the machine. People like Manning, Snowden, Assange, they are doing the things that Patrick Henry and Ben Franklin would likely be proud of. They have stood up against a government that enables people to steal away little by little the wealth that this country and its people generate. They have stood up to say, no, this is not what america is supposed to be. And whether you agree with their methods or motivations, have you stood up? Have I? Or have we both sat down to watch the Cowboys game again?
Unfortunately it will end one of two ways that I see. The continuing downhill slide until finally comes to a bloody crash, or a bloody crash now. And by bloody, I mean bloody. And after? Brave words will be said, changes may be made, some deep some superficial, but sooner or later those near the top will realize...
"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"
Re:Easy solution (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:LIcense Plate Scanners (Score:4, Insightful)
You realize that it isn't pseudoscience, right? It's true science. The article you linked didn't even dispute that. It disputed the analysis of the results and thus its conclusions, but otherwise it was a sound experiment.
Pseudoscience relies on something that is impossible to replicate - like say, creationism (intelligent design - though there was evolution from creationism to intelligent design - they found a transition fossil in the documentation). Or ESP.
Just because it's on TV doesn't automatically make it "bad" - they follow the scientific method (hypothesis, experimentation, analysis, conclusions) and people are free to reproduce the experiments. The only caveat is "don't try this at home" because replication can require special knowledge. But they lay bare the steps they took and their data.
And yes, science does come up (often) with errors in procedure, errors in analysis, and errors in conclusion. Even in regular scientific studies.
Is it sensationalized? Of course. It's a TV show, one that's fighting for eyeballs and ad money like everything else. But to dismiss it does a real disservice to everyone to whom thinks "science is hard and boring".
If you think speed cameras are easy to defeat, then repeat their experiment. You can choose to use their equipment or someone else's (remember part of the conclusion is to determine why your results differ, and it could be equipment used - has happened many times before).
In general, those sprays are worthless, though. And plastic holographic covers are easy to tell because they usually easily obscure your license place at ground level (i.e., if it works for the camera, the cops will easily notice it too and fine you for obscuring your plate).
Also, in general, jammers and such are easily detected - if you're trying to prevent your face from being imaged, then you'll either wear IR glasses or funny facepaint, in which case people remember you as the "guy with the funny glasses or funny makeup". Try to look more normal and boring, and people forget you the moment you pass them.
Same goes for jammers and such - a jammer is a transmitter and those are trivially easy to spot.
Part of evading surveillance is trying to not stand out. Making your emails encrypted, wearing odd clothes or accessories, funny makeup, transmitters all call attention to yourself and bring MORE surveillance on you. Being absolutely boring and looking like everyone else and not sticking out? Well now, you've just made it a lot harder because you look, act, and behave like everyone else and is completely forgettable.
Re:When Paintball Guns are Outlawed... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:When Paintball Guns are Outlawed... (Score:3, Insightful)
The voting machines don't need to be rigged.
The candidates are rigged. The political parties are rigged. Congress is rigged. The judiciary is rigged.
No matter who you vote for, you're voting for servants of the corporate oligarchy.