Comments | substitute: computers are hard and the government spies on me from the air vent

substitute

computers are hard and the government spies on me from the air vent

Dec 28, 2005 23:34

flata points out that some people lost their heads because the all-knowing government spy agency, the NSA, put cookies on people's computersA "privacy advocate" named Daniel Brandt is upset about this, and has previously been upset about the CIA using persistent cookies on their public website ( Read more... )

tinfoilhat, computers, privacy, no, idiots, security, paranoia, tinfoilpanties, tinfoilboxers, government

Comments 5

caladri December 29 2005, 07:46:08 UTC

Wow, that podjacking thing is comedy menstrual blood (ala comedy gold.)

yes, it sure is substitute December 29 2005, 07:48:13 UTC

It just gets better each time I read it.

Re: yes, it sure is brianenigma December 29 2005, 19:58:21 UTC

The podjacking stuff is pretty silly until you get to a service like iTunes or the Yahoo's podcast directory thinger. Those two big directories tend to hide the originating URL from users (because it is too scary or something), so most people have no idea if they are getting the "real" RSS or the repackaged-with-extra-advertising RSS feed and don't have enough of a clue to just subscribe directly to the real RSS at the real website (because podcasts come from the iTunes directory, in their mind, not from individual websites.) Trying to get the bad RSS delisted from those services is next to impossible.

gcrumb December 29 2005, 08:30:33 UTC

Darn those cookies to heck!

Now on top of everything else, they're blocking my access to livejournal.com. Some spook is giving me an 'access denied' message whenever I try to access it.

.... Either that, or I've borked my squidGuard whitelists. Personally, I'd rather just blame the NSA.

NSA,CIA,FBI, Chocolate Chip thesadtomato December 29 2005, 14:28:09 UTC

Criminy! I think people forget who the NSA are, really. (I used to live right near the NSA/dated someone who works there.)

These guys are nerds. They break codes, they make codes, and everything else is a variation on that or office support. It's math, people!

Now, granted, they're seven times larger than the CIA, and this might make us a bit suspicious, but if you're worried about domestic spying, the NSA is not the first place you look. The NSA does not spy on American citizens. They've really got bigger fish to fry.

The FBI, on the other hand . . . they're much more likely to be interested in your cookies.