Computers

[FarvLarion]

 I've been lately thinking, about computers and stuff like that, and sure it's easy to get projections to come through the moniter and say televisions, but how hard do you think it is for someone to put something in the moniter or TV to send out data.  Especially with the new digital cable out, perhaps there could a cause for concern here.  The Government could spy on us far - far easier now!!!  

[pixiedoxen]

Actually what makes us think that they do not spy on us already.  Regardless of it being easy or not the point is that the government is probably spying on us through our computers, reading our files and personal stuff and figuring out what exactly we look for when we access the internet.  This country of ours (AMERICA) may seem to let us think that we are free but are we really???

[Tommy]

With more and more people becoming computer literate, it does seem highly unlikely that any Government would try such a scam.  However what does worry me is the £79 million the Government is investing in CCTV across Britain. Although CCTV has proven its effectiveness over recent years, street crime is dying down with a new surge in electronic crime, and the public cannot help but feel that our country is turning into a ‘Big Brother’ state.  :-/ :

[pixiedoxen]

NOTHING is unlikely when it comes to the government!

[ChrisStrickler]

By what do you mean the government being able to get information from your screen? If you mean as in being able to see what is on your monitor, thats easy enough. I have worked for companies that the security would regularily be looking at what was on someones monitor, in an effort (that was successful) to keep down employee theft (the employees would change prices of products to insanely low prices, 1/20th of cost, and then have a friend purchase it for them.) The government really wouldnt want to know this sort of stuff, in the exception of sex-offenders/violent criminals. The private sector would. Imagine if some big company in say, Redmond, decided they would put a program on your computer that would send them every website you went to? Guess what, it happens already. The Pentium3 Processor does this, unless of course you crack out that feature. IE is nothing more than a shambled together piece of spyware with html viewing capabilities. Use Opera, not a promotional plug by any means, but if you are concerned with that. Then again, to avoid all computer "issues", build yourself a copper clad room, and dont use the internet.

But a bicycle with only one wheel isnt a bicycle, if you know what I mean.

Chris

[pixiedoxen]

Chris,

What I am trying to say is that although I am sure anyone with very high knowlegde of computers are able to make it possible to crack into any computer to look at other peoples files or whatever, The government may not constantly do it (unless having suspicions or something) but they can go through any computer if they wanted to.  

I agree someone could just put all sorts of security features and just not go online, but whats the use????

[ChrisStrickler]

Which is exactly my point. Comes back to the why worry if what you are doing isnt illegal, immoral, or against some sort of government agenda. I try to avoid those three as often as is possible...

Chris

[Magikman]

 I'm sorry people, but there's way too much rampant paranoia in this thread. Here is 'reality';

 Yes, the FBI has their 'Carnivore'  program and that is cause for concern and/or alarm, but it only targets email transmissions and supposedly works from a 'keyword' list to ferret out emails of a criminal nature. Am I gullible enough to believe this is its only use, of course not, but there are ways to easily defeat it. There are email encryption programs available from a variety of sites you can download for free. Very good programs include PGP or SECURE/MIME. These programs must also be used by the receiver in order for them to 'read' your emails. The larger the bit size encryption capabilities, the more difficult it becomes to 'crack' the code. If this is too much trouble, you can also make use of anonymous remailers. The remailer takes away your address and then forwards your message to the recipient with an anonymous return address.

 If you are worried about someone remotely accessing information on your computer, there are a variety of ways to make access difficult if not impossible. Invest in a 'firewall' program. I personally use BLACK ICE DEFENDER to secure access to my computer. Another is called ZONE ALARM. These programs identify and close all open ports on your computer vulnerable to outside intrusion. I believe both mentioned programs offer a free 30 day trial demo on a variety of software download sites like www.download.com. You do have to purchase a full product if you wish to continue to use them, however. Here is a link to a site that gives you a little more information;

http://www.unh.edu/computer-security/pfw.html

 If you desire to keep anyone from knowing what websites you 'surf', make use of an anonymous proxie. Here is a simple explanation of its use;

As you browse the web, your IP address is visible to every server you visit. You can prevent your IP address from being obtained by using an anonymous proxy: your web traffic passes through the proxy to reach its destination, and vice versa, thus your own IP address remains concealed.

 In other words, a real good proxy will mask your true identity from anyone 'snooping'  illegal or highly dubious websites. There is a scale to rate the effectiveness of proxies, from a low of 1 to a high of 5. Here is a link to a site that goes into much more detail. It also gives you an opportunity to check your current proxy level to see how 'anonymous' you are;

http://allfreeweb.hypermart.net/proxy/help.html

  So you see, there are various ways to combat any 'paranoia' about your freedom and using the Internet. If all this seems too difficult and or time consuming, there is still this to consider. You are still only one among hundreds of millions of people currently 'on-line'. Chances are astronomically in your favor of ever being 'hacked' or 'violated' by some nefarious government agency. These odds drop of course if you draw attention to yourself with dubious, amoral, or criminal activity. If you keep your 'nose' clean, the government really isn't interested in you. Then again, common sense has little effect on 'paranoia'.

MAGIKMAN

[ChrisStrickler]

An anonymous proxie can still be traced, mainly becuase of the fact that the proxie itself uses a specific IP address, and the proxie server logs your IP. You never can really do anything without it in someway being logged.

For those of you with a lot of time on your hands, try an expirement for a week. Use the internet from as many different free places as possible, ie airports have access, public libraries, colleges etc. This is for those truly paranoid .

But in reality, like I said, everything ever done on a computer is logged in some fashion. Whether you know it or not, but heres the kicker. It doesnt really matter. So what if they log your email because you use "flag" words such as bomb, terrorist, what ever. Use them in every email, if you really want to mess with them. Same thing with international phone calls, a few people I know believe these to be recorded in their entirety, and then listened to by someone in either the FBI or CIA. One problem with this idea, do you have any idea how many phone calls are made internationally each day? I dont, but I could guess it to be pretty high. It would be impossible for them to listen to every conversation, even if they only searched for specific flag words.

Anyways, I must retreat into sleep before my tinfoil hat melts again.

Chris

[Magikman]

Chris,

  Then you search for an overseas proxy to use. Preferably in a country not as 'friendly' or 'co-operative' to the US government. Alternately, you string several proxies together, again, none with its origins within the US or 'democratic' countries. It would be hard for the FBI or even the CIA to obtain access to those logs. If you use those with a 4 or 5 'rating', the logging becomes much more difficult to trace, even to one or two of the anonymous proxie servers. The point to be made is that using your own computer is completely safe if you use the proper 'tools' available to you.

Magikman

[ChrisStrickler]

Yeah, this is true, you can do this. This is similar to the caller ID scam (not sure if they have this in other countries yet).

Call 1-800 555 TELL, a service called tell me. they give you a free, 5 minute phone call, to anywhere in the USA. Then dial anywhere you want to, and Tell Me for some reason shows up as the last person called on the caller id (or used to, back in december).

It can work, but many ways of getting around it. Too many to list, if you are interested in computer securities, go visit http://neworder.box.sk/ and or http://astalavista.box.sk/ . These are not exactly friendly "to the us and big business" sites, but they'll have a lot more information than I can pass on.

Chris