I'm all for catching these criminals, don't get me wrong on this. They're the scum of the earth, and deserve what they get under the rule of law. That being said, it is a little scary that government(s) was/were able to hack into systems that were thought to be secure and private. Same goes for the gov't being able to retrieve the crypto cash from the Colonial Pipeline ransom hack seemingly so easily.
This is an indication/red flag that there is no such thing as privacy anymore for the honest person that just wants to remain private. I, for one, find this disturbing.
Even if it wasn't a hack as we normally think of one, how does this differ from one of us buying a cell phone for what we think is private use, only to find out the gov't is recording everything? Where is the line drawn between catching criminals and infringing on the rights of the private citizen? If govt's could trick sophisticated criminals, then where does that leave us?
i share your concern. but i fear that that ship has sailed decades ago. i doubt there is any privacy for most everyday Americans. most of the online services we use spy on us WITH our consent. how many IOT devices are on your local network? how many of your neighbors have cloud monitored wifi security cameras? ISP provided routers? smart tvs and smart thermostats, amazon devices. bill gates computer operating systems.
perhaps spoiling the intel with random garbage is all we can do anymore.
When you get down to it, lots of ships have sailed...and for centuries, but that's exactly what we're here trying to fix. If not now, when? We can no longer afford to accept the status quo and become even more complacent than we've already been. That's how we got here in the first place.
In this day and age, I reserve judgment on stories like this until it is beyond any reasonable doubt that the white hats in the tale are who they should be. This could just as easily be law enforcement criminals eliminating competition from civilian criminals while accessing personal data for more compromising and blackmailing of the rich and powerful. Of course I want it to only be patriot white hats taking out all criminals from every walk of life, but my cynicism meter is stuck on 11 these days...
I'm all for catching these criminals, don't get me wrong on this. They're the scum of the earth, and deserve what they get under the rule of law. That being said, it is a little scary that government(s) was/were able to hack into systems that were thought to be secure and private. Same goes for the gov't being able to retrieve the crypto cash from the Colonial Pipeline ransom hack seemingly so easily.
This is an indication/red flag that there is no such thing as privacy anymore for the honest person that just wants to remain private. I, for one, find this disturbing.
Even if it wasn't a hack as we normally think of one, how does this differ from one of us buying a cell phone for what we think is private use, only to find out the gov't is recording everything? Where is the line drawn between catching criminals and infringing on the rights of the private citizen? If govt's could trick sophisticated criminals, then where does that leave us?
i share your concern. but i fear that that ship has sailed decades ago. i doubt there is any privacy for most everyday Americans. most of the online services we use spy on us WITH our consent. how many IOT devices are on your local network? how many of your neighbors have cloud monitored wifi security cameras? ISP provided routers? smart tvs and smart thermostats, amazon devices. bill gates computer operating systems.
perhaps spoiling the intel with random garbage is all we can do anymore.
When you get down to it, lots of ships have sailed...and for centuries, but that's exactly what we're here trying to fix. If not now, when? We can no longer afford to accept the status quo and become even more complacent than we've already been. That's how we got here in the first place.
In this day and age, I reserve judgment on stories like this until it is beyond any reasonable doubt that the white hats in the tale are who they should be. This could just as easily be law enforcement criminals eliminating competition from civilian criminals while accessing personal data for more compromising and blackmailing of the rich and powerful. Of course I want it to only be patriot white hats taking out all criminals from every walk of life, but my cynicism meter is stuck on 11 these days...