[CS-FSLUG] An End to PC Privacy

["國產 Wei-Yee Chan (Made in Chinar)"]

http://www.unknowncountry.com/news/?id=4531

An End to PC Privacy
10-Apr-2005

Think you're anonymous when you fire off a nasty letter on the internet
or peruse that forbidden porn site? A computer researcher has found a
way to track exactly what any computer is doing on the internet—so you
could be being watched.

Anonymous Internet access is actually now a thing of the past.
Researcher Tadayoshi Kohno says he is capable of tracking what websites
an individual computer user logs onto and accessing a list of computer
addresses from any computer, even when the computer needs a password to
be entered. Covet operators can already "read" data written on word
processors from a distance, using the same type of satellites that
transmit cell phone calls. If the government has its eye on you and you
communicate with your cohorts via the internet, the CIA no longer has to
convince a judge to let them bug your phone—they can "read" your mail—or
any manifestos you may be writing—at a distance without your even
knowing it. If you see a suspicious-looking satellite dish on the
balcony of an apartment across the street, you could be being bugged.

You can't protect yourself from internet surveillance by having several
IP addresses for the same computer, either. Spies can easily spot that
ruse. Two new books, "No Place to Hide" by Robert O’Harrow and "Chatter"
by Patrick Radden Keefe, address the future of anti-terrorism tactics
such as these. While these techniques will make it easier to spot and
ward off terrorist plots, like many other anti-terrorism activities,
they steal the freedom and privacy of the average person, as well.