ThePythonicCow
16th April 2017, 23:55
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The agencies of our elite overlords have tried several times, over the last few decades, to gain a monopoly on securely encrypted communication. One (in)famous such case happened 22 years ago, when the NSA proposed requiring all Internet communications devices to use what was called the Clipper Chip (http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2014/08/the-nsa-tried-this-before-what-the-90s-debate-over-the-clipper-chip-can-teach-us-about-digital-privacy-debates/) for any encryption of transmitted data. Only the government (and more resourceful thieves) would know the secret key or other means to break the encryption. The Clipper Chip proposal caused quite a bit of outrage at the time.
As a computer geek in Silicon Valley at the time, I followed the Clipper Chip closely, and breathed a sigh of release when it was beaten back.
Little did I realize at the time that another such, far more pervasive, surveillance and control grid, would be well on its way to global implementation, a couple of decades later.
===
There is now a far more serious threat to robust and secure communication between humans, relying on several key technologies, including HTTPS, GPS, the Internet of smart meters, smart cars and smart things, ubiquitous cameras, facial recognition, and wide spread use of the Web for all manner of social, commercial, financial, entertainment, and research activity.
HTTPS is the "secure" communication that earns the "green padlock" icon of safety in our web browsers. HTTPS relies on "security certificates" that are issued by "trusted" Internet companies and that provide the "trusted" encryption keys needed for "secure" Web access.
Whereas advocacy groups such as the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/clipper-chips-birthday-looking-back-22-years-key-escrow-failures) successfully opposed the Clipper Chip, they, including the EFF (https://www.eff.org/encrypt-the-web), are largely in favor of the web converting from HTTP to HTTPS. Most major websites have already converted. Google (Chrome), Mozilla (Firefox), Apple (Safari) and Microsoft (Edge) are pressuring other sites (including Project Avalon) to convert to HTTPS, by warning users that HTTP sites are not safe. Google (likely a partner of the CIA) is using its dominating position on the Web to force other Web companies, such as Symantec (https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/03/google-takes-symantec-to-the-woodshed-for-mis-issuing-30000-https-certs/) and Microsoft (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3004947/microsoft-shamed-by-google-over-pulled-patch-tuesday-security-fixes), to play by the Web security rules that Google imposes.
HTTPS is the "wave of the future" ... and the future is arriving rapidly.
Unfortunately, HTTPS presents a major threat (actually, multiple threats) to our freedom on the Web. They can both watch us (surveil us) and control us (block our access), by controlling HTTPS. Since only major corporations (that play ball with Google) issue and control the security certificates (the encryption keys) that encrypt and decrypt our HTTPS "secure" traffic, therefore only major corporations (that play ball with Google) have the keys to spy on us.
Not only can the agents of our overlords spy on us, they can disable our Web access. By downloading software updates to any Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, or Android device that is receiving automatic updates, they could disable all HTTPS access from that device for any individual, or any identifiable group of people.
Not only can the agents of our overlords disable individual access to all HTTPS sites, they can also, even more easily, disable any particular HTTPS website that has fallen out of favor, by canceling that site's security certificate.
An increasing proportion of the population is relying heavily on Web access to communicate (twitter, text messages, phone calls, Facebook, etc), to shop online, to pay for purchases made in person, to bank online, to pay utility bills and rent online, for entainment (Youtube, Netflix), and to follow the events (or sports games or whatever) of the day.
All the major websites and the bulk of Web traffic already uses HTTPS.
The main push from Web security experts is not to stop this, but to make HTTPS even more secure!
The agents of our overlords are rapidly setting up both global surveillance and global control. They are increasingly able to surveil humanity to a fine degree, tracking where we are and what we say or do They are increasingly able to control us, blocking any individual, group, or website, and blocking any purchase or communication, at will (their will.)
===
As I documented at the time, a couple of weeks ago in this post (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?93499-How-the-Elite-Bastards-will-control-the-Wild-Wild-Web.&p=1144169&viewfull=1#post1144169), I ran into this sort of block myself. I applied some software updates to my main Linux PC that (unexpectedly to me) disabled all my outgoing HTTPS traffic. Until I dug up some old fashioned web browsers that were less "secure", and restored a working configuration using backups, I was rather in a world of hurt. I couldn't access most websites; I couldn't run searches looking for technical information or software to download; I couldn't use Skype; I couldn't use email. Most people don't have extensive backups, the technical ability to troubleshoot such problems, and multiple old fashioned, HTTP only, web browsers ready at hand, especially if they are using iPhone or Android handhelds or Mac or Windows PC's, and have little control over what software they run.
===
HTTPS security certificates control who transmits Web packets to whom, and who can view inside those packets. To paraphrase George Carlin (http://www.publicseminar.org/2016/02/its-a-big-club-and-you-aint-in-it-george-carlin-as-social-and-political-theorist/), it's one big control grid, and you don't control it. A few giant corporations control the Web.
The World War II German Nazi's, the Cold War East German Stasi, and the Russian KGB must all be jealous of the degree of surveillance and control of the population that is now rapidly being deployed on a world wide basis.
===
My guess is that public disclosure of advanced alien energy and transportation technology will happen when our overlords have sufficient control over humanity that they can be confident that this new technology won't be used against them.
I'm guessing that such disclosure is not that far off ... unfortunately.
===
P.S. -- The "considered harmful" in this thread's title comes from a famous 1968 computer science paper by Edgar Dijkstra: "Go To Statement Considered Harmful" (pdf) (https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd02xx/EWD215.PDF).
P.P.S. -- I spelled out my concerns with cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in more detail in the Blockchain Will Save Free Speech thread Post #13 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?97032-Blockchain-Will-Save-Free-Speech&p=1145447&viewfull=1#post1145447), Post #14 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?97032-Blockchain-Will-Save-Free-Speech&p=1145456&viewfull=1#post1145456), and Post #24 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?97032-Blockchain-Will-Save-Free-Speech&p=1145709&viewfull=1#post1145709). Blockchain technology is not the key to our privacy and freedom; it's another technology that will prove useful to constructing an interlocking chain of gateways on the Web, under the control of major corporate interests, working on behalf of our elite overlords.
The agencies of our elite overlords have tried several times, over the last few decades, to gain a monopoly on securely encrypted communication. One (in)famous such case happened 22 years ago, when the NSA proposed requiring all Internet communications devices to use what was called the Clipper Chip (http://www.internethistorypodcast.com/2014/08/the-nsa-tried-this-before-what-the-90s-debate-over-the-clipper-chip-can-teach-us-about-digital-privacy-debates/) for any encryption of transmitted data. Only the government (and more resourceful thieves) would know the secret key or other means to break the encryption. The Clipper Chip proposal caused quite a bit of outrage at the time.
As a computer geek in Silicon Valley at the time, I followed the Clipper Chip closely, and breathed a sigh of release when it was beaten back.
Little did I realize at the time that another such, far more pervasive, surveillance and control grid, would be well on its way to global implementation, a couple of decades later.
===
There is now a far more serious threat to robust and secure communication between humans, relying on several key technologies, including HTTPS, GPS, the Internet of smart meters, smart cars and smart things, ubiquitous cameras, facial recognition, and wide spread use of the Web for all manner of social, commercial, financial, entertainment, and research activity.
HTTPS is the "secure" communication that earns the "green padlock" icon of safety in our web browsers. HTTPS relies on "security certificates" that are issued by "trusted" Internet companies and that provide the "trusted" encryption keys needed for "secure" Web access.
Whereas advocacy groups such as the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) (https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/clipper-chips-birthday-looking-back-22-years-key-escrow-failures) successfully opposed the Clipper Chip, they, including the EFF (https://www.eff.org/encrypt-the-web), are largely in favor of the web converting from HTTP to HTTPS. Most major websites have already converted. Google (Chrome), Mozilla (Firefox), Apple (Safari) and Microsoft (Edge) are pressuring other sites (including Project Avalon) to convert to HTTPS, by warning users that HTTP sites are not safe. Google (likely a partner of the CIA) is using its dominating position on the Web to force other Web companies, such as Symantec (https://arstechnica.com/security/2017/03/google-takes-symantec-to-the-woodshed-for-mis-issuing-30000-https-certs/) and Microsoft (http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3004947/microsoft-shamed-by-google-over-pulled-patch-tuesday-security-fixes), to play by the Web security rules that Google imposes.
HTTPS is the "wave of the future" ... and the future is arriving rapidly.
Unfortunately, HTTPS presents a major threat (actually, multiple threats) to our freedom on the Web. They can both watch us (surveil us) and control us (block our access), by controlling HTTPS. Since only major corporations (that play ball with Google) issue and control the security certificates (the encryption keys) that encrypt and decrypt our HTTPS "secure" traffic, therefore only major corporations (that play ball with Google) have the keys to spy on us.
Not only can the agents of our overlords spy on us, they can disable our Web access. By downloading software updates to any Windows PC, Mac, iPhone, or Android device that is receiving automatic updates, they could disable all HTTPS access from that device for any individual, or any identifiable group of people.
Not only can the agents of our overlords disable individual access to all HTTPS sites, they can also, even more easily, disable any particular HTTPS website that has fallen out of favor, by canceling that site's security certificate.
An increasing proportion of the population is relying heavily on Web access to communicate (twitter, text messages, phone calls, Facebook, etc), to shop online, to pay for purchases made in person, to bank online, to pay utility bills and rent online, for entainment (Youtube, Netflix), and to follow the events (or sports games or whatever) of the day.
All the major websites and the bulk of Web traffic already uses HTTPS.
The main push from Web security experts is not to stop this, but to make HTTPS even more secure!
The agents of our overlords are rapidly setting up both global surveillance and global control. They are increasingly able to surveil humanity to a fine degree, tracking where we are and what we say or do They are increasingly able to control us, blocking any individual, group, or website, and blocking any purchase or communication, at will (their will.)
===
As I documented at the time, a couple of weeks ago in this post (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?93499-How-the-Elite-Bastards-will-control-the-Wild-Wild-Web.&p=1144169&viewfull=1#post1144169), I ran into this sort of block myself. I applied some software updates to my main Linux PC that (unexpectedly to me) disabled all my outgoing HTTPS traffic. Until I dug up some old fashioned web browsers that were less "secure", and restored a working configuration using backups, I was rather in a world of hurt. I couldn't access most websites; I couldn't run searches looking for technical information or software to download; I couldn't use Skype; I couldn't use email. Most people don't have extensive backups, the technical ability to troubleshoot such problems, and multiple old fashioned, HTTP only, web browsers ready at hand, especially if they are using iPhone or Android handhelds or Mac or Windows PC's, and have little control over what software they run.
===
HTTPS security certificates control who transmits Web packets to whom, and who can view inside those packets. To paraphrase George Carlin (http://www.publicseminar.org/2016/02/its-a-big-club-and-you-aint-in-it-george-carlin-as-social-and-political-theorist/), it's one big control grid, and you don't control it. A few giant corporations control the Web.
The World War II German Nazi's, the Cold War East German Stasi, and the Russian KGB must all be jealous of the degree of surveillance and control of the population that is now rapidly being deployed on a world wide basis.
===
My guess is that public disclosure of advanced alien energy and transportation technology will happen when our overlords have sufficient control over humanity that they can be confident that this new technology won't be used against them.
I'm guessing that such disclosure is not that far off ... unfortunately.
===
P.S. -- The "considered harmful" in this thread's title comes from a famous 1968 computer science paper by Edgar Dijkstra: "Go To Statement Considered Harmful" (pdf) (https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd02xx/EWD215.PDF).
P.P.S. -- I spelled out my concerns with cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology in more detail in the Blockchain Will Save Free Speech thread Post #13 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?97032-Blockchain-Will-Save-Free-Speech&p=1145447&viewfull=1#post1145447), Post #14 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?97032-Blockchain-Will-Save-Free-Speech&p=1145456&viewfull=1#post1145456), and Post #24 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?97032-Blockchain-Will-Save-Free-Speech&p=1145709&viewfull=1#post1145709). Blockchain technology is not the key to our privacy and freedom; it's another technology that will prove useful to constructing an interlocking chain of gateways on the Web, under the control of major corporate interests, working on behalf of our elite overlords.