hirvi74 2 days ago

Probably, but no telling.

Do you remember the "Heartbleed" exploit in SSL many years ago? There were allegations that the NSA knew about and used that exploit for many years before the public ever knew about. However, that is not exactly an easy statement to confirm nor deny.

Edit: I also wanted to add something I remember from a talk I saw with a person who once worked for the NSA. He was intentionally only talking about surface-level concepts, but he did mention that the one thing the NSA has, that most do not, is unlimited time and patience.

He said something along the lines of how they can just sit and watch a server, for example. Say that the server is on version 1.0.0 of whatever. Well, the NSA can find an exploit in version 1.1.0 and keep it under wraps. All they have to do is just wait. The second the server is upgraded to 1.1.0, then boom, they're in.

He also used the example of BYOD ("bring your own device") in workplace settings. Say they cannot can entry into somewhere. Well, if they can compromise someone's personal device, then they can just wait. The second the personal device connects to the network they want/is in close enough proximity to the network they want, then boom, they're in.

Be it one second, one hour, ... 10 years, etc.. They can wait. All it takes is one brief instance of a hole in the defense.

Truly some boogeyman level stuff, but I just hope they use their powers for good when possible. Though, I imagine plenty of other countries also have similar "arms race" abilities, which does complicate matters.

Some days, I just want to get a cabin in the woods, and get away from all this dystopian technology.

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  • Imustaskforhelp a day ago

    You want to live in a cabin in the woods , I kind of am.

    While I was writing this message , I was roaming out side in the street , my street isn't developed, so there is a lot of empty space 2 sides of my house.

    I saw a peacock flying & sitting in front of my house. It was so majestic. It's wings when they fly , the sound they produce is such majestic that it touches your mind.

    The solution isn't a cabin in the woods , the solution is living in such remote area like I live , seriously I am not that far away from the main town , but still this place is so nice I just realized but development would come , and houses would get built. Then there would be no more peacocks flying in.

    I really get what you are feeling. But I believe that getting away from dystopian technology is far more easier by degoogling with grapheneos or getting a dumb phone like me & linux with sandboxing each applications ,I do think that we can get far away , like they would need to find a bug in such things like qemu , pledge , flatpak etc. though I think they might already have found a bug in some version and like you said, are waiting.

    The only solution I can find is to read the source code of these sandboxing applications on linux and to never update it / it should be such that doesn't require updates , a completely minimal sandboxing solution.

    How can we imagine they use their powers for good , when the president has handed things over to oligarchy who want maximum profits. What benefit do they get from using their power for good ? None. I am sure that they are using the power of both good and evil.

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