NSA Uses EFF Images To Explain Tor; EFF Jokingly Claims Creative Commons Violation
from the now-wouldn't-that-be-a-fun-lawsuit dept
With this morning’s revelation of how the NSA and GCHQ are trying to attack Tor, some of the presentations being used by the NSA to explain Tor are somewhat interesting or amusing. For example, in one presentation about the program EgotisticalGiraffe (I don’t make ’em up, so don’t ask), the NSA amusingly feels the need to highlight the fact that “terrorists” use Tor:


Either way, another randomly amusing tidbit in the midst of all of this.
Filed Under: creative commons, fair use, nsa, nsa surveillance, tor
Companies: eff
Comments on “NSA Uses EFF Images To Explain Tor; EFF Jokingly Claims Creative Commons Violation”
Hmmmmmm. Wonder if the NSA discovered the spyware lurking in those images, planted there by the EFF and designed specificity to infiltrate the entire NSA network, copy everything, and send it to super secret places before being revealed to the world. Muhahahaha!
(The’re already paranoid. Let’s really eff with them.)
Re: Re:
You know, THAT is what annoys me the most.
It is not some dry presentation drawn from the bowels of PowerPoint hell by some lobotomized wage slave.
The writing style and the kind of humor used, including the obviously self-deprecating jab by highlighting the “terrorists” word that way, shows that whoever made that presentation, and presumably that whole system, is one of us.
One. Of. Us.
It is not some faceless goon defined solely by his desire to screw over the whole Internet while cackling manically. It is a normal technologist like us, with a normal life, with normal desires. He might even be reading the comments here.
That is what hurts the most. It is not an “enemy” attempting to destroy the whole of the Internet civilization. It is someone who should be an ally. To another technologist like me, it feels like betrayal.
Re: One.Of.Us.
Well, consider where they got the graphics. To do that they would have to read the web site, which means hearing all the arguments against the NSA’s activities.
Including the EFF slides whole was an act of subversion.
The NSA was afraid that if they tried to explain, in their own words, how TOR works they will get something wrong and be made fun of by the entire Internet community. So, instead, they figured a safer bet was to just copy an explanation from the EFF.
Re: Re:
No. It isn’t fear. It’s laziness. Why bother making your own presentation when you can simply grab something someone else already put together and made available publicly.
It bears repeating
The kind of terrorist who sends their plans over the Internet, encrypted or not, is not the kind of terrorist we should be most worried about.
They forgot the ZOMG before “Terrorists!”
T for Torrist. “No shit”
What’s funny is: EFF is probably lumped in with the Terrorists! that slide talks about
Re: Re:
The NSA and its kin are supplying the terrorists with all of reactive ammunition than they can possibly use. How many Vietnams, Iraqs and Afghanistans do we have to have before we learn.
Re: Re: Re:
AC, I don’t think they see Vietnams, Iraqs and Afghanistans as bugs, but as features. There’s a hungry MIC to keep fed by all those fat war machinery contracts, after all. Peace is bad for business as far as they’re concerned.
EFF says: “If you redistribute something you got from the EFF site, it is appreciated if you make it known where the file originated, so people can get more info or updated versions.”
Does “appreciated” imply you must do it legally?
Aaaaaarg