Unfortunately nobody can be trusted

[beeblebrox]

Bill, could you please attach this message to the other one about the Backdoor in thinkpads? I did a mistake here with "new topic". Thanks!

So do you trust your government? Do you trust your provider?
And do you trust your hardware manufacturer?

Rumors, rumors... but:
I am currently on consulting work in Europe and I follow the news here... and it is shocking!

Here are some FACTS:
German, British, French and Scandinavian telecom providers track all your data and even have to store by law all connections for 24 months in a central data base, with free access to governments. Same with banks and social security. Since 2002 the German financial ministry has full access to all your bank accounts.

i.) In Germany there is a a new law in preparation that allows the governments not only to track your data but also to install a trojan horse onto your systems (They call it the "Buntestrojaner" - government trojan horse). Secret service even will be allowed to enter your home when you are away and to install espionage devices in your home and software on your computers. Anti-virus companies will not help, because they will not be allowed to interfere with this Buntestrojaner, by order of law.

ii.) There is a scandal right now that Deutsche Telekom (partly government owned) has secretly monitored all connections of various "suspicious" persons (the press, financial people and certain minority politicians)

iii.) It is a fact that certain government offices were secretly invaded by Chinese, Arabic and Russian agencies. It is all over in the daiyl news scandals. It was even briefly discussed by the German chancellor on her China visit.

iv.) There is a new scandal (today June 8, 2008 !!)that German secret police has a connection with NSA and CIA to exchange private information, which is if you are a labor union member or have special sexual preferences. Even EU internal phone calls and computer connections are available to the US. It is all under the umbrella of "war on terrorists". The EU in Brussels now has to decide on an meeting to decide on future actions and their souvereignty against the US.

v.) In fall 2007 there was a public scandal that cell phones from Nokia and Motorola were remotely reprogrammed from BKA (German secret sevice) and MI6 (UK secret sevice) to monitor and transmit conversations even when phones were turned off. It was invented by the US to catch Afganistan Talibans, but it is used now on "war on terrorists". Actually they found out about illegal workers on construction sites who were not registered to government tax agencies.

vi.) German and French governments have secretly monitored certain high profile citizens who are suspected to have larger undeclared funds of money in Switzerland and Lichtenstein. You can google about this situation in the daily news. Cell phones and computers have been monitored.

vii.) Last week some Swiss banks have decided to check their computer systems about illegal hacks and built-in backdoors when the long-run discussions with the US finance ministry broke down due to the fact that Switzerland guarantees and insists on a bank secrecy, along with Lichtenstein. They have figured out that their PC systems have been attacked by "some friendly nation overseas".

viii.) Germany introduced a nation-wide automatic toll system for their Autobahns. Trucks need to have a device that can transmit their ID for charging a fee using the streets. So far, so good. Due to the great money income of the toll, the current government wants to introduce this system for all cars. Austria, Scandinavia and UK are quite keen to buy that stuff as well! Money rules.
But now, a few years later, it turned out that the automatic license plate recognition to identify the truck, together with a remotely reprogrammed on-board toll-device is being used to monitor the movement of people. They are actually tracking suspects now.
If you don't believe this, google for current news in Europe.

And you think your computers and your Thinkpad is safe? Do we know what is in the BIOS?
Did they know what was in the BIOS of the Nokia phones or Siemens on-board truck devices? With a simple remote command these devices were turned to the dark side.

Just my 3cts (inflation adjusted)...

Note from Admin: Duplicate thread.

[mteddy]

Where are you coming from?

[RealBlackStuff]

@ beeblebrox
This board can not merge messages or threads.
Best thing for you to do, is add this same post to the other thread yourself, and edit the text of this post (like: see msg in thread so-and-so).
Then the mods should lock it.

BTW: it is Bundestrojaner!

[meditate2001]

Yes, everything i can confirm. these are bad days for freedom here in europe...everything is allowed under "war on terror".

even every provider has to save a profil for 6 months from every call you get and you do, on cell phones even the place where you are will get saved !!! for everybody !


who said 1984 ?