Luckily our IT department is too lazy to read everything. I walked in last week and some of them were playing warcraft...I shiat you not

First Amendment rights don't apply to gay muslim foreigners.

But but but....

Well, no. No you don't. I take it somebody is suddenly surprised by this?

dittybopper: DAR: dittybopper: There *ARE* ways around that, but they tend to be too cumbersome for most people to use.

True you could encrpt your emails but that would just get NSA, HLSEM, DEA, ATF, etc, etc, etc, curiosity up and then they would spend the time to decrpt the emails using their house super computers and you would have lost the "expectation of privacy" anyway.

There is one way to encrypt that is unbreakable both in theory, and if used correctly, in practice. No amount of super computers can ever break it, and you can implement it completely manually, not having to use a computer or other vulnerable electronic device to encrypt or decrypt (though by definition you will use them to transmit the encrypted message(s)).

Curiosity piqued. To what do you refer?

After spending 9 years of my life in infoSec with a few witchunt-prone bosses for a few of those years, there's one piece of advice I can give you regarding privacy: If you don't want auditors (and IT snoops) seeing something then don't do it on your work computer.

macadamnut: First Amendment rights don't apply to gay muslim foreigners.

Did you go into the wrong thread?

I know that the system admins have better things to do than watch my traffic or watch what I am doing however I am fully aware that they can if they want to.
Why would anyone at any job have an expectation of privacy on their company's network.
Now, factor in the government and that expectation of privacy should not exist at all.

Weaver95: well we can't have people blowing the whistle on corruption. that simply will not do.

If you are going to use the companies whistle to be a whistle blower, expect for them to monitor all of your communications. Seriously what did they expect to happen? These scientist should have realized that if they are emailing from company computers that they will eventually get found out and monitored.

Generally, a big banner message will tell you that every time you log into a government PC.

Weaver95: well we can't have people blowing the whistle on corruption. that simply will not do.

Besides, it's not like those silicone breast implants could POSSIBLY burst at any time... no way at all...

Norv Turner: Luckily our IT department is too lazy to read everything. I walked in last week and some of them were playing warcraft...I shiat you not

When you work in IT you get paid to be "available" kind of like being a digital fireman. If those guys weren't around and you had something go wrong with your email, god forbid you wait the half hour it would take one of those guys to come into the office.

When it comes down to it there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" time in IT but when you are needed, you are needed Right This Very Second.

I'm guessing the bigwigs at the FDA want a bigger cut of what Big Pharma is slipping into the pockets of the researchers.

FDA officials sought a second time that year to initiate action against the scientists and doctors. "We have obtained new information confirming the existence of information disclosures that undermine the integrity and mission of the FDA and, we believe, may be prohibited by law," wrote Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, on June 28, 2010.

Which is kind of funny, since the information disclosures revealed internal problems with "the integrity and mission of the FDA". Maybe the agency should remember that it has no reasonable expectation of privacy from congressional oversight of its operations.

SwiftFox: Which is kind of funny, since the information disclosures revealed internal problems with "the integrity and mission of the FDA".

Conflict of Interest? HAOW DUZ IT WURRK?!?!

meanmutton: macadamnut: First Amendment rights don't apply to gay muslim foreigners.

Did you go into the wrong thread?

Yes. Yes I did.

But given time, that post will become relevant to every Fark thread.

qorkfiend: dittybopper: DAR: dittybopper: There *ARE* ways around that, but they tend to be too cumbersome for most people to use.

True you could encrpt your emails but that would just get NSA, HLSEM, DEA, ATF, etc, etc, etc, curiosity up and then they would spend the time to decrpt the emails using their house super computers and you would have lost the "expectation of privacy" anyway.

There is one way to encrypt that is unbreakable both in theory, and if used correctly, in practice. No amount of super computers can ever break it, and you can implement it completely manually, not having to use a computer or other vulnerable electronic device to encrypt or decrypt (though by definition you will use them to transmit the encrypted message(s)).

Curiosity piqued. To what do you refer?

Probably talking about one time pads.

Do your personal communications from home.

Problem solved.

qorkfiend: dittybopper: DAR: dittybopper: There *ARE* ways around that, but they tend to be too cumbersome for most people to use.

True you could encrpt your emails but that would just get NSA, HLSEM, DEA, ATF, etc, etc, etc, curiosity up and then they would spend the time to decrpt the emails using their house super computers and you would have lost the "expectation of privacy" anyway.

There is one way to encrypt that is unbreakable both in theory, and if used correctly, in practice. No amount of super computers can ever break it, and you can implement it completely manually, not having to use a computer or other vulnerable electronic device to encrypt or decrypt (though by definition you will use them to transmit the encrypted message(s)).

Curiosity piqued. To what do you refer?

One time pads.Link (new window)

What a reasonable expectation of privacy may look like.

Crotchrocket Slim: Norv Turner: Luckily our IT department is too lazy to read everything. I walked in last week and some of them were playing warcraft...I shiat you not

When you work in IT you get paid to be "available" kind of like being a digital fireman. If those guys weren't around and you had something go wrong with your email, god forbid you wait the half hour it would take one of those guys to come into the office.

When it comes down to it there is a lot of "hurry up and wait" time in IT but when you are needed, you are needed Right This Very Second.

Quoted for truth. I think most network admins days are like .... bored ... bored ... bored ... panic ... bored ... bored.

ActionJoe: qorkfiend: dittybopper: DAR: dittybopper: There *ARE* ways around that, but they tend to be too cumbersome for most people to use.

True you could encrpt your emails but that would just get NSA, HLSEM, DEA, ATF, etc, etc, etc, curiosity up and then they would spend the time to decrpt the emails using their house super computers and you would have lost the "expectation of privacy" anyway.

There is one way to encrypt that is unbreakable both in theory, and if used correctly, in practice. No amount of super computers can ever break it, and you can implement it completely manually, not having to use a computer or other vulnerable electronic device to encrypt or decrypt (though by definition you will use them to transmit the encrypted message(s)).

Curiosity piqued. To what do you refer?

One time pads.Link (new window)

One time pads.Link (new window)

>proxies

By now the FBI has got to be the biggest provider of free proxy services in the world. Why go out hunting for the bad guys when they will transmit all their criminal activity right through your network of proxies?

Weaver95: well we can't have people blowing the whistle on corruption. that simply will not do.

In the government? There will be many Farkers who are shocked, SHOCKED! And by the FDA, which is tasked with "protecting the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products, medical devices, our nation's food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, and products that give off radiation."

Wonder if that last includes the screwed-up "smart" meters?

DUH

Dravik, ActionJoe: thank you doctors. Highly intriguing.

i work for the feds and am in it, and information security, and i am getting a big kick out of some of these replies.

I have some pretty cool stories but i would have to run them thru the system first and with all the redactions...it would look like a bad tattoo had been inked in the comments.

Hehe, I wonder though, half tongue-in-cheek, how long will it be before the government acquires one share of every ISP they can in an attempt to claim that all ISPs are really part of the government network and have to allow monitoring of all traffic?

qorkfiend: dittybopper: DAR: dittybopper: There *ARE* ways around that, but they tend to be too cumbersome for most people to use.

True you could encrpt your emails but that would just get NSA, HLSEM, DEA, ATF, etc, etc, etc, curiosity up and then they would spend the time to decrpt the emails using their house super computers and you would have lost the "expectation of privacy" anyway.

There is one way to encrypt that is unbreakable both in theory, and if used correctly, in practice. No amount of super computers can ever break it, and you can implement it completely manually, not having to use a computer or other vulnerable electronic device to encrypt or decrypt (though by definition you will use them to transmit the encrypted message(s)).

Curiosity piqued. To what do you refer?


Pretty sure he's referring to "one time pads" which, when used properly, are unbreakable or pretty damn close to it.

That said, I don't think it's always practical for large messages/lots of back and forth communication with congress... who isn't used to communicating via one time pads (or doing more work then they need to in general - unless it means shunting more government largess to a rich guy).

He's absolutely right that from a practical standpoint that you shouldn't expect your communications on the internet to be perfectly private... but I'd really like to see some help with this from a legal standpoint to take into account the realistic expectations of the modern world.

But there's a reason I have my own netbook/tablet sitting on my desk next to me with my own internet connection that my company doesn't have a claim to. If I wanted to whistleblow on my own company (thankfully, that will almost certainly never be an issue for me) I sure as hell would do it on my own device, with my own email address, over my own internet connection.

still not quite as bad as china

In the government computer network, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: The civil servants who surf for porn, and the IT people who spy on them.

These are their stories.

DUN DUN

Norv Turner: Luckily our IT department is too lazy to read everything. I walked in last week and some of them were playing warcraft...I shiat you not

Its not your IT department spying on you. Its your information security department.

/works in information security
//stop doing stupid shiat ... seriously ... just. stop. it.

bravian: Norv Turner: Luckily our IT department is too lazy to read everything. I walked in last week and some of them were playing warcraft...I shiat you not

Its not your IT department spying on you. Its your information security department.

/works in information security
//stop doing stupid shiat ... seriously ... just. stop. it.

Got any horror stories to share?

Callous: I couldn't help but chuckle at the comments by Robert Smith. Are you seriously shocked that the agency that is paying you is monitoring what you do with their equipment? Especially with the big privacy popup? You would think that someone who managed to get a professorship at two pretty damn good schools would be smart enough to have figured all this out.

And therein lies the difference between book smarts and common sense.

I had the good fortune to work for a really cool guy for 30 years - he was fascinated with his computer. He used to save his phone sex to his network I drive because he thought that no one else could look at "his" portion of the disc. Good times, good times. He was often described as the "man who walked around like nobody else was getting any loving." I was, among other tasks in this small firm, the network administrator. Sadly, he got cancer and died. The young turks who replaced him didn't trust me (so they said) and they "retired" me at age 59 and didn't get sued or pawned by me because they were kind enough to pay me for a year after being "retired." Life has never been so good for me. They also have NO idea what kind of stuff is still permanently lurking around on their network from the dearly departed founder.

Well, on the one hand, they had no reasonable expectation of privacy. On the other hand, as stated up thread, you maybe shouldn't whistle blow with the company's whistle. Sure, it was your personal gmail, but you were still logged in from the government computer. On yet another hand, while the is "no reasonable expectation of privacy" the monitoring parties should be operating under guidelines, both legal and ethical, on how and when monitor information can and should be used. This would include some modicum of whistle-blower protection. On still another hand, shouldn't the FDA have some kind of internal ethics office or something these guys could take their concerns to before blabbing to congress or the press? Maybe they did, article doesn't say.


/Has as many virtual hands as are needed at a given time.

DAR: True you could encrpt your emails but that would just get NSA, HLSEM, DEA, ATF, etc, etc, etc, curiosity up and then they would spend the time to decrpt the emails using their house super computers and you would have lost the "expectation of privacy" anyway.

I find that laughable. While certain agencies have the computational horse power to potentially brute force encrypted communications or exploit flaws (known or unknown) - it simply doesn't happen because of one reason: Volume.

And various agencies (like the FBI) have incredible problems finding qualified people to deal with the most basic computer issues. A DA friend of mine was dealing with a case involving Mac OS X and the FBI sent over their "linux guy" to assist. The guy could barely boot up a computer.