All Answers: [pakgrid] Re: PRISM Effect and personal privacy

Dear All,

What about those who are using Gmail/Yahoo/MSN at government level communications?
What about those universities in Pakistan who are using custom domain emails hosted with Gmail/Microsoft?

Regards,
Babar

--- In pakgrid@yahoogroups.com, ISHTIAQ AHMAD <ishtiaq.ahmad@...> wrote:
>
> Things are more complex then it looks for top.
> The UK is tapping fibre-optic cables that carry global communications (
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23004080)
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa
> and
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23045790
>
> See the cables map to see how the internet is connected at
> www.submarinecablemap.com
>
> P.S: GCHQ did not denied Guardian's claim
>
> Regards,
> Ishtiaq Ahmad
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 21, 2013 at 12:18 PM, ISHTIAQ AHMAD <ishtiaq.ahmad@...>wrote:
>
> > Dear Ayaz and other members,
> > It's not a question of how one have realized it. As my work is for Govt.
> > agency (not Pak), I have realized this long before (have a look on my
> > 2-years old posts at this forum), NSA version is a tip on iceberg, things
> > are much more complex as we know of.
> >
> > If one think statements made by these companies are based on only truth
> > and reality then you must reconsider your grounds. Closest example is News
> > Corp, remember UK phone hacking scandal? Lets tack Google and China's
> > battle, even secretary of state has to intervene. Definition of "the
> > Information" has been changed already, name, date of birth and credit card
> > number etc. are not the only information about an individual.
> >
> > Your proposition to build our own is an extension of the attitude "if you
> > don't like mine build you own", it's not only ironic but sad as well. Few
> > have taken this challenge and build their own (Korea, China, Israel, India)
> >
> > Moreover, when did last time this system was used to hunt a child abuser
> > or a serial rapists ??? and you drag in Pakistan for what reasons?? All
> > above happened in you're so called civilized world, which I'm also member
> > of.
> >
> > If you don't have any objection on privacy issue then its one particular
> > case which is called outlier in statistical terms but can't be applied to
> > everyone.
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Ishtiaq Ahmad
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 19, 2013 at 11:39 PM, Ayaz <ayaza75@...> wrote:
> >
> >> **
> >>
> >>
> >> Dear Ishtiaq sb,
> >>
> >> We have to work with the info that we have. Unless one of us has been
> >> targeted in one way or another, we are speaking here in terms of
> >> conjecture. The firms which always had access to your info along with
> >> several other intermediaries have given their version. As far as I
> >> understand, the NSA version etc gives much info than you seem to realize.
> >>
> >
> >> If some of us still want to be cautious, certainly we can do as we please
> >> and move to another service provider, or better yet, since this is a list
> >> of specialists and experts, possessing various higher qualifications and
> >> all that comes with that, we can make our own software/hardware and then we
> >> can have greater control over it.
> >>
> >> I would mention one thing though - the issues that you refer to as bla
> >> bla bla aka child mulustation, petephelia, serial rapists are of utmost
> >> importance in a civilized place and unlike in Pakistan, their prevention or
> >> reduction takes precedence over any individuals or personality of the
> >> president if there arises a conflict; the latter would have to go without
> >> question.
> >>
> >> Anyways, I have little problem with the type of information that can be
> >> provided on me me, which, I believe would be none. You can come to your own
> >> judgement depending on what you intend to use the internet for and come to
> >> your own decision.
> >>
> >> Ayaz
> >>
> >> On 18/06/2013 12:37 PM, ISHTIAQ AHMAD wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> Its funny Ayaz, posting statements of Apple,Google, Facebook etc. about
> >> things like, we don't do this we don't do that, its our policy to do blah
> >> blah...
> >> Whom should we believe; a US president or Apple CEO, there is clear
> >> conflict of interest.
> >>
> >> Giving info to police is totally different thing then plug in something
> >> for recording every bit.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Ishtiaq Ahmad
> >>
> >>
> >> On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 7:14 PM, Ayaz <ayaza75@...> wrote:
> >>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Here's today's ZDnet:
> >>>
> >>> According to statement released by Apple "we do not provide any
> >>> government agency with direct access to our servers, and any government
> >>> agency requesting customer content must get a court order."
> >>>
> >>> Apple said the most common form of request came from police
> >>> investigating robberies and other crimes, searching for missing children,
> >>> trying to locate a patient with Alzheimer's disease, or hoping to prevent a
> >>> suicide.
> >>> Apple said its legal team conducted an evaluation of each request: "Only
> >>> if appropriate we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of
> >>> information to the authorities. From time to time, when we see
> >>> inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfil it."
> >>> The company also said there were certain categories of information it
> >>> did not provide to law enforcement or any other group because it chose not
> >>> to retain it.
> >>> Apple said iMessage and FaceTime conversations were protected by
> >>> end-to-end encryption so no-one but the sender and receiver could see or
> >>> read them. "Apple cannot decrypt that data. Similarly, we do not store data
> >>> related to customers' location, Map searches or Siri requests in any
> >>> identifiable form."
> >>> The numbers revealed by Apple are broadly in line with those revealed by
> >>> other tech companies. Last week Microsoft said that for the six months
> >>> ended December 31 2012, Microsoft received between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal
> >>> and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders affecting between
> >>> 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts from "US governmental entities".
> >>> Last week, Facebook general counsel Ted Ullyot said the social media
> >>> giant aggressively protected users' data when confronted with such
> >>> requests: "We frequently reject such requests outright, or require the
> >>> government to substantially scale down its requests, or simply give the
> >>> government much less data than it has requested. And we respond only as
> >>> required by law."
> >>> Facebook said that for the six months ending December 31 2012, the total
> >>> number of user-data requests Facebook received from any and all government
> >>> entities in the US (including local, state, and federal, and including
> >>> criminal and national security-related requests) was between 9,000 and
> >>> 10,000. It said the total number of Facebook user accounts for which data
> >>> was requested pursuant to the entirety of those 9,000-10,000 requests was
> >>> between 18,000 and 19,000 accounts.
> >>> But Twitter and Google have both argued that lumping in national
> >>> security requests with the more humdrum law enforcement requests was a step
> >>> back for users.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> http://www.zdnet.com/apple-imessage-and-facetime-are-encrypted-so-we-cant-hand-over-info-7000016898/?s_cid=e539&ttag=e539
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 17/06/2013 8:46 AM, Zeeshan Ali Shah wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Dear Asif, Our PDC-HPC cloud is in Swedish border and gaining physical
> >>> access to it only permitted to SAPO. This is not Pakistan where one just
> >>> pass by access point showing his NSA card.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Zee
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 11:17 AM, Asif Mufti <anmufti@...> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Zeeshan, What makes you so sure? NSA likely plugged directly into
> >>>> your purported system.
> >>>> Regards
> >>>>
> >>>> ------------------------------
> >>>> *From:* Zeeshan Ali Shah <zashah@...>
> >>>> *To:* "pakgrid@yahoogroups.com" <pakgrid@yahoogroups.com>
> >>>> *Sent:* Monday, June 17, 2013 3:24 AM
> >>>> *Subject:* Re: [pakgrid] PRISM Effect and personal privacy
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> We at PDC-HPC , KTH took it as an opportunity. Due to PRISM we see
> >>>> spike in Private in National cloud offerings.
> >>>>
> >>>> We have even rolled out a dedicated fund for Swedish national
> >>>> infrastructure for Cloud , in collaboration with other Nordic countries.
> >>>>
> >>>> --
> >>>>
> >>>> Regards
> >>>>
> >>>> Zeeshan Ali Shah
> >>>> System Administrator - PDC HPC
> >>>> PhD researcher (IT security)
> >>>> Kungliga Tekniska Hogskolan
> >>>> +46 8 790 9115 <%2B46%208%20790%209115>
> >>>> http://www.pdc.kth.se/members/zashah
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> On Sun, Jun 16, 2013 at 4:12 PM, Mushtaq Ahmad <
> >>>> Mushtaq_ahmad@...> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> Billions of people around the globe use Internet and social media
> >>>> websites for free and frank opinion surveys, all sorts of discussions about
> >>>> many aspects of human life and other matters with the belief and conviction
> >>>> that these messages sent on the Wi Fi will not be revealed to anybody else
> >>>> except the recipients. Yes! it will effect the research project of cloud
> >>>> computing and many other vital research groups around who share vital
> >>>> information and data related to the research projects through the Cloud
> >>>> Services Providers over the Internet. This revelation is very dangerous for
> >>>> IT users across the world. The silent majority has to ponder about it, with
> >>>> maturity and serious consideration to find the ways and means to stop it.
> >>>>
> >>>> This shocking news by the Washington Post has shattered the confidence
> >>>> of general public around the world. There was also some recent discussion
> >>>> that the Internet and all the social media and otherweb applications were
> >>>> under the control of USA IT agencies and they can manipulate with them, the
> >>>> way they want and any time they want without any questions asked. There was
> >>>> also some discussions that the processing of all sorts of websites and all
> >>>> the matters related to Internet should be brought under the control of a
> >>>> neutral agency supervised by the United Nation. This body should be
> >>>> represented by the IT experts of all the members of the United Nation. The
> >>>> influence of USA secret agencies should be completely neutralized.
> >>>>
> >>>> The doctrine of checking and elimination of foreign terrorists outside
> >>>> USA also needs to be impartially studied for revision.
> >>>> One can ask the vital question: Has the USA secret agencies succeeded
> >>>> in elimination of local terrorism, reported almost on daily basis in the
> >>>> news media in USA, which has killed and killed more US citizens as compared
> >>>> to foreign terrorists since 9/11?
> >>>>
> >>>> All the best wishes
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> ------------------------------
> >>>> To: pakgrid@yahoogroups.com
> >>>> From: ashiq.anjum@...
> >>>> Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:17:36 +0000
> >>>> Subject: [pakgrid] PRISM Effect on Cloud Computing
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> The Washington Post recently reported on a secret government program
> >>>> to snoop Internet data, named PRISM. How will this revelation impact the
> >>>> cloud computing world and could it put a damper on cloud adoption?
> >>>>
> >>>> Last week, the Obama administration found itself embroiled in
> >>>> another pair of scandals. First, on Wednesday, The Guardian reported that
> >>>> the NSA has been collecting the call records of millions of Verizon
> >>>> customers (later reports say that AT&T and Sprint Nextel are also
> >>>> involved). On Friday, The Washington Post upped the ante and reported that
> >>>> â€œthe National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the
> >>>> central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio
> >>>> and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that
> >>>> enable analysts to track foreign targets.â€ The result of these revelations
> >>>> has been a deep discussion throughout the traditional media, blogosphere,
> >>>> and other social media about the desired limits of government power to
> >>>> intercept and analyze private communications. Whatever your opinion on the
> >>>> politics and civil liberties issues, one thing is for sure â€" the
> >>>> revelations about the PRISM program are going to change the way people look
> >>>> at public clouds.
> >>>>
> >>>> For further details, please read the article:
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>> http://leverhawk.com/will-prism-have-a-chilling-effect-on-cloud-computing-adoption-20130609297?goback=%2Egde_45151_member_248245337
> >>>>
> >>>> Best regards
> >>>> Ashiq Anjum
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>