A notorious surveillance technology company that helps governments around the world spy on their citizens sold software to Bahrain during that country’s brutal response to the Arab Spring movement, according to leaked internal documents posted this week on the internet.
The documents show that FinFisher, a German surveillance company, helped Bahrain install spyware on 77 computers, including those belonging to human rights lawyers and a now-jailed opposition leader, between 2010 and 2012—a period that includes Bahrain’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. FinFisher’s software gives remote spies total access to compromised computers. Some of the computers that were spied on appear to have been located in the United States and United Kingdom, according to a report from Bahrain Watch.
A screengrab from leaked FinFisher data appears to show surveillance targets of the Bahraini governmentEarlier this week, an anonymous hacker released 40 gigabytes of what appears to be internal data from FinFisher on Twitter and Reddit, including messages between people who appear to be Bahraini government officials and FinFisher customer service representatives.
In those messages, Bahraini software administrators complained to FinFisher that they were “losing targets daily” due to faults in its software. In one message employing the language of a frustrated consumer, a spy appeared to complain that he or she had to keep re-infecting a targeted computer, risking detection: “[W]e cant stay bugging and infecting the target every time since it is very sensitive. and we don’t want the target to reach to know that someone is infecting his PC or spying on him” one message reads.
On its website, FinFisher says it sells surveillance technology “exclusively to government law enforcement and intelligence agencies.” The company has previously denied reports that it sold spyware to Bahrain, claiming that examples researchers identified could have come from stolen or demonstration copies. The new documents, showing sustained correspondence between individuals in Bahrain and customer service, undercut that claim. FinFisher did not respond to requests for comment.
“[W]e have 30 target licenses, we are now using them all in which we have already 30 targets,” says one message, dated November 2, 2011. On December 8th, the Bahrainis asked for an update on a previous issue: “Please investigate urgently and let us know the solution. As we are in a big lose of data now.”
FinFisher belonged to the U.K.-based Gamma Group during the time period the leaked documents cover (it was spun off last year.) Researchers from Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs–including a co-author of this post— first publicly identified the the FinFisher software in July 2012. At the time, members of the advocacy group Bahrain Watch in Washington, D.C., and London had been targeted via email by what appeared to be malware. The researchers analyzed the suspicious software and discovered that it was the FinSpy “lawful intercept” software developed by FinFisher. Additional research linked the use of this product to 36 countries worldwide.
The most recent leak includes logs from Bahraini software administrators of the installations they’d performed, which contained usernames and IP addresses, allowing Bahrain Watch researchers to identify some of the computers that had been targeted. Among them were Bahraini lawyers, U.K.-based activists and writers, and Hassan Mushaima, an opposition leader who is currently serving life in prison. He was sentenced in June 2011, months after the logs show spyware installed in his computer.
Another targeted computer belonged to Mohamed Altajer, a prominent human rights lawyer who was blackmailed in 2011 with a video of him and his wife having sex. The video arrived via CD at his office on January 24, 2011, bearing instructions that he stop defending activists or the tape would be made public. On that same day, the leaked logs show, spyware was installed on his computer, suggesting that government officials used the blackmail gambit to install FinSpy.
The video eventually became public in 2012, after Altajer participated in a UN human rights conference. “The 24th of January, 2011, was the most devastating day of my life,” said Altajer, reached in Bahrain.
“I’m happy that this is exposed,” he said. “The regime should understand that it is not so wise and clever to keep penetrating into people’s lives. These dirty people who videotaped me while I am naked, now they are naked, now they are exposed before the world.”
There’s little regulation preventing companies like FinFisher from selling surveillance software to countries like Bahrain. And the secretive nature of the industry means that companies “have been allowed to operate with impunity, selling intrusive surveillance equipment to states where there is no public scrutiny of surveillance or clear laws regulating its use,” said Eric King, deputy director of Privacy International. The U.K.-based group has asked the British government to investigate the Ethiopian government’s use of FinFisher’s tools to surveil a political refugee. And an Ethiopian-American is attempting to sue the Ethiopian government in U.S. federal court for using FinSpy against him.
“We should be putting international attention on these companies,” said Ali Abdulemam, a human rights activist and member of Bahrain Watch. “Gamma is always claiming that their product is for human trafficking or drug trafficking, but its being used against human rights by countries like Bahrain.”
In 2011, Bloomberg reported that Nokia Siemens was selling spy gear to Bahrain, and Bahraini interrogators were known at the time to show activists transcripts of their private text messages and phone conversations during torture sessions. The U.S. also continued arms sales to Bahrain during that period.
“As far as I am aware,” said Salman Aljalahma, the Bahraini government’s media attaché in Washington, “the Government of Bahrain does not use FinFisher.” He added “this is a matter of national security and confidential intelligence that the public, nor I, is privy to.”
When shown the customer service correspondence and surveillance logs, Aljalahma said that “all evidence collated by the accusers still shows no link to the Bahraini Government.”
You can be sure! That company is not the only German one active on this field…
World mercenaries are being used to attack others. They wear masks so no one knows who they are. Hired assassins and riot police. The world bankers and Fascists are everywhere causing chaos and death. They do “false flags” too.
This is what Rumsfeld called his faster, smaller military to go anywhere in the world at a moments notice. They use our tax dollars to spy on us calling it “intelligence against terrorists”. Seems we are the “terrorists”. They are fearful of the people. We probably pay for the mercenaries also to do what the few want.
The government needs all the different reasons it can use to justify our massive surveillance. We agree with you. Start pointing at those people who you “think” are these world mercenaries so we can start spying on them. We don’t need evidence, just start pointing. If you happen to know a guy you don’t like, pointing at him would definitely mess him up. So go for it. Point at all those people you don’t like so you can take advantage of the system. Understand that we don’t just spy, we also change the outcome of their lives. If the guy happens to be innocent, oh well. We’ll just leave him in the dirt so we don’t get caught. We don’t have to take responsibility for our actions.
If you thought of a way of proving that someone is not a terrorist or a spy, what would it be?
Lauren, the government has heard enough of your whining. Going to what you assume to be ACLU’s website is useless. Websites like ACLU’s and EFF’s don’t receive the traffic they should be receiving anyway. We divert their traffic before it even gets to their servers. In other words, we have been censoring the internet. We don’t need laws that limit us. We will break them if we want to and over classify it so you would never know. If you obtain your DNS server automatically from your ISP (which we control), then you are essentially using malicious DNS servers that we control allowing us to divert traffic into our own fake social media, e-mail, news, online bank websites, etc. Yes, our fake servers look real because the real ones all helped us make it look that way.
These fake servers are equipped with all kinds of malware. For example, a login and password phishing malware which greatly enable us to log in to your different accounts. Ever wonder how when you try to log in with a password that you knew was correct but the site says that you entered the wrong password? Isn’t it cool that it naturally makes you think you entered the wrong password and end up entering more different passwords and their different variations? Aren’t they the same passwords you use on other websites you visit? The type of account you have all over the internet doesn’t matter. If we’ve grabbed the different logins and passwords you use, we will exploit it all. It’s not our fault that you use the same passwords on all your different accounts (with slight variations) and not change them frequently. If we knew the login and password for your email, we don’t need to request its content from email providers. You provided it for us yourself. We blame it on your own incompetence.
Does your son like to play online games like Call of Duty or Starcraft? We have agents that do too 24/7! What? You thought that we were going to let foreign governments contact their spy agents living in the US? Hell no! If you play these games, then we will treat you like a spy if we want to. We don’t need evidence. And we will gather any intel we can. We sniff all the data coming out from your IP address. Yes, we know you use AT&T. It doesn’t matter if you use VPN, we have our little tricks around that. Good thing our targets don’t know or take the time to use some random internet connection using different unknown accounts. We have partnered with big video game makers to provide us with software to be able to join your game lobby automatically. It’s only business and they get paid for it. They don’t care about privacy. They care about profits. Not to mention the gag order.
Do you mostly like to use that one gas station nearest your home? We know! We have your credit card information and we can tell the patterns you have. We know your most visited gas station. We know where you like to eat. We know the places you like to go to. We even know that you like to read The Intercept. We have the best psychologists around to study and predict your actions. Heck, we might just send someone dressed like a bum to ask you questions and study your reaction when you’re at the gas pump. We can even call on our very own energetic writers to pretend to be our targets to discredit them. In fact, we’ve already been pretending to be you and sending the ACLU messages that portray you as a crazy and irrational person. Making contact with them now is too late. We’re ahead of the game. We will perform psy ops whenever and where ever we want.
Mall music is for colored people. We’d rather listen to the microphone on your cell phone 24/7. Yes, you as a target, get your very own live listener. Don’t you like that? Think of him as your one and only radio broadcast fan. And to make it more interesting, he can become a live viewer too. It’s not our fault if you happen to have your cell phone or PC camera pointed at you while you masturbate. You’re practically wanting to be seen. In our legal terms, we call that “consent”. Who the heck masturbates in front of their camera unless they consent to be viewed? And yes, we like to view the same porn you see on your computer screen.
It is not our fault that you don’t know how to protect your own network. But we will take advantage of it as we see fit. We don’t have to answer to you if you can’t even prove us wrong. Sure, you have classified documents, but that’s not enough. Your terrorism accomplices at the CIA, DoD, FBI, and NSA will be caught sooner or later. We will show to the public what happens when you go against us. We’ve got our asses covered in all different directions. But yes, we still have lube set aside. If you have us cornered, sure, we’ll admit. But we have put the right people in the right positions, paid them off, and yes, we’ve used sex tapes too. Remember, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. But we are an exception. We can hide all we want. And we will not lose. Here in big government, we are one team. If you mess with one agency, you mess with all. And we will use all our abilities against you if we want to. Do we sound like a bully? Sure! And we know you can’t do anything about it. In the end, you lose. Yes, you ARE done.
This message has gone through very rigorous oversight (like we always do) and the proper channels to prevent the release of classified information. Yes, it’s a joke. ;)
Lauren, your whining has caught our attention. Going to what you assume to be ACLU’s website is useless. Websites like ACLU’s and EFF’s don’t receive the traffic they should be receiving anyway. We divert their traffic before it even gets to their servers. In other words, we have been censoring the internet. We don’t need laws that limit us. We will break them if we want to and over classify it so you would never know. If you obtain your DNS server automatically from your ISP (which we control), then you are essentially using malicious DNS servers that we control allowing us to divert traffic into our own fake social media, e-mail, news, online bank websites, etc. Yes, our fake servers look real because the real ones all helped us make it look that way.
These fake servers are equipped with all kinds of malware. For example, a login and password phishing malware which greatly enable us to log in to your different accounts. Ever wonder how when you try to log in with a password that you knew was correct but the site says that you entered the wrong password? Isn’t it cool that it naturally makes you think you entered the wrong password and end up entering more different passwords and their different variations? Aren’t they the same passwords you use on other websites you visit? The type of account you have all over the internet doesn’t matter. If we’ve grabbed the different logins and passwords you use, we will exploit it all. It’s not our fault that you use the same passwords on all your different accounts (with slight variations) and not change them frequently. If we knew the login and password for your email, we don’t need to request its content from email providers. You provided it for us yourself. We blame it on your own incompetence.
Does your son like to play online games like Call of Duty or Starcraft? We have agents that do too 24/7! What? You thought that we were going to let foreign governments contact their spy agents living in the US? Hell no! If you play these games, then we will treat you like a spy if we want to. We don’t need evidence. And we will gather any intel we can. We sniff all the data coming out from your IP address. Yes, we know you use AT&T. It doesn’t matter if you use VPN, we have our little tricks around that. Good thing our targets don’t know or take the time to use some random internet connection using different unknown accounts. We have partnered with big video game makers to provide us with software to be able to join your game lobby automatically. It’s only business and they get paid for it. They don’t care about privacy. They care about profits. Not to mention the gag order.
Do you mostly like to use that one gas station nearest your home? We know! We have your credit card information and we can tell the patterns you have. We know your most visited gas station. We know where you like to eat. We know the places you like to go to. We even know that you like to read The Intercept. We have the best psychologists around to study and predict your actions. Heck, we might just send someone dressed like a bum to ask you questions and study your reaction when you’re at the gas pump. We can even call on our very own energetic writers to pretend to be our targets to discredit them. In fact, we’ve already been pretending to be you and sending the ACLU messages that portray you as a crazy and irrational person. Making contact with them now is too late. We’re ahead of the game. We will perform psy ops whenever and where ever we want.
Mall music is for colored people. We’d rather listen to the microphone on your cell phone 24/7. Yes, you as a target, get your very own live listener. Don’t you like that? Think of him as your one and only radio broadcast fan. And to make it more interesting, he can become a live viewer too. It’s not our fault if you happen to have your cell phone or PC camera pointed at you while you masturbate. You’re practically wanting to be seen. In our legal terms, we call that “consent”. Who the heck masturbates in front of their camera unless they consent to be viewed? And yes, we like to view the same porn you see on your computer screen.
It is not our fault that you don’t know how to protect your own network. But we will take advantage of it as we see fit. We don’t have to answer to you if you can’t even prove us wrong. Sure, you have classified documents, but that’s not enough. Your terrorism accomplices at the CIA, DoD, FBI, and NSA will be caught sooner or later. We will show to the public what happens when you go against us. We’ve got our asses covered in all different directions. But yes, we still have lube set aside. If you have us cornered, sure, we’ll admit. But we have put the right people in the right positions, paid them off, and yes, we’ve used sex tapes too. Remember, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. But we are an exception. We can hide all we want. And we will not lose. Here in big government, we are one team. If you mess with one agency, you mess with all. And we will use all our abilities against you if we want to. Do we sound like a bully? Sure! And we know you can’t do anything about it. In the end, you lose. Yes, you ARE done.
This message has gone through very rigorous oversight (like we always do) and the proper channels to prevent the release of classified information. Yes, it’s a joke. ;)
Gone fishing. . No joke
All of these criminals would deny that they were even born by a woman. Some lies are as obvious as all hell.
Being used from Bahrain and used by the Bahraini Government are two very different things.
Didn’t the MD of Gamma claim that demo versions were stolen?
For professional software you need a serial number or some kind of specific identification to communicate with customer service, this isn’t possible with cracked or stolen versions
“..a spy appeared to complain that he or she had to keep re-infecting a targeted computer..”
They should switch to reliable American-made Silicon Valley products.
I am pulling my Fucking Dick to Shove into my Mouth and once I have it there I will Shut Up.
I continue to say fucking because that’s how I saved myself from pending charges. It’s scandalous retard. Just another reason why a fucking imposter poster wants to say I put my dick in my mouth. You are a fucking clueless idiot posting on a spy page without a god damned clue as to how it works. You are a pice of shredded document with nothing on it but an ass wipe mark. That’s where your fucking head is when you read this shit. Kiss of little prick.
I may be mad but I am also genius like Einstein. I have also invented Fuckitivity formula S = eX^2.
Ryan Kiesel Monday at 9:00am.
You can’t pass high school algebra cause your booger chip nose is in a piece of shit document you don’t even get. If the banks came after your fucking retard ass you wouldn’t last five fucking minutes. Your a pice of shit. Wanna fuck around post your own name dick face.
It was my understanding that you would be tied up with the ACLU today, Lauren. What was the outcome of your call?
There was an answering machine so I emailed them and told them when I have legal council I will contact the FBI. I am done Oklahoma. What you did to me and my family was unconstitutional and torturous. We are finished.
How scandalous is scandalous enough? Some even do not like to eat with others in public. To be honest I would not like to see a video of me in any social situation (eating, talking, dancing, kissing …) become public without my permission. Not even to imagine private situations… like resting on the sofa…
YES. Now you are sounding like an agent because if you wanted to really get inside the mind of a person after you put them on your watchlist then you camera their ass until they purge some kind of information. What if the person being filmed and taped decides out of absolute shock and fear that they will avoid confrontation and attempt to ignore it and they do this successfully for 10 YEARS. Then the person looses their husband and three more years go by and the POPO having no sympathy and still wanting to fuck with you keep at it? Ya know what that person does? That person starts texting and writing online so that when they pull her fucking police files they god damned know its her and they can COME AND FUCKIN GET HER!
I suppose if you make enough noise you feel safer?
Turns out you were right about the wheel chair… Although the”birthday” video also features one so I was right too.
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon.. (a little known fact is that the comma is part of the lyrics)
Decades
Stop encouraging me/him ;-)
If I make enough noise they will know exactly what they are up against and how the rest of the nation doesn’t have boots up there ass so they would think Oklahoma can kiss my spy as off. I know all your god damned tricks and I will talk. I am talking. You have had multiple chances to drag my ass off. Get the fuck out.
Ms Currier and Mr. Marquis-Boire
“…….The documents show that FinFisher, a German surveillance company, helped Bahrain install spyware on 77 computers, including those belonging to human rights lawyers and a now-jailed opposition leader, between 2010 and 2012—a period that includes Bahrain’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters…..”
This is the first time I can recall the Intercept (or Greenwald) even mentioning the pro democracy movement in the Middle east (Arab Spring). The US houses the Fifth Fleet in Bahraine so that is probably what is driving this article in part. Regardless, it’s nice to see an article supportive of the Arab Spring. While the wrath of the article is directed at the German company, it’s the Bahrain government which violates the rights of her citizens and sustains an unsustainable system of the minority Sunnis ruling over the majority Shia population. Cracks are developing and the system will eventually implode. This system is very similar to Iraq before the US invasion.
I am not sure “the wrath” is appropriate…the article is simply reporting a story. It doesnt have to be a subtle attack on the Fifth Fleet or anything else. They are reporting a story that (hopefully) is of interest to their readers.
I’ve probably mentioned this before. As soon as the US co-opted the Arab Spring for its own purposes, it ceased to be what it was. So to clarify: Tunisia was part of the Arab Spring. So was Egypt, the first time around. Not the second time around. In Bahrain, they tried to have an Arab Spring. Neither Libya nor Syria count as true popular uprisings, due to external meddling.
“…….So was Egypt, the first time around. Not the second time around. In Bahrain, they tried to have an Arab Spring. Neither Libya nor Syria count as true popular uprisings, due to external meddling…..”
First of all, Libya and Syria qualify as popular uprisings because that is how both began – as popular democratically driven protests. And it was the internal “meddling” by the Assad and Gadaffi governments that crushed both. Because they morphed into regional clashes or were backed by one group or another does not disqualify them from being a democratic revolutions. And while mentioning the US, you forgot to mention Hezbollah (Lebanon), Iran and Russian interference in Syria to prop up the brutal dictator. Yes, the Arabs inflamed the conflict, but the lion’s share of the blame goes to Assad who promised reforms but didn’t deliver.
The ousting of Morsi in Egypt was not US-backed. Millions of Egyptian demonstrators protested the rule of Morsi for weeks who marginalized much of the civilian population with his poor governance and Islamists agenda. The overthrow of Morsi was driven by the Arab Spring although Egyptians returned to square one when the military took power. Personally, I opposed al-Sissi taking power from the MB. I think a solution could have been negotiated. In the long run despite the Muslim Brotherhood in power, Egyptians would have been better off. Over half of the population voted in the MB so Egypt is a very divided country.
Bahrain is another really good example of the Arab Spring which was crushed by Saudi Arabia. I’m not sure of the role the US played in that. Personally, geopolitics aside, I support Shia and Sunni rights regarding the Arab Spring. Again, regional politics and power is driving the oppression of the majority Shia population. The Saudis suspect the Iranians are involved in the Shia rebellion (why not) so Shia rights will never be realized while Iran is competing with the Saudis for regional control. The current system is unsustainable and will eventually collapse, however.
Regional politics is a huge source of conflict in the Middle East and the Arab and Persian people continue to pay the price. While the Arab Spring has been overwhelmed by the regional conflict in most places, it doesn’t mean that the Arab Spring should just be discounted like it never happened. The Arab Spring is still in its infancy and will literally take decades to fulfill.
Thanks.
Yes, pro democracy that’s what we should be fighting for and really who cares about the hacking of 77 computers? It happens billions of times all over the world by everyone. Want to put a plug in that?
You would care if they were tapping your computer, or taking sexually explicit video’s of you, or targeted you as a threat, and on and on, ad nauseam. It may not matter to YOU, but it clearly matters to the people who are subject to such violations!
And a footnote on NSA surveillance, over at Emptywheel.
http://www.emptywheel.net/2014/08/08/did-anthony-coppolino-fib-about-nsas-new-architecture/
“Do you know who I am?!” A loony, for starters. Americans flap their jaws and threaten. Russians shut up and do. Watch the West’s empire in crisis; it is instructive.
hello i like ice cream in my bunghole!
Creative?
In fact if you look at the posting time this message from “penis” and my reply this message has been at the top of the board (then near the top) for 6 hours.
Perhaps you could argue it’s on topic, but only if you hadn’t read the ‘article’
I scream you scream…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_LMI0mPFMY
A video tape of someone having sex with his wife? Embarrassing I guess, but not really scandalous (or rather, scandalous for those doing the videoing) and shouldn’t be fodder for blackmail.
A high profile case with sex involved is always scandalous. This information the Intercept posts is difficult for most Americans to digest. A high profile case with upper middle class families and bankers, surgeons, hospitals, police officers. Now that would make a fucking story. Get out in 4 days.
Depends on what they were doing. ;-)
Blackmail, obstruction of justice, undue stress from extreme torture, wrongful domestic terrorism charges, defamation of character, harassment, perjury just to get the ball rolling…
Cox Cable service is out, satellite radio is out, camera’s out all before Monday. I will call the ACLU i do not care what lewd pictures you have of me. This cowboy showdown is over. I quit. Get OUT!
This may not be that damaging in the US but it is extremely damaging in a Muslim country. The person should sue the Bahraini gov in an EU/US court.
there should be a law that if a company helps a repressive governments to suppress human rights of the people the company can be sued and brought to ICC.
Damaging to whom? The scandal is that someone was filming this couple doing something that is quite acceptable (and expected) even in a Muslim country. They were doing nothing either legally, ethically or morally wrong unless there’s more to the story than has been told here. Indeed the individual should sue the Bahraini govt. and the company which provided it with the wherewithal to do so.
Is your concern about the use of the word “scandalous”? If so, fine. But the point is that it was used for blackmail. I would say threatening to release a video of you and your wife being intimate would is a very powerful blackmail tool. If you can’t see that I dont know what to say but if you ask 100 people I would guess somewhere north of 75 would consider it fodder for blackmail.
Absolutely god damn it. Especially a high profile physician with close ties to billionaires in Oklahoma City. This thing is over come Monday.
It was social engineering. According to the article, the real purpose was to get him to put the disc into his computer, thus infecting it with the spying software.
Ten years ago they didn’t need a disc your Microsoft Outlook Mail would be sufficient. And hackers have been around much longer than ten years.
FinFisher hacked . http://www.zdnet.com/top-govt-spyware-company-hacked-gammas-finfisher-leaked-7000032399/
Lengthy FinFisher promotional brochure:
https://wikileaks.org/spyfiles/files/0/299_GAMMA-201110-FinFisher_Product_Portfolio-en.pdf
August 7, 2014 // 08:55 AM EST
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/a-hacker-claims-to-have-leaked-40gb-of-docs-on-government-spy-tool-finfisher
” On the more technical side, there is evidence of malware that is deployed by pretending to be an Adobe Flash player update. And the source code for FinFly Web, a piece of software included in the FinFisher suite, is allegedly being hosted on GitHub. It is unclear at the moment whether this code could be used to develop effective counter-surveillance tools against FinFisher, but it will no doubt allow researchers a better understanding of how it works.
“We’ve just scratched the surface of the released information on Gamma International and FinFisher, Page said. “We need to be very careful and critical as we examine these documents, given the volume and nature of the release. But as we pore through them, we would not be surprised to find additional egregious practices in line with Gamma’s and FinFisher’s history.”
Gamma International did not respond to a request for comment.”
I have well enough funds to retain a constitutional lawyer in New York City. In four days I contact the ACLU. They can have all the records pulled from the police department to prove I was followed and harassed. I am finished I quit get out of my house, my car, and quit following me or I begin my attempts to get the attention of a New York attorney.
Why would you wait? There’s no time like the present, Lauren. Posting here isn’t going to get you anywhere.
Shut up Anon. You have no idea who I am and where this is going. You are a little posting puppet.
The New York Times still can’t anticipate its progressive lefist offerings aren’t embraced by an awakening public:
“And deep concern over government surveillance looms as one of the few bipartisan sentiments in Washington, which is somewhat unanticipated given that the surveiller in chief, the former constitutional-law professor Barack Obama, had been described in a 2008 Times Op-Ed by the legal commentator Jeffrey Rosen as potentially ‘our first president who is a civil libertarian.'”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/magazine/has-the-libertarian-moment-finally-arrived.html
4 days get out.
Gorilla cut.
Half nelson?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVvNfgF17fE
Lauren is four days and going to New York. She is finished. Your banking asses can find another candidate for your big and mighty show down. This will be another iron in the fire for you.
any old iron?
Ten years of it.
Dear Zelda
There is some seriously deranged people below. You really need to get out more, your counselling skills are much needed
Dear jabriujoe,
Why do you think our agency hired them in the first place?
Zelda
wow this is sick, I bet Fin Fisher is scrambling to do some damage control…good, they deserve to be eviscerated for their actions. Everyone converge on their site!
Move a bit west of Bahrain, to Egypt, and I do believe I’d scooped the Intercept on this story –
“How did Egypt’s ‘Spring’ pan out? Known CIA front ‘Freedom House’ (ever since rogue CIA officer Phillip Agee, among others, had fingered the agitators behind so-called ‘color revolutions’) and associated organizations such as the National Democratic Institute, had been training the leadership of the initial secular student and youth movement, with apple technology for revolutionary coordinating purposes. Meanwhile, the Mubarak regime had been provided all the necessary electronic snooping technology to analyze, identify and isolate the secular movement’s leadership, they were rounded up and sent off to USA torture darling Omar Sulieman’s jails”
http://ronaldthomaswest.com/2013/03/17/the-arab-spring-sandstorm-a-modern-fable-or-le-grand-canard/
That said, it’s nice to be vindicated, TY Intercept ;)
Crazy people and kids sometimes have a great ability to accentuate a shameful experience in their own creative way. Acute Sickness is the beginning of a healing process? It depends on how chronic dysfunctional the behavior (of a society) is. So learn to be aware of the early warning signs. And to let go of any old memories of pain.
????
Asking questions is a good start for creativity ;-)
We are the world…
The moral of this story as I see it is not the fact that a surveillance technology company would sell their software to an oppressive government. The moral is that governments everywhere will USE the technology for surveillance and control of dissention if given the authority (or if allowed to take that authority itself). Mass surveillance makes everyone a potential enemy and any sort of dissent, disagreement or even opinions spoken too loudly can make individuals a target to the government and they will then be treated like potential terrorists. Several hundred thousand folks in the U.S. have already found themselves in this predicament rightly or wrongly and the NSA celebrates this as a huge success. Paranoia and fear are a wonderful thing because it keeps everyone in check.
I agree – 1,000%! But try to tell this to people and —– you either get blank stares, yawns, or (in the case of my cousin) an argument. Stories such as this need to circulate as widely as possible in hopes of getting though to our fellow citizens.
No shit? Try telling everyone on a spy online news and have them right you off as delusional. They wouldn’t even know the NSA is picking their nose for burger like chips. This is freakin unbelievable. Wonder Woman fucking calls you up online about domestic terrorism and you right her off as nuts. Ha! You all are a god damned joke.
Fear is fear itself.
That was a swathe of deleting. I’d say if Lauren’s comments are no longer there – the replies ought to go to.
I find it hard to make sense at the best of times but posts that are in reply do not stand on their own. It is akin to miss quoting.
Come on TI.
I would be happy if you deleted all mine
Thanks
-Rowan-
@ Franky:
Yeah….you now appear to be equally demented in your numerous replies.
I concur. Delete all replies as well.
Go to sleep Franky.
Thanks Intercept TI for the fast action.
Bad Darts.
demented?
God
I give up sick f$$$/pup
woops.
Understand
Going to bed
Thanks
Tired
Keep up the good work!
ps
Delete me please
Declaration of mental illness while ill, with full name
Affective disorder.
Thanks again Lyra1.
Rest was helpful.
Deep apologies to TI for over posting while under the influence.
I mean what happened to post number 1? Want me to pull it up? Cashed in Korea
Flooded
Cheery buy.
Get some rest Lyra1 thanks for your concern. “Mind con-troll”
From the article. And that, children, is how one part of the Arab Spring got squashed. Amazing how many had a hand in it.
Yeah….as I stated once already: A wise man once told me that there is no such thing as a conspiracy theory; just theories about how the conspiracy was performed.
“We are today not far from a disaster.”
In my view, that has come and gone.
Today we are the survivors trying to pick up the pieces. I hope that we succeed.
Afterthought:
“Back in Iraq, Jack”
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/08/back-iraq-jack.html
“It’s back in Iraq, Jack! Yackety yack! Obama says the United States has fired missiles and dropped food in Iraq — enough food to feed 8,000, enough missiles to kill an unknown number (presumably 7,500 or fewer keeps this a “humanitarian” effort). The White House told reporters on a phone call following the President’s Thursday night speech that it is expediting weapons to Iraq, producing Hellfire missiles and ammunition around the clock, and shipping those off to a nation where Obama swears there is no military solution and only reconciliation can help. Hellfire missiles are famous for helping people reconcile.”
Thanks for the article Cora Currier and Morgan Marquis Boire.
Yet more hard evidence that the “five eyes” are in absolute collusion.
Keep up the good work Intercept as you are enabling measurable legal opposition to the totalitarian regime in Washington DC that has overtaken the US Government.
The entire town knows. It would be a mistrial in the state of Oklahoma. I will go to New York and take my chances with Free speech and definetly win with torture considering what the federal marshals did. This fucking show is over. Five days and get out. I call the ACLU in five days. Little Weed goes to New York and you can try gassing her ass there and see if it works Oklahoma.
Maris America and Little Star Weed Elizabeth Owen
Tell New York I’m calling. In five days. Tell the bankers Lauren Owen is done. Find a way out or she will fight her way out as usual.
Another good article. By seeing what technologies are out there (that have been sold to these dirty regimes like Bahrain by companies from the US and Germany) you can get an idea of what technologies we have and how they can be abused here.
Meanwhile, it looks like the US is back in the war.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/08/obama-authorises-iraq-air-strikes-against-isis
So I wouldn’t sweat the crapflooding too much.
@coram nobis:
Hasn’t dividing the Middle-East and arming mercenaries to perpetuate US energy and land acquisitions been a major objective in that operational theatre of the US “War on Terror”? This comes as no surprise.
“All you need to know about ISIS and what is happening in Iraq”
http://rt.com/news/166836-isis-isil-al-qaeda-iraq/
It’s interesting that all this is happening on the centennial of the first full week of the War to End All Wars. And Iraq figured in this, a century ago, as a source of oil and a strategic objective — something about Winston Churchill wanting to use oil, not coal, to fuel the dreadnoughts. And here we are again. Starring Barack Obama as Nicholas II, Vladimir Putin as Kaiser Wilhelm, David Cameron as H.H. Asquith. Rated PG.
‘How curious, that the First World War is never taught in our schools as an invasion of Iraq’, Rob Newman -the comedian, from his eye opening and funny show, The History of Oil:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIpm_8v80hw
That’s interesting. They invaded Iraq in 1917, and lost an army at the battle of Kut. They resumed hostilities, with a lot of air warfare, in 1920-25. And they were back in 1941.
Nothing sticks, apparently.
in other news:
http://betaboston.com/news/2014/05/29/mit-conference-looks-at-robotics-breakthroughs-and-big-challenges-ahead/
software and hardware need testing.. where better than Iraq
-Rowan-
The progressive leftist New York Times’s “reluctant,” Libya-decimating, Syrian Al Qaeda rebel supporting, stable country obliterating, shit-pot stirring president Barack Obama. Reluctantly:
_”Obama, With Reluctance, Returns to Action in Iraq“_
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/a-return-to-action.html
Anyone concerned about the unhinged crap-flooder Lauren should contact the editor:
[email protected]
Perhaps if he gets enough email, he will do something about it.
If this publication has any credibility at all, readers should not be required to send emails to stop thoroughly demented crap-flooders. It should be policy.
This is a call for affirmative action on planet Earth….we are out of time people. It is now or never. Please do what you can.
It is not a pretty picture but it is reality.
See: “Child-killing sociopaths of Israel”
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2014/08/01/sociopaths/
Chlorpromazine any one?
Liquid Kosh
62 x
Coram Nobis is a saint too.
Tell Coram the word is a firework up his asshole.
“I am anti-authoritarian to the core” —John Kelly 03 Jul 2014 at 9:37 pm
Hi Stalker, Thanks for posting that. I’m glad you care. I suppose you think that being anti-authoritarian means something that it does not? It does not mean people can walk up in my face and spout aggressive and stupid gibberish while I am talking to others without me suggesting they get stuffed. Glad I could clear that up for you…. stalker.
Nobody walked up and shouted in your face. Lauren posted to a message board. (And I dug up a quote to back it up, and if you don’t understand you’re authoritarian, then why are you reflexively, defensively associating my comment with your response to her?)
You’re off balance again, which is nothing new.
“Lauren” crap-flooded a message board which is analogous to walking up and shrieking stupidly when a group is trying to have a discussion… or, if you prefer, it’s like peeing in the pool we are all swimming in. You may like it, but most do not. Thanks for your input stalker. Perhaps she/he/it could defacate in the pool to get your ire?
“Lauren” crap-flooded a message board which is analogous to walking up and shrieking stupidly when a group is trying to have a discussion… or, if you prefer, it’s like peeing in the pool we are all swimming in. You may like it, but most do not. Thanks for your input stalker. Perhaps she/he/it could crap in the pool to get your ire?
Civil discourse in message boards doesn’t work when a hysterical progressive leftist like you helplessly casts a “stalker” aspersion when confronted with a quote that backs up an argument. You’re out of self-control.
Thanks so much for the free therapy. You are funny : ) I did not know you cared. Sorry for the stalker comment. I love you too.
Like a dark horse
Isn’t the wheel chair “birthday”?
Madonna was pretty raunchy in her day.
My one eyed cat is purring. She sleeps with one eye open.
She’s a beast I call her karma.
Miez
@lauren
When KP sings about palestine it may enter the torture top ten at number 2.
I am sorry for your trouble, as they say in Ireland.
Hollywood is flooded right now.
Sleep is the answer..
Will someone take a hard look at this pro crap-flooder and remove her/him/it? Please? Scrolling through the crap to get to to the serious comments is probably running people off… perhaps on purpose? I’ve never seen anyone post so much bullshit on a web forum of any kind, ever. It is noxious verbal pollution, plain and simple.
@ John Kelly:
Absolutely concur.
I’m no saint, but reminds me of mr wolf/elb when unwell.
@ Franky:
Definitely. But a sick puppy by any other name, is still a sick puppy.
I got upset about sock puppy. I can’t sleep because I’m bi polar.
Can’t make Israeli embassy tomorrow. Going to kew gardens instead.
So you could say I understand. News/internet affects people in different ways.
Sleep is Key Che Lyra.
You link sent me over the edge.
Not a pretty picture
££££££ Franky ££££$£
*your link
or was it yours Che1
pubic enemy
L1
you met 62
Alan 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krb1lr-aiMs
Tron Puppet
Can internet suicide be a terrorist act?
@ Franky:
Get away from the internet for awhile. It is a another source of mind-control. Just walk away.
Get some sleep too.
“…….Can internet suicide be a terrorist act?….”
If you are a non combatant, that’s terrorism….
“Lauren is SICK ” Period.
No that would be the federal marshals who want a piece of my ass and can’t get it now because they purged themselves into a corner.
Being blackmailed by a sextape with your own wife is a perfect example of how mass surveillance can be used for malevolent agendas… Even for those who use the excuse, “I have nothing to hide.”
“no public scrutiny of surveillance or clear laws regulating its use,”
It seems the only people protected against spying are governments and large corporations. That is exactly why we need news outlets like this.
@ Lauren:
Look….I don’t know what the hell your problem is because you are not lucid or coherent in your numerous epic comments all over the TI threads. Be advised that your comments are offensive and irritating to other readers. Anyone who speaks consistently of themselves in the third person has a broken personality and identity problem. Trashing comment threads on the Intercept will not reestablish a connection to your self. Only you can do that.
Crap-flooding is not an acceptable solution and The Intercept IT should shut you down.
do you want to commit internet suicide together. Good buy TI was nice knowing y’all
Toodle pip
take care Lauren
-Rowan-
Get the fuck out. The intercept wants to hear about dumb asses who follow people for letter writing. They will eat your ass up. They don’t give a shit if I pissed on workers comp. they want freedom of speech. I’m going to the ACLU BASTARD! Get the fuck off me. Quit having your wife show up at events and stalk me. Get your ass out And you get out or we show down ACLU VERSUS COWBOYS. You fuckers will go down with New York up your playboy asses. Jealous, stupid, and fucking vengeful. I’m ready come and FUCKING GET ME!
do you like roar by katy perry?
I do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4&list=RDbtPJPFnesV4
Rising up!
“Rambo sipped his Coke.”~AtheistInChief
Rocky?
you’re a fire work.
Take care as I said. You have many friends here.
unconditional.
-Rowan-
From the David Morrell book, “First Blood.”
heh heh. I enjoy screwing with Lauren.
Her kids are tough as shit. They are smarter than your fat lazy banking ass. Wonder Woman will be damned glad to show her kids how fucking tough she and her husband were. The two year commercial was nothing. She is done. Get the hell out. Game over. PAy up and leave or she calls the ACLU. Done.
He sang, “Ice Man! Ice! A hundred for twenty, fifty for a dime. Keep your watermelon cold and your pork chops fine, ’vite Old Joe up to chitlins just any old time. Ice Man! Ice!”
I thought, “Even the ice man is starving down here. I gotta get down up-there on that stem. Off Preston’s run-down, that stem must be a sonuvabitch. I gotta down her there. It’s where the scratch is.”
I am sure this is just the tip of the iceberg of how extensively private entities are profiting massively from the exploitation of people all over the world. Every time I watch the Matrix I can’t help but think it is all a metaphor for our modern day world. “We are all slaves–prisoners of a prison we can not taste, see or touch. A prison for our minds.”
People like Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald and the countless others who have, are and will continue to contribute to the truth being made public are the heroes here. I want to take this opportunity to extend my most sincere gratitude for the selfless actions they take to the benefit of a free world. I am reminded of the verbiage used to commend US military personnel for valor when I think of these heroes. I am reminded of the words used to describe Jesus Christ. Basically, anyone in the past, present or future who put their neck out for the rest of us unknown souls because IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO! It is easy to follow orders and get medals. It is hard to ignore orders and risk life and liberty for the greater good.
I have always maintained that Germans are unreliable people and needed to be kept under watch. They all have family-histories of being part of the worst and most criminal regime in whole of history. I know their Chancellor did not enjoy the attention she was getting, but to say she did not deserve it was a disservice to her murderous forebears. All these revelations bear out the need for continuing to spy on the Germans and not pay any heed to their protests. Snowden will be stupid to trust the Germans and seek their asylum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-FwKDLfd18&index=69&list=UU4E-u-N_znroPRsdHi2E-7g
eclpse-pink floyd by general hercules
Verpiss dich!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nACOyzPKidQ
Radio kaos sport fishing…
With gay abandon… “brownies rhymes with nazis?”
You do maintain. General Summers!
I just did a google search for AtheistInChief, myself. Holy shit. It’s scary. Everything, even my supposedly anonymous made up profile, is up for ridicule:
https://profile.theguardian.com/user/id/10695824
tried craig summers yet?
-Rowan Park-
https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/authors/craig-summers
07 Aug 2014 at 8:59 pm
“……You are the one rewriting history…..When the Zionists arrived that is when the problems began. They terrorized the Arab Palestinians; killed them; stole their land; bulldozed hundreds of years old olive groves; destroyed the peace in the land….”-seer
You are going to need to cite some evidence for that.
I’m interested too.
And the peacefully living side by side prior to z’s arrival….(from memory.
Not that well read at the best of times. Terrible at sight reading with a small repatoire
I am Lauren, I am TOTALLY MAD, and I agree with the General.
FUCK YOU and post your real name asshole. If the fucking great depression was staring at you on the front page of the NEW YORK TIMES. You’d piss in your pants and call the damn general about your payout checks from the USA. You’ll be fucking mad when you get a fucking clue about real news and shit that actually happens puppet ass.
That’s a kinda ridiculous argument. While they do sell a lot of military equipment all over the world, Germany as a country seems far better behaved than other world “powers.” And all human beings can be accused of the viciousness of their ancestors by the way. I’m not sure I can think of any people that get a pass
Frankly, this is no less bigoted than saying stuff like this about Jews or Muslims. If you want to criticize the German government or its political system, that’s different.
He “maintains” i.e he has made similar remarks here.. which I and other tried to pull him up on.
and I know you were replying to him: frankly
Have you ever been to Germany?
They have a great sense of humour also…
He would not be stupid. Not many other places have offered him asylum. Maybe their history makes them more trust worthy as a ‘people’.
My Girlfriend is german. I have lived in the country side there (small town) and spent time in Berlin.
lovely bunch. Those Yanks on the other hand with all those nukes. Scary. (been their too)
Faulty Logic/get a life
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfl6Lu3xQW0
“Mein Hund bekam keine Nase… ”
“Wie kommt er zu riechen? ”
“Schrecklich”
As a software engineer myself, I would hope the FinFisher developers experience an attack of conscience. Perhaps it’s easy to fool yourself when you’re fed platitudes by the Bahrain govt, but reading an article like this that lays out exactly what the software is being used for, that should be impossible to ignore. These are clever, skilled people who could easily find other employment. If they stay, they are criminals, plain and simple.
Yes plain and simple. It’s not that fucking hard to understand. A private company sells shit to people and other people get followed and tortured. This website is a fucking joke of words get on with it. Fucking call it a day and retailiate or get the hell out. That’s what the Fucking wars are about. Your words are shit. LAUREN GETS IT!! FUCK YOU!!! She doesn’t need a fucking constitional law degree to figure out that following and harassment is borderline against the law dumbass! She can fucking sue you for preemptive murder on her husband you fucking dumb ass. You have been involved in this since 2008, she will prove a banking scandal and fuck the entire USA! She doesn’t want that get the fuck out! NOW!
So America’s allies even in the West are proving themselves as stupidly dishonorable as the US. Makes sense. Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain – all corrupt! Britain is obviously completely lost morally, Canada is an ass-kissing puppet, Australia is regressive, and evidently Germany is ethically retarded also. What a fucking alliance this is!
Is it time to look at the issue of honor and integrity yet, and weigh moral courage against losing principles in favor of soulless claims of pragmatism and money-making? Or is it still too ‘philosophical’ to do this?
I am talking about the establishments (and in the case of Eastern allies like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia the dictatorships) of these countries, not the populations necessarily. In most cases the actual people are all right, for now, though their rulers are currently corrupting them all via mass media.
The wold is going to hell in a hand basket.
Do not fucking follow my son and I to dinner anymore. We don’t want your banking ass and your lawyer shit at our table. Call fucking Linda Carter to testify and she will literally blow job your ass out of the fucking banking industry. Go the fuck away. Lauren is god damned done.
You’ve got ten days to get the fuck out, off the radio, quit following, and cameras out or Lauren writes letters every day to the ACLU until they listen to her. SHE IS DONE.
Let’s get this very straight, Lauren’s family is huge in democratic support she is tied to socialist thinking and both her sons are 4.0 students and over the age of 18. They will come after you for blackmailing their father and putting their mother in jail for writing fucking letters without a return address. Get the fuck off her satellite radio, camera’s out or she tells the kids about the harassment and calls the ACLU. You will be sued beyond belief by all branches of the government for obstruction of justice and perjury. GET THE FUCK OUT NOW.
Little weed star wrote… We are the weeds we are the thistles…. That stands for… WE ARE THE WORLD WE ARE THE CHILDREN. In Lauren’s eyes Michel didn’t die. He lives in on in people’s memories. Fuck off ! the children are done with you screwing with her mother. Get the fuck out before the ACLU GETS A CLUE THAT THEY ARE SITTING On the CASE OF THE FUCKING CENTURY AND LAUREN IS READY. She is ready.
“Germany does not care to whom is selling weapons, whether these weapons will be used against population inside countries, like in the case of Bahrain or S. Arabia and knows very well that these countries do have enough money to buy weapons. It’s worth to remember that Germany sold 6 nuclear submarines to Israel, tanks and many more.”
http://goo.gl/QxMM7H
Just watch Merkal while Mr Netanyahu speaks…
Statements by PM Netanyahu and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (pub. feb24 2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUmOlvlb2DA
-Rowan-
‘FinFisher belonged to the U.K.-based Gamma Group during the time period the leaked documents cover’
Why is it called a German company in the title?
Think Stratfor . . . ;->
Terror Horses…
when I grew up things were simpler.
Remember the bombs on the Atari ST? and the bumble bee? And they had a midi port!! still a standard today (M1D1)..
Billy
there were 4 (or sometimes more) bombs on crash.. (shift) and the bumble be would fly in to the right corner
BBC micro. Amiga never had those but my palls did. No internet back then.
Getting old
FREE PALESTINE!
WG
the bombs and the bee
http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=14642#p125286
It sounds like these spy companies are really intelligence mercenaries. If you have the money, they have the malware and it doesn’t matter to them who is victimized.
I have no doubt the US is also using its intelligence services for monitoring and controlling dissent and hope some brave leaker will provide documentation on that soon.
You don’t need to be a dissident just other than them – there taking it all remember.
Taking it all, yes, but the blackmail? Getting people put in prison? I’m sure it’s happening, but documentation would be helpful.
Some of this use of technology reminds me of how the old Apartheid Regime in SA wanted to use the pass system using the new tech companies of their day to keep track of all the people and target to suppress before they could even organize to protest their own conditions. Part of the command and control ideology that permeates the world. I guess the tech industry did not live up to its “Do No Evil.” Now we need to figure out how to keep all of the silly children safe in a world that has so many pitfalls and so many who can cause so many people such pain.
Thank you for another excellent piece of reporting, showing us the severe extent of electronic spying around the globe, the West’s contribution to such spying by totalitarian regimes, and its harm to democratic activity worldwide and here at home.
Pro-democracy activists can learn from this story that they should stop using Windows for sensitive communications, and instead operate from a live linux CD, particularly a security-based distribution (eg. ‘Tails’). See distrowatch.com for other alternatives.