# Is the government spying on us through our beloved internet?



## Draxion (Aug 10, 2006)

So, I'm reading "Digital Fortress" by Dan Brown, and I start to wonder if I'm really secure on the internet.  In the book (which has a LOT of accurate information in it about the US government and all that), there is a computer called "TRANSLTR".  Supposedly, "TRANSLTR" takes everything moving through the world wide web and scans it for any information.  In other words, ANYTHING you do oline...send an email, post a thread in a forum, have a conversation through instant messaging...anything, can be seen by the government at any given time.  I started to wonder if there really is such a thing--or at least some 'internet spies' that oversee the goings on of the virtual world we've all become slave to.

So basically I'm wondering if the renowned Bush Administration is being loyal to its citizens...or is Mr. "Dubya" pulling a curtain of false security over our eyes and having big fat guys watch our every move from in front of their monitors in their swivel chairs while they complain about how they eat too much, and their fourth wife just left them because their sweat smelled like mayonase and salty crab legs, and....ahem..anyways...  What do you all think?

(P.S.-I'm looking for a nice WACOM tablet that will work with Mac OS X and Windows XP...just throwing it out there.)


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## fryke (Aug 10, 2006)

"moving through the world wide web" ?  ... ah, well. okay. Maybe with AJAX, that's now possible. Either way, "the government" (I guess you're talking about the US government) probably _does_ spy on you. Be aware.


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## Qion (Aug 10, 2006)

...but don't fret about it. If anything, they're expending their computer resources on finding traces of some, er, "weapons of mass destruction". I'm guessing you'll be alright as long as you don't say "I have weapons of mass destruction in an Altoids tin hidden in my basement that I don't have." 

Oh shit. I just set myself up...


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## ora (Aug 10, 2006)

Short answer: yes   cf ECHELON etc etc

A note though, please take ANYTHING Dan Brown says with a pinch of salt. Whether you like the books or not (and I really don't), he does _just enough_ research and happily fictionalizes over the gaps, which is perfectly reasonable but means its best not to take him literally. CERN provide a nice example (they are featured in Angels & Demons) on what was true and what was false here.


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## Draxion (Aug 10, 2006)

fryke said:


> "moving through the world wide web" ?  ... ah, well. okay. Maybe with AJAX, that's now possible. Either way, "the government" (I guess you're talking about the US government) probably _does_ spy on you. Be aware.




FRYKE YOU!!  XD

Anyway...I agree wiht Qion about the whole security thing (kinda reminds ya of school, no?)

An I know the Dan Brown Books are like...um...*snores*

*wakes up*  FISH PRETZELS!


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## scruffy (Aug 10, 2006)

Is the government spying on you?  Yes - Echelon was mentioned, plus all the various laws the US Feds are passing to make it easier to snoop on more and more of their citizens' activity, to make it illegal for companies to tell you about this activity, etc.

Does Digital Fortress make sense?  I haven't read it, but still found this page amusing:
http://math.cofc.edu/kasman/MATHFICT/mfview.php?callnumber=mf340

For a technically and mathematically accurate novel with a cryptography theme, try Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson (it's a great read, and the ending isn't even a letdown like most of Stephenson's endings...)


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## hawki18 (Aug 11, 2006)

Always people around who are parnoid freaks, get real and worry about something real


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## AhhChoo (Aug 11, 2006)

hawki18 said:


> Always people around who are parnoid freaks, get real and worry about something real



Hmmm........ an insightful rejoinder from an obviously deep thinker.


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## Natobasso (Aug 11, 2006)

I've never considered the internet safe or private enough for my personal information. That's why I store very little of it online.


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## Draxion (Aug 11, 2006)

Another little tidbit on Dan Brown:

Today I watched "The REAL Da Vinci Code" on the Discovery channel, and it turns out Danny boi is the ONLY one who belives in the priory of sion and the holy bloodline...even though people confessed to making up the whole thing in '87 (or some time around then).

He's um...Ugly


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## Satcomer (Aug 14, 2006)

fryke said:


> "moving through the world wide web" ?  ... ah, well. okay. Maybe with AJAX, that's now possible. Either way, "the government" (I guess you're talking about the US government) probably _does_ spy on you. Be aware.



Um the World Wide web is the ARPANET so it has always had "tools" in it from the get go. I swear kids today have no sense of history. The cold war created the web, does anyone hear remember the year it started? July was always a good month for human steps. They true first network message from point to outside point was in July 1969, the same month man first set foot on the moon. Which was the larger step, the network message or putting a human foot on the moon?

Seriously there is no spying on the net unless you give them a REASON to spy on you. Other than that, they really don't care about you unless YOU give them a reason.


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## chemistry_geek (Aug 14, 2006)

Is the U.S. Government spying on its citizens?... YES! In more ways than you could possibly imagine.  In fact, I'm willing to bet it has profiles on almost everyone, but I don't think that you or I are actively being monitored by people, computers and programs are but I doubt humans get involved unless a terror threat or seriously illegal activity is suspected.  I don't go around stealing music, movies, or programs on the internet, so I ave nothing to be concerned about.  I don't go around looking for porn either, safe again.  All the U.S. Government is going to know about me are the websites I visit, the email I receive and send, and any conversations I have over iChat and Skype, and that I play Halo Demo everyonce in a while.

Understand that the U.S. Goverment is largest employer of mathematicians in the world and the government body that does all the majic the National Security Agency, which has been around for a long, long time, but wasn't publically acknowledged as an existing branch of the government until about 10 or so years ago.

Don't worry, you can't change what the government does, or knows about you.  Resistence is futile, you will be assimilated.


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## scruffy (Aug 16, 2006)

> Don't worry, you can't change what the government does, or knows about you. Resistence is futile, you will be assimilated.



That's a pretty bleak view of the state of democracy in the US you have there, Chemistry Geek.  Realistic, perhaps, but bleak...


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## Draxion (Aug 16, 2006)

Here's something...I'm betting I could go to an 18+ forum or site, pretend to be 18 (I'm 15), and not get caught....for NO reason!  I mean..they KNOW I'm doing it, but I htink they don't care. Probably because so many horny 12 year olds try to look up teh pr0n and there's nothing we could do about it except shut down the internet...which would be um...*fats*

AND for the record...I think teh pr0n ish borign and useless to human culture--or anyother culture for that matter--and shouldn't be allowed to exist!! ;;


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## reed (Aug 18, 2006)

During the Vietnam War those who were against the war and knew their phones were tapped use to answer: "hello, screw Hoover......" Well, if one is worried about having their E-mails being read by clowns in the State Department or elsewhere, but you have no State secrets to pass on to the enemy, why worry. Say what you think and who cares. What can THEY do? Lower your already cruddy credit rating?


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