Posted on 03/31/2009 2:38:16 AM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
RTNews (RussiaToday News) reported March 26 that the Obama Administration is seeking the power through legal channels to have the right to see just what is on your computer hard drive. Funny how the mainstream media has not given this story any coverage. The way in which the Obama Administration intends to carry out this flagrant violation of privacy will be under the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Below is a definition of the ACTA courtesy of Wikipedia.
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a proposed plurilateral trade agreement which is alleged by its proponents to be in response "to the increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works."[1] The scope of ACTA is broad, including counterfeit physical goods, as well as "internet distribution and information technology."[2]
(Excerpt) Read more at renewamerica.us ...
Can anyone verify or deny the claims in this piece?
This is not technically possible, unless they mandate a complete software rewrite of all browsers, or the installation of some spy agent software alongside the browser.
And you can bet that ain't gonna happen.
Do they have to access the hard drive directly, or can they bust through firewalls and go via the internet?
Isn’t there some google software that will do something very similar? Seems to me they had some option that will map your drive for searches...
The only question, which I hope is unlikely, are there any back doors in Windows mandated by government.
Recovering Democrat:
Thanks for posting. The most transparent administration in history! The people who were bent out of shape when the Bush administration wanted to listen to terrorist phone calls.....
ping
Regulations proposed by the Homeland Security Agency seek to allow them to check hard-drive content of passengers flying with their computer. Supposedly to stop terrorists from transporting plans and other materials to aid in terrorism, but it is obviously a step towards confiscation of private material. The ACTA is taking that concept to a whole new level. I have a considerable amount of mp3 stored music and travel with it on my computer and mp3 player - movies too. These types of moves by the government make me personally a bit nervous. I can just imagine having to prove that all those music files were recorded for personal use from CD’s - what about all the CD’s I’ve owned, copied, and then sold? Files I’ve copied from a friend? Where will this end? As long as the technology exists, mp3 players are produced and file transfer is possible; there will be an argument for use and sharing of purchased material by private persons. Stopping all use of purchased material is a pipe-dream; I buy it, its mine; and I’ll do what I want with it. By their logic, re-selling used CD’s is a crime as well. F’em.
I’m as up in arms against unreasonable airport searches as the next guy, but copying CDs and selling them isn’t really defensible. “Infringement of others’ copyrights” is hardly one of the constitutional rights I’m willing to take a stand on. Especially when there’s money changing hands.
Would Bill Gates do something like that?
I don’t know.
Ah if trues you got to love those liberals. They screamed bloody murder about phone ease dropping when Bush was president... Oh the Hypocrisy. Until the Republican grow a set instead of rolling over, it’s only going to go down hill from here folks.
No, there is no access. There are exploits, malware, trojans, etc. that can allow access on a compromised machine. There is however, no direct access to the hard drive without an additional helper application. Even then, it's usually limited on P2P to certain files(Torrents) or areas(Share folders on Gnutella). There are tools that allow full access such at remote desktop, Dameware, etc. but you'll know it if it's used.
It certainly is something that they could legislate into existance, but I suspect it'll get squished on 4th amendment and privacy concerns.
It's far more likely that they'll simply take Carnivore a step further and mandate it everywhere. The only good thing about that the more information they try to process, the more difficult it becomes to find what they're after.
The other problem for these nosey gov't aholes will be the fact that within 10 years or so EVERYTHING will be digital delivery. Brick and Mortar video stores will be gone entirely or at least not exists as they do today. You want a movie, you go to your TV and rent one. All these legitimate transfers will dwarf the pirated ones. Determining which transfers are legal and which are not will be nearly impossible.
Data mining cookies have been doing this for years. The amount of data that can be gleaned from ones HD currently is amazing. Everything from Passwords to what the last website you visited can be looked at without the average person even knowing it most time. In short, I think that it would be a lot easier than you think.
That's why it is so important to have a good AV system, and good practices in place if you are on the web.
sounds very similar to the beginnings of the NAZI PARTY in
Hitler’s Germany, which ultimately cost millions of lives.
Same story different characters.
Have you been to a Tower Records before? Amazon.com?? There is an enormous market for used CD’s. I burn all the CD’s I own, so I can use them on my computer and mp3 player. I play them on my stereo, and trade them when I want. Do we agree that is allowed? What you’re saying is that when I trade my CD, I should erase my mp3 files as well?? Did I not own that music for my personal use when I bought the CD?? Am I refused the right to sell a used CD when I’m done with it? Should someone else buy it new, if they choose to buy it used at a lesser price? Whose rights are being infringed upon by being refused the use of material I’ve purchased? Mine, that’s who. By you’re definition we should do away with the second-hand market all-together. What about books? DVD’s that have been rented more times than the original purchase price; then sold to customers in the used bin? Someone is loosing out on a royalty there as well.
Not lately.
If it is your right to ‘trade’ a copy of a recording while keeping the original, then in a perfectly arranged online world only one original copy of a cd could expect to be sold, and $10 ain’t a whole lot for the songwriters, vocalists, band members and record producers to share now, is it?
The legal concept, I believe, is of a license, whereby you don’t have the right to sell a copy and keep the original or vice versa. Same as with software. But you already understand that or you wouldn’t be nervous about traveling with your ‘collection’, would you?
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