Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Microsoft buys Skype

What is Skype? This is what Skype says about itself - - - Skype is for doing things together, whenever you’re apart. Skype’s text, voice and video make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you, wherever they are. - - -
Skype has a free download version.

So what you can do, is get a phone number of your friend, wherever they are, then you start the program, click stuff and contact your friend. They can be across town, in Florida, or Nairobi and you suddenly can text talk, voice talk and SEE them live and in living colour!
Wonderful program for Grandmas contacting their grandchildren, or offices doing impromptu sessions about their contracts, or anyone else who wants a live contact look.

So here we go again with my slant on it. First you might want to review some of my previous posts about Microsoft, and the reasons I believe they are beholden to the CIA, NSA or Homeland Security. Once you digest that, you'll either go away shaking your head or begin to realize the same things that these watcher agencies would love: an in with Skype.

It is believed that Microsoft may include Skype with Windows 8.
Having it built into their operating system means they can tinker however they like with the intricacies of the program, meaning what it does and how it does it. Perhaps even when it does it.
Imagine Skype being controlled or reporting to 'someone' what it sees from the top of YOUR computer? A spy master's treasure trove. An intrepid innovation.

Lends another aspect to big brother watching you, doesn't it? Who needs a satellite looking down at you and seeing your rooftop when the watcher can be right inside your house!
Hmm.

Yikes.

UPDATE: Was I right or was I right? Today, May 27, it was just announced that a recent 'glitch' on Skype has been fixed! And even though you have not been able to use it for a few days, you can now download the updated 'fixed' software version and get right back on!
Skype blames overloaded 'supernodes' for the failures, and says they are fixing them, trying to reassure you that hackers were not responsible for the downtime. Right, always blame hackers. Concentrate your attention on the imagined bad guys so you don't notice the real bad guys at work.

Is this a suspicion confirmed? So Microsoft buys Skype, shuts it down while they and/or the US Government Sneak Department installs new spyware, then you load the update that could make your webcam record you in your home without turning on your little light.
Wonderful.

Will we need to turn off the lights and whisper within our own homes soon? Will this KGB like intrusion become the Stasi or the Tonton Macoutes one day?
We need to go back to the woodshed days when we had a place to talk privately. Or Tony Soprano's basement.

Here is the link -
http://www.pcworld.com/article/228880/skype_glitch_fixed_no_big_deal.html#tk.rss_news


Meanwhile, they're saying the Skype system is a little slow right now. Could that be because it is classifying and organizing the 25 million subscribers at the moment? Perhaps with face recognition software after taking all your pictures?

Paranoid? You tell me.


Monday, May 2, 2011

Spy Machine.

Julian Assange, in a recent interview, said facebook was a spy machine.
But of course you knew that when you signed up and revealed almost everything about yourself. Didn't you. Didn't you?

Assange believes - Facebook [sic] is a giant database of names and records about people, maintained voluntarily by its users but developed for U.S. intelligence to use. “Everyone should understand that when they add their friends to Facebook, they are doing free work for United States intelligence agencies, and building this database for them,” Assange said.
While Assange doesn’t claim that Facebook is actually run by U.S. intelligence agencies, the fact that they have access to its records is — in his view — dangerous enough.


Well, you signed up. And filled out a profile, telling all about yourself.
Your place of work. Your DOB, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, which ALL police forces use for ID. Who your Mom and Dad are. Who Grandma is. You even entered in the maiden name of your Mom! Maybe what your first dog's name was. Where you live, work and play. What you like, perhaps that you like murder mysteries in your reading and movie preferences. That you still like Bob Dylan protest music. And under Philosophy, innocently tucked into the list, your religion and political views.
And then you put a nice clear picture of yourself up for all to see.

Then you started looking for your friends, close and long lost. And in doing that you gave facebook the actual PASSWORD to your email account. So they could get and use the names of all your contacts on that account. Friends, family, employers, business accounts. To help YOU of course.
Wow, cross referencing in the extreme.
And not only that, they can still access your email to see what you are sending to whom right now!

So if that buddy in high school, (remember Freddy that you thought was so funny at fourteen) had grown up and his third cousin on his uncle's side became a grandma killer, YOU are now associated with him. Remember, you typed HIS name into a search and found Freddy. And you asked him to be a friend.
And lo and behold, Freddy responded back to you and befriended you all over again! And he had a friend, who has a friend. And that third cousin is also in HIS database, from a prison cell. But of course you don't know that. And anyone looking at these kinds of records would KNOW that YOU are no grandma killer.
You love your grandma.

But wait. We assumed that a human would just look at these things and say it was only George looking for Freddy. They have nothing to do with creepy murderous cousin. But of course it is NOT a human surveilling you. Only a computer that constantly adds information to the database. That only searches for keywords and names. The computer that links you with murderers, thieves and highwaymen! And your picture. Nice head shot. Perfect for face recognition software to memorize.
Did you know that if you go to the big game, buy your tickets from a scalper when you get there, enter the gates, your face can be recognized going in. You are NOT anonymous. And even if you snapped a quickie from your built-in webcam, you allowed facebook to access the camera. But didn't set a NO access after the pic. You see how sneaky these things are? And it IS possible to hack into your puter and turn OFF the light that tells you your camera is active. Sorry if this is disturbing. Lends a whole new meaning to 'big brother is watching', doesn't it?

We all know that any social media, any ISP host, information storage, cloud storage, or any other databased web storage is subject to the Patriot Act and the scrutiny of Homeland Security. And here is the good part for the spyers: by law you cannot be told you are being watched. So any dark agency of the government or secret cell of the CIA can simply click in to everything you do on facebook, and record your entries, comments, opinions, private emails, and personal info. Anytime.

Too late. It isn't a reasonable logical sympathetic human being watching you. Only a computer that is building a labyrinth of webbing items about you. Damning contacts made up of those triggered keywords and alarmed phrases. Red flags to your personality. Betraying keystrokes.
This goes way beyond just recording your ISP number or the unique serial number of your hard drive. The conclusions of you being monitored by facebook are endless and dangerous.

What about Julian Assange? There is talk of charging him with treason in the US. Of course he is Australian, in Britain and he has yet to go to Sweden, but let's not let nationality into it.
Or truth.
They are watching you. You can't watch them.

http://mashable.com/2011/05/02/julian-assange-facebook-spy-machine/