The Guardian is reporting something that I have to admit caught me off guard:
Athletes and spectators attending the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February will face some of the most invasive and systematic spying and surveillance in the history of the Games, documents shared with the Guardian show. Russia’s powerful FSB security service plans to ensure that no communication by competitors or spectators goes unmonitored during the event, according to a dossier compiled by a team of Russian investigative journalists looking into preparations for the 2014 Games. The journalists … found that major amendments have been made to telephone and Wi-Fi networks in the Black Sea resort to ensure extensive and all-permeating monitoring and filtering of all traffic, using Sorm, Russia’s system for intercepting phone and internet communications. Ron Deibert, a professor at the University of Toronto and director of Citizen Lab, which co-operated with the Sochi research, describes the Sorm amendments as “Prism on steroids”, referring to the programme used by the NSA in the US and revealed to the Guardian by the whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Well, there clearly isn’t any Olympic spirit being displayed here.
What bothers me about this is that this sounds very cold war like, and the whole point of Russia going after these Olympic games is to prove that it has moved on and that they different. That clearly isn’t the case. What’s worse is that that IOC is apparently okay with this. They’re likely in too deep to go to any sort of plan “B.” But surely this sort of host behavior from a host country isn’t acceptable to them? Or perhaps the IOC simply doesn’t care because they got paid? Either way, it’s little wonder why the Americans are telling their citizens to leave their laptops and smartphones at home if they go to Sochi.
Perhaps at this point people should just stay home? This combined with the Russian’s attitude towards the LGBT community really make this Olympics a “must skip” event for me. Perhaps for many others as well.
Canada Spied On Brazil: Report [UPDATED]
Posted in Commentary with tags Brazil, Canada, Spying on October 7, 2013 by itnerdSince I talked about the Russians spying on visitors and athletes going to the Sochi Olympics, I’ll also toss in the the fact that according to a report, Canada is spying on Brazil:
The report on Globo television was based on documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and was the latest showing that Latin America’s biggest country has been a target for U.S., British and now Canadian spy agencies.
The report said the metadata of phone calls and emails from and to the Brazilian ministry were targeted by the Communications Security Establishment Canada, or CSEC, to map the ministry’s communications, using a software program called Olympia. It didn’t indicate whether emails were read or phone calls were listened to.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper would neither confirm nor deny the allegations when asked to respond to the report late Sunday night.
The “CSEC does not comment on its specific foreign intelligence activities or capabilities,” said Harper’s communications director Jason MaDdonald.
Strangely, I’m not shocked by this as I assume that everyone spies on everyone. But it could have lasting effects for Canada. Brazil is a huge economy and these revelations (true or not, it doesn’t really matter at this point) could affect Canada’s ability to trade with Brazil. That would not be good.
I think that we (meaning Canada) need to clear the air on this as quickly as possible. Regardless of what the truth is, it doesn’t look good for Canada.
UPDATE: The Globe And Mail is reporting that the Brazilian President is demanding answers on this.
Leave a comment »