We all should be concerned about viruses and people trying to do things to our computers at home. This week’s article shows us that these concerns should be shared by organizations and government agencies. Go to the link below and read the article. Write a reflective comment that shows you have read the article, expresses your views, and addresses my questions.
What sort of information do you think is covertly gathered by the governments that are using these sophisticated programs? Who do you think is really responsible for the GhostNet system? What is your opinion about this sort of practice? Is it ever justified? What should the Dalai Lama do now? The article quotes two researchers, “What Chinese spooks did in 2008, Russian crooks will do in 2010 and even low-budget criminals from less developed countries will follow in due course.” Does this bother you? What should we do about it?
Spy System Article
20 comments:
I think that governments who are using these programs are stealing the military codes of other governments as this would be the most useful to their attack or defense if there were to be a confrontation in the future. I think the three countries mentioned are probable culprits of the GhostNet System, although with none of the United States' government computers being hacked and monitored, it's probably the Americans who have full control of the program. In my opinion, as I think my government is the one who's running it, I don't really mind- this adds to my safety. Now, that will probably change once someone creates a better program and the United States' computers are infiltrated, but for right now, it's okay. It's not really a justification for it, and there will never be a proper one as this is stealing. I think he should get new computers. It's a simple solution to such a big problem- and it'll work! It does bother me, but there always have been and always will be malicious people out there just doing crimes to mess with people's lives and get what they otherwise couldn't have. Of course the quote bothers me, but seeing as there is no simple answer to this (not everyone can go out and get new computers once infected), just try to stop these people and stick them in jail- there isn’t much else that can be done about it.
In my opinion, the sort of information that I think is covertly gathered by governments that are using these sophisticated programs is political and governmental information that can help further these governments in these domains. For example, certain governments could be gathering information concerning the foreign calls that a particular country makes so they can learn of its future plans and try to destroy them if they show the potential of being harmful to them. Additionally, governments could be gathering information on the latest findings of a certain country so they can expose them and claim they are theirs before the producing country does, possibly increasing their amount of exports, which in turn improves the state of their economy if the item proves to be of some value. Personally, I believe that the people that are really responsible for the GhostNet system are extremely shrewd citizens in certain countries that want to try to get ahead of other countries by using information that they have gathered from those countries, which they provide their governments with and possibly gain some sort of reward in return for doing so. More importantly, though, this sort of practice is wrong due to the fact that it infringes on a country’s privacy concerning its governmental activities. Hence, it is never justified, especially with governments from certain countries using it to monitor the activities of the citizens of foreign countries and possibly exposing information that certain users might not have wanted to be made public about them. As for the Dalai Lama, the specialized people working with him should try to create a special system that encrypts all of their information and needs passwords to be accessed so that if other countries get their hands on this information, they will have a hard time trying to read and understand it. On the other hand, the quote bothers me, as it accentuates the idea that we live in a pragmatic world where we use whatever is available to meet our needs, even if we might be obtaining it in a wrong way. Thus, more governments will possibly begin to use the GhostNet system in an effort to get ahead of other countries and even worse, private information from citizens gathered from all around the world might be exposed. To prevent this from happening, each country should design a code that would be impossible to decipher and place it on their personal files so that if other countries get their hands on them, they would not be able to read them. Lastly, just like Cat said, people who are caught doing this should be punished, which in turn will cause other people who are thinking of participating in this to think twice.
I agree with Cat that governments who are using these programs are stealing from the military of other governments. I think they use these programs as both as a defense and an attack tactic. I think that the government themselves are the people who created GhostNet so they can get information from other countries. I think that the Dalai Lama should have a more secured access, for example he should program it to be more confusing and complicated. I think this practice is defiantly a violation of private things and any one who does it should be punished for it. It defiantly bothers me because as I said it’s intruding on other private things and I hate people who intrude and get in your business.
The government using such programs can gather information about other countries government, plans, and military forces. They can find out such things to threaten the country, attack, or take their military strengths. Because none of the U.S. government computers have been hacked, I believe that it could be the U.S. victimizing other countries and hacking onto their government computers. Their government is a huge one, and ultimately, extremely powerful because of its size. Therefore, it would make sense that it is the U.S. government hacking onto other computers. My opinion? Well, I think it's kind of smart, and it's done really confidentially because no one knows who's doing it. So in a way I believe it's kind of smart. But also it threatens other countries and scares them. In addition it could make the people of the threatening country feel safer, and more able to fight or attack because they know other's techniques. It's not going to be justified because it hasn't really been proven- specifically not a specific country. I think the Dalai Lama can just get a whole new bunch of computers, and make them more secure- harder to hack. It doesn't bother me because both countries are irrelevant to mine, and where I live. It may seem ignorant, but things such as this don't really bother me or worry me. Simply, we can't do much about it. We can keep on doing what we have always done, and punish the wrong doers. But crooks and villains will always exist in our world- wrong doers cannot ever have a complete end.
Omar Al-Sadi
I think that they can get information about people and other countries. I think that the government are the people who created GhostNet. My opinion is that it’s wrong. No. I think that the Dalai Lama should have more security and privacy. It bothers me because people can interfere in my personal life. I think we should have more security.
Omar A Rahim
I think, as do my colleagues, that the primary information being stolen by these programs are top-secret plans, ideas, weaponry, and just basic private, revealing information about that certain government. Possibly even military codes, attack formations, schedules, post locations, possibly even for blackmail or bribery purposes. This is information that other nations want so they can have the upper hand, which is why they steal it. I think the GhostNet system was founded by the USA, as a way of keeping track of their enemies and allies. My primary reason for this belief is because the USA's computers are not being hacked. This is quite suspicious, and I think that if indeed the USA is behind it, or any solitary country is behind, although the US is most likely in my opinion, then said nation should be punished severely. On the other hand, it might just be, as Ramy said, a group of shrewd people and clever minds, not necessarily American, who gather this information for their own purposes, one of which is possibly blackmail. Or said people might just want to learn secret information about certain countries to aid their own. Either way, it is wrong and should be punished. They have absolutely no right to do this, as it is a blatant breach of privacy, and is quite obviously illegal to steal other nation's information. But these people don't care. They still do it, possibly just to be a menace. Which is why I think it is very wrong and a despicable practice, as it is dirty and underhanded. No it is never justified, as, not only is it illegal, it also breaches other nation's privacy and should and thankfully is considered a punishable offense. People and nations have no right to steal other people and other nation's information, as that is just wrong, and could lead to dire consequences. I n my opinion, the path for the Dalai Llama to take is to just buy new computers, and get rid of the old infected ones. It is a simple, quick solution to such a problem, and is a very easy way to solve his predicament, especially if he installs anti-virus software, which he should. That quote does bother me, as it shows nobody is safe forever, as there are mean people out there who want to use you to their advantage. But I have known this for a while and have learnt to just be careful. Simply trying to prevent this crime from happening, as well as protecting ourselves with anti-virus software, and being careful what we do on computers, will go a long way towards solving this problem.
I disagree to what Catherine thinks, and I would blame the Chinese, IF I KNEW IT WAS THEM. But in case the Chinese government is spying this blog I don't balme anybody. I think that the only reason the program hasn't infiltrated the United States, is because the United States of America has a very advanced anti hacking and cyber protection program, run by the United States Air Force. Another reason to why I may think the Chinese may be at fault is because of all the spying done on the Dalai Lama and all of his acquaintances, also, NATO and other organizations or people that are probably of great political interest to the Chinese government. The United States Of America has no interest in anything that the exiled Dalai Lama is doing, and has no reason of hacking into any of the NATO files because they provide the most troops to NATO and have all the NATO information that they might want or need. India- the biggest economic and political competitor to China is also probably one of China's victims to this Ghosty-hack and it would make sense for China to spy on India, right.
My last point that says it is China and NOT the US, is because from previous experience, such as the cold war and more recent secret internet infiltrations, the United States of America, is experienced enough that it would certainly never get caught doing such a thing. Any US company that aids the Chinese hackers is probably committing treason, and should promptly be executed.
I think that Governments that use these programs are doing so for their political, economic and military advantages, all information is valuable in some way or another, such as the information of the Dalai Lama and his acquaintances, which opposes the Chinese communist government, and their official atheist status.
If i were to guess, I would guess that China is responsible for this GhostNet System and not some Chinese patriots who want to give their governments information, it is all very fishy business, especially the Chinese intercepting and warning against actions or people they haven't any other way of knowing about. I don't thinks that crooks would do it in the scale that it's been done now, like all the south east Asian countries that have been infected. Just a reminder though I am not Guessing who's done it, just if I were to guess. I think that this sort of practice is happening all the time nowadays amongst governments. Russians, Americans, French, English, Spanish, Brazilians, Japanese and Iranians (with the help of Russians)are all hacking each other and their surrounding countries. And it isn't really a secret either, there have been hacking scandals around the world for ages, like 20 years.
I wouldn't believe that it is justified though, I think that just because one country does it, doesn't mean it's ok to do it. Private information should remain private.
I think that Russian crooks, American crooks and people all around the world, maybe even teenagers are doing this sort of malicious hacking all the time, but it is probably for money like trying to get credit card numbers and such. all that this is is just a more advanced system. which just as how it was discovered, could be created by anybody with enough knowledge and experience around computers. I met a guy once from the UN, who was specialized in protecting against hackers and hacking, he told me just how easy it was to hack, if you knew how to do it.
It doesn't bother me much because I believe that the nations I come from are advanced enough that they can protect against this sort of stuff. who knows what the fate of other countries are, their could end up being a "South East Asian Cyber Cold War".
Anybody caught should be put on house arrest and have no internet or phone access.
Ok so the government is one big system if the system gets a bug then the system fails, lets say the government is a computer... Now the computer gets a tracking virus. The governments secrets are out. The enemy knows their future plans of peace, war etc... Now the enemy has the the upper hand. Thats why I think they are trying to go one step ahead of the enemy. They keep track of everyones movements on the internet. I think they created the ghostnet because they need to be kept in the loop of all security threats. Now with all different sorts of terrorism you can never be too safe when you are the government. I think the Dali should get more involved and work to stopping things like this happening and he should be well informed before he tries to stop such things. I do now some people who send hacking and tracking viruses to computers, they think it's 'hip' now but no matter what that still does not justify that you do such things.
In my opinion, governments who are using these programs are stealing from the military of other governments.I think my government is the one who's running it, I don't really mind- this adds to my safety. think that the Dalai Lama should have a more secured access. “What Chinese spooks did in 2008, Russian crooks will do in 2010 and even low-budget criminals from less developed countries will follow in due course.” This quote bothers me a lot because people can interfere in my personal life. I think we should have more security.
I think that the government is tracking people’s movements on the Internet to make sure that their secrets are save. I think that the responsible people for the Ghost Net system will definitely be the Government. My opinion about the this sort of practice is that they are trying to keep the Internet threats to a minimal. I don’t think it is unjustified because the people need their privacy. I think that the Dalai Lama should keep updated with the threats and keep track of things like these so they won’t happen again. I think that the quote diffidently bothers me. Like Omar said, you should put anti-virus to protect your Internet from these things.
SRRY TYPO NOT THE THIS... ITS THIS
I think that governments that are using these programs are stealing the military codes of other governments because this would be the smartest way to their attack or defense. The three countries that were mentioned are most likely responsible for the GhostNet System, it's probably America and its people who control GhostNet. I personally think that the Americans and their government are the ones who are running it, I don't really care but it is none of their business what other countries are doing. This will probably change after somebody creates a more advanced program and the United States computers are passed but at the moment, everything is ok. It's not a justification for it, and there won’t ever be a good one because this is stealing. I think the Dalai Lama should get new computers. It does bother me, but doing this is how some people live, they just want to get what they couldn't have. The quote definitely bothers me, but all we can do is catch these criminals and stuff them in jail.
The government who are using this program is stealing from the code. I think that the government is responsible for the GhostNet system. i don't think it is justified. I think they should fix the organization. No the quote doesn't bother me.
I think that the information the programs are stealing are secret military codes that are supposed to be really helpful. I think all the “big” and “powerful” countries are responsible for the GhostNet system. I don’t really have an opinion because I don’t really care about it. It wouldn’t really affect me in any way. As of right now I think it should be justified, if no changes happen of course. I think that the Dalai Lama should just get a new computer. It does bother me, but I don’t think there is a reasonable solution, but you could arrest some of the people doing it if you have enough proof.
The information that’s gathered by the governments that are using this sophisticated programs are political and governmental information, although they are stealing from the military of other governments. Well obviously the people who created are responsible for the GhotNet system, and I really don’t have a developed opinion about it, I just think it’s kind off pathetic. And I guess it can’t really get justified. The Dalai Lama however should get more privacy, or just ignore this people. Ohh and that’s just really weird, no more privacy! And why in the world would we even care about what somebody will do in the near future? I think we should create a system that would keep our private life safe.
The information that’s gathered by the governments that are using this sophisticated programs are political and governmental information, although they are stealing from the military of other governments. Well obviously the people who created are responsible for the GhotNet system, and I really don’t have a developed opinion about it, I just think it’s kind off pathetic. And I guess it can’t really get justified. The Dalai Lama however should get more privacy, or just ignore this people. Ohh and that’s just really weird, no more privacy! And why in the world would we even care about what somebody will do in the near future? I think we should create a system that would keep our private life safe.
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