Breaking: Wikileaks Publishes the Cyber Intelligence Capabilities of the CIA

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Nov 25, 2013
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Lügenpost

Did you actually post "conventional news outlets are actually doing investigative journalism. They're not just floating an idea and declaring it true because they 'feel' it's true." ? They total floats ideas out there with the purpose of serving some political or ideological agenda. Most stories are just opinions with the odd chance of it being truthful and correct.
 

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
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Can't help but wonder about the timing. It's entirely possible that it's coincidence, but it comes right as Trump and the Republicans are angry at the intelligence agency for raising valid suspicions about Trump's connection to Russia. This conveniently shifts the attention to the CIA's techniques (which may be problematic, to be sure) instead of any dirt it may have on Trump.

1. No matter when something is released is draws attention away from other Trump drama because nota ady goes by that we don't one drama or another.

2. Trump etc has been feuding with the intel agencies since freakin Day #1. "Russia" thingy has been going on for even much longer.

I.e., this info could have been released at almost anytime and your argument would fit. If it fits everything, it fits nothing.

I also don't see wikileaks 'holding' on to this data hoping an opportune time help Trump would come along (as I basically said above, any day would work for that); the data is too important/explosive.

Too much conspiracy here at AT

Fern
 

Double Trouble

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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I wouldn't characterize the concerns as narrowly as "violating the Logan Act." The Logan Act, which precludes diplomacy by people not in official capacity, has almost never been prosecuted and might even by unconstitutional. The real concern is that Trump may have traded favors with a hostile foreign power, i.e. favorable policies in exchange for criminal hacking, which would make Trump an accomplice to said criminal acts, and worse, a violation of public trust if he agreed to alter US policy in exchange for it. If these allegations turn out to be true, Trump sold out the United States and its people in order to improve his chances of being elected. This is far, far worse than violating an obscure 200 your old statute.

Whoa, I hadn't seen that before. Who exactly has made that allegation?
 

woolfe9998

Lifer
Apr 8, 2013
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Whoa, I hadn't seen that before. Who exactly has made that allegation?

Have you been on Mars these past few months?

It's in the Steele dossier which so far has been partly corroborated. It's also an inference from circumstances - Trump wins an election, then the intelligence community says Russia hacked the DNC and Podesta to help him win, then there are unexplained communications between his campaign and Russian officials. Whether it ultimately turns out to be correct, I do not know. I do, however, find it perplexing that you are unfamiliar with this theory. It is a worse case scenario, to be sure, but it is what is driving these investigations.
 

kage69

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
31,640
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I get the impression Trump/Russia supporters need to do a little reading on xkeyscore.
 

agent00f

Lifer
Jun 9, 2016
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So, the single strangest thing I'm seeing about this, is that everyone is focused on "well the CIA had the capability, so they probably did X,Y,Z"

Why the fuck is no one going "Shit, if the CIA has the capability, doesn't that mean that UK/China/Russia/India/Germany/France/etc also have the same capabilities, which means pretty much all governments can do X,Y,Z at any time they'd like?"

I get you can only see the direct connection to the CIA, but that's not seeing the forest for the trees

Literally anyone half competent or got some money has access to 0day hacks. These are reportedly sold on the black market for order of 100k's usd, which should provide some idea of how much engineering time they take to create.

Intel agencies are some of the largest employers of mathematicians to solve actually hard problems in encryption, so it's pretty much a given that just about every one can figure out simple OS api's once they get root access.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
88,153
55,699
136
1. No matter when something is released is draws attention away from other Trump drama because nota ady goes by that we don't one drama or another.

2. Trump etc has been feuding with the intel agencies since freakin Day #1. "Russia" thingy has been going on for even much longer.

I.e., this info could have been released at almost anytime and your argument would fit. If it fits everything, it fits nothing.

I also don't see wikileaks 'holding' on to this data hoping an opportune time help Trump would come along (as I basically said above, any day would work for that); the data is too important/explosive.

Too much conspiracy here at AT

Fern

Considering Wikileaks's selective publication and timing during the election and their ongoing, mysterious refusal to publish any damaging information about the Russian government it's a pretty reasonable conclusion that they are acting with an agenda.

Their agenda seems to be in service of the Russians, not Trump, it just happens in these cases those interests coincide.
 

norseamd

Lifer
Dec 13, 2013
13,990
180
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1. No matter when something is released is draws attention away from other Trump drama because nota ady goes by that we don't one drama or another.

2. Trump etc has been feuding with the intel agencies since freakin Day #1. "Russia" thingy has been going on for even much longer.

I.e., this info could have been released at almost anytime and your argument would fit. If it fits everything, it fits nothing.

I also don't see wikileaks 'holding' on to this data hoping an opportune time help Trump would come along (as I basically said above, any day would work for that); the data is too important/explosive.

Too much conspiracy here at AT

Fern

Or

1. You dont know anything about who Wikileaks really is.

2. You dont know anything about who Wikileaks really is.

3. You dont know anything about who Wikileaks really is.

4. You dont know anything about who Wikileaks really is.

5. You dont know anything about who Wikileaks really is.
 

Blackjack200

Lifer
May 28, 2007
15,995
1,688
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Considering Wikileaks's selective publication and timing during the election and their ongoing, mysterious refusal to publish any damaging information about the Russian government it's a pretty reasonable conclusion that they are acting with an agenda.

Their agenda seems to be in service of the Russians, not Trump, it just happens in these cases those interests coincide.

Didn't the Panama papers implicate Russian government officials? I don't see WL as a white knight, but no one else has published leaks of Russian govt. docs either. I wonder if it comes down to that no one is attacking Russian internet infrastructure except for Western governments, and they're less likely to leak.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
88,153
55,699
136
Didn't the Panama papers implicate Russian government officials? I don't see WL as a white knight, but no one else has published leaks of Russian govt. docs either. I wonder if it comes down to that no one is attacking Russian internet infrastructure except for Western governments, and they're less likely to leak.

The Panama Papers DID implicate Russian government officials, but they weren't released by Wikileaks. They were released by a German newspaper so yes, other people are publishing leaks of Russian related documents. In fact, Wikileaks repeatedly criticized the leak of the Panama Papers and said things like this:

wiki1.png_359477180.png


They then later criticized ICIJ for curating the documents they released, despite that being Wikileaks' obvious policy as well.

If anything the Panama Papers is further evidence of what I was saying.
 

Blackjack200

Lifer
May 28, 2007
15,995
1,688
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The Panama Papers DID implicate Russian government officials, but they weren't released by Wikileaks. They were released by a German newspaper so yes, other people are publishing leaks of Russian related documents. In fact, Wikileaks repeatedly criticized the leak of the Panama Papers and said things like this:

wiki1.png_359477180.png


They then later criticized ICIJ for curating the documents they released, despite that being Wikileaks' obvious policy as well.

If anything the Panama Papers is further evidence of what I was saying.

Good points, I could definitely see this as intended by WL to weaken the CIA and make it more pliant to the administration. I guess Assange's confinement to the Ecuadorian Embassy has embittered him to the Democratic party.
 

norseamd

Lifer
Dec 13, 2013
13,990
180
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Good points, I could definitely see this as intended by WL to weaken the CIA and make it more pliant to the administration. I guess Assange's confinement to the Ecuadorian Embassy has embittered him to the Democratic party.

You dont remember Wikileaks going absolutely batshit crazy insane and vehemently attacking the ICIJ after the papers were released, despite hyping up about the release before they happened?