bobbilljim posted:

Ugh boring it's about infant formula.

BARONS CYBER SKULL posted:

1080 is killing our wildlife they're trying to protect*! Rrrraaaaa *foams at mouth over "toxins"*

*actually doesn't kill our wildlife it's protecting

BARONS CYBER SKULL posted:

1080 is killing our wildlife they're trying to protect*! Rrrraaaaa *foams at mouth over "toxins"*

*actually doesn't kill our wildlife it's protecting

A human heart posted:

It does kill some native birds actually, but because of the reduction in predator numbers many more young birds are able to fledge without getting eaten, so you get a net increase of birds overall.

bobbilljim posted:

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/...w-retracts-vow/

update, JK says he won't resign if we do mass surveillance, and he won't confirm or deny that we do it. Also he won't really talk about it at all, and doesn't really understand what it is, who he is, or what day of the week it is.

klen dool posted:

I can't find a source where jk recanted his pledge.

Infotainment! posted:

Int: beehive. Night.

JOHN KEY sits at his desk, bathed in the soft glow of a computer monitor.

Against the back wall half a dozen good kiwi blokes sit in silence, drinking room temperature Tui.

John steeples his fingers, lips working furiously as he reads the article on "stuff" for the eighth time.

Realisation slowly dawns on his face and he starts to sweat heavy beads, like Brian Tamaki downwind from a creche.

JOHN
Bronagh...gets a man in. Bronagh gets a man in? Bronagh gets in. Hmmmmm

He turns too the row of regular blokes, who dare not look him in the eye as per Simon Joyce's instructions.

JOHN
Does that sound like...does that sound like I'm being cucked?

All of the blokes keep their eyes cast down. Third from the left, a racist gbs poster, fails to stifle a giggle and is immediately executed by Judith Collins.

As Judith squats on the corpse, John turns back to the screen.

JOHN
Bronagh gets a man in. gently caress, it does sound like I'm being cucked.

John picks up a red cellphone, the kind you see in a 2 degrees bucket at the supermarket because National is the party of fiscal responsibility.

JOHN
Yeah, Finlayson, it's time. Begin operation...Babypoison. Yeah, the sheila's will fret over the kiddies while the blokes worry about the economy. Foolproof.

FADE TO MIDDLE NZ

Infotainment! posted:

Int: beehive. Night.

JOHN KEY sits at his desk, bathed in the soft glow of a computer monitor.

Against the back wall half a dozen good kiwi blokes sit in silence, drinking room temperature Tui.

John steeples his fingers, lips working furiously as he reads the article on "stuff" for the eighth time.

Realisation slowly dawns on his face and he starts to sweat heavy beads, like Brian Tamaki downwind from a creche.

JOHN
Bronagh...gets a man in. Bronagh gets a man in? Bronagh gets in. Hmmmmm

He turns too the row of regular blokes, who dare not look him in the eye as per Simon Joyce's instructions.

JOHN
Does that sound like...does that sound like I'm being cucked?

All of the blokes keep their eyes cast down. Third from the left, a racist gbs poster, fails to stifle a giggle and is immediately executed by Judith Collins.

As Judith squats on the corpse, John turns back to the screen.

JOHN
Bronagh gets a man in. gently caress, it does sound like I'm being cucked.

John picks up a red cellphone, the kind you see in a 2 degrees bucket at the supermarket because National is the party of fiscal responsibility.

JOHN
Yeah, Finlayson, it's time. Begin operation...Babypoison. Yeah, the sheila's will fret over the kiddies while the blokes worry about the economy. Foolproof.

FADE TO MIDDLE NZ

Mr Key said when he offered to resign as Prime Minister that related solely to claims the GCSB engaged in mass surveillance.

Mr Key was asked, in that case, to explain the difference.

"They don't undertake mass surveillance of New Zealanders. There is no, sort of, new terms here. I don't even know what you mean by mass collection. I've no clue - it's not a term I've ever seen, it's not a term I've ever used."

Infotainment! posted:

FADE TO MIDDLE NZ

bobbilljim posted:

uh.. from the article... http://m.tvnz.co.nz/news/top_stories/6251011

klen dool posted:

Sorry, I meant like a quote or something. What exactly did he say, and in what context? That article just asserts he said it.

bobbilljim posted:

Forgive me for taking the headline at face value.

Here's an article from scoop if anyone is interested. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1503/S00076/john-key-on-mass-collection-versus-mass-surveillance.htm

Yeah it looks like he's arguing "mass collection" but it amounts to him going back on his pledge, doesn't it? We all know it is mass surveillance, and we all know he would never resign anyway.

klen dool posted:

Sorry, I meant like a quote or something. What exactly did he say, and in what context? That article just asserts he said it.

quote:

Question: On GCSB, this morning you were asked about Bruce Ferguson's comments. Is there are difference between mass surveillance and mass collection. Do you draw a distinction between the two?

NZ PM John Key: I am sure the lawyers would tell you there is a difference. But I am not going to into critique all those different points. I mean. The fundamental difference between the SIS and GCSB. In the case of the GCSB they are a foreign intelligence agency. They gather intelligence about particular reasons. They have for many many governments lifespan. They do it for good reasons and they are controlled by the law.

But I am not going to go into what their particular targets are. What a warrant is raised for. How information is actually gathered and how it is processed. So no - by definition its covert - no agency does that. So in the end you've got a bit of, in my opinion, you've got a bit of what was demonstrated with he moment of truth last year was a moment of inaccuracy, because actually what they came out and said was just plain wrong.

In my opinion some of the assumptions, some of the definitions of the assumptions are wrong, some of the ways the information is presented is wrong, but I am just not going to go through all of those individual things because in the end that's just not the way you run those intelligence agencies.

Question: You’ve said you’ll resign if there’s mass surveillance by the GCSB.

NZ PM John Key: Yep.

Question: Does that promise apply to mass collection of information as well?

NZ PM John Key: No, because in the end I was asked a very specific question, without re-creating history, and that was: are we conducting mass surveillance of New Zealanders? And the answer is: No. That’s the advice I’ve had from GCSB. It’s not capable of doing that, and legally it’s not allowed to do that.

Question: But you’ve just said "no" to the question “Does it apply to mass collection?” So mass collection would not trigger - if it was proved there is mass collection - it wouldn’t trigger a resignation under the promise you’ve given?

NZ PM John Key: No.

klen dool posted:

I might even go as far as not voting for him next election in an attempt to cut off his income and power!

quote:

New Zealand is conducting covert surveillance operations against some of its strongest trading partners and has obtained sophisticated malware to infect targeted computers and steal data, newly released documents reveal.

The country’s eavesdropping agency, Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, is carrying out the surveillance across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond as part of its membership in the Five Eyes, a spying alliance that includes New Zealand as well as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

The documents, revealed on Tuesday by the New Zealand Herald in collaboration with The Intercept, expose more details about the scope of New Zealand’s involvement in the Five Eyes, and show that the agency’s reach extends far beyond its previously reported eavesdropping on at least ten small South Pacific nations and territories.

According to secret files from the National Security Agency, obtained by The Intercept from whistleblower Edward Snowden, GCSB is targeting about 20 different nations and territories in total and sharing the intercepted data with the NSA. A top-secret document dated from April 2013 notes that the New Zealand agency “provides [the NSA with] collection on China, Japanese/North Korean/Vietnamese/South American diplomatic communications, South Pacific Island nations, Pakistan, India, Iran, and Antarctica.”

Aside from eavesdropping on communications through traditional interception methods, such as by capturing signals as they are passing between satellites or phone cables, the New Zealand agency has also become directly involved in more aggressive methods of spying and cyberwar.

The newly revealed documents show that it has obtained a malware tool that is part of a platform named WARRIORPRIDE, used by the NSA and other Five Eyes agencies to hack into computers and smartphones, infect them with a bug, and then steal data. The documents note that GCSB “has a WARRIORPRIDE capability that can collect against an ASEAN target.” ASEAN, or Association of Southeast Asian Nations, may be a reference to New Zealand’s operations targeting Vietnam.

The surveillance being conducted by the GCSB shines light on a secret variant of New Zealand’s foreign policy that contrasts with its official public foreign policy.

Vietnam, for instance, has friendly relations with New Zealand and is a growing trading partner. The New Zealand government describes its relationship with Vietnam as having “flourished in the last 15 years.” The country poses no security or terrorist threat to New Zealand, the traditional explanation for GCSB operations given to the public. Yet its government is still on the GCSB spying list and its diplomatic communications have been eavsedropped on, likely in violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations, an international treaty ratified by New Zealand that says diplomats’ correspondence is “inviolable.”

Other targets, such as Japan and India, are publicly lauded as close and valued New Zealand partners. The New Zealand government says that Japan is “a major bilateral and regional partner of New Zealand” and describes having “a long-standing and warm relationship” with India. But each of these countries, too, is still being targeted for surveillance.

Another operation that sits uneasily with New Zealand’s official policy is GCSB’s monitoring of nations working in Antarctica. New Zealand is a signatory to the Antarctic Treaty; the country’s trade ministry says “involvement in Antarctica offers New Zealand the opportunity to play a constructive and influential role in a region … which is managed according to principles of international cooperation.”

The Antarctic eavesdropping takes place from New Zealand’s Waihopai base, a surveillance station that can intercept Antarctic satellite links. More than 20 nations have year-round scientific research bases in Antarctica, most of which use the same few satellite links to communicate: Intelsat, Inmarsat and Iridium phones.

A more predictable-sounding target is Iran, which has been a major target of American and British intelligence agencies for decades. However, in public, New Zealand has adopted a different long-term foreign policy with respect to Iran than has the United States and the United Kingdom.

Iran is a valuable export market for New Zealand agricultural produce and New Zealand has not joined in sanctions or confrontation with the Tehran government. But the GCSB has carried out secret intelligence operations, monitoring Iran presumably on behalf of the Five Eyes allies.

Similarly, China, which is New Zealand’s top export destination for goods and services, has also been targeted. In 2012, John Key launched a strategy to bolster New Zealand’s relationship with China and last year he praised the “the strength of the bilateral relationship between our two countries” during a speech in Beijing.

GCSB declined to comment on the latest revelations. In a statement issued to The Intercept and the New Zealand Herald late Monday, the agency’s acting director, Una Jagose, said: “The GCSB exists to protect New Zealand and New Zealanders. We have a foreign intelligence mandate. We don’t comment on speculation about matters that may or may not be operational. Everything we do is explicitly authorised and subject to independent oversight.”

A spokesman for prime minister Key said the government would not respond to “claims made from documents stolen by Edward Snowden.” He added: “New Zealand’s intelligence agencies have been, and continue to be, a significant contributor to our national security and the security of New Zealanders at home and abroad.”

NSA spokeswoman Vanee’ Vines said in a statement that the agency would not comment “on specific, alleged foreign intelligence activities.” Vines added: “The National Security Agency works with foreign partners to address a wide array of serious threats, including terrorist plots, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and foreign aggression. NSA’s activities with foreign partners comply with U.S. laws and the applicable laws under which our partners operate.”

Exclamation Marx posted:

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/10/new-zealand-gcsb-spying-trade-partners-nsa/

Exclamation Marx posted:

WarpedNaba posted:

Funny they mention North Korea but not the South. Eh.

Still, not sure why people care about spying on friendly countries: The more we know about them, the friendlier we are!

Exclamation Marx posted:

Exclamation Marx posted:

klen dool posted:

Yaaaaaay no internet in island bay thanks Vodafone! At least the cell network is still up....