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Brazil was not bluffing last year, when it said that it wanted to disconnect from the United States-controlled internet due to the NSA's obscenely invasive surveillance tactics. The country is about to stretch a cable from the northern city of Fortaleza all the way to Portugal, and they've vowed not to use a single U.S. vendor to do it.
At first glance, Brazil's plan to disconnect from the U.S. internet just seemed silly. The country was not happy when news emerged that the NSA's tentacles stretched all the way down to Brazil. And the country was especially not happy when news emerged that the NSA had been spying on the Brazilian government's email for years. But really, what are you gonna do?
Brazil made a bunch of bold promises, ranging in severity from forcing companies like Facebook and Google to move their servers inside Brazilian borders, to building a new all-Brazilian email system—which they've already done. But the first actionable opportunity the country was presented with is this transatlantic cable, which had been in the works since 2012 but is only just now seeing construction begin. And with news that the cable plan will not include American vendors, it looks like Brazil is serious; it's investing $185 million on the cable project alone. And not a penny of that sum will go to an American company.
http://gizmodo.com/brazils-keeping-its-promise-to-disconnect-from-the-u-s-1652771021
[Additional Coverage]: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-30/brazil-to-portugal-cable-shapes-up-as-anti-nsa-case-study.html
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Gravis on Friday October 31 2014, @02:51AM
Everybody spies. Everybody.
how does that make it ok? is Brazil an enemy of the US? should the US be spying on it's allies?
the truth is that all this spying and hacking is bullshit behavior that needs to stop.
(Score: 1) by hopdevil on Friday October 31 2014, @02:58AM
Or, because it is a reality of the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 31 2014, @06:38AM
That can change.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 31 2014, @06:14PM
That can change.
Sure it can, sparky.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 31 2014, @02:59AM
A lot of problems go away if people stop having sex too, but good luck getting that to happen either.
(Score: 1) by yarp on Friday October 31 2014, @09:27AM
If people stopped having sex there would be less to spy on!
(Score: 2) by Geezer on Friday October 31 2014, @10:25AM
And less spies. Wait...
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Friday October 31 2014, @04:16PM
Fewer
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday October 31 2014, @09:22PM
Actually, as you will no doubt learn from direct experience, everybody will stop having sex sooner or later.
Remember: a kid believes his prick will be useful through his whole life only for pissing. An old wise man is sure of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2, Insightful) by jmorris on Friday October 31 2014, @03:04AM
We do spy on our friends with a few exceptions (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement). And it makes for a better world. A world where secrets are always in doubt is one where there are fewer attempts to pull off outages and one with fewer surprises. It should be kept secret though and that is the problem here. Snowden can be argued to have performed a service by revealing the extent to which the NSA was going outside of their mandate and spying on Americans. But he is without question a villain for revealing the quite normal, moral and routine spying that every country with the capability engages in to keep everyone honest.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Friday October 31 2014, @05:15AM
Actually, Snowden has stated that he hasn't revealed the most damaging military secrets.
You don't need to tap the phone of a friendly head of state. If your data sources are THAT bad that you have
to resort to that they the NSA/CIA have failed at their job, because nothing of really secret is going to happen on
the phone.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by http on Friday October 31 2014, @06:49AM
Funny definition of 'friend' you have there.
I browse at -1 when I have mod points. It's unsettling.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday October 31 2014, @01:02PM
Enemies with benefits?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 5, Insightful) by mojo chan on Friday October 31 2014, @08:29AM
A world where secrets are always in doubt is one where there are fewer attempts to pull off outages and one with fewer surprises.
Except that in practice the USA helps the UK keep things secret, and vice-versa. We would have more transparency and fewer outrages like rendition and torture if the UK cut its ties with the US. Instead we have the NSA spying on UK citizens on behalf of GCHQ in order to sidestep the law.
Also, it isn't moral to spy on the leaders of friendly nations. Bugging Merkel's phone can't be justified. It was done purely for political and economic gain, nothing to do with keeping her "honest".
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 31 2014, @08:24PM
"Gentlemen do not read each other's mail."
--Henry Lewis Stimson, US Secretary of State 1929 - 1933
Since Merkel isn't a guy, obviously she doesn't count.
-- gewg_
(Score: 3, Insightful) by hoochiecoochieman on Friday October 31 2014, @12:35PM
Worldwide industrial espionage performed by a small group of extremely dishonest and treacherous nations for the benefit of their own elites is "keeping everyone honest"???
Are you fucking kidding?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 31 2014, @06:38PM
Just a few?
Here's a list of the intelligence agencies belonging to 114 countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_intelligence_agencies [wikipedia.org] .
Not cheerleading for the concept and/or use of these agencies, or what they do, but in the real world, each and every one of these agencies aspires to be just like those in the US- If they had the resources and skill sets, they would be. It would be nice if the world wasn't like that, but the hard fact is that it is.
The 10% of the high-functioning sociopaths in this world have risen to power, and in corporations and government (is there a difference?) is where you'll find them.
You're not a sociopath, so this concept is offensive to you, and rightly so. There is too much power tied up in these institutions for anything less than the collapse of society, world-wide, to remove them, so I would suggest that putting idealism, moral outrage, and wishful thinking aside for a while would allow you to deal with the consequences of their existence and behaviors more to your benefit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 02 2014, @11:58PM
b- b- but the stasi were just trying to prevent germans from renazifying and that worked! ha ha... "The Stasi didn't try to arrest every dissident. It preferred to paralyze them, and it could do so because it had access to so much personal information and to so many institutions."(wikipedia) This is about meme suppression and controlling freedom of expression through self censorship; not honesty or morality.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 31 2014, @01:47PM
How does it taste sucking down all that authoritarian cock?