Last week, WikiLeaks published nearly 9,000 pages of documents purportedly detailing CIA hacking tools. Increasing numbers of private citizens are taking this message to heart. Those files suggest the spy agency has developed an array of cyber weapons that can let it access your smartphone, smart TV, Wi-Fi router, and computer—essentially anything that’s connected to the internet. And if any of these devices has a camera, more and more common, the CIA may actually be looking at you!
Using a program called “Weeping Angel,” agents can theoretically and secretly record conversations through the microphone of a Samsung smart TV. According to other documents, the CIA can penetrate supposedly secure apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal and read, and record, messages before they’re encrypted.
If that’s true, it means there’s very little ordinary people can do to ensure their communications remain private.
Really? Don’t flatter yourself into believing you need to take any protective steps! What the WikiLeaks documents actually show is that invasion of privacy isn’t going to happen, not to you and not to me. First, you and I make the needle in the haystack look more like The Washington Monument or the Empire State Building. Three hundred million Americans. What do smart lawyers do when they want a document not to be discovered by their litigation opponents? They bury it in three hundred million other documents and tell you to knock yourself out!
C’mon, how is the CIA ever going to decide to focus on you or me? And why would they? Hey, face it, you and I are . . . well, we’re kinda dull. Hmm, maybe not you, but I am. I know because The Wife makes it a point to remind me of that at least once or twice a day.
So, for my money, I’d like the CIA to keep it up, make us all just a little bit safer. And if they decide to take a look at me, I’ll just point out to The Wife that she was wrong.
Did I just say that? The Wife? Wrong? No way! Never did I say that!
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