We don’t live in a perfect world. Fortunately for most of us, we can maintain an illusion that it is closer to perfection than it really is, at least most of the time. There are some folks who simply don’t have that luxury and whose jobs or service to their country or community require them to look behind the illusion every single day of their lives.
I’m sure this latest AirTag escapade will result in changes being made within organizations that are vulnerable to this type of incident. I don’t expect that there will be any other fallout. It’s a wake-up call, no more and no less. They’ll get over it.
A busybody discovers that a democratic nation has an intelligence agency to protect it. I’d suggest any democracy lacking one would be incompetently complacent, and probably non-existent too.
Only paranoid conspiracy theorists freak out over this kind of thing.
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.”
What did she accomplish? I think this agency is going to overhaul its security. It'll be a lot tighter from now on. She is a whistleblower and deserves to be rewarded for doing so. She brought this huge vulnerability to their attention before the Bad Guys thought of it.
I’m sure they were already looking for explosives. Now they will have to look for active RFID tags too. But it isn’t just the agency. This is something that will make through security officerBut it isn’t just the agency. This is something that will make every security officer at every classified facility around the world think “maybe we better do something about this” and they will. And everyone’s taxes will go up incrementally.
Sometimes, it makes you wonder which side these people are in.
Of course, not all secret agencies are good. But what point she can proof other than it is a secret agency. Did they do evil stuff? Or they are hunting down Isis cell in Germany? She do t even know. What if some bad guy send a pipe bomb to the address like she did and kill a few.
What can she accomplished by doing this?
It seems that media has shifted from reporting on government to thinking their job is to attack them -- and any form of "outing" is good. The "us against them" mentality is not good for society.
It was media who outed Nixon and his wrong doing. But now it is getting to be a game that is running out of control.
Really? I see that you finally received a few likes for one of your posts. Congratulations. Those people must not be familiar with your previous history of supporting the media when it attacked the former President and his supporters. The very act which you now condemn. It was ok then though, right? Because then it aligned with your own personal opinions? Hypocrite.
Sometimes, it makes you wonder which side these people are in.
Of course, not all secret agencies are good. But what point she can proof other than it is a secret agency. Did they do evil stuff? Or they are hunting down Isis cell in Germany? She do t even know. What if some bad guy send a pipe bomb to the address like she did and kill a few.
What can she accomplished by doing this?
It seems that media has shifted from reporting on government to thinking their job is to attack them -- and any form of "outing" is good. The "us against them" mentality is not good for society.
It was media who outed Nixon and his wrong doing. But now it is getting to be a game that is running out of control.
Really? I see that you finally received a few likes for one of your posts. Congratulations. Those people must not be familiar with your previous history of supporting the media when it attacked the former President and his supporters. The very act which you now condemn. It was ok then though, right? Because then it aligned with your own personal opinions? Hypocrite.
Exposing a traitor is not attacking a president. Big difference. Because truth matters.
That’s stupid. If you really believe that then why bother posting or even getting out of bed?
You're saying that there are good guys and bad guys?
No, he was right. While nobody is perfect some are better than others -- and work hard at it. But none of them are perfect and make mistakes -- and the best will freely admit that. (But watch out for the ones who don't!)
But, even then, "good" is in the eye of the beholder. Hitler truly thought he was doing good by ridding the world of what he thought were defectives polluting the human race. Most people today would call that evil. While here, some think that Martin Luther King did great harm to their nation.
It is in fact, the core strength of democracy: A dictator can take off in whichever direction he wants (like Hitler did) while, in a democracy, others are able to stand in his way and stop or at least slow him down. It doesn't always work perfectly but over time it tends to head in the direction of "good".
In her latest post detailing her research, activist Wittmann says she is continuing in a forthcoming third part in her series. In the meantime, she writes that the intelligence service can keep the AirTag. "I heard they are supposed to be very expensive," she concludes.
This is a misquote.
She actually writes that they can keep the AirTag and possibly save on personnel or device monitoring for the next planned observation — as she has heard that THOSE are supposedly quite expensive.
I find it amazing that a super secret federal intelligence agency could be outed by such a simple method. As Viclauyyc said what if a bad guy sent a bomb to the same address. That they didn't have some sort of off site sorting and mail inspection arrangement is amazingly amateurish. Do you think mail sent to the President of the United States goes anywhere near the White House before it's been opened, read, scanned, inspected, tested, and approved? Yet she just sent a letter with a live transmitter in it and it made it all the way through without setting off any alarm.
Sometimes, it makes you wonder which side these people are in.
Of course, not all secret agencies are good. But what point she can proof other than it is a secret agency. Did they do evil stuff? Or they are hunting down Isis cell in Germany? She do t even know. What if some bad guy send a pipe bomb to the address like she did and kill a few.
What can she accomplished by doing this?
What did she accomplish? I think this agency is going to overhaul its security. It'll be a lot tighter from now on. She is a whistleblower and deserves to be rewarded for doing so. She brought this huge vulnerability to their attention before the Bad Guys thought of it.
None of these institutions or the addresses that the AirTag appeared at are secretive. The only thing she 'uncovered' is that there is an agency previously unknown (and still is in terms of what it does) that is within the BMI. The places the AirTag appeared you can go by, literally. And you can send there too. There is nothing 'whistleblowing' about this - she is looking to 'abolish all intelligence services' and "disrupt". She has an agenda that isn't journalism
No: these agencies aren't "previously unknown" — they literally do not exist. They are made up office names that are fronts for the telecommunications observation wing of the Constitution Protection Agency.
The point here is that the Ministry of the Interior had some of their "external" offices exposed some years ago, which caused a minor scandal, as agencies — even secret services — aren't supposed to work outside any supervision/jurisdiction here, the way the CIA often seems to. So they produced a list of "external offices" to comply with transparency.
Apparently, they were just blowing smoke and only released what had already leaked — and the exposure of these fake offices is going to make a number of people very uncomfortable.
This may be a little weird to Americans used to secret agencies just doing more or less whatever they please — things are a bit different this side of the pond.
Democracies should not have super secret intelligence agencies. Democracies can have super secret intelligence ops but agencies should be publicly known so that they can be held accountable if and when they misbehave.
So many people do not understand what liberal democracy (the type of government that western countries claim to practice) really means.
Agreed. Except in this case, the named agencies don't actually exist.
No: these agencies aren't "previously unknown" — they literally do not exist. They are made up office names that are fronts for the telecommunications observation wing of the Constitution Protection Agency.
Reminds me of back when "NSA" was said to be the abbreviation for "No Such Agency".
So, a mailed AirTag went to some other address? What a surprise!
I doubt that ANY mail to a secure facility goes to that facility. Do you really think you could mail anthrax to the White House -- and it would get there?
Sometimes, it makes you wonder which side these people are in.
Of course, not all secret agencies are good. But what point she can proof other than it is a secret agency. Did they do evil stuff? Or they are hunting down Isis cell in Germany? She do t even know. What if some bad guy send a pipe bomb to the address like she did and kill a few.
What can she accomplished by doing this?
She accomplished a lot for Germany. She alerted Germany what the Russians and Chinese easily have discovered. Germany is now better prepared if some bad guy send a pipe bomb to the address in attempts to kill a few.
It makes me wonder which side you are ON. Keep the secrets only for enemies?
It seems that media has shifted from reporting on government to thinking their job is to attack them -- and any form of "outing" is good. The "us against them" mentality is not good for society.
It was media who outed Nixon and his wrong doing. But now it is getting to be a game that is running out of control.
What you call “attack” I call “hold accountable” - one of the main purposes of a free press.
What evidence has Fraülein Wittmann's "free press" alluded to that requires an unknown agency to be held accountable...for what and to what? Freedom can be messy, and not every action should be subject to a public review and approval process.The world doesn't operate like grammar school student government, because there are people who mean to do you harm, and it is expected and altogether reasonable that some arm of the government keep an eye out for potential trouble.
It seems that media has shifted from reporting on government to thinking their job is to attack them -- and any form of "outing" is good. The "us against them" mentality is not good for society.
It was media who outed Nixon and his wrong doing. But now it is getting to be a game that is running out of control.
What you call “attack” I call “hold accountable” - one of the main purposes of a free press.
What evidence has Fraülein Wittmann's "free press" alluded to that requires an unknown agency to be held accountable...for what and to what? Freedom can be messy, and not every action should be subject to a public review and approval process.The world doesn't operate like grammar school student government, because there are people who mean to do you harm, and it is expected and altogether reasonable that some arm of the government keep an eye out for potential trouble.
I love the notion of "hold accountable" but to just release this to the public could be dangerous for a lot of people. Does cookiefactory think that Fraülein Wittmann should be "held accountable" for injury, damage, and death that could arise from leaking such info without consideration for what the agency or facility is doing?
Sometimes, it makes you wonder which side these people are in.
Of course, not all secret agencies are good. But what point she can proof other than it is a secret agency. Did they do evil stuff? Or they are hunting down Isis cell in Germany? She do t even know. What if some bad guy send a pipe bomb to the address like she did and kill a few.
Exposing a traitor is not attacking a president. Big difference. Because truth matters.
lol - every attack on the previous president has been dispelled yet dolts like you throw around the word traitor with ZERO to back it up.
Which is even more ridiculous considering the current sitting president publicly bragged about using his influence to get a foreign state to cancel and investigation that personally affected him and his family. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Amazing how people like you have zero interest in a certain laptop too.
Exposing a traitor is not attacking a president. Big difference. Because truth matters.
lol - every attack on the previous president has been dispelled yet dolts like you throw around the word traitor with ZERO to back it up.
Which is even more ridiculous considering the current sitting president publicly bragged about using his influence to get a foreign state to cancel and investigation that personally affected him and his family. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Amazing how people like you have zero interest in a certain laptop too.
Because truth matters indeed
Propaganda and Disinformation is not truth. It's bullshit fed to fools because that's their favorite food. Sorry.
Exposing a traitor is not attacking a president. Big difference. Because truth matters.
lol - every attack on the previous president has been dispelled yet dolts like you throw around the word traitor with ZERO to back it up.
Which is even more ridiculous considering the current sitting president publicly bragged about using his influence to get a foreign state to cancel and investigation that personally affected him and his family. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Amazing how people like you have zero interest in a certain laptop too.
Because truth matters indeed
Propaganda and Disinformation is not truth. It's bullshit fed to fools because that's their favorite food. Sorry.
Yes, it’s bullshit fed to fools. Absolutely. But why can’t you see that both sides do it? Not just the side that you disagree with? Why can’t you understand that you’ve been fed propaganda and disinformation too? Just different propaganda and disinformation. See the whole board, not just the side your playing on. The truth IS important, it just resides somewhere in the middle.
Comments
Exposing a traitor is not attacking a president. Big difference. Because truth matters.
She actually writes that they can keep the AirTag and possibly save on personnel or device monitoring for the next planned observation — as she has heard that THOSE are supposedly quite expensive.
The point here is that the Ministry of the Interior had some of their "external" offices exposed some years ago, which caused a minor scandal, as agencies — even secret services — aren't supposed to work outside any supervision/jurisdiction here, the way the CIA often seems to. So they produced a list of "external offices" to comply with transparency.
Apparently, they were just blowing smoke and only released what had already leaked — and the exposure of these fake offices is going to make a number of people very uncomfortable.
This may be a little weird to Americans used to secret agencies just doing more or less whatever they please — things are a bit different this side of the pond.
Supposedly.
It makes me wonder which side you are ON. Keep the secrets only for enemies?
Which is even more ridiculous considering the current sitting president publicly bragged about using his influence to get a foreign state to cancel and investigation that personally affected him and his family. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Amazing how people like you have zero interest in a certain laptop too.
Because truth matters indeed
Propaganda and Disinformation is not truth. It's bullshit fed to fools because that's their favorite food. Sorry.