Discussions With Russian Refugees

Discussion in 'Conspiracies & Paranormal' started by Don Alaska, Sep 17, 2021.

  1. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Recently I met a couple who had fled Russia a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. One guy lived in Moscow and said he wished at the time that he had lived in what he called "the villages", as food was almost non-existent in Moscow, but was plentiful the rural areas. His wife would not talk about serious or political subjects around anyone with a cellphone, as she claimed the government there would turn on the microphones of the phones and listen in on what was being discussed. have heard of this being done by the FBI with OnStar autos some years ago, but I have not heard of it being done in the U.S. with cellphones.
    A bit spooky to consider, but well within the capabilities of the NSA and such agencies.
     
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  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    My best guess is that everything we say near our smart devices is processed by the NSA or another government agency, but accessed according to keywords or phrases that might indicate that it's something of interest, and probably something more sophisticated than that. I think they acknowledged that some years ago, after the 9-1-1 attacks, because I suggested we bring back some old sayings, such as "That's the bomb" for something that is good. The "chatter" that they are always talking about is our cellphone conversations, or at least the parts of them that hasn't been filtered out.
     
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    Last edited: Sep 17, 2021
  3. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    "Alexa" listens to (and records) everything. Alexa does not magically "wake up" when her name is said, because she has to be processing every word in order to recognize her name...we all know that. There are stories of Alexa recording conversations and sending them to someone in the user's contact list. I had read that Amazon admitted that Alexa is always recording and saving conversations on servers, claiming that it's "for a better user experience, anticipate your needs, provide a context for your requests, blah blah blah..." And this new neighborhood wi-fi linking of Echo doorbells and Alexas and other user-embraced eavesdropping devices among your neighbors (Amazon Sidewalk) is opt-out, meaning it is on by default because no one is gonna think of turning it off. I can see the local battles now as some useful idiot thinks that the hold-outs are endangering everyone else's Perfect Safety.

    I've mentioned before that another nasty offshoot of all this "No two humans shall ever physically interact again" COVID stuff is the push I see on TV for remote doctor visits and psychiatric counseling. There are no more closed-door meetings. It's all done across open networks and 3rd party servers across who-knows how many hops. I've had conversations with people who are now in their 30s and 40s who were raised with electronic devices in their Zwieback-encrusted mitts...the "What do you have to hide?" generation. They won't think twice of doing medically personal stuff over Skype, and if it ever came out that their interactions were being captured and analyzed, they will swear that there is a valid "it's good for them" reason for it.

    My point is that three letter agencies will be overwhelmed by all the data these idiots gladly shovel their way, if they aren't already overwhelmed. New Age Americans think the U.S.S.R. is a great model...all the experts will keep us perfectly safe so we can be worry-free to enjoy our lives and play all the Candy Crush we want without any icky decision-making we're likely to suck at anyway. It's not spying if citizens give you permission beg you to take the information, and to take everyone else's while you're at it. The rest of us will be as so many unmasked deniers causing buzzes to be killed until we are eradicated. It is no longer the government that frightens me.
     
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  4. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    My guess would be that the smart super computers that are listening are, for now, searching for broad thought trends only and are not judging us (at least for the nonce) for our individual potential threats to the world state. The latter may come down the line as the number of non-conformists and resisters to authority among the populace drops to a manageable and arrestable level. Thought crime will then be a felony.
     
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  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I fear that the way I react to things on this and on other forums is shoveled into the computers to analyze the general thought trends so that They can evaluate how They're doing and They can calculate Their next move.

    I am living in all the dystopian sci-fi I ever read.
     
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    Last edited: Sep 18, 2021
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  6. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Of course we are beung watched,even the kings in the Bible 6000 years ago 'watched',now man just enhaanced it,;)


    Ecclesiastes 10:20
    Verse (Click for Chapter)
    New Living Translation

    Never make light of the king, even in your thoughts. And don’t make fun of the powerful, even in your own bedroom. For a little bird might deliver your message and tell them what you said.American Standard Version
    Revile not the king, no, not in thy thought; and revile not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the heavens shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter.Berean Study Bible
    Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, or curse the rich even in your bedroom, for a bird of the air may carry your words, and a winged creature may report your speech.Douay-Rheims Bible
    Detract not the king, no not in thy thought; and speak not evil of the rich man in thy private chamber: because even the birds of the air will carry thy voice, and he that hath wings will tell what thou hast said.English Revised Version
     
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  7. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Gosh!maybe I should pay attention to what I preach,:oops::eek:
     
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  8. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    ...said every self-aware human ever.
     
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  9. Ed Wilson

    Ed Wilson Veteran Member
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    As I write this there are 18 robots on SOC gathering exactly what?
     
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  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Ken can fill in the details but I believe they are referred to as crawlers (or maybe spiders), which gather the info from our comments and load them into Search engines. I forget what I was searching on the other day, but this site came up #7 in the results, all because of the data those robots obtained & provided.
     
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  11. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    The only one likely to be Russian would be the one identified as Yandex, since that's the main Russian search engine. Most robots (spiders) are from search engines, so you'll see Google, Bing, Yandex, and Baidu (Chinese search engine), as well as Brandwatch, which is not a search engine, as well as Facebook and some others.

    You'll find more information about robots here, here, and here, each of which are links to threads on this forum, so they won't take you to another site.
     
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  12. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    I agree but it is hard to be silent when venting is all thats left. .
     
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  13. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    Does this mean I should stop calling Pedo Joe Pedo Joe? ... not going to do it.
     
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  14. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    No you can still call a pedo a pedo.:D
     
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  15. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    I think Ken's assessment is pretty accurate. The computers headquartered in Belgian listen all the time but there aren't enough real people who monitor us in real time to create an enemies list as of yet.. We get a little default privacy by the fact that there are, at present, too many of us to monitor closely.
     
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