Fine Gael calls for open source browser crackdown
Patrick O'Donovan, Fine Gael TD for Limerick, has called for a crackdown on open source browsers as gateways to 'drugs, weapons and pornography.'
Fine Gael TD for Limerick, O'Donovan is by background an industrial chemist and the youngest Fine Gael Group Leader in the group's history - but that hasn't stopped him from apparently claiming that open source technologies are the root of all that is evil in the digital world.
'An online black market is operating which protects the users’ anonymity and operates across borders through the use of open source internet browers [sic] and payments systems which allow users to remain anonymous,' claimed O'Donovan in a statement published to the Fine Gael website.
'This effectively operates as an online supermarket for illegal goods such as drugs, weapons and pornography, where it is extremely difficult to trace the identity of the buyers. We need a national and international response to clamp down on this illicit trade.'
O'Donovan appears to have confused the issue of the TOR Project, an open-source effort to create an anonymising proxy network from volunteer machines, with open-source web browsers like Firefox and Chromium - the former of which has been put forward as a champion against NSA intrusion thanks to its easily-accessible source code and ongoing code validation programme.
TOR, it's true, allows access to otherwise hidden portions of the internet which play host to illegal and unsavoury content, including mail-order services for drugs and weapons. It also, it must be added, gives citizens of totalitarian regimes a means to bypass blacklists and access otherwise banned information sources like the BBC and Wikipedia, and a way for human rights workers and whistleblowers to communicate without fearing for their lives.
Quite what TOR has to do with open source browsers, then, is unclear - but O'Donovan is adamant that something must be done. 'I also intend to raise the matter in the Dáil with both the Ministers for Justice and Communications, with a view to seek assurances that an EU-wide response is developed to respond to the operation of open-source internet browsers which protect anonymity in order to facilitate illegal online activity.'
Perhaps the most obvious clue that O'Donovan is really talking about TOR - which is by no means a web browser, although can be downloaded with a tweaked copy of Firefox as the Tor Browser Bundle - comes in his closing paragraph: 'Law enforcement agencies in the United States have recently taken action to address this issue, however it appears the solution was temporary as replacement browsers quickly appeared to ensure the continuance of the illegal trade.' The closest to O'Donovan's uncited proclamation is the closure of Silk Road, a notorious TOR-based black market site, which soon recovered from the arrest of its founder and started up once again alongside numerous copycat sites.
At the time of writing, O'Donovan had not responded to a request for clarification regarding his statement.
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And damn straight he is too ;) All you need is IE!!
It's here, but don't worry. This bt article is the top news result for him, so everyone who searches his name will know what an idiot he is.
Idiocy aside, why do they need to know the identities of the buyers? Is it too hard to go after the sellers? And is it just me or does anyone else have an uncanny urge to give him a wedgie?
Ah the link in the article has 2013 instead of 2014 in it. I guess that no one pointed out what an arse he was.
I wonder if this guy realises that cash has been used to anonymously buy drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol for years. Porn too!
Anyway, I thought GTA5 was the gateway to drugs, weapons and pornography. I am disappoint.
I gave up on philately and turned to drugs some years later. I also later used a stolen firearm to cause criminal damage.
Suck on that Fine Gael!
I heard you need the GTA5 Bitcoin mod to get access to the Darknet from in game, if you complete all 77 missions for Bradley Snowden you get access details of a secure VPN that's onion routed to a PC and you'll get a PGP encrypted email from a Dread Pirate who's a silk trader with the details you need and a link to an encrypted cloud where you can d/load the mod.
The mod is a TAR file that's been Truecrypted and comes with another 2048bit encryted txt file, the Truecryted TAR file uses passwords and pictures, details in the email will tell you how to open the txt file which has details of the pictures you need to d/load these are just random pictures you can find at Flickr but they are different for every TAR file and change every 30 minutes.
If you don't open the Truecrypted TAR in that time you will need to drive to the address given in the txt file and find the pimped cop car in the underground garage, search the body in the trunk of the car and get the cell phone, check the photos on the phone and look for a picture of a radio station and note the frequency of the station, tune into the station (any radio) at 7.00am on a Tuesday and note the name of the first song that's played it will have the name of a destination in it's title, Tobacco Road, Hotel California, etc, then get over to Los Santos Golf Club and steal a golf cart and drive to the location in the song, at that location in the mailbox is a letter addressed to Edward Manning's and in it will be details of 77 missions you need to complete to get access details of a secure VPN that's onion routed to a PC and you'll get....
and no, you can't do this on a console...yet
I grew up before the web, and there were drugs, weapons and pornography anyway (well, not so much weapons, but there was definitely a liberal presence of drugs and pornography). Suck on that, Fine Gael: THIS. IS. THE. NETHERLANDS!!!
I was growing up very nicely thank you, and then, suddenly, THE INTERNET!!1!
I think I managed to get through to the middle of my teens largely unscathed though...
I have to admit, quite a few things on this site can go over my head, so I back away slowly and don't get involved. I read it, digest it but don't jump in wildly unless I can back it up. Out of experience, I'll comment and back it up.
This however, is a prime example of jumping in and clearly having no idea what the subject is. It's like getting a book and reading the foreword and then speaking with authority about the full contents of the book.
This guy has read the foreword from a completely different book though.
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YOU SIR, you win the internet, the kitchen sink, the doge and everything else.:)