Schneier on Security

JonKnowsNothing • May 1, 2024 10:46 AM

@Clive, All

re: Modern phone etiquette

In old movies which depict the new telephones being used, the butler answers the phone

• (dialog) The XYZ Residence.

Later businesses with human operators answered

• XYZ Company. How may I direct your call?

Now, there are no more humans in the call routing software and you can punch at any variety of numbers or shout a variety of “trigger” words to try to get to human. How much of this gets gets recorded as part of their “All calls are recorded…” statement would certainly yield new levels of “profanity laden curses”.

At home we used to answer

• You have reached XYZ PhoneNumber

Which later turned into a simpler

• Hello?

Many people no longer identify their phone number as Caller ID does it for them. Many people do not identify the name(s) of the answering destination since it’s available from reverse phone number look up. Many people have learned not to say “Hello?” because they do not know who is on the other end, even if Caller Id shows a name.

Now it’s best not to say anything at all. Even breathing near the phone might not be wise. Who ever is calling is Not Your Friend.

• Friends send you Direct Messages and know your DID number

This is a bit of defensive self-preservation shielding.

Like when an Insurance Company calls you to discuss your health insurance claim and starts the conversation with

• Hi, this is ABC from XYZ Heath Company calling. How you are you doing?

People auto-answer with

• Fine.

Which returns the following

• Oh, since you are “fine” we will close your application and case.

After that, you might not Have A Nice Day.

Social Engineering is used by Big Businesses, not just scammers. Well… it is a form of scam.

JonKnowsNothing • May 1, 2024 1:15 PM

@mark, All

re: legal to fake voices?

Are these voices fake? I don’t think so.

There is a class of comedians who specialized in voice mimicry. (1) They have great ability to make a voice “sound” like that of another famous person. Sometimes they included mannerisms or hand gestures that the famous person used.

These are “fake voices”, they sound OK to our hearing but technically they are not the same.

AI and Recordings use actual snippets of real voices. They do not need much, Hello will do. They take the real voice and rearrange it so that it says something else. Like movie, music and voice editors can rearrange word order.

AI can do something more specific. It can take a sample of a word and reconstruct how the sound of the word is produced. The way the word is vocalized. (2) AI can then create any sentence or word order it wants.

• It’s not fake, because it is your voice.
• • It is fake, because you did not say it.

===

h ttps :/ /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionist_(entertainment)

• An impressionist or a mimic is a performer whose act consists of imitating sounds, voices and mannerisms of celebrities and cartoon characters. The word usually refers to a professional comedian/entertainer who specializes in such performances and has developed a wide repertoire of impressions, including adding to them, often to keep pace with current events.

• Impressionists are a major part of animation; many film and television cartoons (especially adaptations of franchises) used impressions of famous celebrities of the era. Voice actors are known for their celebrity impressions.

2)

In telephony the voice is divided in 256 samples.

JonKnowsNothing • May 1, 2024 8:24 PM

@vas pup, All

re: All those BS messages from the private or government regarding recording your call

In USA, undisclosed recording of someone’s conversation without express agreement is a violation of Wire Tap Laws. You need a warrant for undisclosed recording.

There have been many exposes that became exposes themselves when it was revealed that the recording was made without permission. Mostly in the whistleblower category where someone wanted to expose a questionable practice (illegal dumping) or when someone was concerned they themselves would be legally culpable for a questionable practice (conspiracy). They often use a small recorder or a smartphone hidden in a pocket.

Sometimes they still get into trouble even if they expose something much more significant.

(USA) Publicly recording someone is allowable unless otherwise stated it’s prohibited (museums, government offices, health care clinics).

JonKnowsNothing • May 2, 2024 3:36 PM

@Clive, @ Who?, Winter, ALL

re: how to check the original certificates?

The kick-off to the Windrush Scandal in the UK (on going) was Theresa May’s decision to shred and destroy the original and only copies of the manifests (list of passengers) under her 2018 Hostile Environment Policy.(1)

A MSM Report (2) is an on going fight over the Chagos Islands where the huge USA Diego Garcia base is located, leased on land claimed by the UK (BIOT) and where the Chagossians were forcibly removed to the UK or Mauritius.

The Government of Mauritius is re-stating the birth certificates of people born in the Chagos Islands.

• In Mauritius, during any administrative procedure, such as opening a bank account, citizens must present a birth certificate reissued within the previous three months.
• “The passport officer told me my homeland doesn’t exist…”
• To qualify for UK citizenship, people must prove they were born on the Chagos Islands or are a descendant of somebody who was.

The problems of birth certificates are legion. There are all sorts of Official Fakes, often for Stolen Children programs. Such programs exist globally. USA has its own version of Stolen Children programs; all of them quite active. When you add in Religious Based Stolen Children, that’s a significant increase in trafficking. No one is going to arrest the Pope over child trafficking by Catholic Organizations and Church Officials. Not then and not now.

Then there are the Changes in Boundary or complete wipe out of countries. Countries that were consolidated and then fractured along ethic lines. People that were born in Colonial Countries which no longer exist have multiple problems proving who they are and where they were born. (some names you can no longer say)

===

1)

h ttps:/ /en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/Windrush_scandal

• The Windrush scandal was a British political scandal that began in 2018 concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and in at least 83 cases wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office.

• As well as those who were deported, an unknown number were detained, lost their jobs or homes, had their passports confiscated, or were denied benefits or medical care to which they were entitled. A number of long-term UK residents were refused re-entry to the UK; a larger number were threatened with immediate deportation by the Home Office.

2)
HAIL Warning

htt ps://w ww.th eguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/may/02/chagos-islanders-fear-loss-of-identity-as-birth-certificates-altered-to-remove-disputed-homeland

• Chagos Islanders fear loss of identity as birth certificates altered to remove disputed homeland
• Birthplace and parents’ names are being removed from passports and birth certificates as Mauritius stakes claim to the island