NSA has direct access to tech giants' systems for user data, secret files reveal

The NSA's job, or so I've read, is indeed to break the Internet

Actually, it's to own the Internet.

 

I wonder if, at any point in time during their work day, the people doing this stop and think about what it means for them and their families? What if their wives are the ones having their naughty photos siphoned up and shared across the building? What if their 13 year old daughter is having every one of her Facebook posts collected and stored away? I wonder if they really are so "patriotic" and believe in their duty so much that they have no issue with all of this happening to them too, all for the slight possibility they may catch something? They had all of these programs before, yet 9/11 still happened, Boston still happened. If they are bound and determined to capture and investigate every suspicious word or act online or over the phone, they will end up buried in useless data while real threats slip through the cracks. The human mind can be a very strange little thing, even at its most harmless. Couple it with a search engine and all sorts of weird things happen, even if they have not the slightest of malicious intentions.

All the NSA is doing is driving people to be even more suspicious acting in the hopes they gain some privacy back, which in turn makes legitimate investigations that much harder. I really wish they would understand this instead of constantly fighting back in court with vague arguments and "because we say so". I do not want to have to go through trying to encrypt every single keystroke I press or every word I will ever say. It is a pain in my hind end and just makes me miserable. But, if it is that or just let people I will never know or meet listen in on every phone call or collect every byte of data I create, then I will do it. This nonsense is forcing my hand and the hands of likely millions of others.

 

New documentary is witness to Snowden NSA leak.

-- Tom

 

Edward Snowden Doc 'Citizenfour' Reveals Existence of Second NSA Whistleblower

 

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...ds-personally-invested-in-obscure-tech-firms/

 

From the link in my last post:

 

Core Secrets: NSA Saboteurs in China and Germany.

-- Tom

 

Love the sentence in the article regarding the Wyden meeting:

"Data localization also makes data potentially more accessible to foreign regimes that don’t respect the rule of law or even have a rule of law governing how or if they can access data"

What, like the US then?

 

Quite specifically, GCHQ is/were doing exactly that - with their webcam spying on Yahoo webchats, where they noted that the analysts were "distressed" about the number of explicit pictures and webchats. Sure they were. Or at least, they should have been distressed at the shocking basic immorality let alone unconstitutionality of what they are doing. Of course, the UK doesn't have a written constitution, nor apparent rule of law. But the US has one it ignores.

It's particularly egregious in the case of GCHQ, because one of the more notorious spies there, Geoffrey Prime, was only uncovered because of his paedophile activities with young girls, including meticulous record keeping and use of spy equipment. And they are collecting all this data and distributing it to thousands and thousands of people.

Regarding the pain in hind end, I have the same reaction. This is such a waste of time for everyone, and for anyone who cared or built up the internet, there are so many better life enhancing things we could and should be doing than defending against this illegal nonsense.

 

Bruce Schneier lost access to the Snowden documents around a year ago. Source: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/10/foxacid_operati.html.

 

Laura Poitras on the Crypto Tools That Made Her Snowden Film Possible

 

By Glenn Greenwald

UN Report Finds Mass Surveillance Violates International Treaties and Privacy Rights - The Intercept

 

That's great news

I wonder who will make up a "Coalition of the Willing" for this

A some point the NSA will need to reveal the fundamental justification for its work: lulz

 

It would be great news if the blighters obeyed the rule of law. They don't.

 

You don't say? But, here is the problem, if one country tells another to stop the other country will say the same thing...and then everyone will shut up, walk away, and never argue about it again. No one wants to sacrifice their programs, especially if it means they cannot make sure that someone else is still doing it. It did not work for nuclear weapons programs, it will not work for this. The U.N is a joke anyway, so expect nothing of their finding.

 

From Sentry Eagle:

 

New Zealand Cops Raided Home of Reporter Working on Snowden Documents

 

If I were such a reporter, I'd keep stuff encrypted in the cloud, and do all of my work in Tails. Nothing local to find.

 

Where Is the Investigation Into Financial Corruption at the NSA?.

-- Tom

 

Maybe the NSA does blackmail

 

If I recall, that practice is documented in Snowden's releases.

 

Really? Against US politicians? I missed that. I would have expected more angst over something like that

 

It mentioned them doing it to those from other nations. That said, everything that was supposed to be used only on foreigners was found being used against citizens as well. Why would this be any different?

 

Right.

Also, as I recall, the NSA provided unredacted intercepts on US citizens (including politicians) to some other nations (Five Eyes plus Israel, as I recall). So they could also blackmail US politicians

 

Such blackmail would explain why no politician wants to attempt to reign them in or hold them responsible for their actions. They've all got dirty laundry they don't want aired. Just getting into office on a federal level requires backing from some big money interest, a backing they don't want their constituents to be aware of. The NSA and the big money interests they serve literally built the perfect system for controlling those who should be able to control them.