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

guest · Aug 21, 2019

mood said: ↑

Trump Administration Asks Congress to Reauthorize N.S.A.’s Deactivated Call Records Program
August 15, 2019
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/us/politics/trump-nsa-call-records-program.html
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Don't Renew Section 215 Indefinitely
August 20, 2019
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/...strations-push-renew-section-215-indefinitely

The New York Times reported that the Trump administration wants Section 215, the legal authority that allows the National Security Agency to collect Americans’ telephone records, renewed indefinitely.
That’s despite earlier reports the NSA had shuttered its Call Details Record (CDR) Program because it ran afoul of the law, violated the privacy of scores of Americans, and reportedly failed to produce useful intelligence.

In 2015, a federal appeals court held that NSA’s interpretation of Section 215 to conduct this surveillance dragnet was “unprecedented and unwarranted.”
And in 2018, the NSA was compelled to delete millions of records after it learned that some of the data had been collected from phone service providers without legal authority or authorization.

If the program does not help ensure the safety of Americans, cannot stay within the law, and violates our privacy, then why should Congress reauthorize it? After all, as of now, the NSA isn’t even using it.
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guest · Sep 9, 2019

Americans Deserve Their Day in Court About NSA Mass Surveillance Programs
September 9, 2019
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/...about-legality-nsa-mass-surveillance-programs

EFF continues our fight to have the U.S. courts protect you from mass government surveillance. Today in our landmark Jewel v. NSA case, we filed our opening brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, asserting that the courts don’t have to turn a blind eye to the government’s actions.

Instead, the court must ensure justice for the millions of innocent Americans who have had their communications subjected to the NSA’s mass spying programs since 2001.
Today we asked the appeals court to apply that same reasoning to Jewel v. NSA and reverse a judge’s order of dismissal so our clients, and the American people, can finally have their day in court.

This fight has been long and hard, and it’s likely to continue for some time. But stopping the modern-day version of the general warrants that the founders of the U.S. fought against is tremendously important.
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Minimalist · Sep 10, 2019

I Work for N.S.A. We Cannot Afford to Lose the Digital Revolution.

Technology is about to upend our entire national security infrastructure.
Click to expand...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/opinion/nsa-privacy.html

mirimir · Sep 11, 2019

tl;dr - We need all the data there is. And enough AI to analyze it, and provide actionable intelligence. So you need to give us lots of money. And trust us.

deBoetie · Sep 11, 2019

Structurally, they still haven't resolved offence versus defence. The argument for prioritising defence is strong, but the opposite tends to happen, as we know, aided by supine legislators.

hawki · Sep 13, 2019

Minimalist said: ↑

Former NSA Contractor Edward Snowden Publishing Memoir

https://www.securityweek.com/former-nsa-contractor-edward-snowden-publishing-memoir
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"Edward Snowden explains how he pulled off one of the largest leaks in U.S. history In his memoir, he recounts how a Rubik’s Cube helped him expose government secrets...

...While working in 2012 at an NSA facility called the Tunnel, under a pineapple field in Hawaii, Snowden used his access as a systems administrator to begin assembling a library of documents on the agency’s most far-reaching surveillance programs. Night by night, he probed the corners of the agency’s network and copied the files to a micro SD card, the size of a fingernail, that he smuggled past security guards in the “pried-off square of a Rubik’s cube” that he carried everywhere.

His ability to solve the Rubik’s puzzle in seconds dazzled colleagues. He gave cubes as gifts to those he was seeking to dupe and gave them tips on how to solve them. “The more that people got used to them, the less they’d ever want a closer look at mine,” he reasoned.

He spent entire shifts filling up the data cards, then took them home and offloaded their contents onto an encrypted hard drive that he didn’t even bother to hide; it sat on his desk in plain view of anyone who might enter.

After assembling his collection of files, he began reaching out tentatively to journalists. Some of the most gripping passages in the book center on his forays around Oahu in a car loaded with a laptop and technical equipment. He would pilfer wireless signals from resorts and libraries to send encrypted messages to journalists, including the documentarian Laura Poitras and the columnist Glenn Greenwald..."
Click to expand...

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/out...64e4a0-d62c-11e9-9343-40db57cf6abd_story.html

Minimalist · Sep 16, 2019

Life After Snowden: US Still Lacks Whistleblowing Rules

The U.S. intelligence community still has no whistleblower protection rules, so "there may be a Snowden 2.0 festering in the IC right now as a result," says Jake Williams, who formerly was a member of an elite U.S. National Security Agency hacking team known as the Tailored Access Operations unit.
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https://www.databreachtoday.com/blogs/life-after-snowden-us-still-lacks-whistleblowing-rules-p-2788

hawki · Sep 16, 2019

FYI:

Snowden will be interviewed at 11:00 PM Tonight (Monday - 9/16) by Brian Williams on The 11th Hour show.

Can be viewed here:

https://www.livenewsnow.com/american/msnbc.html

Can be listened to here:

https://tunein.com/radio/MSNBC-s297990/

hawki · Sep 17, 2019

hawki said: ↑

FYI:

Snowden will be interviewed at 11:00 PM Tonight (Monday - 9/16) by Brian Williams on The 11th Hour show.
Click to expand...

Video of full Snowden interview from last night:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9yK1QndJSM&feature=youtu.be

hawki · Sep 17, 2019

"Justice Dept. sues for proceeds from Edward Snowden’s book

The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit seeking the proceeds from Edward Snowden’s book, alleging the ex-NSA contractor violated non-disclosure agreements he signed with the government by publishing the manuscript without seeking the required approval..."

https://beta.washingtonpost.com/nat...08356e-d96e-11e9-a688-303693fb4b0b_story.html

guest · Sep 19, 2019

Lawmakers Show Willingness to End NSA Phone-Surveillance Program
September 18, 2019
https://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmak...nd-nsa-phone-surveillance-efforts-11568834222

Democratic lawmakers joined by some Republicans challenged the Trump administration’s push to renew a domestic phone-surveillance program, expressing skepticism that the tool serves a legitimate purpose and indicating bipartisan support for letting it lapse later this year.

“It is baffling to me for this administration to announce that it has shuttered this program and then, in the very same breath, to ask Congress to extend it permanently,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said.
The committee is expected to introduce a bill in the coming weeks seeking to end the phone program, according to congressional aides and other people familiar with the matter.

But many lawmakers were dubious the program would ever prove useful. When Ms. Morgan said the intelligence community needed “every tool in the toolbox” to combat evolving threats, including the metadata program, she drew a forceful rebuttal from Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D., Texas): “If I have a broken hammer, I just throw it out.”
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hawki · Oct 8, 2019

"FBI’s Use of Foreign-Surveillance Tool Violated Americans’ Privacy Rights, Court Found

U.S. discloses ruling last year by Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that FBI’s data queries of U.S. citizens were unconstitutional

WASHINGTON—Some of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s electronic surveillance activities violated the constitutional privacy rights of Americans swept up in a controversial foreign intelligence program, a secretive surveillance court has ruled..."

[That's all I got -- details hidden behind paywall]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbis-u...ricans-privacy-rights-court-found-11570559882

hawki · Oct 8, 2019

hawki said: ↑

"FBI’s Use of Foreign-Surveillance Tool Violated Americans’ Privacy Rights, Court Found

U.S. discloses ruling last year by Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that FBI’s data queries of U.S. citizens were unconstitutional

WASHINGTON—Some of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s electronic surveillance activities violated the constitutional privacy rights of Americans swept up in a controversial foreign intelligence program, a secretive surveillance court has ruled..."

[That's all I got -- details hidden behind paywall]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fbis-u...ricans-privacy-rights-court-found-11570559882
Click to expand...

More here:

"Secret Court: FBI Warrantless Searches Were Illegal

A year ago, the U.S.’ surveillance court ruled that the FBI violated Americans’ privacy by broadly sifting through dragnets of intercepted communications..."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donal...ing-just-got-slapped-by-the-courts?ref=scroll

hawki · Oct 8, 2019

hawki said: ↑

More here:

"Secret Court: FBI Warrantless Searches Were Illegal

A year ago, the U.S.’ surveillance court ruled that the FBI violated Americans’ privacy by broadly sifting through dragnets of intercepted communications..."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donal...ing-just-got-slapped-by-the-courts?ref=scroll
Click to expand...

For the "down into the weeds" peeps:

The FISA Court Opinion:

https://www.intelligence.gov/assets/documents/702%20Documents/declassified/2018_Cert_FISC_Opin_18Oct18.pdf

guest · Nov 6, 2019

NSA says it can collect metadata for encrypted comms
November 6, 2019
https://fcw.com/articles/2019/11/06/215-surveillance-encrypted-metadata.aspx

The Trump administration is pressing Congress to permanently reauthorize expiring surveillance authorities under the Patriot Act, including the controversial Section 215 powers that gave U.S. spies the greenlight to collect bulk phone call information on Americans.

At a Nov. 6 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, officials from the National Security Agency and Department of Justice said that the Section 215 authorities, along with the ability to conduct "roving" wiretaps for individuals seeking evade monitoring and an as yet unused provision allowing surveillance of "lone wolf" terrorist suspects were needed.
[...] Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) asked if records from encrypted messaging services would fall under the scope of the authorities being discussed for renewal.

"So if there was a specific selection term we got the authority from the [court] and there were metadata records responsive to that… I believe we would be authorized to get that," NSA official Susan Morgan said.
Brad Wiegmann, representing the Department of Justice, said that because the metadata around such communications is typically not encrypted, the government's collection would be legal under either the Call Detail Records program and the business records provision contained in Section 215 of the Patriot Act.
Click to expand...

guest · Nov 10, 2019

Leahy balks at NSA request to reauthorize bulk data collection
November 7, 2019
https://vtdigger.org/2019/11/07/leahy-balks-at-nsa-request-to-reauthorize-bulk-data-collection/

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., criticized the National Security Agency for being opaque with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee about its bulk data collection program during a hearing Wednesday on the renewal of surveillance powers legislation.

At a hearing on the reauthorization of the Freedom Act of 2015, which Leahy co-wrote with fellow committee member Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, the Vermont senator pressed a top National Security Agency official for details on the efficacy of its “call detail records” (CDR) program. In 2018, more than 434 million phone records were collected by the federal government under the policy, according to Leahy’s office.

Susan Morgan, a senior official for the NSA, told the committee that though the agency had decided the value of the program “did not outweigh the cost” and had stopped using the bulk communication collection program, the agency hoped lawmakers would reauthorize the surveillance power.

“We could find ourselves in a situation where this particular tool in our toolbox, we would want to have the agility to use it should it be valuable moving forward,” Morgan said.
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Morgan responded that she could not answer the senator without divulging classified information about the program, and refused to give any details about how frequently data collected through the program has been used in an investigation.
In response, Leahy said the agency has no issue publicly discussing how other sections of the Patriot Act are instrumental in preventing terrorist attacks, but balks at releasing about the data collection program.

“Until that time there is no reason to to reauthorize the CDR program,” he said. “We’re going to be legislating in the dark.”
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guest · Nov 14, 2019

The NSA has stopped collecting location data from US cellphones without a warrant
Intelligence agencies stopped the practice last year
November 14, 2019
https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/14...nce-no-warrant-phone-location-data-collection

American intelligence agencies quietly stopped the warrantless collection of US phone location data last year, according to a letter from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released today.

Last year, in a landmark decision, the Supreme Court ruled against authorities looking to search through electronic location data without a warrant. Citing the ruling, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a privacy hawk in Congress, wrote a letter to then-Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats asking how agencies like the National Security Agency would apply the court’s decision.
In a response to Wyden released today, a representative for the office said intelligence agencies have already stopped the practice of collecting US location data without a warrant.
Click to expand...

mirimir · Nov 15, 2019

Or maybe they just stopped looking at it. I mean, given that "collected" doesn't mean for them what it means for us

deBoetie · Nov 15, 2019

It's "just" the location data - and yes, it will be stored, one place or another, and retrievable.

guest · Nov 21, 2019

Congress extends NSA call records collection powers to March
November 21, 2019
https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/21/congress-section-215-extension/

In passing a short-term funding bill to avoid a U.S. government shutdown, Congress has also extended the government’s legal powers allowing it to collect daily millions of Americans’ call records.

Buried in a funding bill passed by the House this week was a clause that extended the government’s so-called Section 215 powers, which allow the National Security Agency to compel phone providers to turn over daily logs — known as “metadata” — of their customers’ calls, including their phone numbers, when the call was made, and the call’s duration.
But the program also collects millions of wholly domestic phone calls between Americans, which courts have ruled unconstitutional.

The Senate approved the funding bill on Thursday after a 74-20 vote. The bill will now go to the president’s desk, averting a midnight government shut down, but also confirming the Section 215 powers will be extended until March 15.
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which first noted the legal extension, said it was “disappointed” that lawmakers “hid an extension of these authorities in a funding bill, without debate and without consideration of meaningful privacy and civil liberties safeguards to include.”
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EFF: House Lawmakers Extend Section 215 into Next Year Even Though They Had Years to Stop Illegal Overcollection of Americans’ Sensitive Data

hawki · Dec 17, 2019

hawki said: ↑

"Justice Dept. sues for proceeds from Edward Snowden’s book

The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a lawsuit seeking the proceeds from Edward Snowden’s book, alleging the ex-NSA contractor violated non-disclosure agreements he signed with the government by publishing the manuscript without seeking the required approval..."
Click to expand...

"Snowden’s Failure to Have Book Screened Means No Profit

(Bloomberg) -- Edward Snowden can’t profit from his recently released memoir because he failed to get pre-publication clearance from U.S. security agencies, a judge ruled..."

https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/snowden-s-failure-to-have-book-screened-by-cia-means-no-profit

mirimir · Dec 17, 2019

That's gotta be, like, a joke.

But whatever, I'd pay him maybe $100 or so in Bitcoin for it. And there might well be folks who'd kick in $1000s.

So why not give it a go

guest · Dec 19, 2019

Court says data swept up by the NSA is protected by the Fourth Amendment
Judges found the incidental collection through PRISM to be legal, but querying that data might not be
December 19, 2019
https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/18/court-ruling-on-nsa-data-collection-fourth-amendment/

An appeals court may have just shaped how the US treats the NSA's bulk data collection. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that American communications scooped up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's Section 702 and PRISM is protected by Fourth Amendment rights baring unreasonable searches and seizures.

Judges found that the "vast majority" of the evidence collected in a terrorism case against Agron Hasbajrami was permissible under the Fourth Amendment, but that the querying that data "could violate" the amendment -- and thus that it was fair to challenge the data use on constitutional grounds.
It also believed that the accidental collection of Americans' data raised "novel constitutional questions" that could be answered later.

[...] the US later admitted that it had studied Hasbajrami's email without a warrant, [...]
This won't necessarily help Hasbajrami avoid prison, and it effectively defends a key part of the NSA's mass surveillance.
If the ruling holds, though, officials might have to think carefully about searching NSA data and putting it to use.
Click to expand...

reasonablePrivacy · Dec 20, 2019

mood said: ↑

Court says data swept up by the NSA is protected by the Fourth Amendment
Judges found the incidental collection through PRISM to be legal, but querying that data might not be
December 19, 2019
https://www.engadget.com/2019/12/18/court-ruling-on-nsa-data-collection-fourth-amendment/
Click to expand...

Well, they are going to just disable logging in their internal search engines or minimize log retention to few days, I guess. I don't think they are going to stop doing illegal activities.

mirimir · Dec 21, 2019

reasonablePrivacy said: ↑

I don't think they are going to stop doing illegal activities.
Click to expand...

For them, as a military agency, there is no "illegal". From what I've seen, anyway.

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