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

The NSA’s guide to the internet is the weirdest thing you’ll read today

At the bottom of the above webpage you will see an embedded version of the guide. Left-click on the lower left-hand corner's symbolic link to view the document in Full Screen mode in a new web page. On the new web page at the top right-hand side, look for the Original Document (PDF) and below you will find a download link to the full pdf in the document cloud. Then right-click on the pdf download link and select the Save Link As function to download the pdf document.

-- Tom

 

Thanks Strange

 

Edward Snowden Demonstrates How To Make a Phone "Go Black"

http://www.wired.com/2016/05/snowden-vice-cell-phone-hack/?mbid=social_twitter

 

https://theintercept.com/2016/06/01...sive-biometric-database-from-the-privacy-act/

 

https://www.liberty-human-rights.or...-brits-believe-government-surveillance-powers

Snooper’s charter: Most Britons unaware of Tory plans, survey finds | Technology | The Guardian

 

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/06/letters-lack-scrutiny-privacy-mi5-data-collection

 

Facing Data Deluge, Secret U.K. Spying Report Warned of Intelligence Failure

By Ryan Gallagher

 

They dont really care. If they are suing its probably so they can use it in a press release or something. They have little to lose. If they win the lawsuit they "have the right" (which doesnt mean they have to exercise it), they can hold their concern for consumer rights up as a banner, and they get money from trusting customers who believe the fairytales told to them. If they lose, they can be the poor good guys who fought the good fight but were defeated by the evil government. ~ Removed Off Topic Political Remarks ~

Corporations have no allegiance to governments, nations, or even consumers- they have only allegiance to that which makes them money. If doing what the government says is a net positive over supporting consumers, they do what the government says. If doing what the consumers want is a net positive over doing what the government wants, theyll resist the government in any legal way and advertise the fact. Theyll sell both down the river if thats what gets them the most $$$. Corporations have proven this time and time again.

 

Remember, corporations will be the first AIs. If they're not already

 

NSA reveals why it couldn’t hack the San Bernardino terrorist’s iPhone 5c.

-- Tom

 

Belated fallout from BND collusion with the NSA:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/28/germany-curb-spy-agency-nsa-scandal-angela-merkel

Gerhard Schindler, head of BDN, will take early retirement from July 1st.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-36711711

Regarding Comey's statement on Secretary Clinton's email server.

Steering smartly away from the politics and the recommendation, I haven't seen any explanations about how come top secret information was sent TO her email server/account by people in government departments, and using email? And, apparently not marked as such.

It seems to me that, regardless of recipient, this is an ongoing wound which has and will expose the information to bad actors, yet there is no admission of the problem or plans to stop doing this.

 

Good point, you would have thought secure government email systems would have safe guards in place to limit sending of confidential info to insecure recipients or at least warn the sender that it is not a secure email address.

 

Maybe her official account forwarded stuff. But then, that would also be a defect.

 

@driekus, @mirimir - security/privacy problems are inevitable whenever you go across organisational and administrative boundaries.

As with Snowden and Booz Allen Hamilton, it's likely that these boundaries lead to huge holes. I've also seen it with descriptions of the XKS implementation, that the security of that system looks like a gashed together commercial system almost, and access to that hugely intrusive system is shared amongst many many people, organisations and countries. While you might pick up breaches through audit after the event, it's then likely too late. And it's simply not in the practical state of the art to partition data with the requisite granularity and control, that's not a solved problem.

It's also coupled with the absurd degree to which information is ascribed top secret, and for how long. You might have a chance if you were extremely selective about what was categorised this way, and for how long, but if you over-categorise, the whole system doesn't practically work.

What's hugely worrying is that they appear to have given up on the problem (it's not THEIR problem), and also that they expect us to believe that the data they are collecting will be kept secure. Clearly, lies.

 

A US court is hearing a challenge to the NSA's spying operations for the first time

-- Tom

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-of-us-military-secrets-given-four-years-jail

Su Bin has been jailed for 4 years for passing information onto Chinese hackers targeting US fighter jets for the PLA.

Interesting contrast with Snowden.....

 

Snowden's Mysterious Tweets Spark Speculation:

http://sputniknews.com/news/20160806/1044011551/snowden-twitter-leaks-dead-kidnapped.html

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world...-cryptic-code-meaning-dead-mans-switch-russia

 

FWIW:

"....Moreover, the fact that at least eight popular torrent sites used for distributing large files were immediately shut down after Snowden posted his tweet has led to further speculation that the former NSA contractor’s life may be in danger..."


http://www.inquisitr.com/3389936/ed...sending-conspiracy-theorists-into-a-meltdown/

 

Thanks JRViejo

Curious that Greenwaid did not post a similar tweet on his twitter account or @Snowden .

Curious that Greenwald would make such a significant reassurance on the twitter account of someone with 149 followers and who does not appear to have any political/snowden/privacy interests, or prior dialogue with Greenwald, and whose main interest is playing Zelda.

So now the tin-foil hatters will be seeking proof of life of Greenwald My tin foil hat is not big enough for that.

I checked on The Intercept before I originally posted to check, but I saw nothing.

 

https://theintercept.com/2016/08/10...-highlights-from-263-internal-agency-reports/

 

"Hackers Claim to Auction Data They Stole From NSA-Linked Spies"

https://www.wired.com/2016/08/hackers-claim-auction-data-stolen-nsa-linked-spies/

"NSA hacked? Top cyber weapons allegedly go up for auction"

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3107...s-allegedly-go-up-for-auction.html#tk.rss_all

"Wikileaks Published Dozens of Malware Links in Email Dump."

http://gizmodo.com/wikileaks-published-dozens-of-malware-links-in-email-du-1785293372

"Mysterious Group Hacks The NSA"

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-15/mysterious-group-hacks-nsa

 

The NSA Is Hoarding Vulnerabilities

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2016/08/the_nsa_is_hoar.html