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

Shall we have a dead pool?

 

NSA loophole allows warrantless search for US citizens' emails and phone calls

Exclusive: Spy agency has secret backdoor permission to search databases for individual Americans' communications


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/09/nsa-loophole-warrantless-searches-email-calls

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's leading telecoms operator said on Friday it would start channeling e-mail traffic exclusively through its domestic servers in response to public outrage over revelations of U.S. spy programs accessing citizens' private messages.

Deutsche Telekom launched the "E-mail made in Germany" initiative after a month of public indignation over reports on intrusive U.S. snooping based on documents leaked by fugitive former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/08/09/us-germany-spying-telekom-idUKBRE9780L020130809

 

Snowden revelations force Obama's hand on surveillance program

Analysis -- NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s revelations have forced President Barack Obama’s hand, leading the president to announce new reforms of the government’s classified surveillance programs, according to White House and congressional sources.

http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/...orce-obamas-hand-on-surveillance-program?lite

 

NSA firing 90% of its sysadmins to eliminate potential Snowdens.

Reference: NSA to cut system administrators by 90 percent to limit data access.

-- Tom

 

They are making a huge mistake! 90% is too little, they should go for 100%. This way the problem would be completely solved, isn't it?

 

NSA “touches” more of Internet than Google.

http://arstechnica.com/information-...net-that-nsa-touches-is-bigger-than-it-seems/

 

Just to note that the 1.6% of all the traffic that the NSA said it looks at is a whopping 29+ petabytes of data of which the total is the other 98.4% they collect but do not look at, i.e. 29+ petaabytes is the 1.6% they look at of what they collect (what was it every day?).

See: Did The NSA Think The Public Can't Do Math? Attempt To Downplay Data Collection Fails Miserably.

-- Tom

 

From the stuff that Snowden has released, it looks like they see essentially all of it. While they may analyze just 1.6% on any given day, it's all available for real-time filtering. I don't recall seeing how much traffic they can store, except that there's a trade-off between amount and time. But it seems that they store all metadata permanently.

 

And as Patrick Norton stated recently - start getting rid of video from Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon...assume they can filter spam...and that 1.6% starts looking bigger and bigger.

PD

 

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...10e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html


Snowden downloaded NSA secrets while working for Dell, sources say

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/15/us-usa-security-snowden-dell-idUSBRE97E17P20130815

j

 

Edward Snowden: 'I am famously paranoid'

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...10e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html

 

NSA Funds New “Top Secret” $60 Million Dollar Data Lab

Jeez, they just won't stop Now they need even more outside help to trawl through even MORE data ! I truly believe they are mentally ill, & we all know where people like that belong

 

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Post's reporting was the assessment provided by Judge Reggie Walton, presiding judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret body tasked with authorizing the NSA and FBI's requests for data collection.

"The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court," [Walton] said in a written statement to The Washington Post. "The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance, and in that respect the FISC is in the same position as any other court when it comes to enforcing [government] compliance with its orders."

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/08/nsas-oversight-arguments-have-fallen-apart/68419/

.

 

http://www.spiegel.de/international...-the-nsa-spies-on-americans-too-a-917000.html

 

A comedian's take on Snowden and the privacy apparatus:

Bill Burr
Warning: Language

 

Here's a better question. What tech giants' systems user data does the NSA not have direct access to? It is safe to assume the NSA has direct access to every big tech company for user data.

This is why it is a good idea to have a different password for every account you have, since having the same password for each account will allow an adversary that controls each of those sites to link each of your accounts together.

For example, my password is b5!@!T%^^$ for every site and account. They will be able to link every account, which uses that password, to my ownership because it is highly unlikely anyone else would use that password on so many different accounts.

 

Well, you could use more common dictionary password such as catdog5. Now there would be too many people to link. But honestly... I think once they got direct access to your emails they have no problems figuring out from your bank statements who you are.

 

It would be reasonable to assume that this is at least partly true. I doubt they save every e-mail with "penis" or "viagra" in the title and every cat video in circulation. If so, e-mail made to look like spam and data sent in flash format that begins as a cat video has some potential. If nothing else, it might force them to waste resources analyzing such material, looking for real data in all that junk.

 

Now that's an interesting idea.

One could send messages to intended recipients plus ~10e+5 random addresses. Both correspondents could use several addresses, to reduce the risk of correlation. Content would be end-to-end encrypted and hidden in large video files.

That's basically what Bitmessage does, right? Except for the steganography and spamming non-participants parts.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/21/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSBRE97K02V20130821​

D

 

You arrived first , I was posting it: New Details Show Broader NSA Surveillance Reach. I wonder if american people like it.

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world...6ba4b6-0a90-11e3-b87c-476db8ac34cd_story.html​

d

 

How surprising, all of a sudden secret court opinions on blocking NSA stuff, pop out in the open. (Ergo, rubber stamps can grow a spine occasionally?)
I guess from the same directors who brought you 'The EU Train Attack?', 'Evacuate Embassy Now!' and the 'Let's just talk nerds' docudrama starring Alexander the GeekGranddad

 

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/pa...on-illegal-nsa-e-mail-collection-program/409/​

d