UMass Researchers Create NSA-Proof Email

What The Most Secure Email In The Universe Would Look Like

 

 

 

 

 

” Say you wanted to send an email more secure than any message that had ever been transmitted in human history, a message with absolutely no chance of being intercepted. How would you do it?

  You may have encrypted your message according to the highest standards, but encryption doesn’t guarantee secrecy. The fact that you sent it is still detectable. An intercepting party in possession of just a few clues such as your identity, the receiver’s identify, the time of the message, surrounding incidents and the like can infer a great deal about the content of the message in the same way that the NSA can use your metadata to make inferences about your personality. You need to conceal not just what’s in the message but its very existence.

  The answer? Make your message literally impossible to detect. A team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Raytheon BBN Technologies led by Boulat A. Bash have created a method for doing just that, cloaking electronic communications so that the communication can’t be seen. They explain it in a paper titled Covert Optical Communication.

  The question of exactly how secure any communication can be is of no small relevance either to national security watchers worried about losing secrets or to a public increasingly concerned about governmental invasion of digital privacy. The breakthrough shows that it is possible to send a message that can’t be intercepted, no matter how determined the National Security Agency is to intercept it. “

 

A PDF file of the researcher’s paper can be read here

DefenseOne has more details , as does Phys.org

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Government Spies Hijacked Millions Of Yahoo Webcam User’s Feeds

Yahoo Webcam Images From Millions Of Users Intercepted By GCHQ

 

 

 

” Britain’s surveillance agency GCHQ, with aid from the US National Security Agency, intercepted and stored the webcam images of millions of internet users not suspected of wrongdoing, secret documents reveal.

  GCHQ files dating between 2008 and 2010 explicitly state that a surveillance program codenamed Optic Nerve collected still images of Yahoo webcam chats in bulk and saved them to agency databases, regardless of whether individual users were an intelligence target or not.

  In one six-month period in 2008 alone, the agency collected webcam imagery – including substantial quantities of sexually explicit communications – from more than 1.8 million Yahoo user accounts globally.

  Yahoo reacted furiously to the webcam interception when approached by the Guardian. The company denied any prior knowledge of the program, accusing the agencies of “a whole new level of violation of our users’ privacy“.

  GCHQ does not have the technical means to make sure no images of UK or US citizens are collected and stored by the system, and there are no restrictions under UK law to prevent Americans’ images being accessed by British analysts without an individual warrant.

  The documents also chronicle GCHQ’s sustained struggle to keep the large store of sexually explicit imagery collected by Optic Nerve away from the eyes of its staff, though there is little discussion about the privacy implications of storing this material in the first place.”

 

 

    While the webcam intrusions allegedly took place between 2008 and 2010 the Guardian says that Operation Optic Nerve was ongoing at least as late as 2012 …

 

 

” Optic Nerve, the documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden show, began as a prototype in 2008 and was still active in 2012, according to an internal GCHQ wiki page accessed that year.

  The system, eerily reminiscent of the telescreens evoked in George Orwell’s 1984, was used for experiments in automated facial recognition, to monitor GCHQ’s existing targets, and to discover new targets of interest. Such searches could be used to try to find terror suspects or criminals making use of multiple, anonymous user IDs.”

 

 

 

   The Guardian has much more on the latest revelations of Statism brought to light by Edward Snowden’s courageous act of defiance . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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An Administration Goes Down the Drain

Swirling The Bowl

 

 

 

 

” Among President Obama’s formerly greatest champions — minorities, unions, so-called journalists and young voters — the swirling-into-oblivion administration has engendered a remarkable sullen silence, given their loss, as they passively give up on recovering their once-loved gem, now sullied by this government’s own political excrement.

  Covered with the stench of debacles including Obamacare, the NSA, Syria, Benghazi, the IRS, and the AP, while demonstrating a level of incompetence so great that it must give pause to all but the most committed members of the cult of unlimited government, few liberals will be willing to dig through the muck to reclaim their once-prized possession.

  While the media like to focus on Tea Party froth and Republican infighting, the key to the 2014 and 2016 elections is the effect of the Obama flush on his key supporters’ desire to vote for Democrats, or to vote at all.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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NSA Not Satisfied With Call Tracking , Wants To Monitor Our Cars As Well

Obama’s NSA Watchdog: Tracking Cars Is Reasonable

 

 

 

” If one member of President Obama’s NSA review group charged with recommending surveillance policy gets his way, tracking cars could become a routine procedure in law enforcement.

  University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone took issue with a Supreme Court ruling in the case of the Jones GPS Tracking case. Stone took his case to the Stanford University Law Review in an article entitled, “A Reasonableness Approach to Searches After the Jones GPS Tracking Case.”

 

     Here is a helpful hint on how to locate a tracking device on your own car :  

                                                                               How to Find a GPS System Under a Car | eHow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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WaPost Acknowledges That The “Tin-Foil Hat Wearers” Were Right

2013 Is The Year That Proved Your ‘Paranoid’ Friend Right

 

 

” Most people involved in the tech scene have at least one friend who has been warning everyone they know about protecting their digital trail for years — and have watched that friend get accused of being being a tinfoil-hat-wearing conspiracy theorist. But 2013 is the year that proved your “paranoid” friend right.

  It’s now a matter of public record that the NSA collects and stores the calling records of domestic phone calls, tracks the location of millions of mobile devices worldwide,infiltrates the data links between the data centers of tech companies used by millions of Americans, piggybacks onto commercial tracking mechanisms, collected potentially sensitive online metadata for years and actively worked to undermine the privacy and security measures that underpin the Internet. And considering the purported size of the Snowden cache, that could be the tip of the metaphorical iceberg.”

 

Source: Washington Post

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Snowden Seeking Asylum In Brazil

SNOWDEN: NSA’S INDISCRIMINATE SPYING ‘COLLAPSING’

 

 

 

” National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden wrote in a lengthy “open letter to the people of Brazil” that he’s been inspired by the global debate ignited by his release of thousands of National Security Agency documents, and that the NSA’s culture of indiscriminate global espionage “is collapsing.”

  In the letter, obtained on Tuesday by The Associated Press, Snowden commended the Brazilian government for its strong stand against U.S. spying.

  He said he’d be willing to help the South American nation investigate NSA spying on its soil, but could not fully participate in doing so without being granted political asylum, because the U.S. “government will continue to interfere with my ability to speak.” “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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America’s Congressional Intelligence “Watchdogs” Reap Millions From Surveillance Companies

Lawmakers Who Oversee Government Surveillance Programs Receive Millions From Intelligence Companies

 

 

 

 

” Amid the NSA scandal, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — the committees in charge of oversight — denied stricter reform attempts to the NSA programs and instead propelled legislation aimed at restoring their trust. The committees are intended to keep waste, fraud, and abuse in check given most of these programs are hidden from the general public.

  Every single member on the committees received campaign contributions from the largest intelligence companies in the U.S. performing services for the the government.

  A report from Maplight, a nonpartisan research organization that reveals money in politics, highlights the donations from political action committees (PACs) and individuals from the intelligence services companies to these members. The report shows donations amount to over $3.7 million from 2005-2013.”

 

 

As usual money talks while the people suffer the resulting corruption.

 

 

” Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D- Md.), the highest ranking Democrat on the House committee, received the most amount of money. He was given $363,600 with $124,350 of this coming from a single company — Northrop Grumman. As the Center for Public Integrity notes, Rep. Ruppersberger’s Maryland district includes the NSA. He is also a member of the “Gang of Eight” and receives extremely detailed intelligence reports that many other members do not receive.

  The second highest amount was given to Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D- Md.) who received $210,150. Sen. Mikulski also happens to be chairwomen of the Senate Appropriations Committee — a committee which allocates federal funds to a majority of government programs, including intelligence.”

 

 

Read the rest

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jimmy Kimmell : The Tin Foil Hat Brigade Was Right

Kimmel’s Joke About Crazy Tin-Foil Hat People Has A Surprising Punchline

 

 

 

   Jimmy Kimmell makes a surprising admission on the Tin Foil Hat Brigade’s contention that the Government is tracking their every move … Gee , those crazy , conspiracy theorists that have been subject to nothing but scorn and ridicule by the intelligentsia for all these years were right all along … and he gets in a well-deserved shot at Obamacare to boot .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Editorial Exhorts Utahans To Shut Off NSA Data Center Water Supply

Op-Ed: Utahns Should Deny Water To NSA Center

 

 

” Like the eye of Sauron, the NSA’s new facility in Utah overlooks hundreds of thousands of people in the valley below. Perched on a mountainside fortress of concrete and barricades, the 1-million-square-foot complex exists solely to allow the NSA to “see all.”

In the wake of the Snowden leaks and widespread concern with the pervasive surveillance activities of the federal government, many Americans have been wondering how to fight back. Can an effective opposition even be mounted against the power of the NSA? What can be done to restore privacy and protect our rights?

The strategy to succeed is quite simple. When fully operational, the NSA facility is expected to require a staggering 1.7 million gallons of water every day to cool down the computers harvesting information on people worldwide. That water is supplied by the Jordan Valley Water Conservancy District, a political subdivision of the state. Without it, the facility cannot function.

To defeat Sauron, Frodo had to take the One Ring and throw it into the pit of Mount Doom — the dark lord’s power base at the heart of Mordor — where it was originally forged. To defeat the NSA, we must also take the fight to the base of operations and turn off the water supply.”

 

   This is a marvelous idea . Does anyone know the legalities involved ? Can water be denied specific consumers ? if not total denial , what about rationing ? Two million gallons a day seems like a very environmentally unfriendly requirement . Where are the “greenies” ? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The USA FREEDOM Act : “The Snowden Effect In Legislative Form”

A Floor, Not A Ceiling: Supporting The USA FREEDOM Act As A Step Towards Less Surveillance

 

 

View this document on Scribd

” Over the last few weeks, we’ve been analyzing the USA FREEDOM Act1, a bipartisan bill authored by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI). If passed, this bill (also known as S. 1599) would be a substantial improvement to America’s laws regarding mass surveillance. It brings new levels of transparency to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court (FISA court), introduces a special advocate to champion civil liberties in the FISA court, and appears to create new statutory limits on mass surveillance by the National Security Agency (NSA). We are proud to support this bill and urge others to join us in working to ensure its passage. However, we consider this bill to be a floor, not a ceiling. “

EFF highlights the significant changes to current law in seven categories which we list below :

1) It would likely stop the NSA’s call records program. 2)The bill modifies Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act.  3)The bill creates a special advocate in the FISA court. 4)Significant decisions” by the FISA court must be disclosed by the Attorney General. 5)It increases protections designed to limit the potential harm from the use of National Security Letters (NSLs). Nevertheless, NSLs would still be unconstitutional. 6)Transparency. 7)It grants subpoena powers for the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).

 

 

   Each of these sections is explained in greater detail in the post and is well worth your time . The Electronic Frontier Foundation makes quite clear that this bill must be just a starting point in the battle to retrieve our 4th Amendment rights from the usurpers in the federal government , beginning with but not limited to , the NSA and their infamous snooping programs . 

 

 

” So while we are happy to support the USA FREEDOM Act, we also acknowledge that there is still much to do to dial back the NSA. This can happen through ongoing improvements to the USA FREEDOM Act as well as through additional bills.”

 

 

   The writer then proceeds to list numerous privacy/surveillance issues that the bill , in it’s present form , does NOT deal with and leaves the reader with the understanding that even if this bill is passed we still have a long way to go to stop the abuse of State and to return our government to it’s founding principles . This is what Sen Sensenbrenner’s web page has to say about H.R. 3361/ S. 1599 aka The USA FREEDOM Act

 

 

THE USA FREEDOM ACT

” Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet Collection, and Online Monitoring Act   H.R. 3361/ S. 1599 Purpose:  To rein in the dragnet collection of data by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies, increase transparency of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), provide businesses the ability to release information regarding FISA requests, and create an independent constitutional advocate to argue cases before the FISC.   End bulk collection of Americans’ communications records • The USA Freedom Act ends bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.   • The bill would strengthen the prohibition on “reverse targeting” of Americans—that is, targeting a foreigner with the goal of obtaining communications involving an American.  • The bill requires the government to more aggressively filter and discard information about Americans accidentally collected through PRISM and related programs. Reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court • The USA Freedom Act creates an Office of the Special Advocate (OSA) tasked with promoting privacy interests before the FISA court’s closed proceedings. The OSA will have the authority to appeal decisions of the FISA court.  • The bill creates new and more robust reporting requirements to ensure that Congress is aware of actions by the FISC and intelligence community as a whole. • The bill would grant the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight  Board subpoena authority to investigate issues related to privacy and national security. Increase Transparency • The USA Freedom Act would end secret laws by requiring the Attorney General to publicly disclose all FISC decisions issued after July 10, 2003 that contain a significant construction or interpretation of law.   • Under the bill, Internet and telecom companies would be allowed to publicly report an estimate of (1) the number of FISA orders and national security letters received, (2) the number of such orders and letters complied with, and (3) the number of users or accounts on whom information was demanded under the orders and letters.  • The bill would require the government to make annual or semiannual public reports estimating the total number of individuals and U.S. persons that were subject to FISA orders authorizing electronic surveillance, pen/trap devices, and access to business records.  National Security Letters • The USA Freedom Act adopts a single standard for Section 215 and NSL protection to ensure the Administration doesn’t use different authorities to support bulk collection.  It also adds a sunset date to NSLs requiring that Congress reauthorize the government’s authority thereby ensuring proper congressional review.”

 

 

 Senator Leahy’s webpage is here , and this is an editorial co-authored by Sen’s Leahy and Sensenbrenner and published in the Politico .

Here is the bill itself . It runs 118 pages . 

Here is the ACLU’s take on S.1599

Freedom Works offers their opinion

 

TechCrunch :                                      This is the Snowden Effect in legislative form.

” The bill is a solid first effort, but does not go far enough. We will likely see other bills of similar ilk. This specific bill is interesting given that one of its authors, Representative Sensenbrenner, played a key role in the creation of the Patriot Act, something that he is now trying to rein in.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Keystone State Leads The Way Against NSA

From The Land Of The Liberty Bell: Investigate The NSA

 

 

” Here in Pennsylvania, we have a full-time legislature, so as the lobbyist for the Pennsylvania affiliate of the ACLU, I have plenty of opportunities for face time with state legislators and staff. Since June, I’ve been hearing a similar refrain repeatedly: NSA surveillance is a major problem. We deal with a lot of state-level surveillance legislation, and I’ve joked with legislators and staff that Edward Snowden has made my job a lot easier.

Last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives formalized that concern by passing a resolution to protest the NSA’s sweeping surveillance activities and to call on Congress to create a special committee to investigate and to recommend revisions to the USA PATRIOT Act and for reforms at the NSA and the FBI. The vote on House Resolution 456 wasn’t even close.

The final tally: 194 to 2.” 

 

Good for Pennsylvania … Good for US . Here’s to the other states following the Keystone state’s example .

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Switzerland , Home Of Financial Privacy , Soon To Offer Information Privacy As Well

Swisscom Builds ‘Swiss Cloud’ As Spying Storm Rages

 

 

(Reuters) – ” Swisscom is building a “Swiss Cloud” that could loosen the grip of U.S. technology giants and attract foreign companies looking for a way to shield sensitive data from the prying eyes of foreign intelligence services.

Companies are increasingly turning to cloud computing – an umbrella term for technology services such as email and business software offered remotely via the Internet instead of on-site – to cut costs and add flexibility to their IT departments.

But revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) secretly gathered user data from nine big U.S. tech companies including Google, Apple and Facebook has demonstrated that privacy for users of cloud services can be compromised, and some suggest customers could seek out alternatives to the dominant U.S. providers to try and protect sensitive information.

“Data protection and privacy is a long tradition in Switzerland, and that’s why it’s pretty difficult to get to something,” Koenig said.

Unlike in the United States, where the 2001 Patriot Act and the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISAA) gives U.S. intelligence agencies the power to carry out mass information gathering, Swisscom would have to receive a formal request from a prosecutor before allowing access to data.”

 

 

    Bring it on . Obama’s NSA is certainly uniting the world … not in a way that he intended , surely , but he can in fact take some credit for being the “uniter” that he claimed to be during his initial campaign … LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lavabit/Silence Circle Alliance Shoots For Surveillance-Proof Email

Lavabit To Release Code As Open Source, As It Creates Dark Mail Alliance To Create Even More Secure Email

 

 

” This whole morning, while all these stories of the NSA hacking directly into Google and Yahoo’s network have been popping up, I’ve been at the Inbox Love conference, all about the future of email. The “keynote” that just concluded, was Ladar Levison from Lavabit (with an assist from Mike Janke from Silent Circle), talking about the just announced Dark Mail Alliance, between Lavabit and Silent Circle — the other “security” focused communications company who shut down its email offering after Lavabit was forced to shut down. Levison joked that they went with “Dark Mail” because “Black Mail” might have negative connotations. Perhaps just as interesting, Levison is going to be releasing the Lavabit source code (and doing a Kickstarter project to support this), with the hope that many others can set up their own secure email using Lavabit’s code, combined with the new Dark Mail Alliance secure technology which will be available next year. 

As noted, the Alliance is working on trying to create truly secure and surveillance-proof email. Of course, nothing is ever 100% surveillance proof — and both members of the alliance have previously claimed that it was almost impossible to do surveillance-proof email. However, they’re claiming they’ve had a “breakthrough” that will help.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Even The Pope Is Fair Game To NSA

US ‘Spied On Future Pope Francis During Vatican Conclave’

 

 

 

” The National Security Agency spied on the future Pope Francis before and during the Vatican conclave at which he was chosen to succeed Benedict XVI, it was claimed on Wednesday.

The American spy agency monitored telephone calls made to and from the residence in Rome where the then Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio stayed during the conclave, the secret election at which cardinals chose him as pontiff on March 13.

The claims were made by Panorama, an Italian weekly news magazine, which said that the NSA monitored the telephone calls of many bishops and cardinals at the Vatican in the lead-up to the conclave, which was held amid tight security in the Sistine Chapel.

The information gleaned was then reportedly divided into four categories — “leadership intentions”, “threats to financial system”, “foreign policy objectives” and “human rights”.

At that time, Benedict XVI was Pope, suggesting that the Vatican may also have been monitored during the last few weeks of his papacy.

The allegations follow a report on Cryptome, a website that gathers intelligence on surveillance and national security, which claimed the US intercepted 46 million telephone calls in Italy between Dec 10 2012 and Jan 8 January 2013.

The monitoring of communications, including emails, continued after Benedict’s resignation in February and encompassed the election of Pope Francis.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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NSA Accessed Mexican President’s Email

Fresh Leak On US Spying

 

 

 

” The NSA has been systematically eavesdropping on the Mexican government for years. It hacked into the president’s public email account and gained deep insight into policymaking and the political system. The news is likely to hurt ties between the US and Mexico.

The National Security Agency (NSA) has a division for particularly difficult missions. Called “Tailored Access Operations” (TAO), this department devises special methods for special targets.

That category includes surveillance of neighboring Mexico, and in May 2010, the division reported its mission accomplished. A report classified as “top secret” said: “TAO successfully exploited a key mail server in the Mexican Presidencia domain within the Mexican Presidential network to gain first-ever access to President Felipe Calderon’s public email account.” “

 

 

    With friends like US , who needs enemies ? This must be more of that “smart diplomacy” we were promised . Add Mexico to the list with Brazil and Germany of former allies sure to take a much different view of the US than used to be the case . 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Support The 4th Amendment Protection Act

NSA Spying: 4th Amendment Protection

 

 

 

 

 

” This resource and action page is not intended to explain WHY the NSA spying program is wrong. It assumes you’re already on board with that fact. This page exists to provide you the tools needed to begin resisting it.

Passage of the 4th Amendment Protection Act in your state, county, city and town will create obstacles to implementation that will help thwart the unconstitutional spying efforts of the federal government. State laws, local resolutions, and even campus legislation are all important pieces of the puzzle to resist and nullify NSA spying. (model legislation here).

The 4th Amendment Protection Act is an important first step to stopping NSA spying. You can be sure that this one bill (and no single piece of legislation) will stop the NSA on its own. Passage of this legislation will be a big piece of the puzzle to the overall resistance. Once your state completes this first step, there are more…aggressive…measures that will be implemented to push back.

Scroll down below the map to learn more. 

While there is no silver bullet to stop the NSA, you have an option.  Wait for the federal government to give up this power, or resist it in any way possible.

These steps are just the first step of what will likely be a multi-year campaign to resist, refuse to comply, and nullify the unconstitutional NSA programs.

Once these first steps are moving forward in a number of states, the next – more aggressive – levels of resistance can take place successfully.

In the end, Rosa Parks already proved it.  Saying “No!” can change the world. “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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NSA Allegedly At Heart Of Targeted Assissinations

Journalists Join Forces To Reveal NSA’s Role In The U.S. Assassination Program

 

 

” Under ongoing scrutiny from the public, the National Security Agency took another hit on Saturday when two Brazilian journalists joined forces to expose, what they refer to as, a “U.S. assassination program.” These men, Jeremy Scahill, author of the New York Times best seller “Dirty Wars” and Glenn Greenwald, the first journalist to report on the Edward Snowden leaks, suggest that they have a found a link between the NSA and targeted killings. “The connections between war and surveillance are clear.

“I don’t want to give too much away but Glenn and I are working on a project right now that has at its center how the National Security Agency plays a significant, central role in the U.S. assassination program (Star Tribune),” said Scahill at the debut of the film “Dirty Wars,” a documentary tracing Scahill’s journey around the world speaking to families of U.S. air strike victims.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Meltdowns Hobble NSA Data Center

Investigators Stumped By What’s Causing Power Surges That Destroy Equipment

 

 

” Chronic electrical surges at the massive new data-storage facility central to the National Security Agency’s spying operation have destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of machinery and delayed the center’s opening for a year, according to project documents and current and former officials.

There have been 10 meltdowns in the past 13 months that have prevented the NSA from using computers at its new Utah data-storage center, slated to be the spy agency’s largest, according to project documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Government (Non) Shutdown

Domestic Spying Will Continue Uninterrupted

 

 

 

 

” I say “so-called” government shutdown because most federal activities will continue and most federal employees will continue to work. If you had plans to visit Yellowstone National Park, you’re out of luck until the government reopens. However, the NSA will continue to track our private conversations, the military will continue to expend blood and treasure protecting the interests of wealthy allies, and the federal entitlement system that’s the source of our future fiscal imbalances will continue to pump out the checks.

So while it is true that some of the federal leviathan’s tentacles will take a brief respite, its reach into practically every facet of our lives will continue largely uninterrupted.

Unfortunately, one of those tentacles that will live to see another day is Obamacare. As a libertarian, I would obviously like to see it completely dismantled. But the political environment is not friendly to this stated aim of House Republicans. Democrats still control the Senate and the law also happens to be the current White House occupant’s signature policy “achievement.” It would take overwhelming public opposition against reopening the government with Obamacare in place for the president to even consider agreeing to such a deal. The law might not be popular, but neither is shutting down the government over it. A mainstream media that is less sympathetic to an interventionist federal government would be helpful to the House Republican cause, but the opposite is reality.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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NSA Spying On Americans’ Facebook Profiles

What Doesn’t The NSA Spy On ? 

 

” The US National Security Agency has been spying on the social media profiles of an unknown number of users, including US citizens, since 2010 in what it calls an effort to “discover and track” connections between Americans and suspected terrorists.

 

The New York Times reported Sunday that the latest revelation of NSA spying on Americans comes via documents provided to the paper by former NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, who is wanted by the United States on espionage charges and is currently living in exile in Russia.

 

Under the new policy, the NSA is allowed to use social media, geo-location information, tax and insurance records, and other sources, both public and private, to improve spying on phone and electronic communications. The newly leaked documents reveal that the NSA authorized the “large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness” of every identifier, such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Qaeda Plot Leak Has Undermined U.S. Intelligence

Government Leaks Have Proven More Harmful Than Snowden Revelations

 

 

” As the nation’s spy agencies assess the fallout from disclosures about their surveillance programs, some government analysts and senior officials have made a startling finding: the impact of a leaked terrorist plot by Al Qaeda in August has caused more immediate damage to American counterterrorism efforts than the thousands of classified documents disclosed by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor.

Since news reports in early August revealed that the United States intercepted messages between Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the head of Al Qaeda, and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, discussing an imminent terrorist attack, analysts have detected a sharp drop in the terrorists’ use of a major communications channel that the authorities were monitoring. Since August, senior American officials have been scrambling to find new ways to surveil the electronic messages and conversations of Al Qaeda’s leaders and operatives.

“The switches weren’t turned off, but there has been a real decrease in quality” of communications, said one United States official, who like others quoted spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence programs.”

Illustration by Erin Bonsteel

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More PRISM Fallout : EU To Halt Data Sharing With US

EU to Suspend US Data Sharing After Swift’s Interbank Messaging System Breach

 

 

” The European Union has threatened to suspend or even terminate the crucial EU-US Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme, after allegations that the US National Security Agency (NSA) spied on bank-to-bank messaging via the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) network.

More than 10,000 banking organisations, securities institutions, and corporate customers in 212 countries use Swift every day to exchange millions of standardised financial messages. 

The NSA has been widely criticised over its surveillance programme that spied on politicians, bureaucrats, and businesses across the world via phone calls and internet activity. 

The revelations about the NSA surveillance came from top-secret documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former contractor at the agency, who is currently in exile in Russia.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Brazil’s Rousseff Cancels State Visit To U.S. Over Spying

Good For Brazil … Good For US

 

 

” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has canceled a state visit to Washington in October over reports that the United States spied on her personal communications and those of other Brazilians, a leading Brazilian newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Rousseff, who was infuriated by the spying reports, decided to cancel despite a 20-minute telephone call from President Barack Obama on Monday night in a last-minute attempt to salvage the trip, O Globo newspaper said.

Rousseff is expected to announce whether or not she is going to Washington at a news conference later on Tuesday.

If she confirms she will not go, it would be a big blow to U.S.-Brazilian relations. Ties had been improving steadily since Rousseff took office in 2011 but were upset by reports that the National Security Agency snooped on emails, text messages and calls between the president and her aides.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Four Principles For A Libertarian National Security State

Nick Gillespie Puts Forth How A Libertarian “State” Could Be … ??

 

 

 

” Like hits for Katy Perry, the scandals for the National Security Agency just keep coming. In the wake of revelations that the NSA has been tracking virtually every phone call ever made and sifting through Internet data like a crazed prospector panning for gold at Sutter’s Mill, there’s yet more disturbing news with every passing day.

The latest is that between 2006 and 2009, Politico reports, the NSA lied about its activities to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court charged with authorizing its snooping. Worse still, this outcome is a toxic mix of spy-agency overreach and bureaucratic incompetence. “An internal inquiry into the misstatements also found that no one at the NSA understood how the entire call-tracking program worked,” says Politico, which quotes an unnamed source who explains, “There was nobody at NSA who really had a full idea of how the program was operating at the time.” “