Further leaks have revealed an NSA project called X-Keyscore that, with a few keystrokes, can give a data analyst access to nearly everything a user does on the Internet – from chat sessions to email to browsing habits.
The system requires an email because many behaviors online are completely anonymous and it is only via some sort of identifier – a username and domain – that the system can scour the database of collected Internet traffic and metadata.
As Snowden said to the Guardian on June 10, “I, sitting at my desk could wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email.” X-Keyscore is how it is done.
The system is available to NSA analysts and can be accessed without a warrant. According to training manuals produced in 2010, the system requires analysts to request data on certain individuals. The system then scans traffic beginning and terminating the United States using keyword searches. The system can also search Facebook comments as well as other social media data.
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Not that I am surprised by this information; it just further clarifies and illuminates the extent of the data mining programs the NSA has been conducting.
I’m 100% certain a system such as this would never and has never been abused or used against non-criminal American citizens… :rolleyes:
I refuse to give up my right of privacy and write my congressmen and senators to hold these people accountable for the invasion of my constitutional rights. Laughable some may argue. But only those who have given into the shadow government.
Refuse to comply and we all need to voice out opinion. Should they fall on deaf ears then increase the volume.
i think the idea is that information obtained by the nsa in this manner is used to kill or otherwise disrupt terrorists, not convict anyone of a crime in the united states.
I read an article that DHS and federal policing departments have been working to merge their systems with this new NSA database. That means it is only a matter of time before it becomes an issue of reporting everyone to authorities due to aiding and abetting rule of law. If they know you do something they (NSA) will need to report it as suspect evidence. It’s coming I can assure you.
Many sites want you to log in and as you navigate from their site to another your login is recogonized in even though you are on a different site? You can use your YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, Flickr, Pinterest, Instagram, et al. login to access other sites.
Ever notice when you shop online with particular vendors you get pop-up ads custom to your purchase when you log into your email?
The below is what they call a clue . . .
The woman in charge of U.S efforts to make email secure doesn’t use it herself.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Friday copped to keeping her own communications off the grid.
“I don’t have any of my own accounts,” she told a cybersecurity conference hosted by National Journal. “I’m very secure.”
“I don’t use e-mail. One reason is when you write an e-mail, you have to be mindful of the fact that nothing ever disappears. It can be deleted, but it is still in the system somewhere.”
And there are safeguards to keep other (simple) abuses from happening, right? An agent or cop couldn’t check up on spouse or get info to blackmail someone? The system can’t be hacked?
The reality is we don’t even need to get anywhere near tinfoil to see real privacy issues with the collection of all this phone and internet data. Then add databases from licence plate readers and cities full of cameras…
…for now. Surely this practice will erode away just like the rest of our rights, and one day you will wake up to your television monitoring you and telling you what to do, how to think, whether you can procreate…1984 is not far away.
Have you seen the new Xbox One? It has facial recognition and monitors you, all the time. There is a very good chance this sort of technology will be installed in more and more consumer products to predict the needs of the user. Many smartphones know when you are looking at them.
Since the NSA can currently monitor EVERYTHING you send over the phone or internet, it will only be a matter of time before they can actually watch you through the cameras in your phone, your car, your TV, your computer, everything.
“Within NSA there are 22 people authorized to approve adding given phone numbers or email accounts to the query database. There are 35 analysts authorized to run queries on the database, he says. In 2012, fewer than 300 phone numbers were approved for queries, he says, and these checks resulted in 12 reports being made to the FBI for further investigation.”
What it should read, “Within NSA there are 0 people authorized to approve adding given phone numbers or email accounts to the query database. There are 0 analysts authorized to run queries on the database, he says. In [any year], 0 phone numbers were approved for queries, he says, and these checks resulted in 0 reports being made to the FBI for further investigation.”
“There are 54 “terrorist-related activities” that have been stopped due to the program, he says, 13 of them in the U.S.”
But we can’t tell you anything about them, because, you know, secrets and stuff.
I don’t believe anything this government says. And I sure as hell don’t believe anything that its apologists say.
And my choice of words in my post was very deliberate.
“Of note are the numbers of people who he says”
That’s what he said. I did not say that’s what the numbers are. I said that’s what he says it is. I’m making no claims as to the accuracy of his data, but that it’s the first time anybody has seen an open source for that data.
Am I a fan of this data collection and storage? No, I’m honestly not.
Do I appreciate the fact that Alexander at least showed up and answered some questions? Yes, I do. Especially after DEF CON told all the .gov folks to stay home this year.
It’s like a marriage. If one side refuses to talk, you can’t work out problems. Alexander showed up, it’s a start.
I’ve been called a Luddite by a lot of people I work with and know. I was using GPG, Truecrypt, Bastille Linux and stuff like that years and years ago.
But I’d be perfectly happy to sit down with the General and discuss it like the grownup I am.
I’d keep the battery out of my cell phone and put it in a RFID bag, though.
