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  • Obama To Nominate Vice Admiral Mike Rogers To Head Up The NSA

    Back in October, it was announced that Gen. Keith Alexander would be stepping down as head of the NSA. While it was presumed his resignation was caused by the Snowden leaks, the government maintains that his resignation has been a long time coming. Either way, a replacement is on the way.

    The Hill reports that Obama is close to announcing Vice Admiral Mike Rogers as his choice to head up the NSA once Alexander resigns. Rogers, who ironically shares the same name as House Intelligence Committee Chairman and CISPA author Mike Rogers, is currently in charge of Cyber Command for the Navy.

    According to his biography, Rogers has been doing cryptology for the Navy since 1986. He became the head of Cyber Command for the Navy in 2011. His extensive experience in the field makes him a logical choice for the position according to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

    What about his civil liberties record? After all, one of the main complaints regarding Alexander is that he ignored many potential civil liberties violations in favor of fulfilling his dream of being a starship captain. As for Rogers, Hagel says that he has “the wisdom to help balance the demands of security, privacy and liberty in our digital age.”

    While we can’t say for sure how Rogers will perform, we can at least remain cautiously optimistic. After all, Rogers could bring a fresh face to the NSA that pushes for transparency and less intrusive surveillance methods. While it’s certainly not likely to happen, one can at least dream, right?

    Obama still hasn’t made the official announcement, but it will probably be made soon so Rogers can be put through the nomination process. This will be especially important for us as the Senate will no doubt be grilling him on all the issues currently facing the NSA and its surveillance programs. It will give us a good idea on where Rogers stands on these issues and if he will be better or worse than Alexander.

    Image via Navy.mil

  • NSA Gets Its Very First Privacy Officer

    NSA Gets Its Very First Privacy Officer

    The NSA has always been a controversial government agency as its actions are deemed to go too far at times. Even before the Snowden leaks, people were skeptical of the agency after it was revealed that its powers were abused in the Watergate scandal. You’d think the agency would have somebody around to double check its privacy practices long before Snowden was around, but that was not the case.

    Following an order from President Obama last year, the NSA this morning announced that it has appointed a new privacy and civil liberties officer – Rebecca Richards. Richards will be the first person to fill this role as it’s an entirely new position within the agency. Once again, you’d think the agency that collects the communications of nearly every American would have a privacy officer, but this appointment just makes it more apparent than ever that the NSA really thought its programs would remain classified forever.

    So, who is this Rebecca Richards? All we really know is that she was the Deputy Chief Privacy Officer at the Department of Homeland Security. She has also served as the agency’s Senior Director of Privacy Compliance since 2004. In short, she knows her way around privacy issues.

    NSA Chief General Keith Alexander released a statement saying that Richards’ background with the DHS should serve the agency well:

    “NSA continues to take positive actions to ensure we protect both civil liberties and national security,” Gen. Alexander said. “After a rigorous and lengthy interview process, I’ve selected an expert whose background will bring additional perspectives and insight to our foreign intelligence activities. I’m confident that Ms. Richards is the right person with the right experience for the job. She will report directly to me and will advise me and our senior leadership team to ensure privacy and civil liberties considerations remain a vital driver for all our strategic decisions, particularly in the areas of technology and processes.”

    With its new privacy officer in tow, the NSA can now make strides towards restoring the nation’s trust in its operations since the Snowden leaks began. It probably won’t do much until Congress can get around to dismantling the bulk metadata collection program, but it’s a start.

    Image via NSA.gov

  • ‘Angry Birds’ Doesn’t Share Data With the NSA, Says Rovio

    Revelations of the extent of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) spy programs were an ongoing story during 2013, creating rifts between politically-aligned nations and creating a mess for diplomats around the globe. The situation doesn’t look to be dying down any time soon, though, and now even some unlikely companies are having to deny cooperation with the NSA.

    Rovio, the Finnish video game developer behind the popular Angry Birds series, this week released an official statement denying any involvement with the NSA. The company’s games were mentioned in recently leaked documents as a target for the NSA’s data collection programs.

    Rovio insists that it does not “share data, collaborate, or collude” with any spy agency, including the NSA and the GCHQ. However, the company does admit that Angry Birds user data may have been collected through third-party advertising networks. The NSA may have been able to access this information through such ad networks, though Rovio’s policy is to forbid ad networks from sharing user data.

    “Our fans’ trust is the most important thing for us and we take privacy extremely seriously,” said Mikael Hed, CEO of Rovio. We do not collaborate, collude, or share data with spy agencies anywhere in the world. As the alleged surveillance might be happening through third party advertising networks, the most important conversation to be had is how to ensure user privacy is protected while preventing the negative impact on the whole advertising industry and the countless mobile apps that rely on ad networks. In order to protect our end users, we will, like all other companies using third party advertising networks, have to re-evaluate working with these networks if they are being used for spying purposes.”

  • Edward Snowden Can’t Go Home, Blames Legal Gaps

    “Intelligence agencies do have a role to play, and the people at the working level at the NSA, CIA, or any other member of the IC are not out to get you.”

    Perhaps this answer given by Edward Snowden during a recent Q&A session seems a bit ironic, but it at least shows he still has faith in the purpose of American intelligence agencies. Snowden’s primary concerns, concerns that led to his whistleblower status, involved “unaccountable senior officials” who would abuse their position to authorize “unconstitutional programs“. In addition to the misuse of intelligence, Snowden felt that there were certain programs that were simply unnecessary.

    Says Snowden, “Collecting phone and email records for every American is a waste of money, time and human resources that could be better spent pursuing those the government has reason to suspect are a serious threat.” He noted that even the president agreed with him.

    Unfortunately for Snowden, he is still in a world of trouble and so he remains a world away in Russia.

    Edward Snowden initially fled to Hong Kong last year after the unlawful disclosure of various government activities. He then went to Russia where he was granted asylum for at least a year.

    Should Snowden return to the United States, he faces charges of theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national security information and giving classified intelligence data to an unauthorized person. In addition to criminal prosecution, Snowden has responded to alleged threats on his life by unnamed U.S. intelligence officials.

    Snowden says he would like to return to the United States, however does not see it as a possibility at present.

    “Returning to the US, I think, is the best resolution for the government, the public, and myself, but it’s unfortunately not possible in the face of current whistleblower protection laws.”

    He also feels that given the circumstances, a fair trial would be virtually impossible.

    Still, Snowden doesn’t view “all spying” as bad. He just hopes that the light he shined on government activities will encourage a greater focus on very real threats and not include the abusing of the trust of American citizens.

    Image via The Guardian Youtube

  • Civil Liberties Board Says NSA Spying Is Illegal

    Last week, President Obama announced a number of reforms to how the NSA conducts its business. Chief among those reforms was changing how the agency collects bulk cellphone metadata. Some felt that the program should be ended immediately though, and the President’s own civil liberties board couldn’t agree more.

    The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board published a 238-page document today detailing their opinion on the NSA’s collection of bulk telephone metadata. In stark contrast to just about everybody else in the executive branch, the board concluded in a 3-2 decision that it is illegal and should be ended immediately.

    So, how did the Board come about to this conclusion? In the executive summary of the document, the board points out that Section 215 of the Patriot Act only allows “the FBI to acquire records that a business has in its possession as part of an FBI investigation, when those records are relevant to the investigation.” The current interpretation of Section 215 that allows the NSA to collect the phone records of every America “bears almost no resemblance to that description,” according to the board.

    The Board then breaks down how the NSA’s actions goes beyond what Section 215 allows in four parts:

    First, the telephone records acquired under the program have no connection to any specific FBI investigation at the time of their collection. Second, because the records are collected in bulk – potentially encompassing all telephone calling records across the nation – they cannot be regarded as “relevant” to any FBI investigation as required by the statute without redefining the world relevant in a manner that is circular, unlimited in scope, and out of step with the case law from analogous legal contexts involving the production of records. Third, the program operates by putting telephone companies under an obligation to furnish new calling records on a daily basis as they are generated (instead of turning over records already in their possession) – an approach lacking foundation in the statute and one that is inconsistent with FISA as a whole. Fourth, the statute permits only the FBI to obtain items for use in its investigation; it does not authorize the NSA to collect anything.

    If that wasn’t enough, the Board also says that Section 215 violates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, or ECPA.

    “In addition, we conclude that the program violates the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. That statute prohibits telephone companies from sharing consumer records with the government except in response to specific enumerated circumstances, which do not include Section 215 orders.”

    Oh, but the trashing of Section 215 doesn’t stop there. A bit further into the summary, the Board says that the common defense of the bulk metadata collection program (i.e. it stops terrorism) doesn’t hold up in the face of reality:

    “…we conclude that the Section 215 program has shown minimal value in safeguarding the nation from terrorism. Based on information provided to the Board, including classified briefings and documentation, we have not identified a single instance involving a threat to the United States in which the program made a concrete difference in the outcome of a counterterrorism investigation. Moreover, we are aware of no instance in which the program directly contributed to the discovery of a previously unknown terrorist plot or the disruption of a terrorist attack. And we believe that in only one instance over the past seven years has the program arguably contributed to the identification of an unknown terrorism suspect. Even in that case, the suspect was not involved in planning a terrorist attack and there is reason to believe that the FBI may have discovered him without the contribution of the NSA’s program.”

    Despite saying that it has never directly contributed to the foiling of a terrorist plot, the Board plays devil’s advocate for a bit by saying that the bulk metadata collection program may help investigators in two ways. The first is that the program may offer “additional leads regarding the contacts of terrorism suspects already known to investigators. The second “can help investigators confirm suspicions about the target of an inquiry.” Despite this, the Board feels that the bulk metadata collection program “largely duplicates the FBI’s own information gathering efforts.” In other words, it’s redundant and contributes nothing of value.

    As for the privacy of Americans, the Board finds that the collection of metadata “has a significant and detrimental effect on individual privacy.” It fears that this could lead to “mission creep” or the use of personal information to “harass, blackmail, or intimidate” individuals or groups.

    In a similar vein, the Board feels that the bulk metadata collection program will have a “chilling effect on the free exercise of speech and association.” In other words, the program “hinders the ability of advocacy organizations to communicate confidentiality with members, donors, legislators, whistleblowers, members of the public, and others.”

    Moving onto the FISA court, the Board concludes that all hearings are stacked in the government favor due to non-governmental parties not being allowed to testify before said court. That’s why the Board suggests three specific reforms to the FISA court that would allow the public to challenge the government on surveillance matters:

  • Creation of a panel of private attorneys, Special Advocates, who can be brought into cases involving novel and significant issues by FISA court judges.
  • Development of a process facilitating appellate review of such decisions.
  • Providing increased opportunity for the FISC to receive technical assistance and legal input from outside parties.

    • Finally, the Board takes on the issue of transparency. As you would expect, it acknowledges the government’s position that there should be a line between secrecy and transparency. The board diverges, however, in its opinion that the government is doing a pretty bad job of keeping its electorate informed. Its main argument is that it’s possible to allow public debate on classified programs while still keeping them classified. In other words, the government should at least acknowledge the existence of its surveillance programs and collect feedback from the public.

    So, where do we go from here? Well, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board doesn’t really hold any power. They report directly to the President and are a part of the executive branch, but their opinion is just one of many. The President already laid out his opinion on the matter last week by stating that the bulk data collection should continue.

    Despite its lack of power, the Board’s recommendations will add some much needed ammunition to the arguments of those who are opposed to the NSA. Sen. Patrick Leahy and others have argued for the past few months that the bulk data collection program needs to end and this report will only bolster those arguments.

    Real reform may not come for a while, but the Board’s recommendations is the first step in a road that may very well lead to an America that’s not constantly surveilled by the very people sworn to protect its citizens.

    Image via PCLOB.gov

  • Majority Of Americans Don’t Like What The NSA Is Doing

    Since June of last year, Americans have learned more and more about the secret practices employed by the NSA due to leaks from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. During that time, countless polls have been conducted as a way to see how Americans feel about the NSA’s spy tactics. While a large number of Americans don’t like what the agency is doing, a majority haven’t felt that way until now.

    The Pew Research Center and USA Today conducted a survey of 1,504 American adults and found that 53 percent disapprove of the NSA’s “collection of telephone and Internet data as part of anti-terrorism efforts” while only 40 percent of Americans approve of the agency’s programs. The new numbers are a major shift from the 50 percent that approved of the programs when they were first leaked back in June.

    1-20-14 NSA Web Graphic

    As for the current limits on what data the NSA can collect, 48 percent of Americans feel they are not adequate while 41 percent feel they are. When looking at political parties, 39 percent of Republicans, 38 percent of Independents and 48 percent of Democrats feel that the limits are adequate.

    Perhaps the most depressing statistic from this latest poll is the number of people aware of President Obama’s speech on Friday in which he detailed his plans to reform the NSA. The poll found that 50 percent of Americans had not heard anything about the proposed reforms while 49 percent heard a little or a lot.

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    Those that did hear about the proposed changes aren’t all that confident they will lead to any significant reform though. Out of those who know about the proposed reforms, only 21 percent feel they will increase privacy protections while a whopping 73 percent feel they won’t make much of a difference.

    When it comes to Edward Snowden, Americans are split pretty much right down the middle. The poll found that 45 percent of Americans believe Snowden served the public interest with the leaks while 43 percent believe he harmed the public interest. Interestingly enough, the number of people who believe he served the public interest increases with the amount of education the person has received. Those with some college under their belt support Snowden the most with 51 percent believing his actions served the public interest while 38 percent of those who have only graduated high school believe he served the public interest.

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    So, how has this all affected Obama’s job performance ratings? Surprisingly, there hasn’t been much of a change from last month with 49 percent of Americans disapproving of his performance while 43 percent approve. The last time there’s been a major change in approval rating was in November when 53 percent of Americans disapproved of Obama’s job performance while 41 percent approved.

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    Image via ThinkStock

  • Obama To Outline NSA Reforms Next Week

    Shortly after Edward Snowden leaked details regarding the NSA’s surveillance practices, President Obama announced that he would put together a review panel that would recommend changes to how the agency conducts its surveillance operations. Now that that report is in the hands of the president, he’s ready to act upon those recommendations.

    The White House announced today that President Obama will announce a number of NSA reforms on January 17. These reforms will reportedly reign in collection efforts as well as provide additional oversight to the programs. There may be more changes made as the review panel handed a list of 46 recommendations to the president.

    While we may not know the specifics, The Hill says that early reports have indicated that Obama will call for an end of the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone metadata. Instead, the government will have private companies or a third party store this information. From there, the NSA will have to receive a court order to obtain certain metadata.

    In other words, your phone metadata will still be collected. This is a small improvement, however, as the NSA will no longer have unfettered access to said data. Instead, they will have to submit a request to look at data. Even then, they will only be able to look at specific data instead of being able to look through all of it.

    The second reform will reportedly call for more oversight of the National Intelligence Priorities Framework. This particular framework sets the intelligence community’s priorities in regards to surveillance targets, including foreign heads of state. As you may recall, the U.S. found itself in a bit of hot water late last year after it was revealed the NSA spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel for no apparent reason.

    Beyond the above two reforms, we have no idea what Obama will announce next Friday. Heck, the above two recommendations may not even come to fruition next week as the intelligence community may very well convince Obama to change his mind before then.

    If that happens, we at least have a number of bills floating around Congress that seek to end the NSA’s activities.

    Image via The White House/flickr

  • The NSA Wants To Build A Quantum Computer

    Quantum computing is the next big thing, or at least it is in the eyes of futurists and scientists. The proposed technology promises faster compute speeds beyond anything currently available. The crazy thing is that we’re almost there, and that’s mostly a good thing. The only concern is that quantum computing may be used for purposes that don’t benefit mankind in the slightest, and of course the NSA is at the forefront of that endeavor.

    The Washington Post reports that the NSA is working on a quantum computer that would be able to crack nearly every type of encryption currently available. The plans, which were revealed in documents leaked by Edward Snowden, detail a $79.7 million research program dedicated to the creation of a quantum computer.

    So, what is a quantum computer? In short, a quantum computer is a computing machine that’s built on the theory of quantum mechanics. As the Washington Post explains, a quantum computer is unlike a traditional computer in that it communicates using quantum bits which can exist as zeroes and ones simultaneously. Theoretically, this would allow a computer to reach a solution much more quickly.

    As you can imagine, a quantum computer would be a major benefit to nearly everyone, including the NSA. It’s already been shown that the NSA broke the encryption protocols employed by the big guys at Google and Yahoo. Upon that revelation, both companies moved to employ new encryption methods that could take the NSA months to crack. With a quantum computer, they could theoretically reduce the time needed to crack new encryption methods to just a few weeks.

    A quantum computer in the hands of the NSA is a pretty scary thought, but it’s nowhere near completion yet. The leaked documents show that the agency is making steady progress, but its own efforts are only matching the pace seen in public quantum computing projects in Europe. Barring a significant breakthrough, those quantum computers are still years away, and the NSA’s own quantum computer is likely still just in the experimental stage at this point.

    Regardless, the mere fact that the NSA is building a quantum computer is cause for concern. Quantum computers will one day benefit humanity in many ways, but its unfortunate that the technology might also be abused.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Skype Blog Hacked To Tell People Not To Use Microsoft Email

    Microsoft’s Skype had its Twitter account, Facebook page and blog compromised on Wednesday, with the Syrian Electronic Army taking control of all three to spread its anti-spying/anti-Microsoft email message.

    Back in the summer, leaked slides from the NSA came out indicating that the government agency could wiretap Skype video calls thanks to a “backdoor” in the popular service. The Guardian reported at the time:

    The NSA has devoted substantial efforts in the last two years to work with Microsoft to ensure increased access to Skype, which has an estimated 663 million global users.

    One document boasts that Prism monitoring of Skype video production has roughly tripled since a new capability was added on 14 July 2012. “The audio portions of these sessions have been processed correctly all along, but without the accompanying video. Now, analysts will have the complete ‘picture’,” it says.

    Skype had reportedly been part of the Prism program since February 2011, eight months before Microsoft acquired the company.

    When the Syrian Electronic Army took over Skype’s Twitter account, the message was: Stop spying on people! via Syrian Electronic Army @Official_SEA16 #SEA cc @FBIPressOffice spr.ly/6019di9c.” The link pointed to the Skype blog, which said, “Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army.. Stop Spying!” and “Don’t use Microsoft emails (hotmail, outlook), They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments.”

    The message was still available in RSS readers like Feedly this morning:

    Skype blog hacked

    A similar message appeared on Skype’s Facebook page.

    Skype got control of its properties back, and posted the following to Twitter last night:

    As of the time of this writing, the Skype blog is inaccessible, simply redirecting to Skype’s homepage.

    The first line in Skype’s privacy policy says, “Skype is committed to respecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal data, traffic data and communications content.”

    Microsoft has run ad campaigns for its Outlook.com service (formerly Hotmail), slamming the privacy practices of competitor Google, implying that its own are superior.

    Image: Feedly

  • NSA Actions Ruled Legal by Federal Judge

    On Friday, New York federal judge William H. Pauley III ruled that the surveillance and collection activities overseen by the NSA are legal, dismissing a case brought against the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, by the ACLU.

    In his 53 page ruling, Pauley stated, “The question for this court is whether the government’s bulk telephony metadata program is lawful. This court finds it is. But the question of whether that program should be conducted is for the other two coordinate branches of government to decide.”

    In order to defend the lawfulness of the NSA surveillance program, Pauley pointed to the intent behind the program following its creation after the events of 9/11: “The government learned from its mistake and adapted to confront a new enemy: a terror network capable of orchestrating attacks across the world. It launched a number of counter-measures, including a bulk telephony metadata collection program — a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data.”

    Elaborating on the importance of the NSA surveillance program due to the one previous terrorist attack from al-Qaeda, Pauley stated that the mass phone metadata collection “significantly increases the NSA’s capability to detect the faintest patterns left behind by individuals affiliated with foreign terrorist organizations. Armed with all the metadata, NSA can draw connections it might otherwise never be able to find.”

    The decision by Pauley runs counter to the decision reached by fellow federal judge in D.C., Judge Richard Leon. On December 16th, Judge Leon ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, saying that the actions of the NSA were most likely unconstitutional, placing an injunction against the NSA from spying on his plaintiffs. The injunction allows the federal government to appeal Leon’s ruling.

    Pauley’s decision also runs counter to the findings of a recent White House panel which investigated the effectiveness of the NSA’s actions. Following the recent decision by Judge Leon and general unrest from the public concerning the NSA’s surveillance program, President Obama created a panel to determine what changes, if any, should be made to the NSA’s collection practices.

    In determining how effective the NSA had been in preventing terrorist attacks from occurring, the panel found no instances in which the NSA had thwarted a terrorist attempt through the collection of phone metadata.

    “It was, ‘Huh, hello? What are we doing here?’” opined Geoffrey Stone, a law professor at the University of Chicago.

    Following the results of the research, the panel suggested that the NSA surveillance program should be ended to protect the personal security and privacy of the American people.

    In his ruling, however, Judge Pauley also commented on the potential violation of the 4th Amendment, which protects against unlawful searches and seizures, stating that protection against searches and seizures “is fundamental, but not absolute.”

    “Every day, people voluntarily surrender personal and seemingly-private information to transnational corporations, which exploit that data for profit. Few think twice about it, even though it is far more intrusive than bulk telephony metadata collection,” ruled Pauley.

    This decision is a big step towards legality for the NSA, an organization that has been under increasing fire, lately, due to its perceived intrusiveness and ineffectiveness. However, the court case in D.C. is still awaiting an appeal from the federal government. Most likely, Judge Leon will still rule against the NSA program, leaving the agency dead in the water, especially following the results of the White House investigative panel. While the decision by Judge Pauley is positive for the NSA, it may have been only a temporary life preserver.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Edward Snowden Interview With Washington Post

    In a recent television message from Edward Snowden – his comment “I’ve already won” undoubtedly has people talking.

    Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency (NSA) leaker, has given a revealing interview to The Washington Post about how the disturbing information he shared with the media has shed a light on the U.S. surveillance tactics.

    The secrets revealed from Snowden, a former NSA contractor, about the American government’s surveillance of its citizens and even its allies have generated suspicion and doubt over our governmental intelligence-gathering practices.

    Snowden said, in the more than 14-hour interview to The Washington Post, that he was satisfied because journalists have been able to tell the story of the U.S. government’s collection of bulk Internet and phone records, an activity that has grown dramatically in the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

    “For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,” he said in the interview, which was published online Monday night. “I already won.”

    “As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated,” Snowden told the Post. “Because, remember, I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.”

    He spoke about his life in Russia – living like an “indoor cat” and not getting out much.

    Hey conveyed why it is wrong for government to survey their own people and allies, because of privacy issues. “The conversation occurring today will determine the amount of trust we can place both in the technology that surrounds us and the government that regulates it,” he says, according to excerpts from the message released by Channel 4. “Together we can find a better balance, end mass surveillance and remind the government that if it really wants to know how we feel asking is always cheaper than spying.”

    In a message to the UK, Snowden calls modern surveillance more invasive than any envisioned by “1984” author George Orwell, saying that children today will grow up without knowing what it means to have an unrecorded or private moment.

    “That’s a problem because privacy matters, privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be,” he says.

    Image via YouTube

  • NSA Court Decision Gets The NMA Treatment

    Yesterday, a federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled that the NSA’s mass collection of phone records was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. The ruling was certainly welcome, but it doesn’t actually put an end to the NSA’s surveillance program. We’ll have to wait until the case goes to the Appeals Court.

    In the meantime, our favorite Taiwanese animators over at NMA have thrown together a little short about yesterday’s ruling. The short gives a brief history of the past year in leaks from Edward Snowden and Wired Magazine and how the Obama administration has tried to paint its programs as legal under precedents set during the 80s.

    While this ruling doesn’t really mean anything for now, it’s still a symbolic victory for the people who have been fighting against the NSA’s surveillance powers for years now. Those same people might have another victory on their hands later this week when Obama meets with tech giants to discuss the NSA and its spying powers. If the President can’t convince these companies over to his side, he and those who support the NSA will have some powerful opponents in the coming years.

    Image via Taiwanese Animators/YouTube

  • Federal Judge Rules Against NSA Spying Program

    In perhaps the most startling decision handed down by the federal court system in quite some time, Judge Richard J. Leon of the District of Columbia ruled that the National Security Agency’s practice of gathering and collecting phone metadata (numbers called, length of conversations, locations, and times) most likely violates the 4th Amendment of the United States Constitution, and as such he granted an injunction calling for the government to stop collecting data on the two plaintiffs in the case until an appeal can be heard.

    Judge Leon’s 68 page ruling holds so much weight because it is the first federal ruling against the government sponsored spying program. Since The Guardian first reported that the NSA was collecting phone call data in June, all federal cases regarding the subject have ruled that the plaintiffs in the cases lacked standing because they could not prove that the NSA had spied on them directly

    The decision handed down from the DC federal court on Monday saw the case a bit differently: “I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary invasion’ than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without judicial approval,” stated Judge Leon in his decision.

    Leon’s stance is predicated on the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which states that the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”

    While Judge Leon and the plaintiffs in multiple cases against the NSA are using the Fourth Amendment to argue against the actions of the NSA, the federal government and the Justice Department are taking a different route. According to the Supreme Court ruling in the 1979 Smith v. Maryland case, when one dials a phone number they are handing that information to a private third party (an operator) and thus all rights to privacy pertaining to that information are forfeited.

    In the court’s ruling Monday, Judge Leon found many faults with the federal government’s use of Smith v. Maryland to justify the actions of the NSA: “The almost-Orwellian technology that enables the government to store and analyze the phone metadata of every telephone user in the United States is unlike anything that could have been conceived in 1970.” Judge Leon continued his rant against the use of Smith v. Maryland in this instance, stating, “Put simply, people in 2013 have an entirely different relationship with phones than they did 34 years ago,” he wrote. “Records that once would have revealed a few scattered tiles of information about a person now reveal an entire mosaic — a vibrant and constantly updating picture of the person’s life.”

    Of course, none of the actions of the NSA would have been known had it not been for the leak pushed through by Edward Snowden, a former government contractor with the NSA. In June, Snowden leaked an estimated 200,000 classified documents to the press, securing his position as the United States’s most wanted man. After hearing the ruling by Judge Leon on Monday, Snowden released the following statement:

    “I acted on my belief that the N.S.A.’s mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts.Today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans’ rights. It is the first of many.”

    While Judge Leon announced his personal feelings toward the case and the end-result he thinks will occur, the only decision handed down Monday was that of an injunction. Therefore, the US federal government will have time to gather evidence to convince Judge Leon that the NSA program is vital and does not violate the Fourth Amendment, a task which seems almost insurmountable when one considers the vehement language Leon used in writing out his decision: “I have significant doubts about the efficacy of the metadata collection program as a means of conducting time-sensitive investigations in cases involving imminent threats of terrorism. The government does not cite a single instance in which analysis of the NSA’s bulk metadata collection actually stopped an imminent attack, or otherwise aided the Government in achieving any objective that was time-sensitive in nature.”

    [Image via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Santa Is Apparently Working For The NSA

    Santa Claus is the ultimate snoop. Every year, he spies on every one of us and puts us on a naughty or nice list. It only makes sense then that the NSA would want to recruit him for some of their own spying programs.

    In this new promo video from the ACLU, they had three sunglasses-wearing Santas walk around New York City and spy on its residents. It’s pretty clear that everybody is a little creeped out and offended. You probably would be too if a fat red guy tried to take pictures of your phone or laptop displays.

    It may be a bit silly, but the ACLU makes an excellent point. We don’t tolerate people spying on us in person, so why do a large number of Americans not care about what the NSA is doing in the digital world? It’s all a little disconcerting and the ACLU hopes this draws people’s attention to the serious threat our civil liberties face if the NSA is left to their own devices.

    Also, you just gotta love that Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald are on Santa’s naughty list. Apparently, the big guy doesn’t like it when people tell the truth.

    If you want to help out the ACLU, hit up their special Christmas-themed site.

    [Image: acluvideos/YouTube]

  • ‘Deer Trail’ Drones: Residents Want to Shoot Down

    It’s normal for hunters to consider shooting at deer and other forms of wildlife, but shooting at government drones is not something to cross the average mind. However, one community recently thought about this option. On Tuesday, the population of Deer Trail, Colorado, (598 residents) was set to vote on an ordinance deciding whether shooting federal drones would be permissible by law. The ordinance proposed specifications for the types of weapons and ammunition that would be deemed acceptable when aiming at the drones. Unfortunately, plans shifted when Mayor Frank Fields announced that the ordinance must first be considered by a district court to determine potential legalities for firing at such drones. Many in the community have felt that the presence of the drones violates citizen privacy guidelines.

    Resident Phillip Steel is not happy with the drones hovering in the vicinity and offered a suggestion. “I am proposing to shoot it down.” He said before adding, “What has me fired up is it’s trespassing. It doesn’t belong there. Yes, it’s privacy. But that’s only one part of it. Who’s going to be flying these drones?”

    Resident Robert Copely agreed with Steel, and said that if the need arose he would also want to shoot at a drone. “I would shoot a drone down if it’s peering in my window, scanning me, and it’s within elevation where I can nail it,” Copely said.

    Not all residents consider the placement of the drones to be a violation. Daniel Domanoski does not agree with his fellow residents. “That’s a federal offense to destroy government property, and on top of that it’s a ridiculous thing and embarrassing the town,” he said.

    According to the Federal Aviation Administration, “The overall purpose of this test site program is to develop a body of data and operational experiences to inform integration and the safe operation of these aircraft in the National Airspace System.”

    The FAA plans to place six similar drone sites; however, location details have not been made available to the public. The administration will allow the use of these drones within domestic areas until 2015.

    [Image Via Wikimedia Commons]

  • Google Talk Takes On ‘War Stories From Tech Policy’

    Google is sharing an interesting At Google talk from last month, given by Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Chief Technologist at The Center for Democracy & Technology. It’s called “War Stories from Tech Policy: Backdoors Cryptapocalypse, Drones.”

    At the Center for Democracy & Technology, Hall works on issues of technology policy and digital rights.

    “In this talk Joseph will take you through a technical report he coordinated, authored by twenty of the world’s top computer security and cryptography experts,” says Google. “He’ll talk about the doubt cast this September when documents leaked by Edward Snowden exposed a systematic effort by the U.S. National Security Agency to subvert encryption software, hardware, standards, and implementations, and how drones that hold great promise for applications can also be covert surveillance platforms.”

    More recent At Google talks here.

  • Internet Giants Urge U.S. To Reform Government Surveillance

    Internet Giants Urge U.S. To Reform Government Surveillance

    AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo have joined together to urge the U.S. government to reform government surveillance laws and practices.

    The companies have set up a website called Reform Government Surveillance, where they outline five principles, and offer commentary from the CEOs of each company (Brad Smith, General Counsel and EVP, Legal and Corporate Affairs speaks up for Microsoft, which is currently between CEOs).

    Principles discussed include limiting governments’ authority to collect users’ info, oversight and accountability, transparency about government demands, respecting the free flow of info, and avoiding conflicts among governments.

    “Reports about government surveillance have shown there is a real need for greater disclosure and new limits on how governments collect information,” says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. “The US government should take this opportunity to lead this reform effort and make things right.”

    “The security of users’ data is critical, which is why we’ve invested so much in encryption and fight for transparency around government requests for information,” says Google CEO Larry Page. “This is undermined by the apparent wholesale collection of data, in secret and without independent oversight, by many governments around the world. It’s time for reform and we urge the US government to lead the way.”

    Google’s Transparency Report is available here. It was updated last month, showing that government requests for user information have doubled over the past three years.

    Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer says, “Protecting the privacy of our users is incredibly important to Yahoo. Recent revelations about government surveillance activities have shaken the trust of our users, and it is time for the United States government to act to restore the confidence of citizens around the world. Today we join our colleagues in the tech industry calling on the United States Congress to change surveillance laws in order to ensure transparency and accountability for government actions.”

    Like Facebook and Google, Yahoo has had its own share of privacy concerns from users in recent months. For example, the company implemented an email address recycling program, and new account holders have been getting sensitive emails meant for previous account holders. Yahoo has maintained that this has only happened to a small number of users.

    To its credit, the company recently announced that all Yahoo products will be encrypted by the end of Q1.

    The companies have put together an open letter to President Obama and Congress, which is included on the site. We’ve also included it below:

    Dear Mr. President and Members of Congress,

    We understand that governments have a duty to protect their citizens. But this summer’s revelations highlighted the urgent need to reform government surveillance practices worldwide. The balance in many countries has tipped too far in favor of the state and away from the rights of the individual — rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. This undermines the freedoms we all cherish. It’s time for a change.

    For our part, we are focused on keeping users’ data secure — deploying the latest encryption technology to prevent unauthorized surveillance on our networks and by pushing back on government requests to ensure that they are legal and reasonable in scope.

    We urge the US to take the lead and make reforms that ensure that government surveillance efforts are clearly restricted by law, proportionate to the risks, transparent and subject to independent oversight. To see the full set of principles we support, visit ReformGovernmentSurveillance.com

    Sincerely,

    AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter, Yahoo

    Will it make a difference?

    Image: Google ZeitgeistMinds (YouTube)

  • Latest NSA Leak Finds Agency Spied On Porn Habits Of “Radicalizers”

    Since June, we’ve learned that the NSA spies on just about everything we do in the name of stopping terrorism. As it turns out, the agency is even spying on our porn habits because it might just stop terrorists.

    Fresh from his departure from The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald is now reporting on the latest Snowden leak from The Huffington Post. The latest revelation finds that the NSA is using its ability to snoop through browser histories to find ways to discredit those they consider “radicalizers.” Of course, that includes a person’s porn browsing history.

    In the leaked document, the NSA says that it looks for porn habits, among other “vulnerabilities,” as they help to discredit those who speak out against the U.S. Here’s a list of vulnerabilities that the NSA looks for:

  • Viewing sexually explicit material online or using sexually explicit persuasive language when communicating with inexperienced young girls
  • Using a portion of the donations they are receiving from the susceptible pool to defray their own personal expenses
  • Charging an exorbitant amount of money for their speaking fees and being singularly attracted by opportunities to increase their stature
  • Being known to base their public messaging on questionable sources or using language that is contradictory in nature, leaving them open to credibility challenges

    • Despite describing the vices of the modern American evangelist, the NSA says these are merely some of the tools among many that they use to combat terrorism. What’s interesting, however, is that the six targets listed in the document have no actual ties to terrorism. They’re merely public persons that have views that could be considered anti-American, such as being of the opinion that America was behind the 9/11 attacks. While such views can certainly be criticized, it seems a little much to collect dossiers on their private Web browsing habits in an attempt to discredit them in the name of stopping terrorism.

    Latest NSA Leak Finds Agency Spied On Porn Habits

    While there’s no evidence that the NSA has used this tactic on domestic targets, ACLU Deputy Legal Director, Jameel Jaffer, says that shouldn’t make Americans any less wary about its existence:

    “It’s important to remember that the NSA’s surveillance activities are anything but narrowly focused — the agency is collecting massive amounts of sensitive information about virtually everyone. Wherever you are, the NSA’s databases store information about your political views, your medical history, your intimate relationships and your activities online. The NSA says this personal information won’t be abused, but these documents show that the NSA probably defines ‘abuse’ very narrowly.”

    While the government’s tactic of discrediting opponents is nothing new, there needs to be strict limitations on its use. Revealing that a terrorist leader is into kinky porn could severely demoralize his movement, but the same shouldn’t be used against those calling for peaceful change in this country. After all, we don’t want a repeat of Hoover’s administration.

    [Image: Huffington Post]

  • Doomsday Cache of Classified Data Raises Fears

    Doomsday Cache of Classified Data Raises Fears

    Intelligence forces from the United States and the United Kingdom are concerned over what is being called a “doomsday cache” relating to a data cloud of highly sensitive, encrypted, and classified information under the control of former NSA contractor, Edward Snowden. The information includes the names of intelligence personnel, present and former U.S. officials (seven in total), and other government-sensitive information. Through Snowden’s employment with Dell Inc. and, eventually, Booz Allen Hamilton, the former NSA contractor was exposed to a wide span of information. Reports claim that Snowden downloaded somewhere between 50,000 and 200,000 NSA and British documents.

    According to website, Cryptome, that published leaked documents prior to WikiLeaks, Snowden has made public around 500 of those documents. The remaining documents are being kept as part of the “doomsday cache” for potential use in the future. However, accessing this data is not an easy, readily-available process. Numerous levels of password-protected steps must be completed in order to reach the viewing phase. This detailed encryption process involves at least three individuals knowing specific passwords that are only active for a limited time period each day. The names and whereabouts of these individuals are unknown.

    According to Glenn Greenwald, who was among the first to interview Snowden, Edward established a system to ensure that information could and would be made public. “If anything happens at all to Edward Snowden, he has arranged for them to get access to the full archives. I don’t know for sure whether has more documents than the ones he has given me… I believe he does.”

    Snowden’s use of multiple parties to maintain passwords was explained by Greenwald. Snowden has “taken extreme precautions to make sure many different people around the world have these archives to insure the stories will inevitably be published,” Greenwald said.

    In lieu of Time’s most recent poll for person of the year, which placed Edward Snowden as a top contender, the populace has been vocal about how this man known as a modern day “whistleblower” is perceived by the masses in spite of the recent “doomsday cache” concerns.

    [Image Via Wikimedia Commons]

  • NSA Supreme Court Ruling: Spying Will Continue

    The Electronic Privacy Information Center, also known as EPIC, skipped lower federal courts and took their petition against the NSA straight to the Supreme Court.

    They claimed that a secret federal court improperly authorized the government to collect electronic records from telecom giant Verizon and leading Internet companies, including Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo and Facebook.

    The court denied the petition on Monday and will allow the NSA to keep spying on American citizens’ phone records, according to CNN. For now, anyway. The NSA has publicly acknowledged it received secret court approval to collect vast amounts of metadata from telecommunications and internet companies, and EPIC says it Obama administration should have to publicly explain its legal justification for the spying program.

    “Telephone records, even without the content of the calls, can reveal an immense amount of sensitive, private information. There are no reasonable grounds for the NSA to have access to every call record of every Verizon customer,” said Marc Rotenberg, president of EPIC.

    The group argued that stripping the power of the NSA to collect metadata would be beneficial to the Supreme Court, itself, relegating power back where it should be. “Because the NSA sweeps up judicial and congressional communications, it inappropriately arrogates exceptional power to the executive branch.”

    While the NSA may still be able to monitor calls, the information collected only includes the numbers, time, and length of phone calls to and from the United States in the past five years. However, if it makes you feel any more secure, it does not include the location or actual monitoring of the conversations themselves, because in order to do that, the NSA would require a separate, specifically targeted search warrant.

    So, we know what’s next to go, then.

    Image via wikimedia commons

  • Mayer: All Yahoo Products Will Be Encrypted By End Of Q1

    Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer announced on Monday that the company plans to have all information that moves between its data centers (meaning data from all Yahoo products) encrypted by the end of Q1 2014. It will also offer users an option to encrypt all data flow to and from Yahoo by that same time.

    She also said that the company is working with its international mail partners to ensure that Yahoo co-branded Mail accounts are https-enabled.

    “As you know, there have been a number of reports over the last six months about the U.S. government secretly accessing user data without the knowledge of tech companies, including Yahoo,” said Mayer. “I want to reiterate what we have said in the past: Yahoo has never given access to our data centers to the NSA or to any other government agency. Ever.”

    “There is nothing more important to us than protecting our users’ privacy,” she added.

    The announcement is an extension of one the company made about a month ago to make https encryption a default feature of Yahoo Mail and implement 2048-bit encryption keys by January.

    This all came after a great deal of criticism about various security practices from the company, including the company’s email address recycling program, which saw sensitive data intended for old account holders sent to new account holders.

    Some users also complained about Yahoo deleting legitimate accounts from their contacts.

    Image: Yahoo