MetaFilter posts tagged with nsa and eff Posts tagged with 'nsa' and 'eff' at MetaFilter. Sat, 04 Jan 2014 09:28:21 -0800 Sat, 04 Jan 2014 09:28:21 -0800 en-us 60 30c3 While Jacob Appelbaum <a href="">grabbed headlines with his NSA revelations</a> at this year's <a href="">Chaos Communication Congress</a>, other presentations provided equally fascinating insight into how the world works. Learn how data mining is bringing <a href="">perpetrators of genocide to justice</a> (<a href="">alt</a>), how an artist uses different <a href="">concepts of secrecy landscapes</a> (<a href="">alt</a>) to keep tabs on clandestine activities, and how <a href="">India's surveillance state continues to grow</a> (<a href="">alt</a>). <a href="">previously</a> A few additional highlights: Glenn Greenwald delivered the <a href="">keynote address</a> [<a href="">alt</a>]. <a href="">Policing the Romantic Crowd</a> [<a href="">alt</a>]. Professor Richard Marggraf Turley and Anne Marggraf-Turley examine the use of surveillance technologies during the Romantic period, and the similarities to their modern counterparts. At last year's CCC, the two gave a talk on <a href="">Romantic Hackers</a>. <a href="">Electronic Bank Robberies</a> [<a href="">alt</a>]. Security researchers analyze malware which has been infecting ATMs and uncover the business behind how malware is used to steal money from cash machines. They're not the first to <a href="">jackpot an ATM</a>, but modern criminals have interesting ways to make sure their <a href="">mules</a> don't walk away with their money. <a href="">Backdoors, Government Hacking and the Next Crypto Wars</a> [<a href="">alt</a>]. ACLU Technologist <a href="">Christopher Soghoian</a> discusses the slowly increasing deployment of cryptography, use of hacking software by federal and local law enforcement, and how government requests may move from asking for individual user data to asking for encryption keys used to protect all user data. <a href="">To Protect and Infect: The Militarization of the Internet</a>. <a href="">Claudio Guarnieri</a> and <a href="">Morgan Marquis-Boire</a> discuss the deployment and capabilities of commercial spying suites such as FinFisher and how they are used by repressive governments to spy on dissidents. <a href="">No Neutral Ground in a Burning World</a> [<a href="">alt</a>]. <a href="">Quinn Norton</a> and <a href="">Eleanor Saitta</a> discuss the views and expectations of governments and cultural institutions through the longer lens of history. <a href="">Through a PRISM, Darkly</a> [<a href="">alt</a>]. <a href="">Kurt Opsahl</a> of the EFF provides clarity regarding the history and codenames of the NSA's spying programs, what programs we know are currently being used, as well as insight into how to help stop the spying. <a href="">ID Cards in China</a> (<a href="">alt</a>). How electronic ID cards carried by Chinese residents contain health information such as HIV status, political affiliations, and more. Talk discusses history of tracking, who has access to this data, and what it means for human rights. <a href="">Towards an affordable brain-computer interface</a> (<a href="">alt</a>). <a href="">The Year In Crypto</a> (<a href="">alt</a>). <a href="">Drones</a> (<a href="">alt</a>). You can find many additional (largely more technical) videos available for <a href="">download</a> and <a href="">viewing</a> in several formats (as well as on <a href="">Youtube</a>).,2014:site.135333 Sat, 04 Jan 2014 09:28:21 -0800 antonymous IRS Claims Authority to Read Your E-Mail Without A Warrant <a href="">The ACLU reports that the IRS claims in an internal document that it has the authority to access citizens' online communications without a warrant.</a> The IRS claimed in a 2009 document that "the Fourth Amendment does not protect communications held in electronic storage, such as email messages stored on a server, because internet users do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications." It still retains that position even after the 2010 case of <a href="">US v Warshak</a> which determined that citizens have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications. The IRS to this day declares in bland language that no warrant is required for e-mails held by an ISP for more than 180 days. (One <a href="">relevant document</a>). A <a href="">CNET article</a> gives additional context. The ACLU is currently awaiting a response to its <a href="">FOIA requests to other agencies</a> like the FBI and Justice Department for information on their policies, procedures, and practices in reading citizens' private communications. The related case of <a href="">Jewel v NSA</a>, in which the EFF is suing the NSA on behalf of AT&amp;T users for the NSA's dragnet surveillance of Americans' electronic communication, is ongoing (after nearly being completely dismissed on the grounds that nobody has standing to challenge the practice because it's secret). <blockquote>"Evidence in the case includes undisputed documents provided by former AT&amp;T telecommunications technician Mark Klein showing AT&amp;T has routed copies of Internet traffic [including ~1.7 billion e-mails etc. daily] to a secret room in San Francisco controlled by the NSA. It also includes declarations from three NSA whistleblowers along with a mountain of other evidence."</blockquote> The government's use of electronic surveillance is <a href="">increasing dramatically</a> each year.,2013:site.126938 Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:11:55 -0800 Sleeper Electronic surveillance skyrockets in the US The Justice Department, after a legal battle with the ACLU to avoid having to admit it, <a href="">recently released</a> <a href="">documents</a> showing that the federal government’s use of warrantless “pen register” and “tap and trace” surveillance has multiplied over the past decade. But the Justice Department is small potatoes. <a href="">Every day, the NSA intercepts and stores 1.7 billion emails, phone calls, texts, and other electronic communications.</a> (Previously on Metafilter: <a href="">Mobile Phone Surveillance by the numbers</a>, <a href="">Former NSA officials sue NSA over NSA misconduct</a>, <a href="">Washington Post's project on government surveillance</a>, <a href="">Map of organizations authorized to use drones in the US</a>) <a href="">Surveillance is ubiquitous.</a> Do we really need more data, or do we need better data &amp; analysis? The Washington Post’s project on electronic surveillance raised some important points: <blockquote><a href="">* Many security and intelligence agencies</a> do the same work [as each other], creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks. * Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - <b>a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.</b> ….improvements have been overtaken by volume at the ODNI, as the increased flow of intelligence data overwhelms the system's ability to analyze and use it. Every day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications. The NSA sorts a fraction of those into 70 separate databases. The same problem bedevils every other intelligence agency, none of which have enough analysts and translators for all this work.</blockquote> To deal with the information glut, the government is turning to <a href="">artificial intelligence</a> for help. AI surveillance has also gone from cyberspace to meatspace: Known projects for sorting through the high volume of video surveillance include the military-developed <a href="">Mind’s Eye</a> (still in the works) and the privately-developed <a href="">Trapwire</a>, <a href="">(already in use here)</a>. Sooner or later it will be standard for security cameras to be able to identify individuals and recognize their actions at least as well as the Xbox Kinect can. Updates on the legal status of domestic surveillance: 1.The House of Representatives last month <a href="">re-approved the FISA bill</a>, and the bill is <a href="">now ready</a> to pass in the Senate as well. 2. In August a federal appeals court ruled that <a href=";utm_medium=RelatedLinks&amp;utm_campaign=Previous">the federal government may spy on Americans’ communications without warrants and without fear of being sued</a> in the case of <i>Al-Haramain Islamic V. Obama</i>. This case is all over unless the Supreme Court agrees to hear it. 3. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's case <i><a href="">Jewel v. NSA</a></i> challenges the NSA's enormous domestic spying operation. It looked like a lost cause, but it's now up for a hearing on December 14, 2012. 4. The <a href="">Supreme Court ruled</a> earlier this year that law enforcement officers can’t sneak a GPS tracking device onto an individual’s vehicle unless they get a warrant first. 5. (From Salon): <blockquote><a href="">the Obama administration</a> is aggressively seeking to block any efforts to have federal courts rule on the constitutionality of this new FISA law. Immediately after its 2008 passage, the ACLU, on behalf of journalists, activists, and writers, sued to invalidate the law on the ground that it violates the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans by subjecting them to warrantless eavesdropping. As they always do in such cases, the Bush and Obama DOJs demanded dismissal of the suit on the ground of “standing”: namely, they asserted the definitively Kafkaesque claim that because the list of Americans who have their conversations intercepted is kept secret, the plaintiffs cannot prove they were eavesdropped on under the law, and thus lack “standing” to challenge it.</blockquote> The widespread use of electronic surveillance couldn’t occur without the assistance of the telecommunications companies. The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports: <blockquote><a href="">The undisputed documents</a> show that AT&amp;T installed a fiberoptic splitter at its facility at 611 Folsom Street in San Francisco that makes copies of all emails web browsing and other Internet traffic to and from AT&amp;T customers and provides those copies to the NSA. This copying includes both domestic and international Internet activities of AT&amp;T customers. As one expert observed “this isn’t a wiretap, it’s a country-tap.”</blockquote> The ACLU lists several ways that telecommunications companies <a href="">stumble over themselves to meet the government’s requests for private information</a>: Copying of existing messages to a separate account, The Voicemail PIN Reset, Voicemail “cloning," etc. Related: <a href="">Spy drone usage increases domestically and globally. Last year saw the first-ever drone-assisted arrest of a US citizen,</a> as well as <a href="">the first-ever drone-assisted killing of a US citizen by the US government.</a> Lastly, coming soon to a city near you: <a href="">Gorgon Stare</a> , a drone-mounted city-spanning surveillance system planned to be deployed in Afghanistan that could eventually be deployed in the US. (Man, who named that thing?) It's designed to be combined with visual recognition technology like <a href="">Mind's Eye</a>. With this, they won’t need to put a GPS tracker on anyone’s car.<br>,2012:site.120542 Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:02:11 -0800 Sleeper If you've got nothing to hide "Now we have three former NSA officials confirming the basic facts. Neither the Constitution nor federal law allow the government to collect massive amounts of communications and data of innocent Americans and fish around in it in case it might find something interesting. This kind of power is too easily abused. We're extremely pleased that more whistleblowers have come forward to help end this massive spying program." - the EFF <a href="">announces</a> that three former employees of the NSA have come forward to testify in their <a href="">lawsuit against the NSA</a> over the domestic spying program.,2012:site.117682 Sun, 08 Jul 2012 10:40:58 -0800 crayz Room 641A <a href="">The Secret Room:</a> EFF Designer's <a href="">Cartoon on Illegal Spying</a>. <small>[<a href="">Via</a>]</small> <a href="">Appeals Court Punts on AT&amp;T Spying Case Appeal</a> <a href="">Rights Group Suing AT&amp;T for Spying Will Sue Government Too</a>,2008:site.74349 Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:05:51 -0800 homunculus You had to live -- did live, from the habit that became instinct and the assumption that every sound you made was overheard. <a href="">For Your Eyes Only? Allegations that the government is reading your e-mails, with the help of AT&T.</a> The latest episode of <a href=>NOW</a> did a good piece on the <a href=>NSA's domestic surveillance program</a> (previously discussed <a href=>here</a>.) It can be viewed on their website. Meanwhile, Canadian human rights attorney Maureen Webb has written a <a href="">new book</a> on the scope of government surveillance, and found that <a href=>the use of sophisticated methods to search for terrorists is not identifying the right suspects</a>.,2007:site.58824 Wed, 21 Feb 2007 00:33:17 -0800 homunculus Your world, delivered to the NSA <a href="">AT&T Ducks Accountability.</a> <a href=;jsessionid=5MVW55OMHE3GGQSNDLRSKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleID=196902271>Lawsuits, Questions</a> Follow <a href=>NSA Surveillance Approval.</a>,2007:site.57937 Sun, 21 Jan 2007 21:59:02 -0800 homunculus AT&amp;T-NSA documents leaked <a href=",70947-0.html?tw=wn_technology_1">Wired News</a> has obtained a copy of a file detailing AT&amp;T's involvement with the NSA that was sealed in the EFF's class-action lawsuit against AT&amp;T. At 2AM EST this morning they have <a href=",70944-0.html">published that file</a> on their site for anyone to download <small><small>(this is the fixed link, the one on Wired is currently broken)</small></small>.<small><small><b>[<a href="">via</a>]</b></small></small>,2006:site.51770 Mon, 22 May 2006 05:24:48 -0800 Ryvar EFF Whistleblower Wiretapping Suit Halted by Nuclear Option <a href=",70785-0.html?tw=wn_politics_1">Bush administration signals intent</a> to invoke the obscure <a href="">state secrets privilege</a> in order to stop the <a href="">EFF</a> lawsuit against <a href="">AT&amp;T</a>, (previously discussed <a href="">here</a>) for providing the NSA direct access <a href=",70126-0.html">all 312 terabytes</a> of its customers' telephone and internet traffic since 2001, (including those Good Vibrations charges you racked up). In a nutshell, according to legal experts, invoking the privilege kills the judicial process dead: the courthouse doors are closed, and there's nothing but grownup stuff to see here; move along, kids.,2006:site.51346 Tue, 02 May 2006 19:47:00 -0800 squirrel AT&amp;T-->NSA. WTF? -EFF <a href="">EFF Accuses AT&T of diverting internet traffic to NSA.</a> <em>"More than just threatening individuals' privacy, AT&amp;T's apparent choice to give the government secret, direct access to millions of ordinary Americans' Internet communications is a threat to the Constitution itself. We are asking the Court to put a stop to it now."</em> More <a href="">details </a>from the EFF.,2006:site.50714 Fri, 07 Apr 2006 07:27:06 -0800 jikel_morten