Tag Archives: Western Intel

90% of NSA-intercepted chats found to be non-targeted Web users

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“Ordinary Internet users, American and non-American alike, far outnumber legally targeted foreigners in the communications intercepted by the National Security Agency from U.S. digital networks.  Nine of 10 account holders found in a large cache of intercepted conversations, which former NSA contractor Edward Snowden provided in full to The Post, were not the intended surveillance targets but were caught in a net the agency had cast for somebody else.   Many of them were Americans. Nearly half of the surveillance files, a strikingly high proportion, contained names, e-mail addresses or other details that the NSA marked as belonging to U.S. citizens or residents.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-nsa-intercepted-data-those-not-targeted-far-outnumber-the-foreigners-who-are/2014/07/05/8139adf8-045a-11e4-8572-4b1b969b6322_story.html

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The Ex-Google Hacker Taking on the World’s Spy Agencies

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“During his last six years working as an elite security researcher for Google, the hacker known as Morgan Mayhem spent his nights and weekends hunting down the malware used to spy on vulnerable targets like human rights activists and political dissidents.  His new job tasks him with defending a different endangered species: American national security journalists.  34-year-old Morgan Marquis-Boire [is now] the director of security for First Look Media, the media startup founded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar that has recruited journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras.  The website has become the most prolific publisher of NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s remaining secrets.”

http://www.wired.com/2014/07/morgan-marquis-boire-first-look-media/

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Germany will resume spying on U.S. for first time since 1945

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“Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government is planning to scrap a no-spy agreement Germany has held with Britain and the United States since 1945 in response to an embarrassing US-German intelligence service scandal which has deeply soured relations between Berlin and Washington. The intelligence services of the Allied victors were exempted from surveillance by the BND.  But Mr de Maizière told Bild that he was now not ruling out permanent German counter-espionage surveillance of US, British and French intelligence operations.  A domestic security spokesman for Ms Merkel’s ruling Christian Democrats said: ‘We must focus more strongly on our so-called allies.'”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-to-spy-on-us-for-first-time-since-1945-after-double-agentscandal-9590645.html

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CIA Was Involved In U.S. Spying On Germany

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“The Central Intelligence Agency was involved in a spying operation against Germany that led to the alleged recruitment of a German intelligence official and has prompted renewed outrage in Berlin, two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said on Monday.
CIA Director John Brennan has asked to brief key members of the U.S. Congress on the matter, which threatens a new rupture between Washington and a close European ally, one of the officials said.  It was unclear if and when Brennan’s briefing to U.S. lawmakers would take place. The CIA declined any comment on the matter.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/cia-spying-germany_n_5564599.html

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Man who beat NSA in T-shirt parody case wins against Clinton group

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“The Ready for Hillary organization, a group that’s laying the groundwork for a potential presidential campaign by Hillary Clinton, has backed down from its demand that a parody T-shirt and related items be removed from an online store.  The T-shirt reads: ‘I’m Ready for Oligarchy,’ a parody of the group’s slogan: ‘I’m Ready for Hillary.’  The maker of the shirt, a Minnesota-based activist named Dan McCall, had previously won a bid to make and sell T-shirts parodying the National Security Agency. Paul Alan Levy, McCall’s attorney, said that he was informed of Ready for Hillary’s intention to drop the demand late Thursday.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/06/man-who-beat-nsa-in-t-shirt-parody-case-wins-against-ready-for-hillary/

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Could Keith Alexander’s Advice Possibly Be Worth $600K a Month?

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“Ex-NSA director Keith Alexander has his own consulting company: IronNet Cybersecurity Inc. His advice does not come cheap.  Alexander offered to provide advice to Sifma for $1 million a month, according to two people briefed on the talks. The asking price later dropped to $600,000, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiation was private.  Alexander declined to comment on the details, except to say that his firm will have contracts ‘in the near future.’   SIFMA is the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. Think of how much actual security they could buy with that $600K a month. Unless he’s giving them classified information.”

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/06/could_keith_ale.html

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House unexpectedly votes to stop warrantless NSA searches

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“By a vote of 293 to 123, a bipartisan coalition in the House voted to ban the National Security Agency from conducting ‘backdoor searches’ on United States citizens, a process that allowed the intelligence community to collect data on Americans without a warrant as long as the official target was a foreigner.  The amendment ‘specifically prohibits the NSA from using information identifying U.S. citizens to search communications data it collects under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.’  Additionally, the House voted to ban the NSA from installing backdoor search capability into the hardware and software of other companies.”

http://rt.com/usa/167372-house-amandment-stop-nsa-searches/

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If Snowden’s A Terrorist, What About Uber and Airbnb?

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“Why would Marc Andreessen condemn Edward Snowden for showing the American people that they have forsaken every right to privacy that they once held dear?  His VC firm was behind such disruptive technology companies as Twitter and LinkedIn. Virtual hotelier Airbnb is one of its prize portfolio holdings today.  Is Andreessen a terrorist? Because he is busy scaring the proverbial crap out of people across the globe—businesses, individuals, regulators, and more. He’s putting people out of jobs, left and right. He’s wreaking havoc on the economy.  And, like Edward Snowden, I am of the mind that all the pain Andreessen is causing will be well worth it in the end.”

http://www.caseyresearch.com/cdd/andreessen-terrorist-government-shutdown-airbnb-uber

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NSA: ‘We can’t stop our systems from deleting data wanted for lawsuit’

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“The National Security Agency recently used a novel argument for not holding onto information it collects about users online activity: it’s too complex.  The agency is facing a slew of lawsuits over its surveillance programs, many launched after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked information on the agency’s efforts last year. One suit that pre-dates the Snowden leaks, Jewel v. NSA, challenges the constitutionality of programs that the suit allege collect information about American’s telephone and Internet activities.  The government has argued that the case, which was filed in 2008, should be thrown out and that Section 702 programs do not target Americans.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/06/09/nsa-our-systems-are-so-complex-we-cant-stop-them-from-deleting-data-wanted-for-lawsuit/

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Everyone should know how much the government lied to defend the NSA

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“Just before Snowden became a household name, the ACLU argued before the supreme court that the Fisa Amendments Act – one of the two main laws used by the NSA to conduct mass surveillance – was unconstitutional.  [In its dismissal,] the court relied on two claims by the Justice Department to support their ruling: 1) that the NSA would only get the content of Americans’ communications without a warrant when they are targeting a foreigner abroad for surveillance, and 2) that the Justice Department would notify criminal defendants who have been spied on under the Fisa Amendments Act, so there exists some way to challenge the law in court. Neither of those statements were true.”

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/17/government-lies-nsa-justice-department-supreme-court

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