NSA Watch: GCHQ/NSA Gang Up Against Servers, Hide Violations, Face Blowback
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-01-28 20:27:44 UTC
- Modified: 2014-01-28 20:27:44 UTC
Summary: News from Monday and Tuesday, covering a range of development in the NSA saga and beyond
Corporate Servers
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British intelligence officials can infiltrate the very cables that transfer information across the internet, as well as monitor users in real time on sites like Facebook without the company's consent, according to documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
The internal documents reveal that British analysts gave instruction to members of the National Security Agency in 2012, showing them how to spy on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in real time and collect the computer addresses of billions of the sites’ uploaders.
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Some of the world's most popular smartphone applications are telling British and American intelligence agencies everything about you – from your location to your politics or whether you're part of the swinging set.
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British and US spy agencies have gathered data from smartphone apps which leak personal data on to global networks, according to reports.
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EXILED AMERICAN WHISTLEBLOWER Edward Snowden has revealed evidence that shows GCHQ is able to monitor web traffic without the knowledge of either the website or the user.
Operation Squeaky Dolphin is explained in the presentation "Psychology A New Kind of SIGDEV" (Signals Development) obtained by NBC from the Snowden files. It describes an operation to harvest Facebook Likes, Youtube URLs and Blogger visits
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Security expert and technologist Bruce Schneier has told the BBC that he believes the NSA and GCHQ have "betrayed the trust of the internet".
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New information made public by Edward Snowden reveals that the governments of the United States and United Kingdom are trawling data from cellphone “apps” to accumulate dossiers on the “political alignments” of millions of smartphone users worldwide.
Crimes Concealed
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In a weekend interview with German ARD public television network, Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. government uses its broad electronic surveillance capabilities to engage in industrial espionage. Snowden told ARD TV that, “I will say is there is no question that the U.S. is engaged in economic spying,” Snowden gave the example that, “If there is information at Siemens that they think would be beneficial to the national interests, not the national security, of the United States, they will go after that information and they’ll take it.” Snowden left hanging what exactly is done with such potentially useful economic intelligence, and he provided little additional information on this subject beyond indicated the news outlets holding copies of yet published NSA leaked documents could provide more specific information.
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At the same time that the Obama administration publicly mulls over how to end its controversial storage of millions of Americans’ phone records swept up by the National Security Agency, the government is also reportedly exploring ways to prevent other spies from seeing what it’s spying on.
Police/FBI (Domestic Spying)
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If you had any faith left in anonymous email services, now would be the time to let that go. New court documents show that in chasing down associates of Freedom Hosting, the FBI managed to download the entire email database of TorMail. And now it's using that information to take on the Darknet.
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Police began tracking Aguilar's phone and soon discovered it was at the mall.
US Political Reaction
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A group of six Congressmen have asked President Barack Obama to remove James Clapper as director of national intelligence as a result of his misstatements to Congress about the NSA’s dragnet data-collection programs. The group, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said that Clapper’s role as DNI “is incompatible with the goal of restoring trust in our security programs”.
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The RNC has declared domestic spying illegal. A faction led by George W. Bush-era bureaucrats is pushing back.
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The National Security Agency depends on huge computers that guzzle electricity in the service of the surveillance state. For the NSA's top executives, maintaining a vast flow of juice to keep Big Brother nourished is essential -- and any interference with that flow is unthinkable.
European Reaction
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When the EU agreed its current Data Protection Directive in 1995, the internet was just coming onto the horizon, and Mark Zuckerberg was just 11.
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SAP and Atos are working with the European Union to bring in new standards for web-based programmes and data storage in an effort to tackle growing surveillance fears following ongoing NSA revelations.
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AT&T’s ambitions to expand in Europe have been put on ice, for now. And the NSA spying scandal is at least partly to blame.
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Public broadcaster ARD airs interview in which whistleblower says National Security Agency is involved in industrial espionage
People's Voice
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It only makes sense that the NSA be confronted online. After all, it’s the Internet the agency uses to spy on us. They’re not following us down dark streets or steaming open our snail mail. Instead, they’re monitoring our emails to discover who is in our circle and stalking us on Facebook and Google Plus. Especially if we use Windows, there’s no need for them to dirty their hands sifting through our garbage when they can enter through a virtual trap door on our computer to rifle through our word processor and spreadsheet files. Phone tapping? How old school in a world where every call we make, even from a land line, becomes VoIP somewhere along the line. When we use VoIP or Skype, they can easily listen. If we visit a website located in a country on their hit list, they sit-up and take notice.
Corporations' Voice
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The Obama administration has reached a deal with a number of technology giants, allowing the companies to disclose more information on customer data they are compelled to share with the government.
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For quite some time there have been rumours of Google wanting to take AI to the next level. Popular Android-based game, ‘Ingress‘ presents an artificial layer on top of real world landmarks and allows players to claim territories while the interact with their surroundings. Although it’s not what the public expected initially, it did represent the future that Google envisioned for gaming.
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72% of you said that you thought the NSA’s actions would have an effect on the entire U.S. software industry, with 20% of you expressing the opinion that proprietary software developers only would be effected. Taken together, this means that 92% of you are of the opinion that the NSA’s dirty tricks will have a negative effect on the U.S. tech sector. 7% of you answered “maybe a little but not much” with only 1% choosing “not at all.”
Recent Techrights' Posts
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- Microsoft is basically defrauding its shareholders by LLM slop
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- The last Venice needs is an affiliation with Venetian oligarchs
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- Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Distraction-Free Writing and Hytale Mismanagement
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- Links 01/07/2025: "Beauty of Blogging" and "Etiquette of Collapse"
- Links for the day
- The Web is a Dead End
- We need to adopt alternatives
- When Words Lose Their Intended Meaning
- examples of words that, at least in the technical spheres, don't mean what they sound like
- People Who Disagree With You on Technical Matters May or May Not Agree With You on Political Things (But Usually They Do)
- What bothers me a great deal is seeing left-leaning people accusing other left-leaning people of being "nazis"
- "Too Much Choice" and "Too Many Programming Languages"
- What IBM and its apologists aim for was attempted in the 1930s and it failed
- Microsoft Lost 400,000,000 Windows Users, According to Microsoft
- more people adopt smaller computers and many people replace Windows with GNU/Linux, as they don't really need a new computer
- Half a Year Gone, What's to Come Next
- In the second half of 2025 we expect to be done with the Microsoft SLAPPs
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 30, 2025
- IRC logs for Monday, June 30, 2025
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- There's no product that can replace the former profitability of Windows licensing and stuff that went on top of Windows
- Gemini Links 01/07/2025: Mid Year and a Tour of Old Languages
- Links for the day
- EPO Presentation Bemoans Misuse of Slop in Decision-Making on Patents and in Classification (Which is Likely Illegal Too)
- We habitually mention failed use cases of LLMs on the Web
- Mass Layoffs at Microsoft Confirmed, "XBox Hardware Is Dead"
- It's possible that over 20% of the staff will be laid off
- Links 30/06/2025: Kyrgyzstan vs Media Freedom, Dalai Lama Succession
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 30/06/2025: Backend Programs in Gemini and Dynamic Content Without The Scripting
- Links for the day
- Links 30/06/2025: Zuckerberg’s Tax-Evading Scheme Harms Kids, US Copyright Office Lacks Leadership
- Links for the day
- Microsoft Isn't Laying Off Tens of Thousands to 'Invest' in Slop ('Hey Hi'), It's Laying Off Tens of Thousands Because It's Running Out of Money (and Willing Lenders)
- the layoffs are a sign of the business failing, not "hey hi" (whatever that is) replacing staff
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- Like a yoyo, whatever goes up will come back down
- Microsoft XBox Layoffs: Almost 2,000 Layoffs Became "Over 2,000"? (Over 20% of the Staff)
- over 20% of staff will be let go, not counting staff that leaves voluntarily
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- Western media barely covers Microsoft layoffs in Africa, but in recent years Microsoft culled the workforce and even shut down entire operations
- Summer Plans in Techrights and Elsewhere
- massive layoffs at Microsoft
- Destination Geminispace (in the Age of LLM Slop and Slop Images That Infest the Web and Social Control Media)
- Geminispace isn't vast, but at least it is - on average - a lot "cleaner"
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- Based on what statCounter is seeing, this year there are more and more people there who adopt GNU/Linux
- Serial Sloppers Gonna Slop
- More sites out there ought to call out the cheaters
- Quartz (qz.com) is Spam and a Slopfarm
- It used to be OK. Then they fired the staff.
- Links 30/06/2025: US Economic Woes, Extreme Heat
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 29, 2025
- IRC logs for Sunday, June 29, 2025
- Gemini Links 30/06/2025: "The AI Hype" and New AuraGem Ask
- Links for the day
- Our Desktops Are Not Your Experiments, X is Not an Experiment
- Breaking what already worked
- Microsoft's Big Lies Regarding This Week's Mass Layoffs Have Already Begun (and They're Already Being Spread by Slopfarms)
- Microsoft is the "market leader" in slop
- Explaining the Full Story of SLAPPs From Microsoft Staff
- For every action there is a reaction, for every attack there will be proportionate consequences
- The Openwashing Shills Initiative (OSI) - Part III: IRS and Status of OSI
- "They lied to the US IRS and there’s a paper trail"
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- IBM now has the audacity to paint people who don't agree as "nazis"
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- Eventually Microsoft will get stuck in a loop of layoffs, layoffs, and more layoffs
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- The Media is Under Attacks Partly Because There's Little Other (Remaining) Press to Speak in Its Defence
- The biggest danger here is that when there's very little press or no "opposition media" left it becomes even easier to crush critics because there aren't many people left to speak about the matter
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- Eventually people learn from mistakes
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- Links for the day
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- Gemini Links 29/06/2025: "The Price Of Eggs" and Gemini 3D Tic Tac Toe
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 28, 2025
- IRC logs for Saturday, June 28, 2025