01.28.14

NSA Watch: GCHQ/NSA Gang Up Against Servers, Hide Violations, Face Blowback

Posted in Action, Law at 3:27 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: News from Monday and Tuesday, covering a range of development in the NSA saga and beyond

Corporate Servers

• GCHQ taught NSA how to monitor Facebook, Twitter in real time – Snowden leak

  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.

• Fancy a little kinky sex? GCHQ+NSA will know – thanks to ANGRY BIRDS

  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.

• Angry Birds: NSA And GCHQ Harvest Apps Data

  British and US spy agencies have gathered data from smartphone apps which leak personal data on to global networks, according to reports.

• Angry Birds and ‘leaky’ phone apps targeted by NSA and GCHQ for user data

• A Little (Angry) Bird Told the NSA What You’re Up To

• NSA surveillance: Angry Birds and other ‘leaky apps’ targeted by US and UK security agencies

• Not even Google Maps, Angry Birds are safe from NSA and GCHQ spying

• NSA and GCHQ collecting data leaked from smartphone apps like Angry Birds?

• GCHQ is monitoring Facebook Likes and Youtube with Operation Squeaky Dolphin

  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

• Bruce Schneier: ‘NSA and GCHQ have betrayed the trust of the internet’

  Security expert and technologist Bruce Schneier has told the BBC that he believes the NSA and GCHQ have “betrayed the trust of the internet”.

• NSA, GCHQ mapping “political alignment” of cellphone users

  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.

• NSA, British Spy Agency Collect Angry Birds Data

Crimes Concealed

• The NSA, CIA, and the Promise of Industrial Espionage

  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.

• U.S. Eyes Ways to Keep NSA Snooping Hidden

  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)

• The FBI Seized All of TorMail’s Data and Is Using It to Catch Hackers

  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.

• Md. mall gunman was avid skater, no criminal past

  Police began tracking Aguilar’s phone and soon discovered it was at the mall.

US Political Reaction

• Issa, Five Other Congressmen Call For DNI Clapper’s Removal

  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”.

• NSA Surveillance Divides the Republican Party

  The RNC has declared domestic spying illegal. A faction led by George W. Bush-era bureaucrats is pushing back.

• Cut Off the NSA’s Juice

  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

• Data Protection Day

  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.

• SAP and Atos team up for EU cloud standards to counter NSA threat

  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.

• AT&T’s ambitions to expand in Europe have been put on ice, for now.

  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.

• German TV: Snowden Says NSA Also Spies On Industry

• Edward Snowden tells German TV that NSA is involved in industrial espionage

  Public broadcaster ARD airs interview in which whistleblower says National Security Agency is involved in industrial espionage

People’s Voice

• Prominent cryptography and security researchers deplore NSA’s surveillance activities

• February 11, 2014: The Day We Fight Back Against the NSA

  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

• Tech giants reach White House deal on NSA surveillance of customer data

  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.

• Google’s Drummond calls for new NSA reforms

• Google to acquire AI firm for $400 million

  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.

• You Say NSA Has Hurt U.S. Tech Sector

  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.”

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