NSA Watch: New Faces, Same Policy, Obama Defends Clapper
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-01-31 22:55:06 UTC
- Modified: 2014-01-31 22:55:06 UTC
Summary: Today's news about privacy and the NSA in particular
-
La Quadrature du Net launches a crowd-funding campaign to support the making of the upcoming animation movie about privacy, mass surveillance, and the urgency to rethink our relationship with technology. Help us finance this project!
-
Demonstrators protesting Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych suspected their cellphone location data was being tracked since at least last week, when people in the vicinity of a clash between riot police and protesters received a chilling text message. It read: "Dear subscriber, you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance."
-
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Friday that relations with Germany have gone through a "rough patch" recently because of revelations about NSA spying, but insisted that the two countries can put the episode behind them.
-
Leaders from several countries, including Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, have reacted angrily to revelations that the US spied on their governments at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit, according to a media report.
-
Leaders from several countries, including Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, have reacted angrily to revelations that the US spied on their governments at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit, according to a media report.
-
German interior minister Thomas de Maiziere at the Munich Security Conference Friday said the US is not doing enough to restore trust after the NSA scandal: "The information we are being provided with is not satisfactory and the political damage [of the NSA's work] is greater than the security benefit."
-
US Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged Friday that relations with Germany had gone through a "rough period" of late over NSA snooping but that shared security priorities would keep the countries close.
-
Those of you following the steady stream of news stories on the National Security Agency's insatiable appetite for information already know that the spy agency has figured out how to snatch data from mobile apps. Since 2007, The NSA and its partner Britain's Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) have siphoned from apps address books, buddy lists, phone logs and geographic data.
-
NSA also wishes to develop the technology so that it is capable of breaking modern Internet security.
-
German operator group Deutsche Telekom has hailed last year’s revelations that the US spy agency NSA and the UK’s GCHQ had been monitoring ordinary citizens’ browsing and messaging habits as an “opportunity” for operators to provide data privacy and data security services.
-
Alessandro Acquisti in his TED talk tells us why privacy matters in a world in which it is vanishing. "Privacy is not about having something negative to hide," he says.
Indeed, the privacy of all Americans is a matter of principle, enshrined in the Constitution. It used to be we had control of what we wanted people to know about us, good and bad. But not anymore.
As troubling as this assault on privacy is, the Edward Snowden revelations about the National Security Agency's surveillance show that something even more dangerous is afoot. And it's about what the NSA can do with this information they are collecting on us.
-
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden show NSA kept US negotiators abreast of their rivals' positions at 2009 summitfree
-
Developing countries have reacted angrily to revelations that the United States spied on other governments at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009.
-
Vice-admiral Michael Rogers, the commander of the US navy’s tenth fleet and its Fleet Cyber Command, will take over from NSA Director Keith Alexander, who reluctantly became a global figure in the wake of the Snowden revelations.
-
any of us are still quite disappointed that James Clapper has kept his job as Director of National Intelligence after flat out lying to Congress over whether or not the NSA spied on Americans. There have been increasing calls from within Congress to have Clapper investigated and possibly prosecuted for the felony of lying to Congress, but there appears to be no movement there at all. Not only does the Obama administration seem to want to protect one of their own, but it's also made it clear that something like that would make it look like Ed Snowden "won" and they can't allow that sort of thing.
-
As the NSA leaks have expanded to detail spying activities in other countries, those governments affected have had a variety of reactions. In some cases, legitimately questionable tactics were exposed (potential economic espionage in Brazil, tapping German chancellor Angela Merkel's phone) and the responses were genuinely outraged. In other cases, the outrage was temporary and somewhat muted, suggesting these countries were allowing the NSA to take the heat for their own questionable surveillance programs aimed at their citizens.
-
We thought we won the Crypto Wars, the fight to make strong encryption accessible to all, in the 1990s.1 We were wrong. Last month, Reuters broke news about a deal struck between the popular computer security firm RSA and the National Security Agency. RSA reportedly accepted $10 million from NSA to make Dual_EC_DRBG—an intentionally weakened random number generator—the default in its widely used BSAFE encryption toolkit.
-
In the motion filed in federal court in Denver on Wednesday with help from the American Civil Liberties Union, Jamshid Muhtorov also requested that prosecutors disclose more about how surveillance law was used in his case. Muhtorov denies the terror charges he faces.
-
There is so much missing or purposefully obfuscated in the debate about NSA/Five Eyes spying, US Government illegality, CIA collusion with al-Qaeda, Guantanamo, 9/11, torture, drones, Afghanistan, Iraq and everything that millions of people have been outraged about for over a decade, but the most striking is that almost no one is proposing closing these organizations down and few are talking about prosecuting those responsible.
-
The NSA has finally found an officer for its civil liberties and privacy office. A new member of the NSA team will have to provide expert advice as well as develop measures for strengthening the NSA's privacy protection. The appointed officer seems to be a good choice for the NSA whose reputation has been tarnished, but at the same time this raises some experts' doubts.
-
Documents from Edward Snowden reveal that Canada's foreign signals intelligence agency picked up metadata on airport travellers from free Wi-Fi available at a major Canadian airport.
-
Prime Minister David Cameron said Thursday he believes the British public has largely shrugged off the espionage disclosures of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, telling lawmakers that people seem to be satisfied that U.K. spies are doing their jobs.
-
When the National Security Agency’s surveillance program PRISM was disclosed in early June, the immediate question wasn’t if the program would harm the U.S. tech industry but how badly. Six months and many more disclosures later, it’s clear NSA surveillance is an economic millstone that threatens to drag down the U.S. tech industry.
-
Two decades ago, the National Security Agency (NSA) sought legislation requiring a "back door" in all public encryption technologies, enabling the agency to monitor electronic communications even when the parties sought to shield them from prying eyes. That push failed. The NSA then embarked on an effort to accomplish essentially the same goal in secret.
-
The US relationship with the Saudis appears to be changing and even though several decades ago Saudi agreed to sell the US oil at $10 a barrel in perpetuity, the love affair appears to be over. According to former MI5 officer and whistleblower David Shayler there may be plans to change the official story of 9/11 and the US start pointing the finger at Saudi Arabia. Mr. Shayler believes the way to stop all of the illegality being committed by agencies such as CIA, NSA, MI6 and GCHQ is to simply stop funding them.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Former Debian Project Leader Branden Robinson Cautions Against Cover-up and Censorship in Debian
- Debian drama. Again.
- It's Friday Again and Many People Leave IBM for Good (IBM Should be Reported for Illegal NDAs That Hide Layoffs)
- we very seldom see anyone deviating a lot from the "template-like" narrative, let alone mentioning "layoffs" or "RA" or some other term that implies non-consensual departure
- What Do People Ever Buy From Microsoft Anyway (Not PCs)?
- Microsoft sells two things these days: 1) vapourware/promises. 2) its stock.
- Gemini Links 20/02/2026: "Mainstream Unix, Underground Unix", Slop Staging DDoS Attacks Against Small Sites
- Links for the day
- IBM Inclusivity: Red Hat Summit is for Rich Sponsors Like Microsoft and Rich Guests Who Pay $500 a Day
- Nothing signals societal tolerance more than paying a large military contractor
-
- Like a Shell
- Overreactions can backfire
- Not Only Leaders of XBox Got Sacked (Layoffs)
- Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond got laid off
- 9PM on a Friday Night: Microsoft Says the Layoffs Are Not Layoffs
- We've said for a long time that XBox is doomed this year
- Gemini Links 20/02/2026: Misfin Server and Magic in Programming
- Links for the day
- analytics.usa.gov Reckons Windows "Market Share" Fell to Just 38%, Vista 11 Not Even a Third of Windows Users
- This coming summer Vista 11 turns 5
- The New Digg.com is Slop
- Slop "summaries" and Serial Sloppers are drowning out the site with fake 'articles' (plagiarism)
- Linus Torvalds: Bill Epsteingate Good Enough for Me to Wine and Dine With
- Torvalds is more connected to Jeffrey Epstein than Richard Stallman ever was
- Our Uptimes Are Always Better Than Any Site That Uses Clownflare
- Clownflare as a company operates like a cult
- GNU/Linux Apparently Rose to 6% in Uzbekistan
- If accurate, this represents a new problem for Microsoft and a big win for Software Freedom
- Sponsored Videos and 'Articles' in The Register MS, Stenography as a Service/Product
- They should more accurately label these actors
- The Little Clique of Sloppers/Spammers About "Linux" Got Even Smaller
- Thankfully there are still genuine and legit GNU/Linux sites out there
- Links 20/02/2026: Microsoft Intentionally Kills Older Hardware, "The Story of XBox" Shows How Defective Microsoft Hardware Really Was
- Links for the day
- Turkmenistan One of Many Countries Where Microsoft Fell to Distant Third in Search
- We expect many layoffs in Bing some time soon
- Don't Wait for "Red Hat Layoffs" Because After Bluewashing They're IBM RAs and Don't Wait for "IBM Layoffs" Because They're Perpetual
- IBM layoffs are silent and "forever" (small trickle that never ends and is widespread - after all IBM is a very global and ubiquitous firm)
- Links 20/02/2026: Standards, Science, and Politics
- Links for the day
- GNU/Linux Adoption is Higher in Richer Countries
- Is it because freedom is actually expensive - something that only privileged people can pursue?
- Links 20/02/2026: Windows TCO Versus Deutsche Bahn, Europe Seeks More Independent Digital Future
- Links for the day
- IBM, Red Hat and Fedora: Don't Say "Master", It Offends People. Also IBM, Red Hat and Fedora: "Master Podman".
- The hypocrisy at Red Hat and Fedora shows no boundaries
- IBM Layoffs Aren't Just in IBM 'Proper'
- Who is still using Lotus after the HCL move?
- The Register MS Gets Paid by Gartner to Promote a Ponzi Scheme for Gartner, Microsoft, and Others
- The credibility of that site will suffer because it tries to sell a major scam to its audience
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 19, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, February 19, 2026
- Gemini Links 19/02/2026: "Towards a Gemini Famicom Resource" and Dumping Microsoft
- Links for the day
- IBM Behaves Like a Company Looking for Loose Change Between Sofa Cushions
- Chasing laid-off workers for dollars and even pennies, making excuses and devising loopholes (such as PIPs) to flout severance obligations
- Microsoft Found Another Bailout Opportunity: Killing People
- Good thing that Nadella is not racist!
- No "Smart Mobs" (Social Control Media) in BRIC?
- It looks like the "Social" "Media" sites tracked by statCounter see little from (or of) BRIC, and moreover it is declining fast
- The Few Slopfarms We Saw Today
- The sentiment has changed a lot
- Links 19/02/2026: Protecting Framework Laptop 13, Hardware Drive Shortages
- Links for the day
- In Africa's Second-Largest Nation, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Opera 10 Times Bigger Than Firefox (and GNU/Linux Now at 5%)
- This will become an accessibility problem
- Links 19/02/2026: "A.I.pocalypse" Inevitable and "Butlers to LLMs"
- Links for the day
- An Inherently Royal (Monarchs') Legal System Where Size Matters (Big Capital Eats the Small)
- This reinforces the notion that justice is only for those who can afford it
- These Statistics Should Keep Microsoft Shareholders Awake at Night
- Windows is, in general (all versions collectively), declining over time
- Economic Failure and Other Harsh Realities Have Nothing to Do With Slop 'Innovation'
- Advanced propaganda, not advanced 'AI' [...] They attack workers while insulting their intelligence
- Spaniards Shutting Down MElon's Digital Weapon of "Smart Mobs"
- Are the Spanish people already acting based on gut feeling and shunning/shutting out the provocation vector?
- Bitcoin: government engagement contradictions
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Richard Stallman in the United States - Part II - "Haters Gonna Hate"
- we shall carry on with this series at the right pace
- Typical! Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Tells Victims of Fraud to Wait 10 Weeks
- justice delayed is justice denied
- EPO Union Leaders in Rijswijk Explain Where EPO Strikes Stand and How to Prepare for Next Week's
- We have some revelations to share in a few days
- statCounter: Only One in 350 Iranians Would Use Microsoft for Web Search
- Microsoft is trying to fake "demand"
- Slides Shown a Week Ago by the EPO's Staff Committee Ahead of the Second Very Large Strike
- This coming weekend we'll drop a 'bombshell' of sorts
- EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part II - Illegal Drug Addicts Mobbing the Wrong People, This Will Definitely Backfire
- This year may well be the last year of Team Campinos. Nobody will hire them after that.
- Mass Layoffs (But Silent Layoffs) Still Happening in IBM, You Need Only Look Closely (There Are NDAs, PIPs, 'Early Retirement' Sweeteners and IBM - Like Microsoft - Skirts the WARN Act)
- the layoffs are definitely happening
- Microsoft's "AI CEO" (Slop Propagandist) is Projecting, Many Microsoft "Jobs to be Replaced With All-Indian Low-Paid Staff in 12 Months"
- Windows is perishing
- Very Little Slop
- We are not finding much slop anymore
- Links 19/02/2026: Illegal Kangaroo Court for Patents Attracts Aggressive Firms, Public Domain Review Grows
- Links for the day
- Gemini Links 19/02/2026: Taxing the Rich, Raspberry Pi 4 Tinkering
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 18, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, February 18, 2026
- Links 18/02/2026: DMCA Weakened, Anna’s Archive Still Thriving
- Links for the day
- Links 18/02/2026: Gig 'Economy' Condemned, Microsoft Insulting/Stressing People With False Slop Predictions
- Links for the day
- Twitter Falling to 1% in Africa's Largest Nation (Algeria)
- About 15 years ago the regime in Egypt got toppled (and others had been too) partly because of social control media such as Twitter
- "How Many Friends Do You Have?"
- "Do bots count?" "Friends in Facebook?" "Does a girlfriend chatbot count as a friend?"
- Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Responds to Crises Only After It's Way Too Late
- The SRA does not do its job. The new chief's job is face-saving PR in the media.
- The Techrights Team Makes the Platform Faster
- The infrastructure is already fast
- Mozilla Firefox Died in Afghanistan
- Mozilla has been a complete disaster
- Gemini Links 18/02/2026: Astronomy and Texinfo
- Links for the day
- Are IBM CEO and IBM CFO Ready for Financial Audit That Topples the Shares by 50% in One Day?
- The same "chefs" that cooked up Kyndryl Holdings Inc are still in charge of the IBM kitchen
- France Does Not Need Digital Weapons Disguised as Social and as Media
- French people lost interest in Social Control 'Media' (or Networks)
- "Senior AI Reporter" at Slop Technica/Ars Sloppica Has Written Nothing in Nearly a Week, Did Conde Nast Suspend Him for Fake Articles With Fake Quotes?
- Slop Technica/Ars Sloppica is having a serious credibility issue right now
- Linux Foundation Puts Slop Images, Not Just Slop Text, in Linux.com
- More of the same then
- The Register MS Paid-for 'Articles' (Ads) Seem to be LLM Slop Again
- If it's true that The Register MS is resorting to these marketing tactics, will they later delete the evidence (as they did months ago)?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 17, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, February 17, 2026