Category Archives: NSA Spying

NSA spying, TPPA and you

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Imagine you playing an online game with a total stranger who happens to be a terror suspect, and your name will appear as a friend of the suspect in the NSA or other western agency records.

New revelations of Edward Snowden, have been published jointly by the Guardian, the New York Times and ProPublica, that British intelligence and security organisation GCHQ has used mobile apps like Angry Birds or Google Maps to spy on users and basically pry on the personal data of users.

Imagine you playing an online game with a total stranger who happens to be a terror suspect, and your name will appear as a friend of the suspect in the NSA or other western agency records.

With the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) being sold as plus for the Malaysians and other Southeast Asian nations, here comes the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States and a shoddy agreement with tech giants.

How does the TPPA and the NSA collection of private and personal datas affect your online life?

The ongoing monitoring of mobile applications is rife with revelations from Zdnet.fr that the NSA has struck a deal with the tech giants Facebook, Apple, Google, Yahoo and who knows Linkedin and Twitter too maybe in cohorts to enable them to communicate more transparency in government applications.

In accordance with the directives of the President Barack Obama, in his speech of Jan 17, and in accordance with the wishes expressed last December, they (tech giants) will publish the number of requests for access to personal information of their users, the number of orders of the competent court, etc., Zdnet.fr wrote.

While I believe that many people have nothing to hide, particularly those struggling against such giant trade deals like the secretive, shadowy TPPA, and against control of the Internet amongst others, the tech companies willingness to disclose personal information is a dangerous violation of peoples rights.

It is to be remembered that joining these tech companies online, and using their apparatus such as the mobile phones and so on, came with the express indication that these companies will not reveal your email or personal details to anyone.

In this swift violation, and disrespect of their guarantees to the end users, the tech giants have taken a step further in allowing the NSA to have all the details they want at any time even if the person they are scrutinizing is not on any danger list.

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NSA spying, TPPA and you

NSA SPYING on US – Taps INTERNET Transmissions and It Will Only Get Worse – Video

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NSA SPYING on US - Taps INTERNET Transmissions and It Will Only Get Worse
NSA SPYING on US - Taps INTERNET Transmissions and It Will Only Get Worse According to the New York Times, the NSA is searching the content of virtually every email that comes into or goes...

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NSA SPYING on US - Taps INTERNET Transmissions and It Will Only Get Worse - Video

Hackers Sue German Government Over NSA Spying

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A group of computer hackers and human rights campaigners in Germany announced Monday that they are suing their government for allegedly breaking the law by aiding foreign spies.

The Chaos Computer Club and the International League for Human Rights submitted a criminal complaint to federal prosecutors claiming that Chancellor Angela Merkel, her government and security officials tolerated and even helped members of the U.S. National Security Agency and Britain's GCHQ to spy on German citizens.

The groups point to documents released by NSA leaker Edward Snowden as evidence that the emails, social media messages and phone calls of ordinary citizens are screened beyond what is allowed under German law.

"With this criminal complaint, we hope to finally initiate investigations by the Federal Prosecutor General against the German government," the Chaos Computer Club said in the statement. The group calls itself Europe's largest association of hackers; it regularly campaigns for greater privacy rights and exposes flaws in electronic security systems.

Federal prosecutors have been considering for months whether to open an investigation of alleged NSA activities. They will now have to consider whether to open an investigation on the basis of the new criminal complaint as well.

While the German government has expressed misgivings about some of the reported allegations and is seeking to negotiate a 'no-spy' agreement with the United States, opposition lawmakers have accused Merkel's administration of failing to put sufficient pressure on Washington for fear of jeopardizing diplomatic relations and intelligence cooperation.

Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, noted that "everyone in Germany can file a criminal complaint" and declined to comment on the hackers' suit.

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Hackers Sue German Government Over NSA Spying

NSA Spying: The Three Pillars of Government Trust Have …

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With each recent revelation about the NSA's spying programs government officials have tried to reassure the American people that all three branches of governmentthe Executive branch, the Judiciary branch, and the Congressknowingly approved these programs and exercised rigorous oversight over them. President Obama recited this talking point just last week, saying: "as President, I've taken steps to make sure they have strong oversight by all three branches of government and clear safeguards to prevent abuse and protect the rights of the American people." With these three pillars of oversight in place, the argument goes, how could the activities possibly be illegal or invasive of our privacy?

Today, the Washington Post confirmed that two of those oversight pillarsthe Executive branch and the court overseeing the spying, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA court)don't really exist. The third pillar came down slowly over the last few weeks, with Congressional revelations about the limitations on its oversight, including what Representative Sensennbrenner called "rope a dope" classified briefings. With this, the house of government trust has fallen, and it's time to act. Join the over 500,000 people demanding an end to the unconstitutional NSA spying.

First, the Executive. After a review of internal NSA audits of the spying programs provided by Edward Snowden, the Post lays outin stark detailthat the claims of oversight inside the Executive Branch are empty. The article reveals that an internal NSA audit not shown to Congress, the President, or the FISA Court detailed thousands of violations where the NSA collected, stored, and accessed American's communications content and other information. In one story, NSA analysts searched for all communications containing the Swedish manufacturer Ericsson and radio or radar. What's worse: the thousands of violations only include the NSA's main office in Marylandnot the otherpotentially hundredsof other NSA offices across the country. And even more importantly, the documents published by the Post reveal violations increasing every year. The news reports and documents are in direct contrast to the repeated assertions by President Obama (video), General James Clapper (video), and General Keith Alexander (video) that the US government does not listen to or look at Americans' phone calls or emails. So much for official pronouncements that oversight by the Executive was "extensive" and "robust."

Second, the FISA Court. The Post presents a second article in which the Chief Judge of the FISA Court admits that the court is unable to act as a watchdog or stop the NSA's abuses: The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court, its chief, US District Judge Reggie B. Walton, said in a written statement. The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance." Civil liberties and privacy advocates have long said that the FISA Court is a rubber stamp when it comes to the spying, but this is worsethis is the Court admitting that it cannot conduct the oversight the President and others have claimed it is doing. So much for claims by officials from the White House (video), NSA, DOJ, and Intelligence Committee members of Congress that the FISA Court is another strong pillar of oversight.

Third, the Congress. Last week, Representative Sensenbrenner complained that "the practice of classified briefings are a 'rope-a-dope operation' in which lawmakers are given information and then forbidden from speaking out about it." Members of Congress who do not serve on the Intelligence Committees in the both the House and Senate have had difficulty in obtaining documents about the NSA spying. Last week, it was even uncovered that the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, failed to provide freshmen members of Congress vital documents about the NSA's activities during a key vote to reapprove the spying. Senators Wyden and Udall have been desperately trying to tell the American people what is going on, but this year the House Intelligence committee's Subcommittee on Oversight has not met once and the Senate Intelligence committee has met publicly only twice.

One, two, three pillars of government, all cited repeatedly as the justification for our trust and all now obviously nonexistent or failing miserably. It's no surprise Americans are turning against the government's explanations.

The pattern is now clear and it's getting old. With each new revelation the government comes out with a new story for why things are really just fine, only to have that assertion demolished by the next revelation. It's time for those in government who want to rebuild the trust of the American people and others all over the world to come clean and take some actual steps to rein in the NSA. And if they don't, the American people and the public, adversarial courts, must force change upon it.

We still think the first step ought to be a truly independent investigatory body that is assigned to look into the unconstitutional spying. It must be empowered to search, read and compel documents and testimony, must be required to give a public report that only redacts sensitive operational details, and must suggest specific legislation and regulatory changes to fix the problemsomething like the Church Committee or maybe even the 9/11 Commission. The President made a mockery of this idea recently, by initially handing control of the "independent" investigation he announced in his press conference to the man who most famously lied to Congress and the American people about the spying, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

The three pillars of American trust have fallen. It's time to get a full reckoning and build a new house from the wreckage, but it has to start with some honesty.

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NSA Spying: The Three Pillars of Government Trust Have ...