Reasons Why NSA Spying On Us & How To Tell If They Are Watching
On September 11, 2001, NSAs (National Security Agencys) mass surveillance practice strengthened with more focused laws for spying on the Americans data. This surveillance has expanded rapidly over this passage of time, with different new ways of mass surveillance being introduced.
It extended so much that the government had started tracking the calls of millions of Americans under this mass surveillance until recently. But even today, a majority of Americans international calls, texts, emails, browsing activities, and other details are being tracked through mass surveillance by NSA.
The rapid increase in surveillance tactics by the government has also infiltrated almost all the communicational technologies we tend to use today. Therefore, enjoying your smart devices nowadays without having anyone watching over your activity has become extremely difficult.
NSA spies on everything you do! Let it be watching a mere movie or sending work emails to your client. For a clearer idea of when and how the NSA spies on the US, read along with this article.
The beginning of NSAs surveillance started in 1952, by president Harry S.Turman who established this Agency to collect, process, and monitor intelligence data. However, the people didnt know the existence of this Agency from the very beginning.
This was the Presidents surveillance program that was kept hidden for a long time until the news started coming out through the News reports of 2005. These reports revealed how NSA had been intercepting millions of Americans phone calls and internet communications making them the least private and confidential.
While this surveillance program by NSA took a wrong and revealing turn for the privacy of plenty of Americans, as it still does, the need for this surveillance was mainly for the citizens safety and security. All in all, this surveillance program was conducted mainly to avail of practice the War of Terrorism.
This intelligence agency simply used this surveillance program to invade the Al Qaeda communications overseas. In such communications, one or more people were said to be out of the U.S., making it easier to reveal their identity and be aware of their aims to practice terrorism in any way.
Following this need to prevent and achieve protection against such terrorism, the mass surveillance by NSA continued the same way for a long time.
Yet, when Edward Snowden, a former American government contractor, disclosed all the secrets about the National Security Agencys spying program, it was clear for everyone how this secret mass surveillance has been spying on us. Edward did this by downloading some secret documents regarding the U.S intelligence activities and its partnership with the foreign allies. Thats when he explored how some documents comprise a huge amount of data regarding countless U.S. citizens telephone records and internet activities.
Apart from this, news sources also report that the documents Snowden disclosed involved how the British cyber spies portrayed a pilot program with their U.S partners in 2012. This program involved a large amount of real-time monitored data from YouTube consisting of users personally-identifying information.
This disclosure of all the information NSAs surveillance program has been collecting was a huge eye-opener for all U.S citizens.
But that wasnt the only time someone spilled the beans about NSAs mass surveillance practice. Instead, some secret documents by the media also revealed in 2013 that NSA holds a copy of every detail and information carried along with the major domestic fiber optic cable network.
This, and other such news reports regarding this mass surveillance, prove that the government has been collecting the phone metadata and other device details of all the U.S. citizens as a practice being termed in the Patriot Act. All in all, this kind of mass surveillance has been kept continuing as a means of invading thousands and millions of citizens devices and personal information becoming a huge concern for everyone with passing time.
The spying or mass surveillance program NSA changed its working tactics after President George W. Bush intensified it after witnessing the September 11, 2001 attack. While the U.S. government still considers the presence of this program as a reliable and secure addition to their security maintenance methods, it has exposed tremendous information by various whistleblowers.
Yet, how this surveillance program was formed and followed in an organized manner is one thing that should be understood before you start looking for solutions out of it. So it all started as:
The process of mass surveillance by the NSA is occupied by first collecting the call history of the American population. Back in time, this started when the government convinced telecommunication companies used by the U.S. locals like AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc., to hand over the call records of all its customers.
The investigation by USA Today disclosed that this information consumed by the government from such telecommunication agencies included every detailed call record made by the American residents across the town or country. Furthermore, this information is used to create a database of every call each individual in America makes within the nations borders.
Another way that NSA considers collecting our data is through the phone and internet connection. This information is also collected by the same telecommunication companies that allowed NSA to install communications surveillance equipments in secret rooms for this purpose. These secret rooms are created at the key telecommunications branches of the company in the country.
According to the Washington Post, since these secret rooms are created to install sophisticated surveillance equipment, NSA has been able to access large streams of domestic and international communication data of the American citizens all in real-time.
As a result, it helps them track around 1.7 billion emails each day. Following this process, NSA data mines and analyzes the traffic of each individual when they are using their phones or device for any kind of communication so that it can be checked for any kind of harmful or suspicious keywords, patterns, or connections.
Finally, another practice that has made mass surveillance by NSA easier than ever is introducing friendly technologies that help the government keep track of every individual no matter where they are inside the countries boundaries.
According to reliable sources, the collection of this data starts when you send an email to anyone or use the internet. At such times, the data from your computer or phone travels through these wires and fiber-optic networks of the telecommunication company you are connected with and then reaches the independent receipt.
The process of intercepting these communications between two people is performed with the help of a government-installed device known as fiber-optics splitters. These splitters are installed in plenty of the main telecommunication junction points, which allow them to create an exact copy of the data that pass through these telecommunication junction points in the U.S.
When the government doesnt inform you when its spying on you through mass surveillance, its hard to even evaluate when its happening or stop it before it happens. Now it would be easier to trust such mass surveillance practices behind your back, by considering it to be held only for good and lawful reasons.
Yet, with the long abusing history of the federal government through its surveillance powers, its hard to fully rely on the NSA spying and mass surveillance plans without looking out for yourself. Besides, with the expansion of the usage of surveillance power by the NSA, online secrecy and accountability have gone completely missing when practicing electronic searches of our communications.
Various laws are associated with these searches, making it least public or notified when the individuals private emails, chats, or documents stored in the cloud storage are searched. One example of such laws that case notice problems involve te Section 702, under which the government secretly obtains millions of commination records of individuals each year. This record also includes emails and phone calls of Americans.
Moreover, the NSA is also allowed to hand over the collected data of an individual to the FBI if the FBI asks for it. This process may also be done without informing you or keeping you in the loop if theres a chance of any crime or unlawful activity tracked or recorded in your communication records.
With all this being said, its hard to predict when you are being spied on by the NSA, as the laws dont restrict NSA to require any warrants to track or record your data.
However, in most cases, the telecommunications company you choose to use may tend to notify you before or after a recording or analysis of your communication activity is performed.
While the practice of mass surveillance started as a way for the U.S. government to limit and prevent terrorism in the States, the activity of mass surveillance by the NSA has expanded more critically. Today, its harder to predict online privacy and security, especially due to these governmental data and communication evaluation tactics. While it may be beneficial or essential, the only thing needed in this regard is a law or order that promotes more efficient and responsive alerts when the NSA is analyzing our data.
Read the rest here:
NSA Surveillance: Why NSA Spying On Us - RedefinePrivacy
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