Update, January 2014: Polls continue to confirm the trend. In a poll conducted in December 2013 by the Washington Post, 66% of Americans were concerned "about the collection and use of [their] personal information by the National Security Agency." Americans aren't only concerned about the collection. A recent Pew poll foundyet againthat a majority of Americans oppose the government's collection of phone and Internet data as a part of anti-terrorism efforts.

Since Americans are both concerned with, and opposed to, the spying, it's no surprise that they also want reform. In a November 2013 poll by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research, 59% of respondents noted that they wanted surveillance reform and 63% said they wanted more oversight of the spying programs. While these polls focused on the larger population of Americans, a Harvard University Insitute of Politics poll focusing on younger Americans (aged 18-29 years old) reaffirmed younger Americans are both wary of the NSA's activities and that a majority do not want the government to collect personal information about them.

Shortly after the June leaks, numerous polls asked the American people if they approved or disapproved of the NSA spying, which includes collecting telephone records using Section 215 of the Patriot Act and collecting phone calls and emails using Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The answer then was a resounding no, and new polls released in August and September clearly show Americans' increasing concern about privacy has continued.

Since July, many of the polls not only confirm the American people think the NSA's actions violates their privacy, but think the surveillance should be stopped. For instance in an AP poll, nearly 60 percent of Americans said they oppose the NSA collecting data about their telephone and Internet usage. In another national poll by the Washington Post and ABC News, 74 percent of respondents said the NSA's spying intrudes on their privacy rights. This majority should come as no surprise, as we've seen a sea change in opinion polls on privacy since the Edward Snowden revelations started in June.

What's also important is that it crosses political party lines. The Washington Post/ABC News poll found 70 percent of Democrats and 77 percent of Republicans believe the NSAs spying programs intrude on their privacy rights. This change is significant, showing that privacy is a bipartisan issue. In 2006, a similar question found only 50 percent of Republicans thought the government intruded on their privacy rights.

Americans also continue their skepticism of the federal government and its inability to conduct proper oversight. In a recent poll, Rasmussonthough sometimes known for push pollingrevealed that there's been a 30 percent increase in people who believe it is now more likely that the government will monitor their phone calls. Maybe even more significant is that this skepticism carries over into whether or not Americans believe the government's claim that it "robustly oversees" the NSA's programs. In a Huffpost/You Gov poll, 53 percent of respondents said they think "the federal courts and rules put in place by Congress" do not provide "adequate oversight." Only 18 percent of people agreed with the statement.

Americans seem to be waking up from its surveillance state slumber as the leaks around the illegal and unconstitutional NSA spying continue. The anger Americansespecially younger Americanshave around the NSA spying is starting to show. President Obama has seen a 14-point swing in his approval and disapproval rating among voters aged 18-29 after the NSA spying.

These recent round of polls confirm that Americans are not only concerned with the fact that the spying infringes their privacy, but also that they want the spying to stop. And this is even more so for younger Americans. Now is the time for Congress to act: join the StopWatching.Us coalition.

Excerpt from:
Update: Polls Continue to Show Majority of Americans ...

Google is already beginning to lay the groundwork for another push next year to rein in government spying ahead of a crucial summer deadline to some of the National Security Agency's surveillance authority.

The search behemoth this week updated its "Take Action" site with a new page that promises that 2015 "will be our moment" to reform sweeping surveillance programs, exposed last year by fugitive leaker Edward Snowden.

"In June of 2015, we have a huge chance to protect Americans from mass surveillance when a key part of the USA Patriot Act is set to expire," reads the brief petition, which invites users to submit their contact information. "That means we need to be ready to take action this coming year."

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding how many people had signed the petition.

Core provisions of the post-9/11 Patriot Act are due to sunset on June 1, including the contentious Section 215, which grants the intelligence community much of its authority to sweep up bulk U.S. phone records. But despite the looming deadline, it remains unclear how much momentum surveillance reform will have in a Republican-controlled Congress next year.

The GOP killed a reform package in the Senate last month, as the USA Freedom Act fell two shorts votes of the 60-vote threshold needed to advance. The measure, which would have effectively ended the government's bulk phone metadata collection, was unable to overcome late-stage opposition from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and others who warned that reining in the NSA could help terrorists kill Americans.

Complicating efforts is a possible splinter that may soon emerge among the diverse array of NSA reform backers. Many privacy advocates argue that the best chance to curb the NSA will be to push to let those Patriot Act provisions expire altogether. Other reformers, however, are reticent to outright jeopardize a counterterrorism measure, especially given continued geopolitical uncertainty in regions such as the Middle East.

The tech lobby has been a vocal and important voice in the ongoing effort to curtail NSA authority. Several Silicon Valley giantsincluding Google, Facebook, and Yahooformed the Reform Government Surveillance coalition in the wake of the Snowden disclosures to advocate for limits on the NSA's broad spying authority and press for more transparency with customers about government data requests.

This article appears in the December 18, 2014 edition of NJ Daily.

Originally posted here:
Google: 2015 Will be the 'Moment' to Reform NSA Spying ...

The NSA is now spying on 90% of worldwide mobile networks according to a new report from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. According to the NSA leaker, the mobile networks are being spied on through an internal program called Auroragold. The program, through various hacks, allows NSA officials to listen in on phone calls and read text messages.

Last year, journalists Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald met Snowden in Hong Kong. At that time he provided the pair with various pieces of classified information about NSA spying techniques. Through their on-line publication, The Intercept, the journalists occasionally leak information they obtained from their meeting with Snowden.

According to the latest report from The Intercept, NSAs Auroragold program has been spying on more than 1.200 e-mail accounts and communications made through dozens of mobile phone networks all over the world. Those high priority accounts are among the millions that the agency has access to throughout the various networks they have hacked.

The Snowden report claims that the NSA is most interested in targeting the GSM Association (GSMA), which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. GSM technology is used by the likes of AT&T, Vodafone, Microsoft, Apple, and Samsung, among others.

According toThe Intercept,the NSA is most interested in GSMAs documentation for roaming technology. That tech allows mobile phone users to travel all over the world, while still using their GSM-enabled smartphones and tablets on non-home networks.

Documents already leaked by Snowden in 2013 revealed thatthe NSA can capture GSM traffic thats encrypted with the A5/1 algorithm.

NSA spokesperson Vanee Vines recently said in an e-mail that the NSA operates within the law. They add:

Terrorists, weapons proliferators, and other foreign targets often rely on the same means of communication as ordinary people. In order to anticipate and understand evolving threats to our citizens and our allies, NSA works to identify and report on the communications of valid foreign targets,

The new report claims that the NSA is spying on 70% of networks located mostly in the Middle East, China, and Northern Africa. It is also claimed that US mobile-based networks are not among the NSAs top priorities, although they have been accused of spying on US citizens.

Link:
Bertelur - NSA Spying On 90% Of World’s Mobile Networks