N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
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Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#2> For technical reasons, the agency ended up collecting messages sent and received domestically as a byproduct of such surveillance, the officials said.
Yeah, sure. Maybe don't do mass surveillance then?
> The agency then proposed putting the bundled messages in a special repository to which analysts, searching through intercepts to write intelligence reports, would generally not have access. The court permitted that type of collection to continue with that restriction.
But last year, officials said, the N.S.A. discovered that analysts were querying the bundled messages in a way that did not comply with those rules.
This seems to happen Every.Single.Time. I wonder what really prompted the NSA to stop this collection. Maybe they just want to act all "We're good boys now" to convince Congress that they can be trusted with FISA Amendments' renewal, later this year?
Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#3Things that I do not for one second believe: this.
Maybe this one particular program, under one particular name, sure.
But overall? I just don't see it. I am not saying this cynically, I just don't. Data collection is too easy, database queries too simple.
Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#4> The problem stemmed from certain bundled messages that internet companies sometimes packaged together and transmitted as a unit.
Wat?
Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#5> For technical reasons, the agency ended up collecting messages sent and received domestically as a byproduct of such surveillance, the officials said. Yeah, sure. Maybe don't do mass surveillance then? > The agency then proposed putting the bundled messages in a special repository to which analysts, searching through intercepts to write intelligence reports, would generally not have access. The court permitted that…
We'll probably have to wait for the next Bamford book to find out what happened.
Given past performance, I would put money on this being replaced by a functionally identical program with a legal hack, and of course a new name. (The new name is vital so that "we no longer collect that data under that program" remains a technically-true statement.)
Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#6so, the infrastructure equipment used to do this is up for sale right? anyone know where?
I'm in the market for cheap network/server/security gear.
Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#7Don't ever rely on email to be secure. It is an insecure medium despite all the bandaids on it. It's useful for sure, but assume it's being read by the government before you send a message.
Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#8Things that I do not for one second believe: this. Maybe this one particular program, under one particular name, sure. But overall? I just don't see it. I am not saying this cynically, I just don't. Data collection is too easy, database queries too simple.
And they already have all the infrastructure in place.
Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#9> For technical reasons, the agency ended up collecting messages sent and received domestically as a byproduct of such surveillance, the officials said.
"Oops didn't mean to."
Keep in mind that the NSA lied to Congress very recently. Thanks to Snowden they were caught in that lie. I don't believe anything they say.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2014/mar/11/...
Re: N.S.A Halts Collection of Americans’ Emails About Foreign Targets
#10It looks like this is likely a temporary cease & desist in order to get court authorization for their "broader warrantless surveillance program" while they figure out how to get those "bundled messages" into a separate repository.
I'd guess the NSA will eventually resume this massive email collection program once they can get it such that it's in compliance with the Court rules (which they seem to have been unable to do quickly right now hence ceasing it).
The good news, however slight it may be, is that the NSA may be at least obeying court orders somewhat rigorously.