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NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

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Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

#11

Post by PaulHoule »

Around that time (2013) I knew a European defense contractor was trying to build a triple store that could inject a trillion or so triples a day without purging any; they went to an RDF specialist and a columnar database pro and they said "are you kidding me?"

I told them that they were not.

See also Mark Lombardi an artist who died under mysterious circumstances after hanging meticulously designed linkages between folks like G Gordon Liddy, GHW Bush, Oliver North, A Kasshogi, BCCI inked by French curve in MOMA and many other art galleries.

Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

#12

Post by Lammy »

sandworm101 wrote: post #8
Lammy wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything being discussed in the context of leaks is by definition in the past. Use them to inform your understanding of the NSA mindset, not your understanding of current events. "Phone" is just an obsolete pre-2010s term here for the exact kind of pattern analysis you're describing. I dislike the premise behind "it's all encrypted and we cannot do that anymore" since we have no idea what capabilities an agency lik…

>> Why do you assume a human has to be involved in the judgement process for it to be taking place? I don't. A human is not necessary to the process. A human is necessary for the process to be done well . And if the NSA has broken its own encryption, to the extent that it can read past traffic, call the IMU because there are some Field's medals that need handing out.

> A human is necessary for the process to be done well.

That will still happen, but it will happen _after_ AI processes ${HUGE_NUMBER} of data streams simultaneously to pick out the interesting ones. Human intelligence and AI are complementary in this regard. We are better at the fine detail. They are better at the raw throughput and parallelism. Both types of brain working together to spy on you should terrify you.

Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

#13

Post by walterbell »

PaulHoule wrote: post #11

Around that time (2013) I knew a European defense contractor was trying to build a triple store that could inject a trillion or so triples a day without purging any; they went to an RDF specialist and a columnar database pro and they said "are you kidding me?" I told them that they were not. See also Mark Lombardi an artist who died under mysterious circumstances after hanging meticulously designed linkages between f…

Which OSS/commercial database is currently best for high-performance scalable triple-stores? Is there anything that works with PostgreSQL?

Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

#14

Post by thatcat »

[deleted] wrote: post #10
anewdirection wrote: post #3

At what point do we assert what we have known for years; that aggregted metadata is by its nature unethically privacy-invasive, and detrimental to human rights?

[deleted]

You're making a lot of assumptions about how the info is used.

Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

#15

Post by nojito »

redis_mlc wrote: post #9
billme wrote: post #7

>> “Cheney ordered that Stellarwind be concealed from the judges of the FISA Court and from members of the intelligence committees in Congress.” (a) Anyone able to expand on the author’s source for this; (b) what if any US legal guidance at the time enabled this; (c) and if anything between now and then has changed legally.

Essentially the White House can do anything it wants by asking the White House Counsel to make up a legal opinion supporting whatever the President or VP want to do. Then the onus is on people outside that circle to learn, investigate and prosecute, which could take years, or never. Sounds bizarre, but it's a real thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Counsel

That wiki article doesn't support the conclusion you are making.

The White House Counsel is nothing more than an advisory role.

Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

#16

Post by dylan604 »

redis_mlc wrote: post #9
billme wrote: post #7

>> “Cheney ordered that Stellarwind be concealed from the judges of the FISA Court and from members of the intelligence committees in Congress.” (a) Anyone able to expand on the author’s source for this; (b) what if any US legal guidance at the time enabled this; (c) and if anything between now and then has changed legally.

Essentially the White House can do anything it wants by asking the White House Counsel to make up a legal opinion supporting whatever the President or VP want to do. Then the onus is on people outside that circle to learn, investigate and prosecute, which could take years, or never. Sounds bizarre, but it's a real thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Counsel

Legal opinions are not law. And as the old saying goes, opinions are like assholes, everybody has one and they all stink

Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

#18

Post by [deleted] »

billme wrote: post #7

>> “Cheney ordered that Stellarwind be concealed from the judges of the FISA Court and from members of the intelligence committees in Congress.” (a) Anyone able to expand on the author’s source for this; (b) what if any US legal guidance at the time enabled this; (c) and if anything between now and then has changed legally.

[deleted]

Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program

#19

Post by billme »

redis_mlc wrote: post #9
billme wrote: post #7

>> “Cheney ordered that Stellarwind be concealed from the judges of the FISA Court and from members of the intelligence committees in Congress.” (a) Anyone able to expand on the author’s source for this; (b) what if any US legal guidance at the time enabled this; (c) and if anything between now and then has changed legally.

Essentially the White House can do anything it wants by asking the White House Counsel to make up a legal opinion supporting whatever the President or VP want to do. Then the onus is on people outside that circle to learn, investigate and prosecute, which could take years, or never. Sounds bizarre, but it's a real thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Counsel

Neither the contents of your comment, nor that of the document on Wikipedia appear to substantiate the claims you have made. Please cite any relevant documents, laws, etc - that support your claims as directly as possible; for example, document link, page number, subheading, paragraph, etc.

As is, your comment to me is worth less than having said nothing at all — as it requires time to read your comment, link, and the responses critical of it.

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