Earlier quoted context omitted.
IP addresses that access accounts might be of interest.
And direct messages, if anyone uses that feature.
DMs are quite common.
Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
31–40 of 49 posts
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#32I have more or less a reaction like this. I think the best approach to a FISA order is to say "sure, no problem. We will have this all printed, bound, and shipped to you surface mail within 24 hour, preferably from our outsourced printing office in the Yucatan (it's a lot of pages and we don't have the equipment in house to do that). And on the off chance you want it to be electronically readable, we will print it ou…
So you want to transmit potentially sensitive information through the post in plaintext? Just to give the middle finger to the NSA?
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#33We already know a bit about Google's automated wiretap system for Gmail, because it was the system that the Chinese attacked in 2009/2010 in an attempt to access the accounts of Tibetan human right's campaigners.[1][2] Bruce Schneier wrote a bit about this back in 2010[3] I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before, since it's public confirmation of much of what the PRISM documents say, on the record. [1] http://w…
Minor correction, it was not attacked to access accounts of human rights campaigners. It was leaked 2 months ago that Google lied about this and that the actual purpose was to see which of China's spies google were watching under NSL/FISA orders. So yes it was clearly Prism that they were accessing.
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#34Justin Schuh is a google chrome security employee and former military/agency contractor with a TS clearance, who hinted that it is basically a REST API on his twitter feed. That's getting pretty close to Arrington's theory. https://twitter.com/justinschuh He's a little drunk on the red, white and blue kool-aid, right now and lashing out, but he had some comments earlier. (make your own interpretation, I don't know hi…
Why, because he asked questions? He's as pissed as you are about the Verizon stuff, but at the same time being smeared by shoddy journalism on the "Prism" stuff. (Bias on the table, I know Justin).
His questions are legit, and I have some of the same questions, but he's also doing the smearing. I don't see him being smeared.
My feeling is also that this guy leaked material that he didn't fully understand, but that it doesn't matter because he could be wrong about all of the fuzzy details and it would still be just as bad.
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#35We already know a bit about Google's automated wiretap system for Gmail, because it was the system that the Chinese attacked in 2009/2010 in an attempt to access the accounts of Tibetan human right's campaigners.[1][2] Bruce Schneier wrote a bit about this back in 2010[3] I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before, since it's public confirmation of much of what the PRISM documents say, on the record. [1] http://w…
Minor correction, it was not attacked to access accounts of human rights campaigners. It was leaked 2 months ago that Google lied about this and that the actual purpose was to see which of China's spies google were watching under NSL/FISA orders. So yes it was clearly Prism that they were accessing.
Wow. Looks like you're right.
The breach appears to have been aimed at unearthing the
identities of Chinese intelligence operatives in the United
States who may have been under surveillance by American law
enforcement agencies.
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#36This analysis sounds very reasonable and realistic; it does fit the evidence we have so far. The key insight is "automated process" -- and I'm sure the companies involved were really happy with that solution. This part is a little naive though: "The NSA can begin surveillance on someone(s) for a full week before they have to get the rubber stamp from the secret court" Since everything is secret, it's difficult for an…
> Since everything is secret, it's difficult for anyone to examine or challenge what the NSA does. If they have a week before going to court it means they have eternity, because no one is going to make sure that provision is always observed.
"Secret" doesn't mean "code is written by people who don't document it and are then killed after it's shipped". Secret means that they don't trust you with keeping them honest.
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#37> "It can begin surveillance a week before making the request to the secret court, and the surveillance can continue during the appeals process if, in a rare case, the spy court rejects the surveillance application." How can this be constitutional? Doesn't the 4th amendment say you need probable cause before spying/searching on someone? I've also read that the NSA is spying on some, and then gives the info to the FBI…
> Doesn't the 4th amendment say you need probable cause before spying/searching on someone?
Nope.
That's a valid interpretation, but that's not what it says. To directly quote Wikipedia (yeah, I know; IANAL): "the Court ruled in Dumbra v. United States, 268 U.S. 435 (1925), that the term probable cause means "less than evidence that would justify condemnation," reiterating Carroll's assertion that it merely requires that the facts available to the officer would "warrant a man of reasonable caution" in the belief that specific items may be contraband or stolen property or useful as evidence of a crime".
Your problem, really, is that you disagree with the government on what a "man of reasonable caution" would do.
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#38> "It can begin surveillance a week before making the request to the secret court, and the surveillance can continue during the appeals process if, in a rare case, the spy court rejects the surveillance application." How can this be constitutional? Doesn't the 4th amendment say you need probable cause before spying/searching on someone? I've also read that the NSA is spying on some, and then gives the info to the FBI…
One of the biggest criticisms of democracy is that it would be too slow of a process, when, for example someone runs a plain into a business building and kills lots of people. So the founders of America created something called setting the country into a "state of emergency" which grants certain rights and privileges not normally legal. They didn't think that the government would be so power hungry that they'd just l…
> which grants certain rights and privileges not normally legal
Please enumerate the actual rights and privileges not normally legal.
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#39I have more or less a reaction like this. I think the best approach to a FISA order is to say "sure, no problem. We will have this all printed, bound, and shipped to you surface mail within 24 hour, preferably from our outsourced printing office in the Yucatan (it's a lot of pages and we don't have the equipment in house to do that). And on the off chance you want it to be electronically readable, we will print it ou…
So you want to transmit potentially sensitive information through the post in plaintext? Just to give the middle finger to the NSA?
"Oh, fret not. It's a double encryption. See, if the first letter is a consonant, then what follows is the mirrored truth."
Re: Connecting the PRISM Dots: A New Theory on How PRISM Works
#40"Meanwhile, the BBC has learned that Twitter was invited to join the Prism programme last year, but rejected the approach from US authorities." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-22824379
What would be the point? The vast majority of the data is public, and Twitter will give you firehose access (essentially a stream of all tweets) if you ask nicely.