A couple years ago there was an AMA on Reddit from someone saying he was very deeply involved in spying on the general public's online lives, "at a level you can't imagine". Many technical questions were asked, all answered properly. I could never get it out of my head and now that Snowden has emerged I can't stop thinking he was the OP. Wish I could find this AMA again.
XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
211–220 of 641 posts
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kind of puts into perspective why they would coordinate such a massive raid on Megaupload. The target may not have even been the data - merely seizing the data puts anybody who has accessed the megaupload website as an easy target.
You crossed the tinfoil line. Copyright infringement was sufficient motivation for the actions taken. The megaupload raid was not okay, but I am pretty sure Hollywood was behind it, not the NSA.
Just a few years ago this very article would cross the tinfoil line. Plus, don't be naive to think that the government wouldn't use an accusation of committing a crime to cover what they really want to do.
For instance, need data from a server's hard drive? Accuse someone you know who has data on that server, not necessarily the data you want, to have an excuse to seize said hard drive and analyze it. Nope, turns out the accusation was incorrect, here's the hard drive back. Ah, is getting other data not covered by the warrant illegal? It just might be, but you can't complain if you don't know they did it and you probably don't have standing to sue over it to find out. Plus with authorities able to get double-secret warrants based on triple-super-secret laws issued by not-so-secret courts with "you can't even admit you were here" secret proceedings, how would anyone know in the first place?
Remember, government agents have the authority to lie to you in an effort to complete their goals.
Not that I'm saying the NSA was behind MegaUpload or anything, just saying it's feasible.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#213This is brilliant, I love the screenshots: Foreignness factor: The person has stated that he is located outside the U.S. Human intelligence source indicates person is located outside the U.s. The person is a user of storage media seized outside the U.s. Foreign govt indicates that the person is located outside the U.s. Phone number country code indicates the person is located outside the U.s. Phone number is register…
The fact that they don't require a wiretap order or even a warrant to monitor foreign citizens is disturbing in itself and is based on a questionable internal interpretation of the law.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#214This is overwhelming. Even when you always hear the claims about we knew this was going on, somehow it is still shocking when you see it all laid out infront of you with screenshots and the capabilities described. I can see how they get HTTP information, since they would intercept at transit hubs - but how are they getting all Facebook private messages and Gmail? I was also looking for another unique ID that users ar…
> I was also looking for another unique ID that users are identified by
They can use plugins / extensions installed. Fonts installed. If cookies are enabled or not, etc. Check out: https://panopticlick.eff.org/
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#215Greenwald said in the comments, there is a lot more to come:
> That House vote was about one specific topic - bulk collection of phone records - that this newest article has nothing to do with. That House vote isn't the be all and end all: it's just one small battle in what I can assure you will be a sustained and ongoing discussion/controversy.
> There is a lot more to report still. Accuracy is the number one priority. That takes time.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably because he has dark skin, and his native tongue is probably something other than English. I'm a little worried now because I visited his page, and this will surely be logged, hence my past online activities may now be investigated.
Don't worry, you were already on their list. HN fields roughly 200,000 unique visitors each day, most of which have a markedly anti-gov't-spying slant[1], that's enough evidence to be in their cross-hairs. [1]: Such that in some capacity you might participate in the creation/promotion of methods or software to get around their snooping technologies.
Thoughtcrime.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#217This is overwhelming. Even when you always hear the claims about we knew this was going on, somehow it is still shocking when you see it all laid out infront of you with screenshots and the capabilities described. I can see how they get HTTP information, since they would intercept at transit hubs - but how are they getting all Facebook private messages and Gmail? I was also looking for another unique ID that users ar…
Just want to clarify something:
> I can see how they get HTTP information, since they would intercept at transit hubs - but how are they getting all Facebook private messages and Gmail?
I don't know how they're getting GMail(and this is probably a slide from when GMail was accessible via HTTP and not HTTPS), but Facebook chat specifically is done over a non-secure XMPP server. The only 'secure' part of that transaction is login, as far as I remember, once you're past that none of it is encrypted.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#218This is overwhelming. Even when you always hear the claims about we knew this was going on, somehow it is still shocking when you see it all laid out infront of you with screenshots and the capabilities described. I can see how they get HTTP information, since they would intercept at transit hubs - but how are they getting all Facebook private messages and Gmail? I was also looking for another unique ID that users ar…
>This is overwhelming. Even when you always hear the claims about we knew this was going on, somehow it is still shocking when you see it all laid out infront of you with screenshots and the capabilities described.
It has become a bit of a pet peeve of mine recently to see self-aggrandizing comments from users around the net about how "we should have known" and "none of this is new."
I'm a practically addicted news junkie (especially tech news) and while I've been aware of a fair amount of what has been exposed in this latest leak, it seems that every day there are revelations new to me, and what is revealed absolutely shocks the conscience. And I'm an outlier. I'm more plugged in to reporting on this subject than 99% of the globe's population, and this subject tangles with the rights and treatment of a large portion of the population of said globe.
The staggering majority had no clue, has no clue, and no, they were never informed. For all intents and purposes, the global media has been asleep or complicit.
It's staggeringly important to keep telling this story at every level specifically because "we" don't know, and still don't.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#219Earlier quoted context omitted.
You probably don't need to break the encryption because eventually all traffic has to exit the VPN's company's endpoint, and at that point it can be captured. Meta data such as the browser's fingerprint can be used to tie traffic to an individual, for example, if you see them log in to a regular HTTP site with an email or a username, this information could probably be used to figure out who they are. Armed with this…
> all traffic has to exit the VPN's company's endpoint, and at that point it can be captured. If the only thing they're dealing with is VPN's used as a private proxy for access to the public internet, you're right, and if so it's not so troubling (well, as in it is "only" just as troubling as having them access everyones web traffic). But arguably most VPN traffic is exiting inside private networks and are intended f…
Many corporate VPNs are secured via RSA SecurID and their keyfobs. Several years ago the SecurID source was compromised by hackers[1] and it was suspected the master seed/key was lost. Imagine if the NSA had access to that key -- it'd certainly be a juicy target for them.