Earlier quoted context omitted.
The raw slides are included in the article. You should consider looking at them.
Yeah, I've read them. Where do they say that every single email/webpage from every single person is being collected?
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XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
571–580 of 641 posts
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#572Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think so. Yes. IIRC, the first time I saw this leaked was a combo leak by a Navy Seal and a member of the Executive. The Seal leaked that they powered down Bin Laden's computers to take his hard drives after they shot him. The Executive member said that the drives were encrypted and it would take a few days to get the data. Jihadis are known to use a custom version of PGP with 2048bit RSA keys. They either used tha…
Breaking RSA is just a matter of managing to factor prime numbers faster than anyone else, isn't it? Unless if there is some sort of oversight inside the RSA algorithm that allows the encryption to be broken easier. Do you have more information on the smooth barrier? I did a quick google but didn't see much relevant.
As the size of a semiprime increases, the number of smooth numbers that can be discovered (the "yield") by the GNFS with polynomials selected with academically known optimal polynomial selection algorithms decreases. With a reduction in smooth candidates the GNFS sieve operation can be wholly unsuccessful. If a smooth barrier exists (such as a semiprime size where smooth yield becomes deficient) factoring time degenerates from the GNFS improved rate to old school factoring rates due to the need to pivot. Yield decay has been observed <2048bit. If 2048bit is easily factorable for the NSA, no barrier challenge is suggested.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#573Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. There were a lot of people from the government that came out in the past few months and said there are checks and balances and a lot of oversight in these processes. That clearly isn't true. It will be interesting to go back through all of those statements with this new information/evidence on hand. Greenwald has timed this well. He put out enough information early on to give Snowden opponents enough rope wi…
Devils advocate here: If in fact all of this is being collected, is it actually illegal to search without a warrant? If all of the above items are being siphoned off the internet via taps in concentrated NAPs around the USA and the world, and everything is in plaintext, this doesn't seem to be technically against the law.
Read the 4th amendment.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#574Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow, what a staggering misinterpretation of what the parent said.
Every time I post the truth about this NSA fiasco, I get: 1. Downvoted to oblivion by a hivemind, and 2. Somebody like you chimes in with a content-free emotional outburst. So exactly what did I misunderstand? The incontrovertible fact that this really isn't news? The fact that every history and exposé on the NSA has been saying this for decades? The fact that the NSA tried cramming the Clipper chip and key length re…
>That the previous commenter claimed to be a "news junky" and then admitted that by news he means the mass media
Absolutely nowhere did I say, or even begin to imply that. In fact, I explicitly called out the mainstream media for being complicit and/or not reporting on this issue while indicating that much of what is being reported was already known to me. Not only did I NOT say that I get my news from the mainstream media, the implication was, if anything, that I did not. The mainstream media is about the last place I'd look for competent coverage of this issue.
You're terrible at reading comprehension. Terrible. You make a lot of assumptions, all of them wrong, then proceed to insult other people based off your incorrect assumptions.
Additionally, the only thing incontrovertible is that this is news to the vast, vast majority of people who are affected by these programs. Those are the real numbers. But I know you. You're part of the Pedestal Crowd furiously patting themselves on the back. Good for you Danny. Atta boy.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#575This 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…
> Users of PGP/encryption products being singled out is terrifying.
I didn't see that in the article. Do you have a citation?
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#576Earlier quoted context omitted.
>It was obvious from the length of the act alone that even Congressional staffers couldn't have read it carefully between the time of submission and the time it passed. This is a little off topic, but I always see this trotted out when people talk about big laws (like Obamacare, PATRIOT Act, etc) and it's not really true. Lawmakers usually work with and read a "normal language" version of laws that then gets transfor…
It is an incorrect characterization when referring to the Affordable Care Act, as that went through so many revisions and debate over such a long period, that anyone who did not read it has zero excuse (including the public who allows itself to be misinformed about its contents). But it's not quite unfair wrt the PATRIOT Act. There was widespread reporting, complaining, and outright indignation that the PATRIOT Act w…
The point is more that for most lawmakers there's not really a need to read all of the nitty gritty legal language. If you're a House Rep from Kansas who's core issue is corn subsidies, reading all of the PATRIOT Act isn't really going to do you much good. Instead, you read the summaries and listen to the opinion of the experts in your party who have read the whole act.
It's important too to note that this isn't a "big law" or even an American thing. Virtually all bills of any substance work this way and it's pretty much standard practice in most countries.
That being said, I'm not defending the PATRIOT Act. I just think the argument that not enough people read it is weak, especially considering all the real arguments you can make that actually attack the substance of the act.
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#577Earlier quoted context omitted.
And look at slide 17: "Show me all VPN startups in country X, and give me data so I can decrypt and discover users ." Holy crap. Is all encryption broken?
I think so. Yes. IIRC, the first time I saw this leaked was a combo leak by a Navy Seal and a member of the Executive. The Seal leaked that they powered down Bin Laden's computers to take his hard drives after they shot him. The Executive member said that the drives were encrypted and it would take a few days to get the data. Jihadis are known to use a custom version of PGP with 2048bit RSA keys. They either used tha…
I know nothing about this stuff, so apologies for my naiveté, but what technical barriers prevent us from changing from 2048 bit encryption to something of a much much greater magnitude? 2,048,000 bit (or whatever).
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#578This 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 j…
Room 641A?
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#579It is interesting on slide 17 that the NSA can decrypt all VPN traffic.
Does this indicate that they have broken HTTPS, or simply that they own VPN companies like Private Internet Access?
Re: XKeyscore: NSA program collects 'nearly everything a user does on the internet'
#580Earlier quoted context omitted.
So let's assume the NSA still has these capabilities (a fairly reasonable assumption), and with SSL/HTTPS as a fairly feasible security option, how would these capabilities be possible? Either services aren't committed to and endorsing the use HTTPS/SSL and/or they are actively granting access to user information. Are those two reasonable conclusions? I'm trying to understand why services are not taking a more active…
Did nobody look at the PowerPoint itself? From page 17 ( http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/jul/31/nsa... ): > * Show me all the VPN startups in country X, and give me the data so I can decrypt and discover the users. > * These events are easily browsable in XKEYSCORE As I understand it (and I may be wrong), most encrypted VPN traffic uses SSL. Given that XKeyscore data is only held for a few days (due…
Yes, it seems like they have broken VPN or SSL in some way.
Perhaps they own or subsidize many of the cheaper VPN like has been rumoured for Private Internet Access? https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/