NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
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Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#2"The agency collected “only metadata,” it said, not the content of telephone calls."
Relevant: "Using Metadata to find Paul Revere" (2013) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23276083
Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#3At 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?
Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#4Some countries are also collecting physical location data from telecom companies, for the claimed purpose of contact chaining-tracing-matrix-graph-network analysis:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/05/global-contact-tracing...
> Despite the lack of evidence to show the effectiveness of location data to stop the spread of the virus, a number of countries’ governments have used the crisis to introduce completely new surveillance powers or extend old ones to new COVID-related purposes.
Some US states will use smartphones for opt-in contact tracing using iOS 13.5+ and Android 6.0+, https://9to5mac.com/2020/05/21/covid-19-exposure-notificatio...
> Alabama, South Carolina, and North Dakota are among the first U.S. states to express interest in Apple and Google’s Exposure Notifications API for assisting COVID-19 contact tracing.
It is not yet understood if/how state health contact databases will be combined with other county, state or federal databases, but Palantir manages multiple databases and is involved in both US and UK Covid-related data fusion projects, https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/20/palantir-covid-19-va-contr... & https://tech.newstatesman.com/coronavirus/palantir-covid19-d...
Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#5Old hat. Phone records are almost an anachronism.
Current theory isn't about missing connections between people. With social networks big and small, everyone can be connected to everyone else. Thanks to twitter I'd bet the US president isn't more than a hop or two from every terrorist suspect on the planet. (Not trying to be political, making a point about connected people.)
So the existence of "links" no longer matter as there are links between everyone. What matters is the quality and content of those links. It starts with bi-directionality. Sure, the president's twitter feed is read by terrorists but do they also speak back to him? Then does he reply? That back-and-forth would represent a higher-order of connection. Are they speaking publicly? How many people are in on these conversations? A private conversation matters more than a public back-and-forth twitter war.
A machine mining a database for raw connections isn't useful. To judge the quality of connections you really do need a human mind capable of making a judgement call. They need to put the connection into context. Or, since it's all encrypted and they cannot do that anymore, everyone is linked to everyone. A warrant can be got for anyone anywhere. Send in the killbots when and where the boss wants.
Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#6Old hat. Phone records are almost an anachronism. Current theory isn't about missing connections between people. With social networks big and small, everyone can be connected to everyone else. Thanks to twitter I'd bet the US president isn't more than a hop or two from every terrorist suspect on the planet. (Not trying to be political, making a point about connected people.) So the existence of "links" no longer matt…
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 like NSA has now or could have in the future. If their capabilities grow perhaps they can replay all that saved encrypted data from their Utah Data Center and throw it into AI for analysis. Why do you assume a human has to be involved in the judgement process for it to be taking place?
Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#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.
Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#8Old hat. Phone records are almost an anachronism. Current theory isn't about missing connections between people. With social networks big and small, everyone can be connected to everyone else. Thanks to twitter I'd bet the US president isn't more than a hop or two from every terrorist suspect on the planet. (Not trying to be political, making a point about connected people.) So the existence of "links" no longer matt…
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.
Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#9>> “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:
Re: NSA “precomputed contact chaining” enhances phone-record tracking program
#10At 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?
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