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kpete

(71,903 posts)
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 02:46 PM Jan 2014

?Did this Tor developer become the first known victim of the NSA's laptop interception program?

Did this Tor developer become the first known victim of the NSA's laptop interception program?
Submitted by sosadmin on Fri, 01/24/2014 - 14:29

Last night Andrea Shepard, a core Tor developer living in Seattle, posted this message to Twitter:

https://twitter.com/puellavulnerata/statuses/426597381727989760

The image she linked to shows the shipment tracking details for a computer Shepard ordered from Amazon, the global internet superstore and cloud computing giant that in late 2013 secured a $600 million contract with the CIA. Here's the image:




As you can see, the tracking details are highly unusual. Instead of shipping the computer directly from the Amazon storage facility in Santa Ana, California, to Shepard in Seattle, the package was first dispatched to Dulles, Virginia. From Dulles, it moved another four times around the military and intelligence belt in suburban Washington DC, finally landing in Alexandria at 11:03 am on January 23.

Contrary to Amazon's shipment tracking summary, Virginia is not the package's final destination. Shepard does not live in Alexandria and told Amazon to ship the computer to a Seattle, Washington address. You can see this for yourself in the top right hand corner of the image.

MORE & Larger Images?????:
http://privacysos.org/node/1311

12 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
1. Looks suspicious, but the person
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 02:57 PM
Jan 2014

blanked out the address, while leaving the ZIP+4, which resolves to an address. She also provided a name. I'm thinking whoever posted this is not too bright, overall.

I wouldn't do that.

In fact, if I were concerned about maintaining serious privacy or keeping my hardware out of government hands, I wouldn't have purchased any damn thing from Amazon. I'd have walked into a store and purchased it on the spot and walked out again. There are plenty of places to buy a laptop in Seattle, really.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
2. And it's not a computer, it's a keyboard.
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:00 PM
Jan 2014

[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)
[/center][/font][hr]

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
3. I think I read about a keyboard exploit NSA uses to capture
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:10 PM
Jan 2014

keystrokes. TOR developer? Time to log out and buy a different keyboard, I think.

 

randome

(34,845 posts)
5. That's always possible.
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:13 PM
Jan 2014

But the article mentions 'laptop' and 'computer', so it's technically inaccurate, although the line between keyboard and computers is obviously getting shorter.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)
[/center][/font][hr]

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
8. Well, I always take things like this with a giant cubic crystal of salt.
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:50 PM
Jan 2014

However, I suppose if one were a TOR programmer, some law enforcement agency might be interested. Not necessarily the NSA, either. There seems to be considerable interest in the darknet these days. I can't imagine why, but it could have something to do with drugs, illegal activities, and the like, I suppose.

Virginia is home to a number of alphabet agencies, if memory serves me.

 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
7. she never got the keyboard. It's in Virginia, not Seattle.
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:26 PM
Jan 2014

That's how stupid this is. She doesn't even have the damn thing--it got sent to the wrong place, and her response was to flog it for publicity on the Internet instead of complaining to Amazon and having them send her a new one.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
9. I have no idea whether she got it or not, really.
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:52 PM
Jan 2014

This is all pretty sketchy, IMO.

Still, if I were concerned, I believe I'd buy my hardware locally and in person, taking it with me from the store's stock. Shouldn't be a problem in the Seattle area, I'd think.

And, as you note, seeking publicity doesn't seem a good idea for someone wanting to keep a low profile.

unblock

(51,975 posts)
4. so the nsa plan is to let everyone know their equipment is going through their facilities?
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:10 PM
Jan 2014

i have to think they'd have a way to cover their tracks.


far, far, far more likely is that it's an ordinary shipping screw-up, the kind that happens all the time without any help from the nsa.

 

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)
6. oh good grief, a package gets delivered to the wrong address and she cries NSA conspiracy?
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:21 PM
Jan 2014

Hint #1: an NSA conspiracy would not document itself via an Amazon tracking update system

Hint #2: If the computer she's never touched gets sent to the government instead of being sent to her, how would that help them spy on her?

Hint #3: Dulles is an airport, where stuff shipped by air would land.

This is publicity-seeking nonsense.

The crop circle nonsense is more credible.

Progressive dog

(6,864 posts)
10. If it's unusual, it must be the NSA
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 05:01 PM
Jan 2014

The Tor project lists names of their people, They must really be afraid of the NSA.
Try torproject.org,

jeff47

(26,549 posts)
11. Gotta love the insistence that a super-intelligent evil spy agency
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 05:54 PM
Jan 2014

is so dumb they'd update UPS tracking on a package they intercepted.

Also, keyboards are not laptops.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
12. FWIW, a keyboard is an excellent place for a bug, and many already have little radios in them.
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 06:07 PM
Jan 2014

So you boost the signal power just a bit and put a receiver nearby ...

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