NSA likely targets anybody who's 'Tor-curious'

[Babel_17]

Use of common Web privacy tools or even mere curiosity about them could get you added to a National Security Agency watch list, according to a new report.

The NSA surveillance program called X-Keyscore, first revealed last summer in documents leaked by Edward Snowden, has been found to contain selection rules that potentially add to an NSA watch list anybody who has not only used, but visited online privacy-protection tools such as the Tor Network for anonymous Web browsing and the Linux-based Tails operating system. Snowden's X-Keyscore files indicated that it allowed NSA employees to obtain a person's phone number or email address, view the content of email, and observe full Internet activity including browsing history without a warrant.

An analysis of X-Keyscore's source code (text only) indicates that the program has targeted a German student who runs a Tor node, and can add to the NSA's surveillance lists anybody who uses popular Internet privacy tools such as Tor. The reports were prepared by reporters for the German public television broadcasters NDR and WDR, and people employed by and volunteering for Tor, who said that "former NSA employees and experts are convinced that the same code or similar code is still in use today."

http://www.cnet.com/news/nsa-likely-targets-anybody-whos-tor-curious/#ftag=CAD590a51e

[Babel_17]

1. I know, we're not easily shocked ...

We're pretty hardened here at The DU, imo, but I see this as representing the collision between a security service having a legitimate interest, and the need for our government to respect the sanctity of the process of obeying the forms set down in the Constitution.

IIRC, Tor got mentioned in last season's House of Cards.

[Babel_17]

2. I recall correctly

[pa28]

3. So I guess it wasn't "just metadata" after all.

Shocking.

[Babel_17]

5. You've got your name and phone number in my metadata!

You've got your metadata on my name and phone number!

Accidents happen? Either way, it's delicious!

[Purveyor]

4. I've said this way before the Snowden/NSA revelations. Of course they

are going to target any web anonymizer with a higher level of scrutiny.

[Babel_17]

6. That's not surprising

Though the article mentions "selection rules that potentially add to an NSA watch list anybody who has not only used, but visited online privacy-protection tools such as the Tor Network for anonymous Web browsing and the Linux-based Tails operating system".

And the article also says, "Snowden's X-Keyscore files indicated that it allowed NSA employees to obtain a person's phone number or email address, view the content of email, and observe full Internet activity including browsing history without a warrant".

So, I see an indication of overreach, and that coupled with a suggestion of being remiss about getting warrants.

[L0oniX]

14. Kinda like running from the cops will get you shot ...innocent of whatever or not.

[Babel_17]

7. And in related news ...

The Linux Journal, a Linux user community website, has been flagged as an "extremist forum" by the United States' National Security Agency (NSA), while its users have been flagged as "extremists" under the agency's XKeyscore program, according to leaked source code.

http://www.zdnet.com/nsa-targets-linux-journal-as-extremist-forum-report-7000031241/

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014839335

[elias49]

8. Kick

[Babel_17]

9. Merely following links

The NSA says it only banks the communications of "targeted" individuals. Guess what? If you follow a search-engine link to Boing Boing's articles about Tor and Tails, you've been targeted. Cory Doctorow digs into Xkeyscore and the NSA's deep packet inspection rules.

http://boingboing.net/2014/07/03/if-you-read-boing-boing-the-n.html

I guess we need, and can expect, Congress to call in some more security people to expound on what "target" and "retain" mean.

And the other big take away may be that there's another, Snowden inspired, leaker.

Another expert said that s/he believed that this leak may come from a second source, not Edward Snowden, as s/he had not seen this in the original Snowden docs; and had seen other revelations that also appeared independent of the Snowden materials. If that's true, it's big news, as Snowden was the first person to ever leak docs from the NSA. The existence of a potential second source means that Snowden may have inspired some of his former colleagues to take a long, hard look at the agency's cavalier attitude to the law and decency.

Update: Bruce Schneier also believes there is a second leaker.

Update 2: Appelbaum and others have posted an excellent English language article expanding on this in Der Erste. -Cory Doctorow

[Babel_17]

10. "You've got to ask yourself, do I feel lucky"

"Well, do you, punk?"

https://www.google.com/?q=NSA&hl=English

http://daserste.ndr.de/panorama/aktuell/nsa230_page-1.html

I wouldn't click on any XKeyscore links!

[L0oniX]

15. So ...email XKeyscore links to all the repukes you know.

[Babel_17]

11. Big day for related stories

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-nsa-intercepted-data-those-not-targeted-far-outnumber-the-foreigners-who-are/2014/07/05/8139adf8-045a-11e4-8572-4b1b969b6322_story.html

by way of http://news.slashdot.org/story/14/07/06/1245242/new-snowden-leak-of-160000-intercepted-messages-only-10-from-official-targets

U.S. intelligence officials declined to confirm or deny in general terms the authenticity of the intercepted content provided by Snowden, but they made off-the-record requests to withhold specific details that they said would alert the targets of ongoing surveillance. Some officials, who declined to be quoted by name, described Snowden’s handling of the sensitive files as reckless.

In an interview, Snowden said “primary documents” offered the only path to a concrete debate about the costs and benefits of Section 702 surveillance. He did not favor public release of the full archive, he said, but he did not think a reporter could understand the programs “without being able to review some of that surveillance, both the justified and unjustified.”

“While people may disagree about where to draw the line on publication, I know that you and The Post have enough sense of civic duty to consult with the government to ensure that the reporting on and handling of this material causes no harm,” he said.

In Snowden’s view, the PRISM and Upstream programs have “crossed the line of proportionality.”

“Even if one could conceivably justify the initial, inadvertent interception of baby pictures and love letters of innocent bystanders,” he added, “their continued storage in government databases is both troubling and dangerous. Who knows how that information will be used in the future?”



“If I had wanted to pull a copy of a judge’s or a senator’s e-mail, all I had to do was enter that selector into XKEYSCORE,” one of the NSA’s main query systems, he said.

[bobduca]

12. Kick

[L0oniX]

13. I welcome them to install an inner bowl toilet cam at my home.

I'll even provide the coffee.