Friday, August 19, 2016

Privacy Guidebook for Eavesdropping on Americans Draws Flack

A privacy update to 1982 Defense Department rules for conducting surveillance on Americans contains a loophole...

that lets the National Security Agency continue eavesdropping on a wide swath of online conversations, critics say.

"DOD Manual 5240.01: Procedures Governing the Conduct of DOD Intelligence Activities" was last issued when all email addresses could fit in a Parent Teacher Association-sized directory. The new rules reflect a shift in intelligence gathering from bugging an individual’s phone to netting communications in bulk from the global internet...

It remains to be seen, or unseen, how U.S. spies are following the new data-handling guidelines in practice when scanning networks. 

On Wednesday, Defense officials declined to comment on internet cable-tapping. more