In-Flight Wi-Fi: Privacy Going GoGoing Gone

The NSA is harvesting the online data of millions of airline passengers who use inflight WiFi across the U.S., a secret letter has revealed.

Gogo, the main supplier of WiFi to airlines in the U.S., are among a host of network providers that have been handing over information gleaned from air travelers' browsing history.

The news has enraged privacy campaigners who say the data exchange may be in violation of U.S. law.

A letter, leaked to Wired, Gogo admitted violating the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) - a 1994 wiretapping law that gave a backdoor to government agencies to monitor telecom and broadband activity.

But Gogo states in the letter that it added a raft of new measures to its service that made spying on users easier for the authorities. (more)

NSA Issues "Best Practices for Keeping Your Home Network Secure"

All right. Stop giggling. 

If you can get past the double irony (recommendation #5 being the second), this 8-page pdf document is really quite good. (more)

"OK, which one of you said 'coool'?"

The National Security Agency has built a surveillance system capable of recording “100 percent” of a foreign country’s telephone calls, enabling the agency to rewind and review conversations as long as a month after they take place, according to people with direct knowledge of the effort and documents supplied by former contractor Edward Snowden. (more)

You Know You've Made It When...

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is reported to have been cast as an action figure in a video game that has him reenacting the NSA spying scandal, while avoiding government capture. 
 
A 12-inch action figure of the former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor is being marketed by Thatsmyface.com for 99 dollars.

Proceeds from the action figure's sale will be donated to the Freedom of the Press Foundation. (more)

P.S. They can make one of you, too.

Maryland Bill Would Shut Down NSA Spy Center

MD - A group of legislators in Maryland has introduced legislation that would deny state support to federal agencies engaged in warrantless electronic surveillance in a move aimed at curtailing the National Security Agency's power to monitor and track citizens.

Eight Republicans in the Maryland House of Delegates last week introduced the "Fourth Amendment Protection Act," which would deny the NSA "material support, participation or assistance in any form” from the state, its political subdivisions or companies with state contracts, US News reported.

The bill would deprive NSA's headquarters in Ft. Meade, Md., water and electricity carried over public utilities, prohibit the use of evidence gathered by the agency in state courts and prevent state universities from partnering with the NSA on research, according to the report. (more)

Tennessee proposed the same thing last month. (more)

Dutch Minister Admits Lying on Eavesdropping

Netherlands - A Dutch cabinet minister faced calls to quit on Tuesday after admitting he wrongly told parliament that 1.8 million telecommunications intercepts had been collected by the US National Security Agency, rather than the Dutch spy service.

The departure of Internal Affairs Minister Ronald Plasterk would come at a bad time for Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s coalition government. It is polling near its lowest level since taking power in November 2012...

Plasterk wrote on Monday in a letter to parliament that it was the Dutch intelligence service, not the NSA, that had collected the so-called metadata. (more)

But we already knew this seven years ago. (more) 
And again last year. (more)

UPDATE:
The Dutch branch of British telecom company Vodafone has taken a stand on privacy by asking various Dutch ministries for permission to disclose the number of demands it receives for wiretapping, the telecom company announced in a statement Wednesday.

"We want to invest in a healthy ICT future by providing information to our costumers about what we do with data," Vodafone wrote in the statement. 

"But if you really want to boost consumer confidence, the government should be more transparent," Vodafone added.

Swiss Swatch on Swish Laws in Russia. Neutral. And by the way U.S...

The eccentric chief executive officer of Swatch Group (Nick Hayek), one of the world's top watchmakers, was so incensed by recent allegations of mass U.S. spying that he chastised a top New York official over the matter in a letter late last year... 

Hayek's comments were released this week, along with those from five other companies that responded... (They were asked to take a stance against Russia's recent clampdown on gays ahead of the winter games in Sochi.)

Please make me one, Nick.

"As you claim you are an investor with Swatch Group you should be equally preoccupied about what has been publicized lately: the massive collection of data of the NSA worldwide including Switzerland," fumed Hayek, whose first language is not English, in a letter dated December 13.

"Swatch Group is an innovative industrial leader; at the heart of our success are very innovative products," Hayek continued. "The integrity of our confidential information is key to develop successful products. The practices that apparently have become a habit from organizations like the NSA can create huge damage to our company and our shareholders."
 
"As an investor you should have all interest to speak up loud about such potentially damaging practices coming from the USA," Hayek said. (more) (sing-a-long)

Data Spying: Feb. 11 To Become “The Day We Fight Back”

The ACLU, Greenpeace, Reddit, Mozilla and a number of other organizations have banded together to fight back against data spying.

Data spying has become a hot topic in the U.S., ever since Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the National Security Agency’s data mining programs... Now a group of organizations and businesses are uniting in an effort to raise awareness about data spying. 

The ACLU, Greenpeace and other organizations have put together the website TheDayWeFightBack.org, letting everyone know that they’re planning to make a big statement on Feb. 11. That’s the date when we will see a bunch of Internet ads protesting the U.S. government’s data spying programs...

According to the site, U.S. Internet users will see banners which urge them to call or email Congress about the data spying issue. (more)

Tennessee Bill Would Shut Down NSA Spy Center

Legislators in Tennessee have introduced a bill that would ban the state from providing water and electricity to an NSA data center which is currently involved in building supercomputers designed to crack encrypted data.

The Fourth Amendment Protection Act, which mirrors legislation introduced in other states, would prohibit local and state agencies from “providing material support to…any federal agency claiming the power to authorize the collection of electronic data or metadata of any person pursuant to any action not based on a warrant.”

The bill also disincentivizes local companies from doing business with the NSA. (more)

Interestingly, Tennessee is the home of the most patriotic city in the U.S., Knoxville, and the largest manufacturer of counterspy gear in the U.S., REI. Tennessee's slogan, "America at its best."

Obama on Digital Spying: Hey, Companies Do It, Too

In a much-anticipated speech, President Barack Obama took to the podium to introduce changes he aims to make to the National Security Administration's surveillance operations... Those in the business community may have been surprised that the president took a moment to remind Americans that spying isn't just a government practice.

Here's what the President said about corporate data tracking:
"Corporations of all shapes and sizes track what you buy, store and analyze our data, and use it for commercial purposes; that's how those targeted ads pop up on your computer or smartphone." (more)

Why does this remind me of my mother saying, "So, if George jumped off the roof would you do it too?"

NSA Can Now Bug iPhones (yawn)

Reports have surfaced that the US National Security Agency can now turn iPhones into eavesdropping tools.

That’s the word from security expert Jacob Appelbaum, who told a hacker conference in Germany that the NSA can plant iPhone malware called Dropout Jeep, which gives American intelligence agents the ability to turn the gadget into a listening post using the iPhone camera and microphone. Also, it has a spyware function that can retrieve contact information, read through text messages and emails, and listen to voicemails. (more)

(Yawn.) Spyware for smartphones has been around for years. You can purchase it with a few keystrokes. 

Don't worry about the NSA. They could probably care less about you. Worry about your employer, disgruntled employee, or significant other. 

Then, if the question, "Is my cell phone bugged?" pops into your mind, buy a good book, or app, and find out what to do about it.

NSA Lawsuit Ruling

Washington – A federal district judge ruled on Monday that the National Security Agency program that is systematically keeping records of all Americans’ phone calls most likely violates the Constitution, describing its technology as “almost Orwellian” and suggesting that James Madison would be “aghast” to learn that the government was encroaching on liberty in such a way.

The judge, Richard J. Leon of Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the government to stop collecting data on the personal calls of the two plaintiffs in the case and to destroy the records of their calling history. But Judge Leon, appointed to the bench in 2002 by President George W. Bush, stayed his injunction “in light of the significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues,” allowing the government time to appeal it, which he said could take at least six months.

“I cannot imagine a more ‘indiscriminate’ and ‘arbitrary’ invasion than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval,” Judge Leon wrote in a 68-page ruling. “Surely, such a program infringes on ‘that degree of privacy’ that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment,” which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures. (more)

NSA News Flash

* Judge: NSA Phone Spying 'Almost Certainly' Unconstitutional 
* Ruling Deals a Blow to NSA Records-Collection Methods 
* Lengthy Federal Court Process Still Ahead for NSA Spying 
(MORE TO COME)

'That thing they said they're not doing? They're totally doing" - Jon Stewart

Last week The National Reconnaissance Office launched a new satellite called NROL-39 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and a lot of people noticed a picture of a massive octopus straddling the earth.

"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" has some fun with the spy logo, the choice of which drew ridicule in light of the many leaks about mass government surveillance from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden. 

After playing a game of 'That Thing They Said They're Not Doing? They're Totally Doing" — which involves showing clips of the U.S. government denying spying allegations only to confirm them later — Stewart went after the logo that boasts: "Nothing Is Beyond Our Reach." (more)


In 1955 an octopus taking over Earth was just science fiction. 
Perhaps the logo artist remembered this.

Why Care About the NSA?

NSA Spy Scandal - The Final Word?

Get Over It: America and Its Friends Spy on Each Other

"All history teaches us that today's allies are tomorrow's rivals." John le Carré 

With the French saying they are shocked—shocked!—to discover that America is spying on them, and the long-monitored German chancellor, Angela Merkel, reportedly in a state of outrage, this may be a good time to explain why it is considered so necessary. Why monitoring "foreign-leadership intentions" is a "hardy perennial" in U.S. espionage practice, as National Intelligence Director James Clapper put it during congressional hearings this week. And why most of what is done today, one way or another, is likely to go on. 

...the NSA may be reined in. But one way or another, the spying will go on.  (more)

This story was written by, Michael Hirsh, chief correspondent for National Journal. Alternate ends to the NSA story don't seem plausible. Think back to the Church Committee hearings and Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson... "Gentlemen do not read each other's mail." 

Stimson's views on the worth of cryptanalysis had changed by the time he became Secretary of War during World War II, before and during which he, and the entire US command structure, relied heavily on decrypted enemy communications. (wikipedia)

Last Week on Halloween

This Judge is a Surveillance Expert. He has Cred.

James G. Carr ’62, a senior judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and a former member of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), described the process through which the federal government conducts electronic surveillance and railed against National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden in a talk in the Gund Gallery’s Community Foundation Theater...

Carr told his audience “every one of us in this room probably has been overheard under a FISA warrant... It’s a general search,” Carr said, “that which the Fourth Amendment most directly and most clearly, unequivocally prohibits. Nobody can dispute that.”...

In July, Carr wrote an op-ed in The New York Times calling for Congress to reform the court. He suggested judges be allowed to appoint outside lawyers to “represent the interests of the Constitution and the public” in cases where a novel issue, such as new surveillance technology, is present in the warrant application. Government agents are required to inform the court if their application raises that kind of issue...

Carr had harsh words for Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor who provided documents about NSA surveillance procedures to journalists before fleeing to Hong Kong and then Russia. He asked audience members how many of them thought Snowden’s actions were worthwhile, and upon seeing hands raise, said, “I want to try and disabuse you of that view.”

Snowden, he said, had been “in the hands of the Chinese and the Russians for months, and if anybody in this room thinks for a moment that they don’t know everything he learned … c’mon now.” 

The NSA, Carr said, “does a crucially important job,” whereas Snowden, whom he mockingly called “the great American patriot,” had done “irredeemable” damage.

In the Q & A after the talk, one student asked Carr, “Why bother protecting our lives if you don’t first protect our rights?” Carr responded, “Because if we have no lives, we have no rights.” (more)

Why is Carr the expert? 
Because he wrote the book. (more)

10 Most Audacious Eavesdropping Plots

Operation Ivy Bells
At the height of the cold war, the National Security Agency, CIA and the US Navy collaborated to tap into underwater communication lines used by the Soviet Union. 

Operation Stopwatch
This joint operation between the CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service was again an attempt to tap into communications by the Soviet Military.

The Cambridge Spies
Rather than relying on modern eavesdropping, this operation used old fashioned infiltration.

Click to enlarge.

The Gunman Project
During 1976, the KGB managed to install miniaturized eavesdropping equipment and transmitters inside 16 IBM Selectric Typewriters used by staff at the US embassy in Moscow and consulate in Leningrad. 

The Bundesnachrichtendienst Trojan Horse Affair
Germany may have been the victim off NSA eavesdropping, but its own Federal Intelligence Service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, has also engaged in such activities.

The MI6 Spy Rock
In a modern version of the dead letter drop, British spies working out of the embassy in Russia used a transmitter concealed in an artificial rock to pass classified data. 

Acoustic Kitty
Acoustic Kitty was a top secret 1960s CIA project attempting to use cats in spy missions, intended to spy on the Kremlin and Soviet embassies. (more)

Moles in Berlin

In 1956, American and British agents tunneled into East German territory in order to tap a telephone line. This allowed them to eavesdrop on important conversations between Red Army leaders and the KGB. A segment of the tunnel can now be visited. (more)

U2
An international diplomatic crisis erupted in May 1960 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers. Confronted with the evidence of his nation's espionage, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was forced to admit to the Soviets that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) had been flying spy missions over the USSR for several years. (more)

Animal Spies
A former CIA trainer reveals, the U.S. government deployed nonhuman operatives—ravens, pigeons, even cats—to spy on cold war adversaries. “We never found an animal we could not train.” (more)

How NSA Breakthrough May Allow 'Burner' Phone Tracking

via Dan Goodin, Ars Technica 
In the HBO hit series The Wire, disposable cell phones were the bane of detectives' lives. Drug dealers obtained these prepaid "burners" in mass quantities with cash at multiple stores hundreds of miles away from where they were used.

After a week or two of use, a crook would destroy one cheap handset and fetch a new one. The Baltimore Police detectives' inability to tap the phones stymied their investigation into one of the city's most ruthless crime families — until they found a way to track the devices.

The National Security Agency may have made a similar breakthrough. Cato Institute researcher Julian Sanchez recently pulled a few sentences from a 2009 declaration by NSA Director Keith Alexander. They describe an unnamed tool that routinely accessed the vast database of call records assembled by the NSA. Sanchez argues that the purpose may be to identify burner phones used by NSA targets. (more) (via Schneier)