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EF Journal 003: What We Know About Surveillance Now
12 years ago
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ENCRYPTION = FREEDOM This Journal's goal is to consolidate basic tangible data about what we have learned about surveillance lately. It's not supposed to be alarmist but it is inevitable that it will appear to be. I'll try and keep it short but due to the nature of this report it will contain quite a bit of information. So instead of ranting about the repercussions of these issues I'm just going to succinctly state what the main results are of each of these issues. Many are old news, but much of it is only added to the list of new news because it puts the newer stuff into perspective. So here goes...
Recently there has been a big hubbub about government surveillance. You may already be aware of PRISM as it was the most talked about. However there is more to the story. For those that are skeptical about how devastating these surveillance programs are by making statements like "I don't have anything to hide" then consider this: Have you ever had a private conversation in your lifetime? Perhaps with your spouse? Your, lover? Your bank? Do you have a lock on your door? Have you ever considered that man-in-the-middle attacks (which are often thwarted by HTTPS, a security implementation) are how hackers obtain information about you necessary to hack your bank account and other social media sites? Clearly, security is an important part of our daily lives. To say that you have nothing to hide is a profoundly naive and self destructive sentiment.
PRISM is a clandestine data collation and collection system that records and visualizes social media data about everyone on earth that has ever used a social media application. This includes people outside the jurisdiction of the US. Because of the nature of social media, it is often possible to create a timeline of events and location data as well as build a profile on you that indicates your likelihood to engage in activities that ad agencies and governments might be interested in knowing about. Indeed, Google and Facebook, monitor your chat and emails for keywords and provide ads based on those keywords. Coupled with records of your searches from various sources, PRISM is an invaluable tool all on its own that can build a very detailed picture about your life. Including data that you may not wish to share with the world.
Tempora is a clandestine electronic surveillance program run by the GCHQ, the British equivalent of the NSA. It has wide reach and make little distinction between specific targets and everyone else within their network. Meaning they surveil everybody within their jurisdiction. The US is not actually allowed to surveil foreign entities even though there are several loop holes involved. One of those loop holes is that the NSA and GCHQ share the information that they record. Some say that this is a clear violation of the law.
Stellar Wind was the program initiated as a result of 9/11 that allowed the NSA to gather data in large portions including phone conversations, financial transactions, e-mails, and Internet activity. Please keep in mind that NarusInsight already collects every single email going in and out of the US (including those that don't actually leave the US, so basically all emails on the planet because of the fact that most major email providers are US hosted) and previously Carnivore (established in 1997). Essentially the US has recorded almost every email ever made on the planet since 1997 and since 9/11 it expanded to phone calls and financial transactions. And that isn't just who you called its actual phone conversations.
And finally: XKeyscore. Long story short: the US government has documented everything you have ever put on the internet however briefly and no matter the medium or source. This includes but is not limited to financial institutions, all US based Internet Service Providers and Internet Content Providers (e.g. Google, Facebook, etc), all data being transferred through any of the trunks that connect the US to other continents and countries including data that is transferred in and out of the GCHQ's jurisdiction, Everything you have ever searched for on line, everything you have ever put on a social media site. Your location data received from your cell phone which essentially provides a timeline of where you have been at all times. Every phone call, every email, every financial transaction.
Your life is an open book to the US government. There are no secrets. No semblance of privacy. You never had it. It hasn't existed in several years. The truth is that many whistle blowers like Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, and others have been labeled terrorists for bringing to light the overbearing callous eyes and ears of the people in power. And all they get for their efforts are prison sentences and arrest warrants across the globe. I'm going to conclude with an article from Alternet that explains what happens when societies realize they no longer have any privacy: 6 Insidious Ways Surveillance Changes the Way We Think and Act
I'm not going to end with a sad, alarmist statement about how it's all over. No. Because it's NOT over. It doesn't have to be this way. If there is anything that I have learned about humanity its that it likes to change. As we speak there are initiatives to end the surveillance state that we have found ourselves in. The ACLU, the EFF, many security professionals, Internet Content Providers, and many many more are appalled at what they see. We aren't alone.
And EncryptoFurs is here to fight the good fight on the furry front. However, insignificant as it may seem in retrospect. I started this group because I wanted people know the truth. I wanted people to know how to fight back. How to stand up for their own human rights. We are not as weak together as we are alone. And any initiative that brings people together, that fosters friendship, is an initiative that empowers people. No matter the nationality, race, creed, gender, sex, belief, philosophy, skin color, or any other illusion that separates humanity from itself, We Are One, and we will command the respect that we all deserve as human beings. No matter the obstacle before us.
Sable Oximasoth (Crypto Fox)
https://twitter.com/SableOximasoth
https://twitter.com/EncryptoFurs
Recently there has been a big hubbub about government surveillance. You may already be aware of PRISM as it was the most talked about. However there is more to the story. For those that are skeptical about how devastating these surveillance programs are by making statements like "I don't have anything to hide" then consider this: Have you ever had a private conversation in your lifetime? Perhaps with your spouse? Your, lover? Your bank? Do you have a lock on your door? Have you ever considered that man-in-the-middle attacks (which are often thwarted by HTTPS, a security implementation) are how hackers obtain information about you necessary to hack your bank account and other social media sites? Clearly, security is an important part of our daily lives. To say that you have nothing to hide is a profoundly naive and self destructive sentiment.
PRISM is a clandestine data collation and collection system that records and visualizes social media data about everyone on earth that has ever used a social media application. This includes people outside the jurisdiction of the US. Because of the nature of social media, it is often possible to create a timeline of events and location data as well as build a profile on you that indicates your likelihood to engage in activities that ad agencies and governments might be interested in knowing about. Indeed, Google and Facebook, monitor your chat and emails for keywords and provide ads based on those keywords. Coupled with records of your searches from various sources, PRISM is an invaluable tool all on its own that can build a very detailed picture about your life. Including data that you may not wish to share with the world.
Tempora is a clandestine electronic surveillance program run by the GCHQ, the British equivalent of the NSA. It has wide reach and make little distinction between specific targets and everyone else within their network. Meaning they surveil everybody within their jurisdiction. The US is not actually allowed to surveil foreign entities even though there are several loop holes involved. One of those loop holes is that the NSA and GCHQ share the information that they record. Some say that this is a clear violation of the law.
Stellar Wind was the program initiated as a result of 9/11 that allowed the NSA to gather data in large portions including phone conversations, financial transactions, e-mails, and Internet activity. Please keep in mind that NarusInsight already collects every single email going in and out of the US (including those that don't actually leave the US, so basically all emails on the planet because of the fact that most major email providers are US hosted) and previously Carnivore (established in 1997). Essentially the US has recorded almost every email ever made on the planet since 1997 and since 9/11 it expanded to phone calls and financial transactions. And that isn't just who you called its actual phone conversations.
And finally: XKeyscore. Long story short: the US government has documented everything you have ever put on the internet however briefly and no matter the medium or source. This includes but is not limited to financial institutions, all US based Internet Service Providers and Internet Content Providers (e.g. Google, Facebook, etc), all data being transferred through any of the trunks that connect the US to other continents and countries including data that is transferred in and out of the GCHQ's jurisdiction, Everything you have ever searched for on line, everything you have ever put on a social media site. Your location data received from your cell phone which essentially provides a timeline of where you have been at all times. Every phone call, every email, every financial transaction.
Your life is an open book to the US government. There are no secrets. No semblance of privacy. You never had it. It hasn't existed in several years. The truth is that many whistle blowers like Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, and others have been labeled terrorists for bringing to light the overbearing callous eyes and ears of the people in power. And all they get for their efforts are prison sentences and arrest warrants across the globe. I'm going to conclude with an article from Alternet that explains what happens when societies realize they no longer have any privacy: 6 Insidious Ways Surveillance Changes the Way We Think and Act
I'm not going to end with a sad, alarmist statement about how it's all over. No. Because it's NOT over. It doesn't have to be this way. If there is anything that I have learned about humanity its that it likes to change. As we speak there are initiatives to end the surveillance state that we have found ourselves in. The ACLU, the EFF, many security professionals, Internet Content Providers, and many many more are appalled at what they see. We aren't alone.
And EncryptoFurs is here to fight the good fight on the furry front. However, insignificant as it may seem in retrospect. I started this group because I wanted people know the truth. I wanted people to know how to fight back. How to stand up for their own human rights. We are not as weak together as we are alone. And any initiative that brings people together, that fosters friendship, is an initiative that empowers people. No matter the nationality, race, creed, gender, sex, belief, philosophy, skin color, or any other illusion that separates humanity from itself, We Are One, and we will command the respect that we all deserve as human beings. No matter the obstacle before us.
Sable Oximasoth (Crypto Fox)
https://twitter.com/SableOximasoth
https://twitter.com/EncryptoFurs
A quick glance at wikipedia indicates that trying to store everything would require exabytes per month, and while this might be possible, it would probably take about a billion dollars worth of capacity/month, not counting infrastructure and maintenance.
Not that they don't have that kind of money to throw away, but someone would inevitable notice that many drives being shipped off quietly to an undisclosed location. This will always be the biggest limiting factor to secret government projects; civilians still provide most of the resources they require.
And no, it's definitely not over. I'm not sure which strategy would be better honestly... fight it now and force them into higher levels of secrecy(while still very much existing), or ignore government encroachment and wait for a tipping point, when we see a similar situation to that in Turkey/Egypt.
A) would be less messy, B) would be more effective.
Well as far as XKeyscore goes, what does 'interesting' mean? What's important is that while XKS might only store metadata for long periods, the other programs pick up the pace in time to deletion. Such as PRISM. You put the two together and add all the other programs to the mix and you've got a pool of plenty of data necessary to subvert the 4th amendment and through extension moral rules that many hold dear. The government has long been compartmentalizing data and intelligence to prevent the public from either catching wind of it and/or collecting reasons to stop them.