Nsa Contractor Identifies Himself As Source

[Publicus]

A one man marching band here.

[lomatopo]

Not sure if humor is allowed....

Fisher Price Chatter Phone Has Been Cooperating With NSA Since 2003

East Aurora, NY -- The incredibly popular Fisher Price Chatter Phone, enjoyed by young children across several generations, has been cooperating with National Security Agency surveillance efforts since 2003, documents obtained by The National Protrusion reveal.

"We have no comment on this report, as we have not had a chance to review the documents in question," said Claire Dunleavy, a spokesperson for Fisher Price, said in a statement.

The document dump, made up mostly of classified internal NSA emails, show several agents talking about, "the arrangement with Chatter Phone," and the "agreement we've reached with Chatter Phone regarding recording device insertion."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jerome-halligan/fisher-price-chatter-phon_b_4228432.html

[manarak]

A one man marching band here.

555 - I've learned from the best teachers!

pot calling kettle black...

LOL@lomatopo

I urge fisher price to use 2048 bit encryption on their babyphones to safeguard privacy!

EDIT: sorry, forget about strong encryption because if applied, their export from the US would not be allowed because of trade regulations (prohibited technology export), the reason being because it's difficult for NSA to tap in...

Edited November 7, 2013 by manarak

[F430murci]

Terrorists 'rubbing their hands with glee' at Snowden leaks, says UK spy chief

LONDON - Terrorists are rubbing their hands with glee over the information leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, a senior British spy said Thursday.

"The leaks from Snowden have been very damaging, they've put our operations at risk, John Sawers, the head of MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service, told a committee of lawmakers in parliament.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/07/21350284-terrorists-rubbing-their-hands-with-glee-at-snowden-leaks-says-uk-spy-chief?lite

[Credo]

Terrorists 'rubbing their hands with glee' at Snowden leaks, says UK spy chief

LONDON - Terrorists are rubbing their hands with glee over the information leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, a senior British spy said Thursday.

"The leaks from Snowden have been very damaging, they've put our operations at risk, John Sawers, the head of MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service, told a committee of lawmakers in parliament.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/07/21350284-terrorists-rubbing-their-hands-with-glee-at-snowden-leaks-says-uk-spy-chief?lite

That is why Snowden is a criminal. He should be charged with treason.

[manarak]

Terrorists 'rubbing their hands with glee' at Snowden leaks, says UK spy chief

LONDON - Terrorists are rubbing their hands with glee over the information leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, a senior British spy said Thursday.

"The leaks from Snowden have been very damaging, they've put our operations at risk, John Sawers, the head of MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service, told a committee of lawmakers in parliament.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/07/21350284-terrorists-rubbing-their-hands-with-glee-at-snowden-leaks-says-uk-spy-chief?lite

That is why Snowden is a criminal. He should be charged with treason.

Just because abuses by the government help to fight off terrorists, it doesn't mean that such abuses should be tolerated.

If democracies turn into police states, the terrorists do also win.

The committee was also told that Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5, had disrupted 34 terrorist plots "at all sizes and stages" since the July 7, 2005 suicide bomb attacks on London’s bus and subway system that killed 52 people.

But they don't say how much of these plots were uncovered by suspicionless mass-recording of communications?

In the US, congress came to the conclusion that the anti-terrorism yield of the mass collection of data is near zero.

[Credo]

You will have to a little clearer about stating "congress" came to the conclusion. Who in congress?

Oh, and "near zero", isn't zero. It's not just the numbers, but the size of the plots.

The point is Snowden has done nothing, except help the terrorists. There will be a lot of damage control, but in the world of espionage, it will continue. That you can be assured of. They will be a lot more careful, but very, very little will change.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Credo

[Scott]

Here's a link to a story about what the UK spy folks perceive as the damage being done Snowden:

http://news.yahoo.com/uk-spy-bosses-al-qaida-loving-snowden-leaks-152732409.html

[manarak]

Here's a link to a story about what the UK spy folks perceive as the damage being done Snowden:

http://news.yahoo.com/uk-spy-bosses-al-qaida-loving-snowden-leaks-152732409.html

Ok, who among you seriously believes that before Snowden's revelations terrorists really believed Gmail and MSN online chats to be safe from NSA eavesdropping?

If the NSA had really foiled terrorist plots thanks to gmail & co., and since by now everybody now knows about the spying, wouldn't you think they would have come forward with a handful of examples how they saved lives my intercepting emails and chats on those systems?

The terrorist groups have computer literate staff who spend their whole days thinking about securing communications.

Do you really think they are so stupid?

Edited November 8, 2013 by manarak

[Crushdepth]

Terrorists 'rubbing their hands with glee' at Snowden leaks, says UK spy chief

LONDON - Terrorists are rubbing their hands with glee over the information leaked by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, a senior British spy said Thursday.

"The leaks from Snowden have been very damaging, they've put our operations at risk, John Sawers, the head of MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service, told a committee of lawmakers in parliament.

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/07/21350284-terrorists-rubbing-their-hands-with-glee-at-snowden-leaks-says-uk-spy-chief?lite

That is why Snowden is a criminal. He should be charged with treason.

Not from my point of view. As a non-American from an "allied" country, I completely resent the NSA's disgusting invasion of the whole planet's privacy.

As far as I am concerned all those responsible can go die in a fire. Snowden deserves a medal.

[simple1]

Here's a link to a story about what the UK spy folks perceive as the damage being done Snowden:

http://news.yahoo.com/uk-spy-bosses-al-qaida-loving-snowden-leaks-152732409.html

Ok, who among you seriously believes that before Snowden's revelations terrorists really believed Gmail and MSN online chats to be safe from NSA eavesdropping?

If the NSA had really foiled terrorist plots thanks to gmail & co., and since by now everybody now knows about the spying, wouldn't you think they would have come forward with a handful of examples how they saved lives my intercepting emails and chats on those systems?

The terrorist groups have computer literate staff who spend their whole days thinking about securing communications. Do you really think they are so stupid?

You are correct, one of the ex-intelligence supremo’s did state many terrorists group members are stupid, but many are not.

One of the issues of the Snowden disclosures in the public domain is encryption algorithms for communications can now be rapidly decrypted by US & UK intelligence agencies. This has led to the conclusion that the sophisticated terrorist groups will now be seeking alternate means of communication that will be even more challenging to intercept, thereby increasing the overall national security threat

[Crushdepth]

A one man marching band here.

555 - I've learned from the best teachers!

pot calling kettle black...

LOL@lomatopo

I urge fisher price to use 2048 bit encryption on their babyphones to safeguard privacy!

EDIT: sorry, forget about strong encryption because if applied, their export from the US would not be allowed because of trade regulations (prohibited technology export), the reason being because it's difficult for NSA to tap in...

The Snowden files indicate the Chatter Phone contains a clipper chip.

[Publicus]

To be absolutely clear, the United States cannot wear a white hat and makes no claims to being able to do so.

Hey, that was the only point I was trying to get accross!

So we do agree on that.

You're silent on these points, so I'll reiterate.

Confidential report lists U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies

http://articles.wash...combat-aircraft

The fact is the CCP-PRC is a Marxist-Maoist-Leninist dictatorship that, in the 21st century is a censoring, punishing, elitist single party state and fascist dictatorship that detests democracy and human rights, and believes literally it has the inherent birthright to lord over all of the world irrespective of the rule of consensual international law.

Snowden is in the hands of the Russian secret services which control his life completely, and Wikileaks is funded and controlled by Putin. Now I'd say they are also the bad guys. I think that one pretty much comes close to being black or white.

[Scott]

An inflammatory post with foul language has been removed and replies.

[manarak]

Here's a link to a story about what the UK spy folks perceive as the damage being done Snowden:

http://news.yahoo.com/uk-spy-bosses-al-qaida-loving-snowden-leaks-152732409.html

Ok, who among you seriously believes that before Snowden's revelations terrorists really believed Gmail and MSN online chats to be safe from NSA eavesdropping?

If the NSA had really foiled terrorist plots thanks to gmail & co., and since by now everybody now knows about the spying, wouldn't you think they would have come forward with a handful of examples how they saved lives my intercepting emails and chats on those systems?

The terrorist groups have computer literate staff who spend their whole days thinking about securing communications. Do you really think they are so stupid?

You are correct, one of the ex-intelligence supremo’s did state many terrorists group members are stupid, but many are not.

One of the issues of the Snowden disclosures in the public domain is encryption algorithms for communications can now be rapidly decrypted by US & UK intelligence agencies. This has led to the conclusion that the sophisticated terrorist groups will now be seeking alternate means of communication that will be even more challenging to intercept, thereby increasing the overall national security threat

the best algorithms were/are free to use (PGP)...

don't see why the terrorists would use something weaker.

I rather think that the scandal will cause everybody to raise the shields, many previously clear and unencrypted communications will be encrypted in future, so if the NSA still wants to read them, it will have to spend much more CPU resources on it than before.

This could mean a reduction by 90% or more of the number of communications the NSA will be able to decrypt in a useful timeframe.

So maybe with globally better encryption, we will push government spying back to where it belongs, i.e. spying on the communications of suspect persons, because they won't be able to afford decrypting everything.

Edited November 8, 2013 by manarak

[manarak]

To be absolutely clear, the United States cannot wear a white hat and makes no claims to being able to do so.

Hey, that was the only point I was trying to get accross!

So we do agree on that.

You're silent on these points, so I'll reiterate.

Confidential report lists U.S. weapons system designs compromised by Chinese cyberspies

http://articles.wash...combat-aircraft

The fact is the CCP-PRC is a Marxist-Maoist-Leninist dictatorship that, in the 21st century is a censoring, punishing, elitist single party state and fascist dictatorship that detests democracy and human rights, and believes literally it has the inherent birthright to lord over all of the world irrespective of the rule of consensual international law.

Snowden is in the hands of the Russian secret services which control his life completely, and Wikileaks is funded and controlled by Putin. Now I'd say they are also the bad guys. I think that one pretty much comes close to being black or white.

in case you missed or misunderstood my previous posts, I am not disputing the fact that Russia and China are the USA's rivals and that I am rather on the USA's side than on Russia's or China's.

My point is about US hypocrisy.

[Crushdepth]

Ok, who among you seriously believes that before Snowden's revelations terrorists really believed Gmail and MSN online chats to be safe from NSA eavesdropping?

If the NSA had really foiled terrorist plots thanks to gmail & co., and since by now everybody now knows about the spying, wouldn't you think they would have come forward with a handful of examples how they saved lives my intercepting emails and chats on those systems?

The terrorist groups have computer literate staff who spend their whole days thinking about securing communications. Do you really think they are so stupid?

You are correct, one of the ex-intelligence supremo’s did state many terrorists group members are stupid, but many are not.

One of the issues of the Snowden disclosures in the public domain is encryption algorithms for communications can now be rapidly decrypted by US & UK intelligence agencies. This has led to the conclusion that the sophisticated terrorist groups will now be seeking alternate means of communication that will be even more challenging to intercept, thereby increasing the overall national security threat

There is no evidence that the mainstream public encryption algorithms currently recommended for use are breakable by anyone. If there were such evidence, the entire security industry would have gone into meltdown. There are some old ones (mainly private) that have been busted or that can be brute forced because their key space isn't large enough to resist modern computers.

One of the consequences of the NSA's actions is that strong crypto is going to get rolled out all over the place to keep the bastards out. They have seriously pissed off a very large chunk of the IT community, who are not without cryptological recourse.

[lomatopo]

Probably not shocking...

NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show

The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tracking-cellphone-locations-worldwide-snowden-documents-show/2013/12/04/5492873a-5cf2-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html

Good graphic: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/how-the-nsa-is-tracking-people-right-now/634/

And case law for collection of meta-data collection is from 1979...

The NSA says it ‘obviously’ can track locations without a warrant. That’s not so obvious.

In conversations with The Washington Post over Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani's recent story on cellphone location tracking, an intelligence agency lawyer told Gellman, "obviously there is no Fourth Amendment expectation in communications metadata.” But some experts say it's far from obvious that the 1979 Supreme Court case on which the administration bases this view gives the government unfettered power to scoop up Americans' cellphone location data.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/12/04/the-nsa-says-it-obviously-can-track-locations-without-a-warrant-thats-not-so-obvious/

[FDog]

How can Snowden be a traitor to the UK when he is isn't British.

No names have been published either. All he jas done is tell the world the US govt is spying on them and also their own people. Nothing wrong in him doing that.

UK govt now going after the editor of the Guardian. The UK doesnt have free speech in its constitution so is coming on strong. So much for an open democracy. The US wont do that.

Snowden has not revealed anything that can remotely be considered life threatening. All he has fone is cause embarassment to a number of govts.

Fantastic, about time.

[Credo]

So you were privy to the discussions with the Chinese and with the Russians? You know that he hasn't revealed any of this information?

Just because some newspapers might be wise enough not to publish it, doesn't mean it hasn't been disseminated.

[Sing_Sling]

. . . and just because they haven't doesn't mean he has

[FDog]

He has said he has given them nothing. I have seen no proof he has. Until you provide any evidence he has given them anything then I'm iclined to believe him instead of a govt with a history of lies.

[Credo]

I am inclined to not believe either a thief or a liar.

[NanLaew]

Sun Tzu said, 'Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.'

While Snowden was in open ground in Hong Kong, the best the US could do was threaten him and intimidate anyone who aided him, so he went to ground in Russia. That was an awesome own-goal by Kerry and the current US administration.

[lomatopo]

Obama seems to be acknowledging that the NSA needs to be reigned in, and has proposed some reforms which may give Americans 'more confidence' in surveillance programs.

President Barack Obama said he will propose new reforms to the National Security Agency aimed at giving Americans "more confidence" in the organization after various leaks revealed numerous wide-ranging government surveillance programs.

"The NSA actually does a very good job about not engaging in domestic surveillance, not reading people's emails, not listening to ... the contents of their phone calls," the president said Thursday during an interview with MSNBC's Chris Matthews.

"Outside of our borders, the NSA's more aggressive. It's not constrained by laws. And part of what we're trying to do over the next month or so is having done an independent review and brought a whole bunch of folks, civil libertarians and-- lawyers and others to examine what's being done."

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/12/05/21776882-obama-nsa-reforms-will-give-americans-more-confidence-in-surveillance-programs

Sounds a bit lame I know, but implicitly credits Mr. Snowden with surfacing obvious illegal activities.

FWIW, there appear to be a lot more 'leaks', coming from sources unrelated to Mr. Snowden, re: the NSA's illegal activities, so that's probably a good sign as well.

In other NSA news...we don't need no stinkin' badges

AT&T: We don't have to disclose NSA dealings

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — AT&T, under fire for ongoing revelations that it shares and sells customers' communications records to the National Security Agency and other U.S. intelligence offices, says it isn't required to disclose to shareholders what it does with customers' data.

In a letter sent Thursday to the Securities and Exchange Commission, AT&T said it protects customer information and complies with government requests for records "only to the extent required by law."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/12/06/att-says-it-doesnt-have-to-disclose-nsa-dealings/3894823/

Believe AT&T is indemnified/protected against any legal.civil challenges by legislation.

Microsoft fights back against NSA 'snooping'

(CNN) -- Still concerned about some faceless government bureaucrat peeking at your e-mails and other online communications? Well, you've got a new champion: Microsoft.

The computing giant has announced a set of new privacy features, in a post that specifically calls out "government snooping" as the reason.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/05/tech/web/microsoft-nsa-snooping/

Considering Microsoft bent over for the NSA previously, their current 'outrage' seems a bit disingenuous.

Google, Facebook, Twitter bolster digital defenses in wake of NSA revelations

Quietly at first, but more vocally in recent months, Google (GOOG), Facebook and other leading Internet companies have been beefing up their digital defenses in response to reports that the National Security Agency has tracked online communications without the companies' knowledge or cooperation.

While Google has led the way in encrypting users' data, privacy advocates say recent moves by other companies are long overdue.

http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24672504/google-facebook-twitter-bolster-digital-defenses-wake-nsa

From the better late than never category.

NSA spies on Italians from roof of US Embassy in Rome, magazine reports

The U.S. National Security Agency has been spying on Italian communications from installations on the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Rome and the country’s consulate in Milan and even mounted an operation to capture information from inside the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C., the Italian weekly magazine L’Espresso claimed Friday.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2070480/nsa-spies-on-italians-from-roof-of-us-embassy-in-rome-magazine-reports.html

Never know what those pesky Italians are up to. Are they terrorists too?

[FDog]

I am inclined to not believe either a thief or a liar.

The problem is that it isn't him that's saying anything. It is the records of the NSA. So believing him has nothing to do with it. He is purely providing the facts.

So if you don't believe the information coming out then what you are saying is that you don't believe the NSA is doing any of this.

Please tell us how anyone is supposed to blow the whistle on govt wrongdoing without doing what he did? Going to Congress wouldn't do any good as we all know that the Head of Intelligence already went before the committee and lied about what they are doing.

The only thing Snowden did was to make sure that the world knows what the NSA and intelligence agencies of other countries are doing in the name of national security.

I have no idea how Angela Merkel could be a terrorist or a threat to national security though.

Great work Snowden, showing up a number of govts for being the liars they are.

[FDog]

Here's a link to a story about what the UK spy folks perceive as the damage being done Snowden:

http://news.yahoo.com/uk-spy-bosses-al-qaida-loving-snowden-leaks-152732409.html

And here is a link refuting those claims. Specifically a D notice that determines the damage that could be done, they found there wasn't any. Also senior officials said there was no damage.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/03/guardian-not-intimidated-nsa-leaks-alan-rusbridger-surveillance

[Credo]

The problem is, he is a thief. He stole information that doesn't belong to him.

[manarak]

The problem is, he is a thief. He stole information that doesn't belong to him.

same as the NSA.

[Sing_Sling]

He has said he has given them nothing. I have seen no proof he has. Until you provide any evidence he has given them anything then I'm iclined to believe him instead of a govt with a history of lies.

I am inclined to not believe either a thief or a liar.

Without proof to substantiate that? Excellent stuff

The problem is, he is a thief. He stole information that doesn't belong to him.

He stole, if he stole anything, what was already stolen . . .