9 replies to this topic

[Champion of Cyrodiil]

So this is a big deal if you work on IT systems in Virginia:

 

http://www.npr.org/2...d-the-nsa-leaks

 

 

When dealing with catching criminals using tech, you have to act fast so that you don't miss out on important information.

 

For quickest turn around on getting permission to pull private data,  I would imagine this IT system uses a web form in which you 'request' a wire tap by filling out lots of information fields.  

 

These requests are probably pushed to a queue (maybe with REST, maybe SOAP) that a committee reviews.  They maybe discuss it in person, maybe not, but eventually someone clicks 'Approve', 'Deny' or pushes it to some other 'Needs additional review' queue.

 

Once it's approved, the nerds, secret agents, and technology does the rest.

 

As for big data gathering, of course its happening and it will grow more. (Moores Law?)  If it can be measured on the electromagnetic spectrum, rest assure it's frequency and amplitude can be recorded.

[K_N]

As far as has been revealed, there is no 'review' or 'request' process. It's an open API that anyone with clearance can simply query.

[Champion of Cyrodiil]

As far as has been revealed, there is no 'review' or 'request' process. It's an open API that anyone with clearance can simply query.

 

I'm sorry, but I think you are misinformed.  There has been a review and request process with tapping 'suspected foreign intelligence agents' since the formation of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in the late 1970s.  I'm not saying it is impossible to tap a citizens phone without warrant.  I'm saying it is illegal and not authorized by the DoD, and if you're lucky will only result in termination of clearance and job. 

 

As far as APIs that are available on government domains, for the last 3 years they are required to use a private key infrastructure for authentication, auditing and authorization.  There are way too many people whose jobs would be at risk allowing an API like that to exist on a intelligence domain that is not tracked, and logged internally.  

 

This Snowden guy is a contractor.  His clearance only exists based on the existence of the contract he was working on.  As soon as a contract is up, you have 90 days to get your ass on a new contract before your clearance is expired.  Additionally he would only have access to what he needed to know to do his job.  And based on the lack of any technical details, I believe he is not fully aware of the checks and balances within an enterprise IT system, be it 'NOSQL' or RDBMS.

 

He claims he could authorize a wire tap on my accountant or a federal judge?  I'd like to see what would have happened if he did, when those intel reports surface somewhere, someone is going to want to know who authorized them.

 

Here is some info on surveillance w/o a court order.  Not sure Snowden falls into this category: http://www.law.corne...de/text/50/1802

[Champion of Cyrodiil]

FYI, All of this is completely different than having a federal judge authorize a wiretap for a US citizen proven to be involved in domestic crimes such as drug trafficking, money laundering, etc.  Those are not related to foreign intelligence agents per say, and have been authorized since cellphones have been around.

[K_N]

If I can't say something nice I just shouldn't say anything at all.

Edited by K_N, 19 June 2013 - 03:35 AM.

[Champion of Cyrodiil]

If I can't say something nice I just shouldn't say anything at all.

 

heh, sorry.  I realize I came off a bit one-sided in my response.  But I think it's shenanigans that this guy, who obviously has no real technical skills, has decided to throw contractors and the DoD under the bus with misguided and overblown statements about harvesting scientific data that is laying about.  Probably why the story only lasted 3 days... as most intel related media does.

[Diabolical_Jazz]

Yes well, clearly after being caught in a lie about their massive surveillance program, the government's immediate reaction will be to come completely clean about how that program works, and to never ever lie again.

AND EVERYTHING WAS GOOD FOREVER.

[Champion of Cyrodiil]

what lie was the government "caught" in? leaked documents that discuss capability of a system?

[SpleenBeGone]

heh, sorry.  I realize I came off a bit one-sided in my response.  But I think it's shenanigans that this guy, who obviously has no real technical skills, has decided to throw contractors and the DoD under the bus with misguided and overblown statements about harvesting scientific data that is laying about.  Probably why the story only lasted 3 days... as most intel related media does.

I noticed that as soon as this came out, the news outlets immediately started covering things going on in Turkey and the like. Also, pretty sure the story is still going on, and getting changed up every day, meaning that there's at least some truth to it. 

[Calvary]

Snowden's spawned some interesting stuff over here as well. I don't know much about his case but he's led the media to a massive programme of surveillance currently being conducted by GCHQ - which is our spy network in the UK. Supposedly whatever the US government is doing, GCHQ is doing much worse. They've been granted the power to search through everything you put on line without warrant and little legal process. Personally it doesn't bother me too much because they've apparently uncovered a lot of terrorists plots with this and stuff...but the descent into a police state needs a beginning.