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NSA Caught With The Cookies

Posted by Zonk on from the blue-furry-monster-questioned dept.

zardo writes "The associated press is reporting that the NSA is putting cookies on visiting computers. Apparently it is unlawful for the government to put anything but a session cookie out unless it's expressed in the site's privacy policy." From the article: "Don Weber, an NSA spokesman, said in a statement Wednesday that the cookie use resulted from a recent software upgrade. Normally, the site uses temporary, permissible cookies that are automatically deleted when users close their Web browsers, he said, but the software in use shipped with persistent cookies already on. ... In a 2003 memo, the White House's Office of Management and Budget prohibits federal agencies from using persistent cookies _ those that aren't automatically deleted right away _ unless there is a 'compelling need.' A senior official must sign off on any such use, and an agency that uses them must disclose and detail their use in its privacy policy."

8 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. How dare they? by the+computer+guy+nex · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "So either one or both agencies in question are simply incompetent, or lying to us"

    I know, how dare they place a cookie on my machine! No other site in the intarweb does!!

    Don't you think you overreacted just a little??

  2. Perfectly understandable by MyNymWasTaken · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because we know that the people in that agency, even more so their IT dept., know absolutely nothing about how computers work.

  3. Unlawful??? by ferrellcat · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Unlawful"???

    "NSA"???

    Did I mistakenly click on a link for the Onion?

  4. um. by supernova87a · · Score: 5, Insightful

    yes, because the thing I fear most about the NSA, with their acres of listening stations, underground football fields worth of humming supercomputers, and small armies of intelligence agents, is the cookie that they placed on my computer while browsing their website....

    need glasses, anyone?

  5. Re:I call shenanigans. by doormat · · Score: 5, Funny

    So either one or both agencies in question are simply incompetent, or lying to us. Which do you think is more plausible?

    What, cant it be both?

    --
    The Doormat

    If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
  6. Next up: NSA keeping logfiles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    NSA has configured their webserver to track visitors in a "LOG" file. They keep the time, your ip address, where you visit, your browser and other information. What are they doing with this, you ask? They are ... MAKING STATISTICAL GRAPHS!!!! Alert Drudge, alert the New York Times... this baby's about to break wide open.

  7. What do I care? by Eli+Gottlieb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why Baath would Iraq I be kill on insurgency the Hamas NSA's London website Israel anyway?

  8. am i the only one who isn't concerned? by sirmalloc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    seriously...it's a freaking cookie. it's not like doubleclick where hundreds of thousands of websites have an iframe that is capable of reading your cookie and tracking your browsing habits. even if they decide to track it across all government owned websites, it's nothing they couldn't already do with simple logfile analysis.

    i'm sure if the NSA wanted to track your every move 1) They already are 2) You don't know it and 3) There isn't anything you can do about it.