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Googlestalking For Covert NSA Research Funding
James Hardine writes "Wikileaks is reporting that the CIA has funded covert research on torture techniques, and that the NSA has pushed tens or hundreds of millions into academia through research grants using one particular grant code. Some researchers try to conceal the source of funding, yet commonality in the NSA grant code prefix makes all these attempts transparent. The primary NSA grant-code prefix is 'MDA904'. Googling for this grant code yields 39,000 references although some refer to non-academic contracts (scolar.google.com 2,300). The grants issue from light NSA cover, the "Maryland Procurement Office" or other fronts. From this one can see the broad sweep of academic research interests being driven by the NSA."
That you can google for practically anthing and find it on the Internet? That the NSA pours money into research? This isn't news at all.
This is just a veiled attempt at provoking more flamewars because it's got NSA, torture and google, hence this is a flamebait story.
So. The NSA, whose job it is to create and to crack strong encryption, are interested in computers and in mathematics. Big surprise there, guys.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/index.php?title=On_the_take_and_loving_it&oldid=6476
One would think it would be better for slashdot discussion if TFA was not a moving target. To think slashdot is ten years old. That's one hell of a slow clue train.
Google Scholar search results for "MDA904": about 2300
Google Scholar search results for "NSA Grant": about 1720
Doesn't look like many are trying to hide, especially since anybody familiar with the NSA grant code would already know what MDA904 is.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Actually, the googled links are a plant to test software that helps the NSA determine who is interested in it's activities, and the grant code is a key to tracing the CPU runningthe browser that is doing the googling.
"The mind works quicker than you think!"
A sampling of some of these terrible, horrendous projects:
Duality for modules over finite rings and applications to coding theory
Bounding the number of geometric permutations induced by k-transversals
A unified framework for enforcing multiple access control policies
Affine Lie algebras and multisum identities
I think these only qualify as torture if you're a math or computer science graduate student.
The NSA is not a "hands on" group... they are signal intelligence. The bulk of these grants appear to be for exactly that, signal intelligence. I'm sure a few of them may have some mysterious/questionable motives but the bulk of them are nerds working on computers trying to break ciphers or improve our own.
Trusted Computing FAQ | Free Dawit Isaak!
Abuse us by funding research on the subjects of:
- Duality for modules over finite rings and applications to coding theory
- Bounding the number of geometric permutations induced by k-transversals
- A unified framework for enforcing multiple access control policies
- Affine Lie algebras and multisum identities
?You sure do sound abused, kid. But not by (this) government...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
The U.S. government is EXTREMELY corrupt. Here are 5 aspects of the corruption:
1) There are U.S. government agencies that exist for the purpose of murdering, torturing, and otherwise breaking the law and showing no respect for the law.
2) Those agencies are secret. U.S. citizens must pay for the agencies, but citizens are not allowed to know what the agencies are doing or even how much they are paying.
3) The secret agencies are not only sometimes lawless, they are allowed to own their own businesses, so that they have money to spend that does not come from the U.S. government. They are therefore financially independent of the U.S. government when it is not convenient to make U.S. citizens pay.
4) Sometimes people in a secret agency of the U.S. government want to do something that, if discovered, would bring imprisonment. In those cases, secret U.S. agencies are allowed to hire other violent secret agencies in other countries, such as Israel's Mossad, to do whatever they want, including killing people.
5) Secret agencies of the U.S. government are allowed to arrange the publication of articles in U.S. media which they know to be dishonest.
Such corruption makes voting and democracy meaningless, since some agencies of the U.S. government follow no elected leader and no law of any country.
The corruption is treason. If you love the U.S. like I do, you will stop the corruption.
This is not an "anonymous" IP block. It's a Class A block reserved by IANA. For example: 6.x.x.x belongs to Army Information Systems Center - USAISC, Yuma Proving Ground, AZ (NET-YPG-NET) 7.x.x.x belongs Defense Information Systems Agency, VA (NET-DISANET2) and it's not just the government that gets love: 9.x.x.x IBM Corporation, NY (NET-IBM) 12.x.x.x AT&T (NET-ATT) 17.x.x.x Apple Computer Inc., CA (NET-APPLE-WWNET) (And Apple can't be evil right?) It is most definitely being spoofed... although, as others have pointed out... this takes some talent.
Trusted Computing FAQ | Free Dawit Isaak!
I'm not sure why this is considered controversial. I do personally think it is sort of interesting, but I'm not sure where the "real" story is. It would be like if someone who just discovered the internet posted "did you know that the suffix .org is meant to be for non-profit organizations but in reality anyone can use it?" Shocking! Must be a conspiracy. This strikes me as the same kind of thing. It is a bit of common trivia not generally known by people who don't write research grants. But its not a whistle-blower revelation regarding a large scale breach of ethics. Is it really surprising that academics who get NSA funding want to keep a little quiet about it? I can think of a lot of practical reasons this might be the case. What bugs me is that the article makes it sounds like chagrin is the motivator: they are ashamed of their funding source because academics are suppose to be free thinking anti-establishment types. But I think the reality is much simpler: academics have a spectrum of beliefs like everyone else and moreover are happy to get funding where they can get it. Although I may not agree with everything the NSA does, taking money from them in the form of formal research grants does not constitute a breach of ethics of any kind (as this wikileak thing implies). Besides, a research grant probably created this really cool kids page (its sort of psychotic if you think about it). Another interesting thing is that a huge amount of computing the NSA does has to do with linux-based security issues. Perhaps this whole story is just an NSA cover to get a mildly amusing NSA story on the front pages of slashdot. Come on, Dr. Malda and reveal your true funding sources.
i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
Without people who call themselves "Christians", but are actually just suffering from the mental illness called anger, George W. Bush could not have been elected, or stayed in office.
Actually, Bush also need help from people who call themselves "Democrats", but actually just suffering from the mental illness called envy.
It is difficult for the average person to believe that someone who already has a lot of money would kill others simply because he wants more money. However, people from rich families often grow up believing that it is acceptable for them to kill people to get what they want.
Right, b/c Al Gore or John Kerry were such paupers. Shine on you crazy diamond. Oh and your link states that US has bombed 24 countries, not invaded, big difference. Also from your link Yugoslavia 1999 where's the oil in Yugoslavia? And don't get me started on the BS links about Depleted Uranium shells being used as carcinogenic bullets, guess what's also a carcinogen? LEAD!. And U238 is an alpha emitter with a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years! Which means it is no more radioactive than common granite.
I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
You urgently, urgently need to read The Atrocity Archives, by Charlie Stross. You will very quickly change your mind. Trust me on this.
It's not much of a cover. NSA lists the Maryland Procurement Office on their web site, in the "Doing Business with NSA" section. It's their central point for contractor invoicing. "DoD IECA PKI Certificate is required to access the website."
NSA used to be far more secretive. But that was a long time ago. Now everyone knows who they are and what they do.
a lot of cryptography and security work. I should note that there's absolutely nothing wrong in funding such research, in fact these papers benefit everyone. I don't think this should be confused with torture, as the article seems to do.
All the information I saw linked was pure mathematics research.
However, these papers aside, I have to say that the NSA runs with too little public oversight. The domestic wiretapping, which continues to go on without any kind of meaningful regulation is a good example of no american agency should be allowed to run as a black box to the other two branches of the government. Independents need to be brought in to make sure the NSA doesn't continue to step over ethical and legal boundaries.
Right now, I tend to think that the NSA isn't an evil organization. However, they could easily become destructive in the hands of an administration with the will and ability to politicize the agency. I'm sure the current administration would love to use them to spy on their many political enemies, if they aren't already.
All of it can. By breaking up the encryption believed to be secure, NSA can wreck havoc in today's world of information. I — unlike you, who believes, that government funding automatically taints any research (except on the subject of global warming, and even then it better come up with the right answer) — just happened to trust my government a notch more than enemies.
In your world, of course, there are no enemies — only friends, whose grievances we failed to address so far. And since there are no enemies, the only application of the government can be against you... See, I know your side too.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Really? You think you understand my position? They why is your presentation of it such a load of cr@p? I suppose that it depends on what sort of word games you want to play with "enemies", eh? It can't possibly be the case that you are so intellectually dishonest that you want to construct a straw man argument to set on fire.
In reality, and not just my reality, there are plenty of cases where different people have irresolvable conflicts of interests. The question is whether those conflicts can be mediated intelligently (with or without government assistance) or whether the only decision point is when one side finishes ripping the lungs out of the other. Animals don't get to think about such options. The faster deer doesn't worry about the one that got left behind, and the lion doesn't worry about the hyenas chased away from their kill. However, I do imagine that we are somewhat better than animals, and that we can even manage to continue evolving without dedicating our best efforts to being more vicious and bestial than the mindless beasts. If we don't learn to live together, then we shall surely die together. Technology itself is morally neutral on the question.
The jury is still out on the question. The long-term trends over the last few thousand years seem to agree with me, but that's not long enough. Maybe the real answer to the Fermi Paradox is that we will (and must) soon exterminate ourselves.
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
You urgently, urgently need to learn the difference between "bad science fiction novel written by a Scottish communist" and "factual information". Trust me on this.
The user talk page for that IP claims it is part of the "Wikileaks anonymizing network".
Repton.
They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
full disclosure: I work for the govt.
The nutcase conspiracy theorists really crack me up. You have crackpots talking about horrible research being done, for perverted government ends.
I look at the same result thing and see lots of bleeding-edge research in cryptographic, sigint, hardware oriented, and computer security avenues.
The more links I read on NSA funded research, the more I am pleased that the NSA, more so than any other singular institution, is funding research into critical areas of national security.
Take a peek for yourself
Search for "MDA908", the "Virginia Contracting Activity". Much more interesting items come up.
- Black Excursions.
-
Buying missiles from Venezuelan general.
-
Video Grammar for Locating Named People
-
A Bayesian network for identifying suspicious visitors
The Virginia Contracting Activity seems to be the financial management point for DIA, ARDA, and some DARPA and CIA work."The Virginia Contracting Activity on behalf of the Defense Intelligence Agency, request for quotations to purchase and install items listed on the RFQ (emergency response equipment) on black excursions."
A covert missile deal went bad, and the payment issue ended up in court. A good read.
One of many research papers associated with digesting audio and video content into useful forms.
Published in 2004. A reasonable project to be working on at that point.
1) There are U.S. government agencies that exist for the purpose of murdering, torturing, and otherwise breaking the law and showing no respect for the law.
You mean that U.S. agencies might - shudder - break the law? Do you really mean that? Honest and for true? Well, knock me over with a feather! It's not as if the CIA - an espionage agency - wasn't openly created for that very purpose in 1947.
Yes, the CIA breaks the laws of foreign countries regularly. All the time. It's part of the CIA's job.
HOLY CRAP, THE EVIL NEO-CON (my personal status as a neo-conservative is quite debatable) ADMITS IT!
OF COURSE the U.S. has an intelligence service devoted to getting information from others through illicit means. EVERY MEANINGFUL COUNTRY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD HAS ONE AS WELL! All of them! Espionage is an accepted part of international relations. It is simply expected. It is used by all sides. Grown-ups have come to deal with this. We also realize that what we see in the movies and what happens in real life are, quite often, different?
Also, why should a U.S. citizen be held liable for breaking the law of another country inside the U.S., while acting at the request of the U.S. government, in a location where, 9 times out of 10, the individual has been granted immunity by the HOST COUNTRY upon entry? Or are you unfamiliar with the Vienna convention of 1961? I'm going to assume so, since given this sort of logic on your own website:
Did the CIA aid in murder? Obviously BBC News thought the story was likely to be true, or it wouldn't have published it. There are certainly many pronouncements of other countries that the BBC ignores. Presumably if the BBC had supportive information, it would have presented it. Since there is no supportive information in the article, presumably there was none.
Since the BBC is the ultimate arbiter of fact and fiction, I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you don't.
Then there's this gem:
the problems discussed here seem to come only from one department of the CIA, the department that supports secret action. The other main department of the CIA collects information. There don't seem to be problems with collection of information.
Oh, but what department is it! I can't find any departments in the CIA! Oh, dang, that must be because it's organized in DIRECTORATES! At the time of this blathering, you were most likely speaking of the DIRECTORATE of Operations, presently subsumed into the National Clandestine Service. Perhaps you were simply too lazy to locate this information. Perhaps you were afraid that evil gamma-ray beams from the CIA would melt your brain if you researched it. Or, perhaps, you're discussing some super-secret organization that no one has ever heard of! Ooooh, scary!
2) Those agencies are secret. U.S. citizens must pay for the agencies, but citizens are not allowed to know what the agencies are doing or even how much they are paying.
So, do you advocate that the government make public all of the following information for all citizens?
If not, wh