NSA Data Center Brings Concerns Over Security and Privacy and Jobs

chamilto0516 writes "Twenty-five miles due south of Salt Lake City, a massive construction project is nearing completion. The heavily secured site belongs to the National Security Agency. The NSA says the Utah Data Center is a facility for the intelligence community that will have a major focus on cyber security. Some published reports suggest it could hold 5 zettabytes of data. Asked if the Utah Data Center would hold the data of American citizens, Alexander [director of the NSA] said, 'No...we don't hold data on U.S. citizens,' adding that the NSA staff 'take protecting your civil liberties and privacy as the most important thing that they do, and securing this nation.' But critics, including former NSA employees, say the data center is front and center in the debate over liberty, security and privacy." According to University of Utah computing professor Matthew Might, one thing is clear about the Utah Data Center, it means good paying jobs. "The federal government is giving money to the U.'s programming department to develop jobs to fill the NSA building," he says.

Comments

Privacy vs "securing this nation"

[ShanghaiBill]

the NSA staff 'take protecting your civil liberties and privacy as the most important thing that they do, and securing this nation.'

Is anyone else having difficulty parsing this sentence?

Re:Privacy vs "securing this nation"

[Concerned Onlooker]

Here's all you need to know:

How do they say "fuck you" at the NSA?

"Trust me, trust me."

Re:Privacy vs "securing this nation"

[Anonymous Coward]

When you don't know any of these people personally, it's easy to shoot off barbs.

I've found NSA staff to be competent, reasonable, helpful and very well aware of their mission.
Not so much the military, police or specific entities in the executive branch.

This is in the context of a security guy in a big US corporation liaising with the government security organizations.

I'd trust the NSA to know well what they've got on their computers, as opposed to say, the FBI, who in my dealings with them on LI (lawful intercept) in telecoms networks, were completely fucking clueless.

DJ
 

Re:Privacy vs "securing this nation"

[Concerned Onlooker]

"When you don't know any of these people personally, it's easy to shoot off barbs."

No, when the NSA has no check on it it's easy to shoot off barbs. Especially since they're in the business of spying on US citizens. When AT&T openly colludes with the NSA to pass all traffic to the NSA it's not just AT&T that loses my respect.

And I'm not taking YOUR word that they're doing what they're supposed to be doing.

Re:Privacy vs "securing this nation"

[symbolset]

I can quite confidently assure you that the NSA is sniffing your packets in the US, in the UK and most of the rest of the world. They are recording your phone calls, your VOIP, your Skype and your Google+ Hangouts. They have records of every electronic financial transaction. They are also logging your twitter, your Facebook - even your private Facebook, your texts, your phone's GPS location, wifi-enhanced GPS location and tower triangulation. They know when you VPN to Finland, and the content of that stream, how long it takes you to get to work and where you stopped on the way home every single day. They know your medical history, who your friends are, who your family is, your political affiliation, your porn preferences, your positions on gun control, abortion, midget wrestling and furries. If you have a shrink they have audio recordings of your sessions. They know more about you than you do. They store all this data and they never forget.

But they don't care. You are not in the slightest interesting to them. Storing all this data and analyzing it is just their job. It is to eight nines a very boring job handled by automation right up until you start - probably unbeknownst to you - intersecting with some data point that impacts their national security mission. And then they hit the "replay" button and dig into what makes you tick. They seriously don't give a damn if you're cheating on your taxes, running a brothel or slinging hash. They do care if your brother-in-law introduced you to his new friend he met on vacay in Pakistan and you take up some encrypted chats.

If that wasn't true they wouldn't be doing their job.

Re:Duplicate datacenter

[ColdWetDog]

Waddya mean? The NSA/CIA/DEA/FBI owns Google.

Isn't it the other way around? Who has the bigger budget? Less Congressional oversight? Better food?

Re:Duplicate datacenter

[__aaltlg1547]

Hmmm. What do Mordor and Utah have in common?

• dry area -- check
• surrounded by mountains -- check
• has inland sea -- check

• Mordor Utah

• populated by orcs -- ahem
• ruled by evil overlord -- OK, he's not that evil. And he has two eyes.

Re:5 Zettabytes?

[Jherek Carnelian]

There are probably all kind of factors behind the 5ZB number.

For example - it is probably uncompressed. It also probably includes tape robots. It also would never be bought all up front - they would have a strategy for buying new hardware as the amount of data they've collected grows. So maybe 5ZB after 10 years of operation - and just look at how fast storage density increases, it's faster than Moore's Law.

Location, Location, Location

[ThatsNotPudding]

Placing the NSA data center in an ultra-conservative enclave where people of color are a rare thing was no accident, my friends.