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NSA Can't Search Its Own Email

Posted by Unknown on from the apt-get-install-thinthread dept.

cycoj writes "The NSA says that there is no central method to search its own email. When asked in a Freedom of Information Act request for emails with the National Geographic Channel over a specific time period, the agency, which has been collecting and analyzing the data of hundreds of millions of Internet users, says it can only perform person-per-person searches on its own email."

16 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. big surprise by Sparticus789 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Perfect example of "do as I say, not as I do". But this isn't just a NSA problem, it is a government problem.

    --
    sudo make me a sandwich
    1. Re:big surprise by Sancho · · Score: 4, Insightful

      FOIA does not require that you make it easy to comply with FOIA requests. Nothing in there says you have to have globally searchable e-mail or document storage, in fact. And the costs to fulfill the request are paid by the requestor, not the agency. By using an archaic, difficult to use system, they can legitimately make the costs of fulfilling FOIA requests prohibitively high. Thus they follow the letter of the law, though not the spirit.

    2. Re:big surprise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      it is a government problem.

      Government is a problem that has never been a solution to anything but other governments and the failures of society. In shrot, it is a self-propogating problem. It is merely a patch for the failures of society. The bigger the government the more screwed up society is and one condition mirrors the other. "That which governs the best governs the least." Therein true anarchy (anarchy being a purposely corrupted word as used today, much like "hacker" or "liberal" etc ) would be best, unfortunately the human race is not and may never be advanced enough to where they have no need or desire for governance, simply cause self-governance has become suffiicient for peaceful co-existance.

      The US didn't form the USA just because they wanted a big government, they formed the USA to ward off Britain and other major governments from imposing their will and governance here one one city or state at a time. Thomas Paine's Common Sense was written and published, in part, to convince the colonists that it was necessary.

      "SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

      Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others."--Some Common Sense

  2. NSA *Won't* Search Its Own Email by TWiTfan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    FTFY

    --
    The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
    1. Re:NSA *Won't* Search Its Own Email by interkin3tic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's pretty shocking that after having been caught lying to congress about the program, they're STILL LYING ABOUT IT. They must not think much of us. I guess they've been reading all our e-mails, they probably know us pretty well and are right to think that we'll let it slide.

    2. Re:NSA *Won't* Search Its Own Email by TWiTfan · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why wouldn't they continue to lie? Congress, the President, and the American public have made it abundantly clear that there will be no consequences for lying. So, why not?

      --
      The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
  3. Right... by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The NSA says that there is no central method to search its own email.

    [cough] Bullshit [/cough]

    1. Re:Right... by NatasRevol · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I think you forget that they're on the same side. That ain't gonna happen.

      --
      There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  4. Suuuuure by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's such a line of shit.

    It's not that they cannot search their emails. It's that they have chosen to not create a search mechanism, because they have found this excuse is accepted by the courts to deny information requests. They will use every trick available to them to avoid adhering to laws they don't like.

    Do you really believe anything they say?

  5. Re:sounds like they're running exchange by jongalbreath · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As an Exchange administrator, I can say that searching across an entire mail database is absolutely possible, and also very simple to do from the Management Shell. They're either lying, or just don't want to do it.

  6. And we accept this excuse? by gman003 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If I were in charge, and the agency responsible for technological espionage and information security told me they couldn't search through their own emails, I would fire them. Every single one of them. Bam. Agency dissolved, someone go think of a new TLA for the new agency. This is like a Navy that can't figure out how to dock a battleship, or a tax agency that doesn't know what all the valid exemptions are. Complete and utter incompetence.

    What's saddest is that this almost certainly isn't true. They've got these capabilities. They're just trying to hide something ("everything" qualifies as something, for their purposes). *Maybe* they're telling the truth, if they've got some custom, highly-encrypted system where emails can only be decrypted by the users. But that doesn't seem like the phrasing used here.

    What's saddest is that "we're completely fucking incompetent" is not just the excuse they went with, but that it actually works.

    1. Re:And we accept this excuse? by 1s44c · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If I were in charge, and the agency responsible for technological espionage and information security told me they couldn't search through their own emails, I would fire them. Every single one of them. Bam. Agency dissolved, someone go think of a new TLA for the new agency.

      Not an option. The NSA has a portfolio of affairs, abuses of power, criminal behavior, tax fraud, drug abuse, etc. on every member of the government. Nobody will oppose those who could end their career in a few keystrokes. ...Or maybe I'm just paranoid.

  7. Epic Fail by jebus187 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What a bunch of lying douches.

  8. Re:sounds like they're running exchange by g0bshiTe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I concur it's very simple to search across and pull user or timeframe emails. If they are like any other branches of the gov why are they not required to maintain backup copies of email? Wasn't there a big thing during the Clinton administration that resulted in Washington keeping emails on record after that?

    Even if their server can't do it what about their backup repository.

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
  9. Re:sounds like they're running exchange by 1s44c · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As an Exchange administrator, I can say that searching across an entire mail database is absolutely possible, and also very simple to do from the Management Shell. They're either lying, or just don't want to do it.

    Of course it's possible with Exchange or with anything else for that matter. There is an exception to FOI requests where getting the information is expensive. What they mean is they can't do it within whatever small budget they allocate to serving FIO requests.

  10. NSA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    NSA doesn't fund their operations primarily with drug running anymore. Insider trading is the best source of funding. And they have all the information they need to do this.