NSA Planned To Discredit Radicals Based On Web-Browsing Habits

wired_parrot writes "New leaked documents show that the NSA was not only monitoring suspected radical sympathizers, but planned to discredit them based on their web-surfing habits. This includes not only evidence of porn browsing and online sexual activity, but also extortion and blackmail based on inappropriate use of funds. At the same time, the leaked document notes that very few of the targeted contacts were associated with terrorism."

Comments

Re:Porn browsing?

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen to that... Why is prostitution illegal while porn is not? The whole thing smacks of religious nut jobs who want to regulate your private life.

Apparently you've never visited Washington, DC, where the "escort" business thrives due to its many politician and high-ranking government official client-base. Of course if working class Joe Q. Public is in the company of these "escorts", assuming he can afford them, the police will have his name in the newspaper faster than a Gulf of Mexico Hurricane flattens a school.

Where will they stop?

[cpghost]

While most won't mind the NSA blackmailing (potential) terrorists using their web history, why stop there? Hasn't the NSA already blackmailed high ranking EU politicians, using the very same techniques, to ensure that SWIFT data will continue to be shared with the US, despite the European Parliament's motion to suspend this data sharing? See where all this leads to?

Re:FP

[hairyfeet]

Uhhh..."redefining"? This is just COINTELPRO updated for the age of social media. The government has been suppressing and in some cases outright murdering activists for decades, this is nothing new. For an example see the middle of the Wiki entry I linked to, outright execution of an activist by members of the US gov, no charges filed of course.