Slashdot Mirror
NSA Collects 200 Million Text Messages Per Day
ilikenwf writes "A new release from the files obtained by Edward Snowden have revealed that the NSA collects millions of text messages per day. These are used to gain travel plans, financial data, and social network data. The majority of these texts and data belong to people who are not being investigated for any crime or association. Supposedly, "non-US" data is removed, but we all know that means it is sent to a partner country for analysis, which is then sent back to the NSA."
Torches, hangmans nooses....these are a few of my favorite things.
"Sure." "Okay." "lolz." "Whats for dinner?" "No." "K." "don't be a dick"
That doesn't seem like much, I think the average teen sends 200m text messages per day.
CIA has grown into a monster, so I'm gonna disband it. Then Kennedy is assassinated and nothing happens to the CIA.
2014: Obama says NSA has grown into a monster, it needs to be disbanded. Then Obama is assassinated and nothing happens to NSA.
Supposedly, "non-US" data is removed
No, you have that round the wrong way -
"Communications from US phone numbers, the documents suggest, were removed (or “minimized”) from the database – but those of other countries, including the UK, were retained."
Those who can, do. Those who cannot, sue.
143, 2DAY, 4EAE, ADN, AFAIK, AFK, ATM, B/C, B4, BFF, BFN, BOL, BRB, BTW, DM, Bieber, DWBH, F2F, FB, 420, MM, MSM, IRL, Bieber,...
Do not search any of these terms: hentai, furry, futanari, vore, guro.
You have been warned.
I'm curious - I'm following the releases, but was curious where and how the releases are occurring - did Snowden release huge archives to the web and they're slowly being sifted and sorted through by interested parties, or are these being slowly released by people holding what Snowden released?
So we often see claims like the above in the summary:
Supposedly, "non-US" data is removed, but we all know that means it is sent to a partner country for analysis, which is then sent back to the NSA."
On the other hand:
Frequently Asked Questions - Oversight
5. Couldn't NSA simply ask its allies to provide them with information about U.S. persons?
NSA is prohibited from requesting an ally to undertake activities that NSA itself is prohibited from conducting.
I'm certainly willing to believe that other countries will accumulate info on US citizens and hold it, but does anyone have any evidence of the above claim?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Dear NSA,
Here is another text message for your collection!
Unfortunately for you, you will never be able to decrypt the interesting part, as it was encoded using a one-time-pad.
Hugs and Kisses.
fOfBpsViT0 Kv5L9G 3pzgy6rh xTR8nIrMUto tISf5pVOri UMq3C
ol9MiEX 20nLla2O gbFP6wcpQ ZvAAX7 gRBLpdc YO2b4W MytvdDg
Jxni4LyRF 6Gxyv0oPocLS f4DDirC0 WZxP6R0x bmcpO p5WwTbGf
Sadly, they don't give those to the SEC to prosecute.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Averaged across my family, we send about 10 SMS/day each. So the total US would send around 3 BILLION per day, and the rest-of-the-world using customary multipliers 6+ BILLION.
Either the NSA has 2% filters (scary) or is incompetent. Or [likely] both!
Don't want to rain on the festival, but text messages is only one sub-set of the data that is being spied on. Here is the partial list, as presented by http://nsa.gov1.info/data/index.html internet searches (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu) websites visited (all anti-government websites and your xxx-rated websites becomes a permanent record) emails sent and received social media activity (Facebook, Twitter, World of Warcraft, Snapchat etc) blogging activity including posts read, written, and commented on videos watched and/or uploaded online photos viewed and/or uploaded online music downloads mobile phone GPS-location data mobile phone apps downloaded phone call records text messages sent and received online purchases and auction transactions bookstore receipts credit card/ debit card transactions bank statements cable television shows watched and recorded commuter toll records parking receipts electronic bus and subway passes / Smartpasses travel itineraries border crossings surveillance cameras medical information including diagnoses and treatments prescription drug purchases guns and ammunition sales educational records arrest records driver license information Of course, this information together with targeted SIGINT is put together and is being analyzed to identify any risks, as decided by policy makers. So, Text messages is only a small piece of SIGINT
TextSecure:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms&hl=en
Written by Moxie Marlinspike
I hope that we can develop an open-source smartphone (both hardware and software) soon that will enable people to encrypt their messages and other personal data. Some message encryption solutions exist right now, but they are all on closed/proprietary platforms that can't be trusted (especially in light of recent news re: the NSA's hardware backdoors). Until we have a secure, trustworthy, open platform to work from, we'll continue to fall prey to the NSA.
Interference
Headline: NSA Collects 200 Million Text Messages Per Day
Translation: They're tracking about 5 teenagers.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
the NSA is recording everything we all do. now let me know when there's a news story about what we can do about it.
Over 150 million of them contain phrases like:
"OMG, yur my BFF!"
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
I thought the NSA was covering their ass by saying they're not spying on american citizens, only foreign threats, now they're saying they _only_ spy on US communications? which is it?
--
Stay tuned for some shock and awe coming right up after this messages!
I was going to suggest it would soon be easier to list what online communications they don't collect, but I think we passed that point a while ago.
Is there any online privacy they show signs of respecting?
Do they see any reason not to do what they're doing? I mean, the Fourth Amendment didn't seem like much of a road block.
The polls are still in favor of expanding government surveillance to protect us all from "turr." Pisses me off to no end, but that's the democracy we're asking for. I gave up after I saw the numbers last year post-Snowden.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
there are fishing expeditions by subpoena. by break-and-enter. by throwing dynamite overboard.
freakin' NSA is tossing nukes to try and find one bluegill in the ocean.
there oughta be a law...
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
The Guardian and other places are releasing it slowly so they can keep their 15 minutes of fame going as long as possible.
In reality, just use iMessage, and this isn't an issue.
did you hear that at an Apple Store ?
So much for "We only collect Meta Data"
Liars
You have missed just about every point.
This information released piece by piece is the most ingenious idea from Snowden and friends. If they released it in one batch it would be forgotten in two weeks because of the Attention Span of Knuckle Heads.
Here your post is an exact proof of that. You must have missed those leaks about the RSA being paid to allow easier breaking of their encryption, Mac webcams recording without the light on, NSA's private backdoor into iPhones, or Apple's logo on many of the documents. So you say iMessage? I would not be the least bit surprised if NSA had access to that, too. Especially after all the favorable decisions handed out by the government to Apple recently.
And you're blaming a newspaper? Because they are doing the job of journalism as they are supposed to? They are the bad guys here? Come on man.
.
what in the actual fuck are you talking about.
I'm not proud to be an American
Cause I know that I'm not free
I pity all the men who died
So Bush and Obama could take my rights from me
Now let me stand up next to you
And defeat them still today
Cause there ain't no doubt they hate this land
Bush and Obama hate the USA...
Seriously, everyone responsible for the excesses of the National Sodomization of America should be extraordinarily rendered then executed without trial for treason.
Yes. Yes, that would totally work. Clearly, the people behind SELinux have no fucking clue what they're doing.
Derp.
'sides, everyone knows the NSA uses Mongo. With that much data, you need web scale.
Has there been a revelation that the NSA sends US data overseas to avoid the rules? I don't remember that revelation coming out, although I wouldn't put it past them.
I would *definitely* watch that movie!
May Peace Prevail On Earth
It was a common knowledge in the 80's that every Usenet/newsgroup went through NSA, whether it was read (flagged) depended upon key words. This included FidoNet and any other means of messaging.
There was a list that circulated with THE WORDS that would flag a message, they were few at the time and I only remember one, "nuclear". I live in the USA.
It's not a large leap to imagine text messages going through or collected via the Internet (storage) to be pulled in as well.
It taught me early that any post I make could show up on the front page of some newspaper. I also don't flame and very rarely cuss (more so in case my kids look me up). Bad grammar and all.
That makes no sense. They're the one advocating taking to the streets and guillotineing people. Not me.
We have all the tools we need to improve our country and we decline to use them. The voter turnout for people under 35 is a disgrace. If young people just voted at the same rate as old people, this country would transform overnight.
YES!!! Instead of our tax dollars being spent on shit old people want, it would be spent on shit that young people want. PERFECT.
Sorry if my proposal isn't as exciting as murdering people in the streets.
Voting just replaces the public faces. The real problem, especially in DC, is the Congressional staffers who are in there for life. By and large, Congressional Representatives, be they Senators or Representatives, just do what their chief's of staff tell them to do. The staffers are the ones who write the bills and craft the laws that are the foundation of all of the problems we are facing.
The Representatives and Senators are entirely responsible for the actions of their staffers, and the voters are responsible for the Representatives and the Senators.
Young people voted overwhelmingly for the president who has authorized this data collection. If more of them voted we would be no better off.
Dat mst b y so mny txts r snt n code 2 stp da spyng
. .
Only $100?
But then, I'd bet $1000 (if I had it) that they wouldn't do anything effective
As a naturalized citizen of the United of America I can tell you that there is *NOTHING* we, the voters of American, can effectively do, to change the system.
The system is so entrenched, with its roots dug so deep into so many fields, affecting so many people's livelihoods, that even if 90% of the voters (who do go out to vote) of the America decide that "Enough is enough", that is still NOTHING we can do !
"Vote them out", you say ?
When you vote them out, who would you vote in to replace them ?
The whole scenario of a supposedly "Two Party System" is a sham.
They are JUST THE SAME OLD SHIT, like two sides of a same coin.
Whether we vote Republicans or for Democrats, we vote for the same fucking system.
"Vote for somebody else then," you say.
Who ?
Third party ? Libertarians ?
I *AM* a libertarian, but even me know that the "Libertarian party" is worse than a fucking joke.
Every single day the system fill us with nonsensical topics such as "abortion", "welfare abuses", "prayer in the school" and so on, so to occupy our attention.
So we have the line drawn in between the people along the line of "Pro Life" vs "Pro Choice", and people having protests over "Gay Parade" (on both sides), and so what ?
I mean, those are the devices that the fucking system used to divert attention AWAY from the hundreds of millions of morons living in America anyway.
I am sorry to say that, for even I, as an American, have to admit that there are just too many morons in America and we have been moronic for way too long.
The so-called "Constitution" is no more.
Yes, there is still a piece of paper with the "We, the people..." written on it, but it might be as well printed "Made in China" on back, because the system doesn't give a fuck of that piece of paper anymore.
Do I sound pissed ? Sure I am !
But what the fuck more can I do ?
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Bruce was asked to tell congress about the NSA because in congress' view, the NSA wasn't talking. https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/01/today_i_briefed.html
It's not just about who we vote for. If young people doubled their participation in politics, it would change the entire national discussion and political priorities.
Young people overwhelmingly voted for bush?
Many documents of Snowden's date from the reign of King George II.
Probably wouldn't help as much as you might think. Most of the young people I've talked to over the years have been extremely under-educated and too sheltered to have a well rounded world-view or to avoid manipulation. Their understanding of basic economics, for example, has been shockingly bad. I'd shudder to think what kind of insane policy they could be made to support.
For example, take one horrifying conversation I had at a college between myself and several "financial advisors" (young 20-somethings fresh out of college) in the fin-aid department. We were talking about student loans when the talk got political. They wanted to support full federal subsidization so that people could get "free college". When I pointed out that it wasn't free in that case, and that the cost was just shifted to taxpayers they literally couldn't understand it. So I asked "who would pay the professors and staff", to which their reply was "Why do they need to get paid". They were being completely serious.
Getting them more involved would be no less damaging than the religious nutjobs and ultra-conservatives that seem to be so common lately.
One of those "in honor of the important things you do" Sprint commercials.
1) Release a series of correct and provable claims about spying activities, with Snowden's name attached.
2) Release a series of claims that slightly stretch the bounds of credibility beyond the last claim, with Snowden's name attached.
3) Release a series of claims about time machines and space aliens impregnating PBR drinkers, with Snowden's name attached.
Oy vey, the goyim know! Shut him down!
I just bought a 60 burner phones, mailed all but one to various locations around the country, and texted "Meet me in Linithicum with 1kg U-235 at 9am April 1, 2014". Have a nice day.
There was no choice on the ballot that would have resulted in something different happening w.r.t. the NSA's bulk data collection.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
No it wouldn't. We have compulsory voting here in Australia. We get the same voting patterns as other non-compulsory democracy. Basic stats shows you only need a couple of thousand people to figure out the opinions of millions, so if you had half as many voters or twice as much, the result would end up pretty much the same.
These guys must by now be fairly desensitised to seeing Goatse.
Time to whip out the Red Phone: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.redphone
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Oh, don't you worry, Americans are plenty revolting.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
The 17th of January is Michelle Obama's 50th birthday. On this day in 1961 President Eisenhower issued the clarion call for all citizens to be vigilant against oppression from the Military Industrial Complex. It is the anniversary of a decisive victory in the American Revolutionary War in 1781, the Battle of Cowpens. It is the anniversary of the overthrow of the monarchy in Hawaii in 1893 thus allowing the President to be born into an American state.
Will the President venerate the date and thank Edward Snowden?
More people ran for President than just Obama and Romney. Also, there were hundreds of Congressional races.
I'm afraid that's classified, so there will be neither confirmation nor denial.
so you're calling the thing I linked to a lie?
what part from that USA Today article, specifically, is a 'lie'?
second question, you knew the government was collecting data after 2001, but...what?
"that information came from different channels?"
so you knew the government was spying on you through different channels since 2001...WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I SAID
so you agree with me and think the link I posted to the USA Today article is a 'lie'?
Thank you Dave Raggett