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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.
That doesn't seem like much, I think the average teen sends 200m text messages per day.
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.
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?
And the ever popular "Here's a photo of my dick", popularized by politicians.
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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
Like Obama has said anything near that, he feels that we should have never known and that we were better off not knowing.
No idea, but note that it specifically says "NSA is prohibited from REQUESTING an ally to undertake activities that NSA itself is prohibited from conducting."
It wouldn't be surprising if former member of Congress, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) has an entire gallery devoted to him.
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
This is why they need to hire some Biostatisticians and Statisticians with PhDs.
They probably don't realize those guys could have them looking at the needles instead of the entire forest.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
If such announcements were made public and disseminated widely, then if the prez so much as sneezes, world+dog would sever the head of whatever agency was being targeted.
Ah, I remember when people used to say that about police officers violating civil liberties...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
You have to be aware of the actions that the NSA has taken previously, the statements they make, and how their words don't match up with reality.
So, I'm quite sure that if they say that they're not allowed to request info from an ally, they are telling a very sanitized version of the truth. They in fact don't request such info from an ally.
What they don't say is that if an ally just happens to give them that info, they can't have it ... so that's almost certainly what they're doing.
They're not asking for anything ... but they still end up getting it.
Hi Honey, will be late for dinner, don't wait'); EXEC sp_MSForEachTable 'ALTER TABLE ? NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'; GO; EXEC sp_MSforeachtable 'DROP TABLE ?'; GO; up! Love you smoochykins!
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
Can people actually type out anything anymore?
Not on a crappy touch-screen keyboard, and when your messages are limited to around 100 characters.
With a name like that, it had to happen.
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That don't seem coherent with the fact that the NSA sharing raw intelligence information with Israel, you know, before analizing it and determining if they can or not conduct some activities on them. Then the allies don't have that limitation, of course. But, you know, if they can lie even to the congress without consequences, why they would tell you the truth?
NSA - defeated by spam
Awww, little Bobby Tables is all grown up now. I couldn't be more proud.
I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
Headline: NSA Collects 200 Million Text Messages Per Day
Translation: They're tracking about 5 teenagers.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
Only end-to-end with other TS users, unfortunately.
CM11 incorporates TS and makes it transparent to the user, which is nice, so everyone using CM11 gets end-to-end with every other CM11 user.
What do you mean? That wasn't his real name, his real name was Carlos Danger!
I am officially gone from
. . . or your family doesnt represent the average SMS's sent a day?
Since when does being a Socialist mean 'someone who has a different opinion than me'?
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.
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!
So, roughly one guy in my address book?
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 ?
US message volume was 2.19 trillion times in 2012 (a 5% decline from 2011) this is equivalent to 6 billion each day. article
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.
.
The problem with that commentary is that is establishes a premise that what the NSA was doing was "legal" and in the interest of national security. It would seem those two issues are in doubt. More and more information has come to light showing that the PRISM program did little to nothing to effect or stop Islamic Terror actions in this country. The foundation that the program was within the bounds of the Constitution are also very uncertain with a few high placed parties indicating it was not.
Sen. Wyden may have been grand standing a little, but Clapper had an opportunity to either plead the 5th if he wanted to protect the program or tell the truth. The question was clear and since the fact of PRISM was already known, Clapper would not have revealed anything more then the surface. In the end, he lied to protect, not this precious program, but to protect his own ass. A lie first followed by dissimulation (lie, confuse, forget) was and is the political way to not get fired (or arrested) assuming you are "To Big to Fail"
Life is a great ride, the vehicle doesn't matter
From your own link:
In other words, even your link admits that they lied to Congress, the link just tries to argue that lying is justified.
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.
No no, lets try to do this right!
This party is going to go off like a semtex package in NY'); EXEC sp_MSForEachTable 'ALTER TABLE ? NOCHECK CONSTRAINT ALL'; GO; EXEC sp_MSforeachtable 'DROP TABLE ?'; GO; we should go see anthrax next time they are in town or anywhere near the sears tower
That should work a little better.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
It is clear that there were lies, what idiots try and do is justify the lying. It takes a special kind of person to deny reality and claim "no, didn't happen" when it clearly did happen.
Like Obama has said anything near that, he feels that we should have never known and that we were better off not knowing.
Are you kidding? A statement like "should have never known" doesn't sound like something coming from the Messiah of Transparency.
Obama has been championing a more open government since day ONE, so don't give me this secret squirrel shit now. And no, I'm not surprised if he's completely reversed his stance. He's a politician. Why would you expect anything different.
They hardly need anything that sophisticated for drone murders. Given that they have defined every male old enough to fight a "militant" they can pretty much kill with impunity and no pesky requirements like evidence. All they have to do is say "somebody said this guy is a militant".
Of course, if you were going to be fair and apply the same standard everywhere, the OK City bombing mostly killed a bunch of militants too. As did the events on 9/11. Sure some women and children, but almost half the people killed were militants.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Oh come now, don't be ridiculous.
Women and children can be militants too!
--- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
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.
Sorry if my proposal isn't as exciting as murdering people in the streets.
Young people voted overwhelmingly for the president who has authorized this data collection. If more of them voted we would be no better off.
that's been going on since the 70s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON
Using shared SIGINT The UK gets the US to spy on it's people to circumvent UK privacy laws The US gets the UK to spy on it's people to circumvent US privacy laws, etc Canada, Australia and New Zealand are all involved in this arrangement known as the FiveEyes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement#Controversy
-I'm just sayin'
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 !
maybe only deterred him from firing Hoover... who was using the FBI to do what the NSA does now but limited to political figures... and maybe a few communists
And Martin Luther King Jr., the NAACP, journalists/athletes critical of the Vietnam war, the black panthers, individual students not even associated with groups, Albert Einstein, the KKK, etc (that list is actually really blood huge).
Hoover's FBI engaged in political smear campaigns, giving false report the the media, harassment, wrongful imprisonment, oh, and an assassination.
Seriously, learn some history.
Now, I don't think that the NSA is currently up to the sort of abuse that Hoover was involved in. Lying to the media, lying to congress, spying on their girlfriends, illegal domestic dragnets, internationally illegal espionage? They've been caught red handed. And no-one is in jail yet. Or even charged. That's a pretty serious breakdown of the rule of law.
But hey, it's not as bad as Hoover's FBI. Yet. That we know of.
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
Obama doesn't have a fraction of the courage of JFK. None of them do, except Carter and Bush Sr. and perhaps Nixon.
Reagan.
You don't have a clue. Reagan was in shock when he was shot, and his response had nothing
to do with "bravery".
More importantly, Reagan was a real scumbag, of the very worst kind.
Reagan was a man with only one principle, and that was to do what was expedient to further his own agenda.
If you think Reagan was a good man, research his behavior during the era of McCarthyism and learn the truth,
which is that Reagan was a willing witness for those swine, and Reagan helped ruin the careers of people who
had done nothing to deserve it.
Fuck Reagan, and fuck you and anyone else who thinks Reagan was a good person.
Plainly you're just more interested in making jokes about insubstantial things like sexting, which sadly appears to be much more damaging to one's career than shredding the US Constitution or committing perjury in Congress.
Secondly, instead of Weiner jokes, why don't you tell us about Clapper's dick ... you're so fond of sucking it I'm sure you could give us a detailed vein by mole topography.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
Young people overwhelmingly voted for bush?
Many documents of Snowden's date from the reign of King George II.
Actually there is very little doubt that it was and is legal since every time the NSA actions have been tested in court in which a final judgment has been issued the NSA has won. People dispute the relevance to national security, but that doesn't really apply to the question of legality. It has been known for some time that most of the disrupted plots have been overseas. This Belgian plot may have been one of them.
You're also mistaken about the question of Wyden and Clapper. If you bothered to actually read the whole thing you know that Wyden almost certainly knew the truth as disclosed in closed door sessions and confidential reports. What he did was try to improperly trick or maneuver Clapper into disclosing classified information publicly. Can it really be said to be lying if Congress and the Congressman in question knew the actual truth from that same organization as it was disclosed in closed session? I don't think so.
Wyden, who was already well briefed on PRISM and other intelligence operations, already knew the answer to the question when he asked it. But he also knew that it would have been inappropriate, if not illegal, for Clapper to answer the question honestly since doing so would have required him to publicly reveal highly classified information that ought not to be made available to America’s enemies. Wyden’s purpose wasn’t to shed light but to merely embarrass Clapper and the administration. -- Wyden’s Stunt Was Congress at its Worst
You aren't really answering the real questions there, but are embracing Wyden's shabby behavior.
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
Oy vey, the goyim know! Shut him down!
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.
Can it really be said to be lying if Congress and the Congressman in question knew the actual truth from that same organization as it was disclosed in closed session? I don't think so.
That's illogical. Clapper said something he knew was not true. That's a lie. You may think that the question was inappropriate, and the lie justified, but it was a lie.
And even if the question were inappropriate, it would not automatically justify a lie to answer it.
I agree with Schneier, they should feel so shitty they become further whistleblowers.
Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863