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Shadowy Tech Brokers Deliver Data To the NSA
An anonymous reader notes an article about a group of companies whose business is to wiretap various ISPs (with permission) to gather data in response to federal subpoenas. Many smaller ISPs don't have the resources to deal with the flood of data requests from agencies like the NSA, so they outsource compliance and collection in order to keep costs down. The article profiles one of these companies, called Neustar:
Neustar can in many cases execute the warrant from anywhere within the U.S., keeping within the bounds of the country's surveillance law. But when a wiretap device is needed, they are not hard to come by. Most networking equipment makers sell devices that can be used to collect data, or used to inspect data — so-called deep-packet inspection devices, which can also be used to prevent piracy, the spread of malware, and website access, all at the Internet provider level. Once a FISA warrant is issued, so-called "tasking" orders, which contain selectors — like a phone number or an email address — are often sent electronically to the ISP. These tell the ISP or phone company, or third-parties like Neustar, exactly where to wiretap and what data to collect to hand back to the requesting authority.
Wouldn't a "New Star" (Neustar) be similar to "New World". So if you place an order with Neustar, is that a New World Order?
Let's make like a bird... and get the flock outta here.
Now I'm half expecting Commander Shepard to show up at the NSA seeking information on the Shadow Broker.
so-called deep-packet inspection devices, which can also be used to prevent piracy, the spread of malware, and website access, all at the Internet provider level....
Er, no, that is not what full packet capture devices are used for AT ALL.
Full packet capture devices are typically used for digital forensics. For example, your company gets hacked using an APT and you know that probably data was exfiltrated, but you don't know exactly what data was taken and you don't know how these guys got into your system. A full packet capture device can help here. Another way they are typically used is to produce evidence for court cases where employees steal company data and so forth, or browse child porn at work, etc.
They are NOT typically used to "prevent piracy" or "spread of malware" or "website access", I don't even see the use case here. I think the OP is confusing full packet capture with layer 7 application state firewalls, which ARE used for the above.
Man. Just think HOW MUCH WORSE it would have been, if the Nazis or the Communists won. We'd have to watch everything we say, not sure if our innocent statements were being permanently recorded - only to be retrieved and used against us, years later.
Oh, wait...
Well I'm sure glad that the people spying on us are also the one's reassuring us that Russia is evil, and all the other dangers we are protected from.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
By "where", I assume the article means San Francisco. And "whom" (if it were mentioned) would mean everyone in the damn country.
NSA, I hope you die badly in a fire.
The real dark nightmare isn't the NSA as a government agency.
It's the fact that the NSA is really a cartel of private companies that, as private companies do, work for the good of their bottom line first, and everything else second. They will do everything they can do to get them more business. When their business is undermining your right to privacy guess what the fuck is going to happen?
Welcome to the "Security Services Complex" - Dark budgets. Secret courts. No oversight. They make money and you lose. It's a gigantic scam and nobody, not even Congress or the President really has the ability to audit them.
And really, what incentive do they have? What happens if a headless, unaccountable NSA doesn't feel like having their budget slashed? They really could do anything they wanted to intimidate/blackmail/smear/disappear an inconvenient politician and no one would be the wiser.
Don't forget about Snowden. What's important about Snowden really isn't the leaked information. It's the fact he was just some flunky working for a private contractor. He was able to do what he did because he was walking out of an office building with flash drive. National security reduced to a run of the mills business IT security social engineering attack.
Please don't call FISA directives "warrants." They aren't issued upon probable cause of suspicion of a crime. NSA defenders love calling them that because it gives them a false veneer of legality.
It is impossible to enforce the laws when you can catch all the violations.... What will happen when the slumbering public becomes aware that society gives some criminals a free pass?
I think the premise of your argument, (that the primary concern of Three Letter Agencies is stopping crimes of various kinds), is largely false. The prime directive of these agencies, (organisms if you will, because they have many characteristics of living entities), is to grow, to thrive, to gain power, and to become ever more robust and resistant to damage. For example, the last thing the NSA wants is an end to terrorism and various foreign threats. Too much money is at stake, and too many jobs, careers, and personal empires are on the line; if enough enemies don't exist in reality, they will be fabricated as required. (BTW, all that data they're gathering comprises a shitload of raw material for said fabrication). Ditto for the DEA, (that's why you'll never see legalization of drugs), the military, etc.
Wars of various kinds, (including NSA 'intelligence wars'), are simply too profitable to be 'won' or otherwise concluded; the agencies in question will continue to expand their power and reach so they can make damned sure that the wars will never end. As for the "slumbering public", your description of them answers the question you asked.
'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
It is impossible to enforce the laws when you can catch all the violations
You're asking the wrong question - the correct question is this - how have we wound up in a situation where he have so many offenders, of so many laws, that there's not enough resources to lock them all up even if we knew every last one of them.
The answer is simple - if you create a job which comes with money and power, and where the job description is writing laws - you are going to have more laws. It's inevitable. And in a society where as a lawmaker you are rewarded for being "tough on crime", each subsequent law will be nitpickier and more punishing than the last.
That's it - our own system is going to bury us all in petty crime.
Freedom is the ability to break little rules. Rule of law is when you get caught when you break the big rules. A police state is when everyone is guilty, and it's up the police to decide who gets caught at what time.
As someone who was born behind the Iron Curtain, I promise you that the latter is very very scary.