XKeyscore, Snowden and How I know what you're doing

[Roverron]

A top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Snowden. The NSA boasts in training materials that the program, called XKeyscore, is its "widest-reaching" system for developing intelligence from the internet.

The latest revelations will add to the intense public and congressional debate around the extent of NSA surveillance programs. They come as senior intelligence officials testify to the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday, releasing classified documents in response to the Guardian's earlier stories on bulk collection of phone records and Fisa surveillance court oversight.

The files shed light on one of Snowden's most controversial statements, made in his first video interview published by the Guardian on June 10. "I, sitting at my desk," said Snowden, could "wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant, to a federal judge or even the president, if I had a personal email". US officials vehemently denied this specific claim. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee, said of Snowden's assertion: "He's lying. It's impossible for him to do what he was saying he could do."

But training materials for XKeyscore detail how analysts can use it and other systems to mine enormous agency databases by filling in a simple on-screen form giving only a broad justification for the search. The request is not reviewed by a court or any NSA personnel before it is processed.

XKeyscore, the documents boast, is the NSA's "widest reaching" system developing intelligence from computer networks – what the agency calls Digital Network Intelligence (DNI). One presentation claims the program covers "nearly everything a typical user does on the internet", including the content of emails, websites visited and searches, as well as their metadata.

Analysts can also use XKeyscore and other NSA systems to obtain ongoing "real-time" interception of an individual's internet activity.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...am-online-data

[Riverpigusmc]

Shocked face still wore out

[Snipersnest]

Have you heard about the new cable boxes that have infra-red cameras and mics in them so the cable company can see what your preferences are. Supposedly they will post a message across the TV screen which says we're watching you. Read about this one in the newspaper this morning. When is all this big brothers watching you sh!t gonna stop? Verizon and other cable and technology companies are developing these boxes as we speak. They're doing this to allegedly "super target ads". Get this........there are no laws that prohibit companies from placing these devices in consumers' homes without their knowledge. Walter Jones, R-N.C. filed a bill which would give consumers control over the technology.