You Won’t BELIEVE What’s Going On with Government Spying on Americans

Zero Hedge ^ | August 17, 2013

[2ndDivisionVet]

New Revelations Are Breaking Every Day

Revelations about the breathtaking scope of government spying are coming so fast that it’s time for an updated roundup:
◾Just weeks after NSA boss Alexander said that a review of NSA spying found not even one violation, the Washington Post published an internal NSA audit showing that the agency has broken its own rules thousands of times each year
◾2 Senators on the intelligence committee said the violations revealed in the Post article were just the “tip of the iceberg”
◾Glenn Greenwald notes: “One key to the WashPost story: the reports are internal, NSA audits, which means high likelihood of both under-counting & white-washing”.(Even so, the White House tried to do damage control by retroactively changing on-the-record quotes)
◾The government is spying on essentially everything we do. It is not just “metadata” … although that is enough to destroy your privacy
◾The government has adopted a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act which allows it to pretend that “everything” is relevant … so it spies on everyone
◾NSA whistleblowers say that the NSA collects all of our conversations word-for-word
◾It’s not just the NSA … Many other agencies, like the FBI and IRS – concerned only with domestic issues – spy on Americans as well
◾The information gained through spying is shared with federal, state and local agencies, and they are using that information to prosecute petty crimes such as drugs and taxes. The agencies are instructed to intentionally “launder” the information gained through spying, i.e. to pretend that they got the information in a more legitimate way … and to hide that from defense attorneys and judges
◾Top counter-terror experts say that the government’s mass spying doesn’t keep us safe
◾Indeed, they say that mass spying actually hurts U.S. counter-terror efforts.
◾They say we can, instead, keep everyone safe without violating the Constitution … more cheaply and efficiently than the current system
◾There is no real oversight by Congress, the courts, or the executive branch of government. And see this and this.
◾Indeed, most Congress members have no idea what the NSA is doing. Even staunch defenders of the NSA now say they’ve been kept in the dark
◾A Federal judge who was on the secret spying court for 3 years says that it’s a kangaroo court
◾Even the current judges on the secret spying court now admit that they’re out of the loop and powerless to exercise real oversight
◾A former U.S. president says that the spying program shows that we no longer have a functioning democracy
◾The chairs of the 9/11 Commission say that NSA spying has gone way too far
◾Top constitutional experts say that Obama and Bush are worse than Nixon … and the Stasi East Germans
◾ While the government initially claimed that mass surveillance on Americans prevented more than 50 terror attacks, the NSA’s deputy director John Inglis walked that position back all the way to saying that – at the most – one (1) plot might have been disrupted by the bulk phone records collection alone. In other words, the NSA can’t prove that stopped any terror attacks. The government greatly exaggerated an alleged recent terror plot for political purposes (and promoted the fearmongering of serial liars). The argument that recent terror warnings show that NSA spying is necessary is so weak that American counter-terrorism experts have slammed it as “crazy pants”

◾Even President Obama admits that you’re much less likely to be killed by terrorists than a car accident. So the government has resorted to lamer and lamer excuses to try to justify mass surveillance
◾Experts say that the spying program is illegal, and is exactly the kind of thing which King George imposed on the American colonists … which led to the Revolutionary War
◾The top counter-terrorism Czar under Clinton and Bush says that revealing NSA spying programs does not harm national security
◾The feds are considering prosecuting the owner of a private email company – who shut down his business rather than turning over records to the NSA – for refusing to fork over the information and keep quiet. This is a little like trying to throw someone in jail because he’s died and is no longer paying taxes
◾Whistleblowers on illegal spying have no “legal” way to get the information out
◾There are indications that the government isn’t just passively gathering the information … but is actively using it for mischievous purposes
◾Spying started before 9/11 … and various excuses have been used to spy on Americans over the years
◾Governments and big corporations are doing everything they can to destroy anonymity
◾Mass spying creates an easy mark for hackers. Indeed, the Pentagon now sees the collection of “big data” as a “national security threat” … but the NSA is the biggest data collector on the planet, and thus provides a tempting mother lode of information for foreign hackers
◾Mass surveillance by the NSA directly harms internet companies, Silicon Valley, California … and the entire U.S. economy. And see these reports from Boingboing and the Guardian
◾IT and security professionals are quite concerned about government spying
◾Some people make a lot of money off of mass spying. But the government isn’t using the spying program to stop the worst types of lawlessness
◾Polls show that the public doesn’t believe the NSA … and thinks that the government has gone way too far in the name of terrorism
◾While leaker Edward Snowden is treated as a traitor by the fatcats and elites, he is considered a hero by the American public
◾Congress members are getting an earful from their constituents about mass surveillance
◾The heads of the intelligence services have repeatedly been caught lying about spying. And even liberal publications are starting to say that Obama has been intentionally lying about spying
◾Only 11% of Americans trust Obama to actually do anything to rein in spying
◾A huge majority of Americans wants the director of intelligence – Clapper – prosecuted for perjury
◾While the Obama administration is spying on everyone in the country – it is at the same time the most secretive administration ever (background). That’s despite Obama saying he’s running the most transparent administration ever
◾A Congressman noted that – even if a mass surveillance program is started for good purposes – it will inevitably turn into a witch hunt
◾Surveillance can be used to frame you if someone in government happens to take a dislike to you
◾Government spying has always focused on crushing dissent … not on keeping us safe
◾An NSA whistleblower says that the NSA is spying on – and blackmailing – top government officials and military officers (and see this)
◾High-level US government officials have warned for 40 years that mass surveillance would lead to tyranny in America
◾A top NSA whistleblower says that the only way to fix things is to fire all of the corrupt government officials who let it happen. As the polls above show, the American public is starting to wake up to that fact

[DuncanWaring]

Of course his administration’s transparent; can’t you see right through him?

[butterdezillion]

I’ve had an answering machine message that got delivered a day later.

[butterdezillion]

What do you mean by closed-source operating systems and software?

Seems like malware is probably the most likely way.

[Darksheare]

Yeah, there’s a government spy Trojan called white lantern.
Anti virus won’t find it as it is listed as a “law enforcement tool”.

[butterdezillion]

If the NSA is using keylogging, would they be doing it through malware? Making it difficult to prove who was actually doing it? Is our government engaging in computer hacking on normal (non-military, non-espionage-type) people?

[familyop]

"Me, too. I have no qualms about going to zero hedge. Which is why I was surprised. Could not it have been compromised by a third party?"

If you have reason to believe that it came from Zero Hedge, the systems administrator (or web administrator at least) there would probably appreciate a detailed report from you on what you saw. Yes, servers connected to the Net (often web servers) are sometimes compromised by remote crackers.

Running Windows with anti-virus software would probably be the easiest way to detect it while visiting Zero Hedge. Maybe someone else reading the thread with a Windows system and whatever browser you're using will give that a try and report back to the thread.

[Darksheare]

Windows remote procedure call, and remote desktop can be hijacked by government patty fingers...

[butterdezillion]

What more can you tell me about this? Or can you direct me to information about it?

Do you know if it disables Rkill?

[butterdezillion]

You mean like automatic updates from Windows, or how does that work? Can Windows do remote procedures on our computers without asking or receiving permission?

[Darksheare]

Not much I’m afraid.
There are people on FR far more knowledgeable than I on this.
I have remote desktop etc disabled, but that only means the windows api thinks it is disabled.
It is possible to have things report they are disabled when they are not by monkeying with the registry and certain values in there.
So, it’d be better if our resident fur teeth chimed in.

[Darksheare]

No, think of it more like the remote help built into windows being used instead to mess things up.
Yes, it can operate without permission and somewhat hidden.
Except for when the remote operator moves your cursor.
It can be used for bad things, many virii do make use of remote desktop and the like to compromise your system.
Whether or not that is the case currently...do not know.
Could be browser helper objects, Trojans, JavaScript baddies, ActiveX baddies...
Or white lantern.
I have not heard solid info on what that does.

Thing to keep in mind: no machine is fully secure except one that is unplugged and not connected to anything.

[familyop]

Closed-source software is delivered in files other than plain text (e.g., binaries). Windows is one example of a closed-source operating system. Open-source software can be audited and re-audited by developers and users to prevent “back doors” and the like (examples, Linux, *BSD systems). A couple of the *BSD systems’ kernels are isolated, in ways, from user software, lending to even more security and stability. Encryption can be used in operating systems, user software and communications for increased security.

[Darksheare]

Correction: the “law enforcement tool” Trojan is called magic lantern.

[butterdezillion]

So basically you’re saying that if you use Windows, Windows can secretly do whatever they darn well please on your computer (more or less)?

[LucyT]

Who here is shocked by this?

And yet there are still some at FR who believe Snowden is a "traitor" because HE "jeopardized OUR 'security.'

Needs repeating.

[familyop]

"Is our government engaging in computer hacking on normal (non-military, non-espionage-type) people?"

I doubt it, except maybe due to a rare mistake here and there (and maybe some cases of big business/public corruption here and there). For governments, taking control of others' personal computers costs money and time, and it could be risky. But according to the news, yes, some offices have been recording communications sent through the Net.

But there are criminals who don't work for the government--those trying to steal money from others, for example. That's one good reason for personal security with computers and communications. Some of those criminals might even be local to one or both of us--a good reason for also encrypting communications (see VPN hosting services).

[Nifster]

thanks for always keeping us informed.....the enumeration of it is sickening

[sargon]

We can gripe all we want about all these alphabet agencies spying on us, but the sad fact is that our elected representatives, and judges, from BOTH parties have utterly betrayed us, and are using the Constitution for toilet paper.

And what are WE going to do? Bitch about it online, and nothing more.

The President should be impeached, and the Congress almost totally replaced, save for a few TEA party and libertarian-type Patriots.

Slavery is in the forecast. Resistance will be seen as futile.

Calling our Congressmen hasn't worked so far.

And We the People bear much of the responsibility for letting things get so far out of hand. It's almost too late to do anything about it.

[CodeToad]

“KEYSTROKE LOGGING may not have been mentioned....but Im fairly certain that they are using it!”

No need. Everything between your computer and anyone else is logged, decrypted, and cataloged.

[MeshugeMikey]

I use comcast cable for my net connection and one email account.

whether the email is as secure as I would prefer it to be I dont know.

Google...has announced that their gmail accounts are not....