NSA Reading Your Emails Through Yahoo!

No matter who is president …. George Bush or Barack Obama … top secrecy and whistleblowers hanged to dry in court by the 1917 Espionage Act. Say no more!

Yahoo may have let the government spy on emails. Now will we embrace encryption? | The Guardian |

In a blockbuster scoop, Reuters’ Joseph Menn is reporting that Yahoo secretly built a software program in 2015 that scanned all its millions of customers’ incoming emails at the behest of US intelligence officials, which led to its chief security officer resigning in protest.

We don’t know exactly what the US government might have been searching for, but we do know that this is potentially a massive privacy violation that strikes at the heart of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on indiscriminate search and seizure. Yahoo’s reported secret collaboration with the US government also brings up several points that warrant further investigation.

This Yahoo story seems to be an escalation of this type of “about” or “upstream” surveillance, which was once done by the NSA by secretly wiretapping internet cables owned by AT&T and others. Since many email companies have started encrypting their emails in transit since that story came out, the NSA likely can’t do that type of surveillance unilaterally (or with the help of AT&T) anymore. The US government now seems to be moving to force internet companies to do this type of mass surveillance for them, on the companies’ servers, where the data remains accessible.

Unprecedented and Unlawful: The NSA’s “Upstream” Surveillance

How and Why to Encrypt Your Text Messages

Battle of the secure messaging Apps: how signal beats WhatsApp | The Intercept |

7 Comments

Dunwoody on October 4, 2016 at 5:48 pm

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said on Monday that if elected, she would pressure U.S. technology companies to help intelligence agencies disrupt violent plots after a gunman inspired by radical Islamist groups killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub. …

“We already know we need more resources for this fight. The professionals who keep us safe would be the first to say we need better intelligence to discover and disrupt terrorist plots before they can be carried out,” Clinton said.

“That’s why I’ve proposed an `intelligence surge’ to bolster our capabilities across the board, with appropriate safeguards here at home.”

While Clinton did not detail what her effort would entail, she said she wants technology companies to be more cooperative to government requests for help in countering online propaganda, tracking patterns in social media and intercepting communications.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-shooting-clinton-surveillance-idUSKCN0YZ2I2

Good thing she mentioned those “appropriate safeguards”. I was worried there for a minute.

Hawes on October 5, 2016 at 8:42 am

Given the average age of a Yahoo! user, the NSA is spending a lot of time learning about Viagra, Franklin Mint collectibles and pictures of the grandkids.

Arthur Gilroy on October 5, 2016 at 11:49 am

Dol you really think that this is limited to Yahoo?

Please!!!

AG

Marie3 on October 5, 2016 at 4:19 pm

And the FBI doesn’t mess around when classified documents don’t remain on USG equipment.

NBC NSA Contractor Harold Martin Busted in Alleged Theft of Secret Docs

…
Navy veteran Harold Thomas Martin III, who had a top secret national security clearance, was arrested on Aug. 27 and is still in custody, according to the Justice Department. His attorneys said there is no evidence he “intended to betray his country.”
…

A federal criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday said a search of Martin’s home and car turned up a trove of documents and digital files — a “large percentage” of them with highly classified information, some labeled Top Secret of Sensitive Compartmented Information.

“We take that type of conduct very seriously,” Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said at the CNBC Cambridge Cyber Summit, declining to discuss any motive for the theft.

“When you are a government employee you swear an oath to protect the information, knowing the damage revealing sources and methods can do to our ability to protect ourselves against foreign threats.”

Disappointed that AG Lynch and FBI Director Comey announce the filing of this criminal complaint.

Oui on October 5, 2016 at 4:45 pm

○ FBI Criminal Complaint Against Harold Martin, NSA Contractor
- Marie3 on October 5, 2016 at 5:04 pm
  
  I’ll defend authentic whistleblowers, but otherwise, I’m fairly rigid about employee theft.
- Marie3 on October 5, 2016 at 11:42 pm
  
  This got more interesting to me in this article: Snowden 2.0: NSA contractor arrested for stealing malware . The Wikipedia entry on the shadow brokers was helpful to me. That they were offering USG malware was known in August and therefore, Snowden’s latest tweets don’t reveal anything new.
  
  What’s interesting is that in August Snowden said circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility. Don’t know what CW he was using, but James Bamford, who’s not a computer techie, called it: [an insider]”possibly someone assigned to the [NSA’s] highly sensitive Tailored Access Operations”, stole the hacking tools. Demonstrating more expertise in national security operations than Snowden.
  
  Snowden’s other observation Am I correct in reading they didn’t charge him under the Espionage Act? Under this administration, that’s a noteworthy absence. raises some questions. The Espionage Act is so broad that mere possession of the programs at his home would seem to fit within the provisions of it. Wouldn’t seem to matter that he had yet to find a buyer for it as at this point it looks like money was the motivation. Is it possible that the USG crafted the indictment to avoid any problems with discovery?

Dunwoody on October 4, 2016 at 5:48 pm

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said on Monday that if elected, she would pressure U.S. technology companies to help intelligence agencies disrupt violent plots after a gunman inspired by radical Islamist groups killed 49 people in an Orlando nightclub. …

“We already know we need more resources for this fight. The professionals who keep us safe would be the first to say we need better intelligence to discover and disrupt terrorist plots before they can be carried out,” Clinton said.

“That’s why I’ve proposed an `intelligence surge’ to bolster our capabilities across the board, with appropriate safeguards here at home.”

While Clinton did not detail what her effort would entail, she said she wants technology companies to be more cooperative to government requests for help in countering online propaganda, tracking patterns in social media and intercepting communications.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-shooting-clinton-surveillance-idUSKCN0YZ2I2

Good thing she mentioned those “appropriate safeguards”. I was worried there for a minute.
Hawes on October 5, 2016 at 8:42 am

Given the average age of a Yahoo! user, the NSA is spending a lot of time learning about Viagra, Franklin Mint collectibles and pictures of the grandkids.
- Arthur Gilroy on October 5, 2016 at 11:49 am
  
  Dol you really think that this is limited to Yahoo?
  
  Please!!!
  
  AG
Marie3 on October 5, 2016 at 4:19 pm

And the FBI doesn’t mess around when classified documents don’t remain on USG equipment.

NBC NSA Contractor Harold Martin Busted in Alleged Theft of Secret Docs

…
Navy veteran Harold Thomas Martin III, who had a top secret national security clearance, was arrested on Aug. 27 and is still in custody, according to the Justice Department. His attorneys said there is no evidence he “intended to betray his country.”
…

A federal criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday said a search of Martin’s home and car turned up a trove of documents and digital files — a “large percentage” of them with highly classified information, some labeled Top Secret of Sensitive Compartmented Information.

“We take that type of conduct very seriously,” Assistant Attorney General John Carlin said at the CNBC Cambridge Cyber Summit, declining to discuss any motive for the theft.

“When you are a government employee you swear an oath to protect the information, knowing the damage revealing sources and methods can do to our ability to protect ourselves against foreign threats.”

Disappointed that AG Lynch and FBI Director Comey announce the filing of this criminal complaint.
- Oui on October 5, 2016 at 4:45 pm
  
  ○ FBI Criminal Complaint Against Harold Martin, NSA Contractor
  - Marie3 on October 5, 2016 at 5:04 pm
    
    I’ll defend authentic whistleblowers, but otherwise, I’m fairly rigid about employee theft.
  - Marie3 on October 5, 2016 at 11:42 pm
    
    This got more interesting to me in this article: Snowden 2.0: NSA contractor arrested for stealing malware . The Wikipedia entry on the shadow brokers was helpful to me. That they were offering USG malware was known in August and therefore, Snowden’s latest tweets don’t reveal anything new.
    
    What’s interesting is that in August Snowden said circumstantial evidence and conventional wisdom indicates Russian responsibility. Don’t know what CW he was using, but James Bamford, who’s not a computer techie, called it: [an insider]”possibly someone assigned to the [NSA’s] highly sensitive Tailored Access Operations”, stole the hacking tools. Demonstrating more expertise in national security operations than Snowden.
    
    Snowden’s other observation Am I correct in reading they didn’t charge him under the Espionage Act? Under this administration, that’s a noteworthy absence. raises some questions. The Espionage Act is so broad that mere possession of the programs at his home would seem to fit within the provisions of it. Wouldn’t seem to matter that he had yet to find a buyer for it as at this point it looks like money was the motivation. Is it possible that the USG crafted the indictment to avoid any problems with discovery?

NSA Reading Your Emails Through Yahoo!

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