More government spying

The Obama administration has stepped up the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program on U.S. soil to search for signs of hacking.

There once was a story that went something like this: A guy wanted to know how many submarines the Navy had, so he called the Navy and was told that the information was classified. So he called the Soviet embassy and they gave him the number.

The point of the story was that our enemies already knew the answer and the only point of keeping it a secret was to prevent American citizens from finding out.

So now Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor, has revealed that the Obama administration has expanded a secret National Security Agency program of warrantless surveillance of Americans’ international Internet traffic, searching for evidence of malicious computer hacking.

The Chinese, no doubt, already knew all about the NSA’s surveillance of our Internet traffic, so the only possible reason that Obama didn’t reveal it to us was that he wanted to avoid the possibility that we wouldn’t approve it. And for that, he can Bite Me.

I really don’t want the Chinese hacking into my computer — or my bank’s — but I also don’t want the gummint rifling through my Internet traffic. I know I can’t have it both ways and there will have to be compromises but I’d like to be part of the debate and not just have the Executive Branch decide what’s best for me.

Source: New Snowden Documents Reveal Secret Memos Expanding Spying

When you lose an email, call the NSA!

As someone on Slashdot said, since the NSA intercepts and stores our e-mails forever, why not use it as a backup service? It just lacks the API to restore files, therefore this guy called the NSA to ask for a backup restoration. Guess what? It did not work.

After all, why should we have to pay twice for services already performed with tax dollars?

UK snoops on porn webcams — doesn’t even pay for the jollies

“Spooks in the UK secretly monitoring Yahoo webcam streams from around the world discovered that many people liked to share photos of their bodies, a new report says. . . . [T]he fact that the Yahoo software allows more than one person to view a webcam stream without necessarily sending a reciprocal stream means that it appears sometimes to be used for broadcasting pornography.”

Can’t find enough free porn on the Web? Then join Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters. And since the NSA shares data with their British counterparts, an NSA gig will probably serve just as well.

UK spies: People get naked on their webcams | New York Post.

N.S.A. Foils Much Internet Encryption

I cannot even begin to keep up with all the news about the invasion of our privacy — by the government, by vendors such as Google, and by hackers — but sometimes I get gobsmacked and must make a post . . .

The National Security Agency is winning its long-running secret war on encryption, using supercomputers, technical trickery, court orders and behind-the-scenes persuasion to undermine the major tools protecting the privacy of everyday communications in the Internet age, according to newly disclosed documents.

N.S.A. Foils Much Internet Encryption – NYTimes.com.

Google and Privacy

Aside

MrMild says: “I would NOT use Gmail for anything confidential. I dislike the idea of ads being targeted based on the words in my email. Bad enough that the NSA is reading them all. At least they don’t put ads into my email.”