The head of the U.S. National Security Agency defended the government’s much-criticized surveillance program against hecklers among a crowd of computer systems analysts Wednesday, but also had a challenge for them: If you don’t like it, lend your talent to build a better one.
Tag Archives: NSA
NSA Official: Phone-Snooping Foiled Single Plot
By Rob Quinn
Skeptical senators from both parties quizzed top intelligence officials about the NSA’s sweeping domestic call surveillance at a testy Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Ahead of the hearing, the Obama administration declassified and released documents outlining the rules for accessing information from the surveillance program and listing multiple violations of those… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
Sen. Paul offers to bury the hatchet with Gov. Christie over a beer
The Kentucky senator tells Fox News that he wants to put an end to his growing feud with the New Jersey governor over their conflicting views on the NSA’s surveillance programs and government spending.
Moral Grounds
Before I get started, I want to give out a friendly hello and I am new here. I believe our moral obligations comes from the spirit of Jesus within us and it is there the reason why I am humbly here at your doorstep today.
NSA leaker, Mr Snowden, appears to have taken data that suggests the Spy network NSA invaded the privacy of their own American citizens. NSA claims it is Snowden who is a thief and so gave away precious info that NSA held high value to. What I find unique is the dilemma that both parties claim that the other performed an immoral act. That said, I wanted to examine the moral obligations both parties hold and to which side Jesus teachings would weigh heavily on.
Any thoughts?
For love…
Source: Worthy Christian Forums
NSA chief talks at hackers' conference in Vegas
The head of the U.S. National Security Agency defended the government’s much-criticized surveillance program against hecklers among a crowd of computer systems analysts Wednesday, but also had a challenge for them: If you don’t like it, lend your talent to build a better one. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
NSA program reportedly allows analysts to track emails, chats, web searches
The National Security Agency is operating a massive database system that allows analysts to scour individuals’ emails, chats and Internet browsing histories at will, according to a new report from The Guardian based on leaked documents.
NSA Chief Explains US Spying To Black Hat Hackers
Speaking to an audience of hackers and security professionals at the 16th annual Black Hat conference in Las Vegas, National Security Agency Director General Keith Alexander defended the PRISM program and the NSA’s cache of phone metadata as necessary to protect the lives of American citizens and overseas allies. He also said that the programs are tightly monitored and that – in addition to technical tools that limit what analysts can access — all analysts are audited to be sure they have justification for any data they access. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Controls keep NSA spy programs legal, director tells Black Hat audience
A skeptical but mostly respectful crowd of Black Hat security attendees Wednesday listened intently as National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander defended controversial U.S. surveillance programs in a keynote address. …read more
Senators push for changes in NSA data collection
Several U.S. senators will push for changes in the way the National Security Agency collects the telephone records of millions of U.S. residents, with lawmakers saying they will focus on making the NSA program more transparent to the public.
Some members of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Wednesday they will introduce legislation targeting the NSA telephone records collection program.
Senator Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, said he will introduce a bill this week that requires the NSA and other agencies to make public the number of U.S. residents they have collected information on, and how many resident have had their information reviewed by federal agents. The bill would also allow companies to disclose the number of surveillance requests they get from government agencies, a change Google, Microsoft and other companies have asked for.
“There is a critical problem at the center of this debate and that’s the lack of transparency around these programs,” Franken said at a committee hearing on NSA surveillance programs. The secrecy around the NSA surveillance programs is “bad for privacy and bad for democracy,” he added.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
NSA Director Heckled At Conference As He Asks For Security Community's Understanding
By Andy Greenberg, Forbes Staff
When NSA Director Keith Alexander appeared at the Las Vegas security conference Black Hat Wednesday morning, he hoped to mend the NSA’s reputation in the eyes of thousands of the conference’s hackers and security professionals. It didn’t go exactly as planned. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
NSA chief faces skeptical, tech-savvy crowd at annual Black Hat hacker convention in Vegas
Heckling at a hacker’s conference didn’t faze the head of the National Security Agency. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
US shifts course on whether Fla. terror defendants deserve notice of NSA spy data
The Justice Department has shifted course on whether terrorism defendants deserve notice about evidence derived from formerly secret government surveillance programs. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
Senator calls telephone surveillance violations ‘more troubling’ than NSA admits
By avandagriff
Sen. Ron Wyden says “violations” of the National Security Agency’s program of bulk collection of telephone call data have been “more troubling than the government has stated.” Read More: Senator calls telephone surveillance violations ‘more troubling’ than NSA admits – Investigations.
The post Senator calls telephone surveillance violations ‘more troubling’ than NSA admits appeared first on Endtime Ministries | End Of The Age | Irvin Baxter.
Source: Endtime Ministries
As 'X-Keyscore' Revealed, Senators Question NSA Hoovering Of Phone Records
The “Snowden Effect” was in full force on Wednesday as, almost simultaneously, 1) The Guardian released a new report on “X-Keyscore” — the NSA’s search engine for its massive database of emails, chats and other Internet activity; 2) the Director of National Intelligence declassified documents about its bulk collection of phone and email metadata and an example of the court authorization it gets to query that data; and 3) the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned members of the intelligence community about the exact nature of these programs and whether they’re worth the invasion of Americans’ privacy. The change in information access since the Edward Snowden leaks is dramatic. Watchdogs who have long had their ears pressed to the ground trying to make out the secretive moves of the intel community are now instead at a festival with multiple stages. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
I Have A Few Questions, Mr. Obama . . .
. . . since the mainstream media won’t ask.
Questions for the President at his next press conference:
Four dead in Benghazi and many seriously injured under suspicious circumstances, a government cover up, witnesses gagged, questions unanswered, investigations derailed. That’s not a scandal?
Reporters’ records seized, false allegations leveled by DOJ, reporters threatened, reporters and editors prevented from doing their jobs, cover-ups, government intimidation. That’s not a scandal?
Guns run to drug cartels in Mexico, hundreds killed with them (including our border agents), no following-up to arrest perpetrators (instead ANOTHER cover-up), allegations that American guns cause Mexican violence, border security virtually ignored, government interference with investigations. That’s not a scandal?
The EPA used as a legislative arm of the executive branch, installing rules that Congress voted down (a clear violation of the Constitution.) The EPA also used to persecute political opposition. Not a scandal?
NSA surveillance you authorized seriously suspected of violating citizen rights, and that’s not a scandal?
Recess appointments and an illegal war in Libya, both impeachable offenses. Not a scandal?
The IRS used to stomp down conservative groups so they cannot educate and influence citizens about Founding principles that contradict your radicalism. This is clearly an unconstitutional use of power, amounting to illegal political activity. That is a phony scandal?
ObamaCare, passed illegally and unethically; called a train wreck by the very man who helped write it and get it through Congress; promises to bankrupt the country; a measure designed to redistribute wealth and not provide care; a series of laws and regulations violating privacy, the doctor-patient relationship, and the sovereignty of the states. That is not a scandal?
Your records, Mr. President. You’ve released virtually nothing about your life, your education, your term in the Illinois legislature, nothing. Now a respected country sheriff and his investigators, along with document experts, insist that the birth certificate you released is a forgery. This means you are hiding something, that it is likely you are not ‘natural born,’ a requirement in the Constitution for becoming President. And this is not a scandal, Mr. Obama?
What would qualify as a scandal in your view, Mr. Obama? Oh. That’s right. You have already answered that question. It’s scandalous for citizens to own guns, possess private property, keep the fruits of their labor, determine for themselves what kind of schools they prefer, select their own doctor, speak up about matters of conscience, freely exercise their religion, advocate original founding principles, or worse yet, join the Tea Party.
Allan Erickson enjoyed an 11-year career in radio, television and print journalism as a reporter, talk show host, and operations manager. He then turned to sales and marketing for a decade. Twelve years ago he started a training and recruitment company. Allan & wife Jodi have four children and live in California. He is the author of the book “The Cross & the Constitution in the Age of Incoherence,” Tate Publishing, 2012. He is available to speak in churches addressing the topics of faith and freedom. To contact him, email: allanlerickson@gmail.com
The Guardian: NSA’s XKeyscore program has nearly limitless access to all Internet activity
www.guardian.co.ukThe Guardian has detailed new revelations from NSA-leaker Edward Snowden about a program known as XKeyscore that has been described as the agency’s “widest-ranging” tool for online data collection.
PowerPoint training materials obtained by The Guardian show how analysts could use the system to mine sprawling agency databases consisting of a vast reservoir of data. At least 41 billion records were collected and stored in a single 30-day period in 2012, according to the report, which also says XKeyscore collects more than 20 terabytes of information daily, including emails, chats, social media interactions, and even browsing histories—all in real-time.
For example, with little more than an email address, the agency would be able to search “every email address seen in a session by both username and domain,” “every phone number seen in a session (eg address book entries or signature block)”, and “the webmail and chat activity to include username, buddy list, machine specific cookies etc.”
The PowerPoint documents also reveal that agents would have the ability to search through any individual’s email as long as they had an address. This would include “searches within bodies of emails, webpages and documents,” including “To, From, CC, BCC lines” and even the “Contact Us” pages on websites.
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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld
Newly declassified documents show range of potential access to NSA phone records
The Obama administration on Wednesday declassified documents that show a broad range of officials including those outside the NSA potentially has access to the agency’s bulk phone records — and that the agency has had “compliance problems” with these databases in the past.
Effort to unite NSA leaker Edward Snowden, father in Moscow reportedly collapses
FBI officials reportedly tried to entice the father of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden to fly to Moscow to persuade his son to return to the United States, but the effort ultimately collapsed when a way for the two to speak once together in Russia could not be established. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News
NSA chief to talk at hackers' conference in Vegas
Hackers will be in the audience when the head of the U.S. National Security Agency makes a scheduled speech before an annual conference at a Las Vegas Strip resort. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Phys.org
NSA chief to face skeptical, tech-savvy crowd at annual Black Hat hacker convention in Vegas
Hackers will be in the audience when the head of the U.S. National Security Agency makes a scheduled speech before an annual conference at a Las Vegas Strip resort. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox US News