As expected, Verizon was not alone.
This is only a few of the articles flooding the newsfeeds.
NSA
taps in to user data of Facebook, Apple, Google and others, secret
files reveal
The National Security Agency has
obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple
and other US internet
giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian.
The NSA access is part of a previously
undisclosed program called PRISM, which allows officials to collect
material including search history, the content of emails, file
transfers and live chats, the document says.
The Guardian has verified the
authenticity of the document, a 41-slide PowerPoint presentation –
classified as top secret with no distribution to foreign allies –
which was apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the
capabilities of the program. The document claims "collection
directly from the servers" of major US service providers.
Although the presentation claims the
program is run with the assistance of the companies, all
those who responded to a Guardian request for comment on Thursday
denied knowledge of any such program.
In a statement, Google said: "Google
cares deeply about the security of our users' data. We disclose user
data to government in accordance with the law, and we review all such
requests carefully. From time to time, people allege that we have
created a government 'back door' into our systems, but Google
does not have a back door for the government to access private user
data." [Why use a back door when you have a key to the front
door? Bob]
… Unlike the collection of those
call records, this surveillance can include the
content of communications and not just the metadata.
Some of the world's largest internet
brands are claimed to be part of the information-sharing program
since its introduction in 2007. Microsoft
– which is currently running an advertising campaign with the
slogan "Your privacy
is our priority" – was the first, with collection beginning in
December 2007.
It was followed by Yahoo in 2008;
Google, Facebook and PalTalk in 2009; YouTube in 2010; Skype and AOL
in 2011; and finally Apple, which joined the program in 2012. The
program is continuing to expand, with other providers due to come
online.
… A chart prepared by the NSA,
contained within the top-secret document obtained by the Guardian,
underscores the breadth of the data it is able to obtain: email,
video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice-over-IP (Skype, for
example) chats, file transfers, social networking details, and more.
(Related) A little gasoline for the
fire
In the wake of
last night’s revelation that everyone in the world has a creepy
NSA-shaped stalker, defenders of online liberty and generally angry
internet people Anonymous
have leaked a treasure trove of NSA documents, including seriously
important stuff like the US Department of Defense’s ‘Strategic
Vision’ for controlling the internet.
The documents — 13 in total — were
posted
online, along with an accompanying
message full of the normal Anonymous bluster: people won’t be
silenced, they have the memory of trivia-master elephants, the
governments of the world will fall, your average press release
really.
(Related) How does this help?
US
declassifies phone program details after uproar
Moving to tamp down a public uproar
spurred by the disclosure of two secret surveillance programs, the
nation's top intelligence official is declassifying key details about
one of the programs while insisting the efforts to collect America's
phone records and the U.S. internet use of foreign nationals overseas
were legal, limited in scope and necessary to detect
terrorist threats. [...and we haven't seen a single terrorist since
we started doing this! Bob]
(Related)
The last detailed new revelation of a
domestic surveillance program came on December 16, 2005, when the New
York Times published an article it had held, at the Bush
Administration’s request, for months: “Bush Lets U.S. Spy on
Callers Without Courts.”
The public reacted with a shrug: It was
the age of terror, and the program was directed at monitoring
specific terror suspects. “Americans Taking Abramoff, Alito and
Domestic Spying in Stride,” was the headline on the Pew
Poll in January of 2006.
There was good
reason to think even then — as Glenn Greenwald conclusively
reported Wednesday, more than seven years later — that the
National Security Agency is scooping up pretty much all of our phone
calls. And there was good political reason that the government has
fought so hard to keep that program — widely enough known that one
imagines professional terrorists are on to it — secret.
(Related) “A TIA by any other name
would stink as much.” Willy S.
Welcome
to the era of Total Information Awareness and ain't it grand?
The problem isn't
the National Security Agency. It's the Patriot Act and what it
represents as we watch the modern surveillance state take shape -- in
secret.
(Related)
You
Have No Control Over Security on the Feudal Internet
Facebook regularly abuses the privacy
of its users. Google has stopped supporting its popular RSS feeder.
Apple prohibits all iPhone apps that are political or sexual.
Microsoft might be cooperating with some governments to spy on Skype
calls, but we don't know which ones. Both Twitter and LinkedIn have
recently suffered security breaches that affected the data of
hundreds of thousands of their users.
If you've started to think of yourself
as a hapless peasant in a Game of Thrones power
struggle, you're more right than you may realize. These are not
traditional companies, and we are not traditional customers. These
are feudal lords, and we are their vassals, peasants, and serfs.
(Related) Perhaps this doesn't bother
politicians because they know “everybody does it!” Although the
Chinese will protest that it really wasn't them, it was a 12-year-old
from Cleveland who spoofed a Chinese web address
Chinese
hackers reportedly stole Obama and McCain documents
On the eve of President Barack Obama's
high-level meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, U.S.
intelligence officials have revealed that a slew of documents and
e-mails were stolen during the 2008 presidential campaign from both
the president and then GOP presidential candidate John McCain.
Officials are accusing China's government for the hack.
According to NBC
News, officials said that they first detected the major
cyberattack in the summer of 2008 and were then able to trace the
culprits back to China.
Perspective Corporations can ban
technology before it is released, but Congress waits until the voters
are aroused before they think about holding hearings to consider new
laws.
Google
Glass in casinos? Don't bet on it
Eyeglasses that
would let users snap a photo or shoot a video with a slight head
movement are being banned in gambling establishments across the U.S.
In time for summer! Similar devices
could help guide my pool game, kendo, sniper training, you name it.
Crave
giveaway: SwingTip golf gizmo for analyzing your game
… The SwingTip
from Mobiplex is a tiny 3D Bluetooth motion sensor device that clips
on to your golf club and transmits real-time swing analysis to your
smartphone or tablet.
The sensor pairs with a free mobile app for Android
or iOS that reproduces a 3D photo-like animation of your swing along
with performance metrics like swing speed, tempo, and path, and where
the ball's hitting your club.
The apps also let you sync your data to
the cloud, where you can view performance trend reports on your
personal MySwingTip Web page.
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