Subscribe via RSS

Archives by Date
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009

See all Archives
Archives by Category
'Canes
Afghan Update
Ammo and Munitions
Armor
Around the Globe
Av Week Extra
Axe in Iraq (and Elsewhere)
Bizarro
Blimps
Blog Bidness
Body Armor Blues
Bomb Squad
Brownshoes in Action
Bubbleheads, etc.
Cammo Green
Catch the "Buzz"
Chem-Bio
Civilian Apps
Cloak and Dagger
Commandos
Comms
Contingency Ops
Cops and Robbers
Cyber-warfare
Data Diving
Defense Tech Poll
Defense Tech Radio
Dissent Tech
Door Kickers
Drones
DT Administrivia
Eat DT's Dust
Extra! Extra!
Eye on China
Fast Movers
FCS Watch
Fire for Effect
FOS Files
Friday Funnies
Gadgets and Gear
Going Green
Grand Ole Osprey
Ground Vehicles
Guns
Homeland Security
In the Weeds with Eric
Info War
Iraq Diary
Jarhead Jazz
JSF Watch
Just War Theories
Lasers and Ray Guns
Less-lethal
Logistics
Los Alamos and Labs
M4 Monopoly
Medic!
Mercs
Missiles
Money Money Money
Most Wanted
MRAP Edge
Net-Centric
Nukes
Old Skool
Our Shrinking Planet
Planes, Copters, Blimps
Podcast
Politricks
Polmar's Perspective
Popular Mechanics
Rapid Fire
Raptor Watch
Red Team
Retro-Futuro
Robots
Roll Your Own
Sabra Tech
Ships and Subs
Snipertech
Soldier Systems
Space
Special Ops
Star Wars
Strategery
Stray Trons
Tactical Development
Terror Tech
The Deadlies
The Defense Biz
The Peoples' Site
The Sunday Paper
The Tanker Tango
The View from Av Week
Those Nutty Norks
Training and Sims
Trimble on the Case
Video Lounge
War Update
Ward'z Wonderz
You can run...

See all Archives
Newsletters

Edited by Christian Lowe | Contact

NSA "Tapping Into... Telecom's Main Arteries"

nsa_hq.jpg"The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United States... by tapping directly into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries," the Times is reporting.

The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged...

As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams of domestic and international communications.

When the NSA domestic spying story broke last week, I had a hunch that the eavesdropping technology at work was a whole lot different than what you'd find in an average wiretap. A former signals intelligence specialist wondered whether the NSA "may have compromised... a telecom carrier."

That guess looks to be dead-on.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the leading companies in the industry have been storing information on calling patterns and giving it to the federal government to aid in tracking possible terrorists.

"All that data is mined with the cooperation of the government and shared with them, and since 9/11, there's been much more active involvement in that area," said the former manager, a telecommunications expert who did not want his name or that of his former company used because of concern about revealing trade secrets.

The Times article also makes clear why Senator Jay Rockefeller compared the program to Total Information Awareness, the Pentagon's uber-database project.

The N.S.A. has sought to analyze communications patterns to glean clues from details like who is calling whom, how long a phone call lasts and what time of day it is made, and the origins and destinations of phone calls and e-mail messages. Calls to and from Afghanistan, for instance, are known to have been of particular interest to the N.S.A. since the Sept. 11 attacks, the officials said.

This so-called "pattern analysis" on calls within the United States would, in many circumstances, require a court warrant if the government wanted to trace who calls whom.

The use of similar data-mining operations by the Bush administration in other contexts has raised strong objections, most notably in connection with the Total Information Awareness system... [which was] ultimately scrapped after public outcries over possible threats to privacy and civil liberties.

But the Bush administration regards the N.S.A.'s ability to trace and analyze large volumes of data as critical to its expanded mission to detect terrorist plots before they can be carried out, officials familiar with the program say. Administration officials maintain that the system set up by Congress in 1978 under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act does not give them the speed and flexibility to respond fully to terrorist threats at home.

Some will say this story is old news. The NSA has long been rumored to have the ability to vacuum up huge swaths of data at once.

"The NSA is intercepting huge streams of communications, taking in 2 million pieces of communications an hour," James Bamford, the author of two books on the NSA, told the Boston Globe on Friday.

"They have a capacity to listen to every overseas phone call," added Tom Blanton, director of the National Security Archive at George Washington University."

But the question has been: how do you turn all that data into something useful? You've got to find a realtively simple way to get rid of 99.99999% of the calls and e-mails quickly. Otherwise, it's like drinking from a firehose.

But as link analysis and data mining programs have become more sophisticated, that sifting process has gotten easier. And, I'll bet, it is simpler still when the telecom companies are playing ball.

Comments

Replica A Lange & Sohne
Replica Accutron
Replica Audemars Piguet
Replica Baume & Mercier
Replica Bell & Ross
Replica Breitling
Replica Bvlgari
Replica Cartier
Replica Chanel
Replica Chopard
Replica Christian Bernard
Replica Christian Dior
Replica Citizen
Replica Coach
Replica Concord
Replica Corum
Replica D&G
Replica DKNY
Replica Ebel
Replica ESQ
Replica Fendi
Replica Fila
Replica Franck Muller
Replica Girard Perregaux
Replica Givenchy
Replica Gucci
Replica Guess
Replica Hamilton
Replica Haurex
Replica Invicta
Replica IWC
Replica Jacob & Co
Replica Jacques Lemans
Replica Jaeger LeCoultre
Replica Levis
Replica Longines
Replica Mont Blanc
Replica Movado
Replica Omega
Replica Orient
Replica Oris
Replica Panerai
Replica Patek Philippe
Replica Piaget
Replica Rado
Replica Rolex
Replica Sector
Replica Seiko
Replica Skagen
Replica Swatch
Replica Swiss
Replica Swiss Army Victorinox
Replica Tag Heuer
Replica Technomarine
Replica Timberland
Replica Tissot
Replica Ulysse Nardin
Replica Vacheron Constantin
Replica Wenger
Replica Wittnauer
Replica Zenith
Replica Zodiac ecommerce
open source
shop
online shopping
Rolex Sports watches
Rolex Datejusts watches
A Lange & Sohne watches
Aigner watches
Alain Silberstein watches
Audemars Piguet watches
Bell & Ross watches
Breguet watches
Breitling watches
Bvlgari watches
Cartier watches
Chanel watches
Chopard watches
Concord watches
Corum watches
Dior watches
Dolce & Gabbana watches
Ebel watches
Emporio Armani watches
Glashutte watches
Gucci watches
Hermes Watches
IWC watches
Jacob & Co watches
Jaeger LeCoultre watches
Longines watches
Louis Vuitton watches
Mont Blanc watches
Movado watches
Omega watches
Oris watches
Panerai watches
Patek Philippe watches
Philip Stein watches
Porsche Design watches
Rado watches Roger
Roger Dubuis watches
Sarcar watches
Tag Heuer watches
Technomarine watches
Vacheron Constantin watches
Zenith watches ecommerce
open source
shop
online shopping

Posted by: luxury watch at April 17, 2009 09:31 PM


And at that time I was free and had nothing to do so I found that my friends were playing games very happily. So I wanted to try playing with Tibia Gold.

Posted by: Tibia Gold at August 27, 2008 07:09 PM


The Age of Conan powwer leveling-faithful game currency transaction actually has two types of raids.

Posted by: Age of Conan powwer at August 27, 2008 07:08 PM


because he always play the game, so we often together to play and chat and discuss how to earn the 2moon dil, at that day I told him, I liked him, but he did not say anything, I was very sad, unknowingly the tears streaming down.

Posted by: 2moon dil at August 20, 2008 01:25 AM


In fact I think in the game the most important was not the fiesta Gold or the upgrade, in my mind play with friends and get more friendship were the most important.

Posted by: fiesta Gold at August 20, 2008 01:23 AM


In the two years I made many good friends also spend much money to buy the Archlord gold, but I do not have a little sad, because I make many good friends, they are very kindliness.

Posted by: Archlord gold at August 20, 2008 12:58 AM


we all know that the old King Kong is a good things, a +2 King Kong it will spend your 4 million flyff money, some players can not afford to buy, now the Flyff online game will update, I think all the novice do not know how to keep a foothold in the Flyff online game.

Posted by: flyff money at August 20, 2008 12:37 AM


I asked them where can buy cheap Twelvesky Gold. They told me that a website http://www.gameim.com is very good. Because it can provide several kinds of Twelve Sky Gold.

Posted by: Twelve Sky Gold at August 9, 2008 02:47 AM


There are four modes to choose from when playing Shaiya. When you first begin playing, only Easy and Normal modes will be available Shaiya money. Once you have reached level 50 in Normal mode, Hard mode becomes available. After reaching level 60 in Hard mode, Ultimate becomes available.

Posted by: Shaiya money at August 9, 2008 02:46 AM


In order to play the Requiem, I bought much Requiem Lant, it spend me much money.

Posted by: Requiem Lant at August 5, 2008 08:03 PM


From novice to play is not too difficult, mainly Liandao a bit high, we should sell what ah, we should start to buy what the point, of course, has often been Qiangguai,Then we have no choice but to buy mesos, can also buy cheap mesos.

Posted by: cheap mesos at August 5, 2008 08:01 PM


rolex replica watches - $98 swiss , we don't sale replica watches.The Art of E-commerce

Posted by: replica watches at August 3, 2008 08:32 PM


Finally I also said that the most important thing is to find themselves on the state mind, playing their own, the same as me that if happy I will spend Hellgate gold to buy many things. I hope everyone can play happy in the game.

Posted by: Hellgate gold at August 2, 2008 01:57 AM


nice to meet you

Posted by: wowpowerleveling at April 14, 2008 08:27 PM


Greg "I can tell you right now i sure as heck dont want to be marching around with the constant fear that if im overheard saying a word or phrase which some computer has been told to recognize as a threat that the next day i'm in jail without due process"

I agree that would be extreme but again you are coming from the point of gov being abusive no benifit of doubt. The system is that if you say that phrase the computer is programed for then you dont go to jail you get a flag and put on the analyst desk (suspition leads to monitoring that leads to evidence then judgement) once you are analized if you are innocent it will show and well if not it will to. If you report a drunk driver the police dont just pull the guy they view then follow then pull then question then drunk test then test blow at station the finanly arrest charge, one step leads to the next its called a process of elimination. When we walk through metal detectors at the air port that is computer monitoring of some type when the alarm rings we dont go to jail or get booted from the plane we step over to the analyst who then makes a manual search and determination. The benifit is everyone doesnt have to be patted down just few letting the analyst concentrate on the problems and of course their will be some false positives thats why we have the analyst. And even if you fail the analyst you are not automaticly arrested you go to the back room were more analyst analize.

The only way for abuse is if the program is purposly abused for non security reason. Like all weapons abuse is always possible if used improperly, like how China uses theirs. Thier is no cases of such abuse and no examples of such. The bottom line is that the NYT's in thier blind hatred of Bush and putting partisan politics above national security has cost us a heavy blow to our security and AQ thanks the NYT's and the LLL's who without regard for those who they are supposed to represent broke a classified programs security. I just hope that the leakers of this are made example of, the leaks have gotten worse and worse to the point of one side leaks then the other side leaks to counter that leak ect... and the losers are the US people who's lives are at stake and our soldgiers locked in battle, its time to enforce our security laws Leaking is illegal and should be procecuted to the fullest R or L.

Posted by: C-Low at December 28, 2005 04:16 PM


I understand where you guys come from, i really do, and i do believe that the Bush adminstration really is in their minds trying to protect us, but the laws and ground-work they are setting up is leaving wide open the door of paranoid rule. The next adminstration or that years down the road has the ground worked paved to declare "subversives" terrorist or threats to the security of a nation. I can tell you right now i sure as heck dont want to be marching around with the constant fear that if im overheard saying a word or phrase which some computer has been told to recognize as a threat that the next day i'm in jail without due process. the first link formed in the chain of fear from your own people is the first link which will bind the nation as it deteriates from the inside. No nation in the history of the world has ever survived when suspision ruled the day. Please consider this when you think it is just cause for the military and security caufers.

Posted by: Greg at December 28, 2005 01:04 PM


Update:: http://nytimes.com/2005/12/28/politics/28legal.html?ei=5094&en=8778e8e441c81c90&hp=&ex=1135746000&partner=homepage&pagewanted=print


now we see the new score that the leak and then the breaking of this story has caused.

Democrats= +1 partisan political points
Bush= -1 political point
Terrorist +5 Jihadi points
US civilians-5 defence points

Noah do you still think the NYT's had the US best interest at heart or some other? When this is over the gov will be forced to give up thier tactics in detail so the big winners Terrorist who already today have a huge bump and growing. But we must keep the eye on the real threat Bushitler right?

Posted by: C-Low at December 27, 2005 10:42 PM


who said the NSA were the goog guys?!

Posted by: urright at December 27, 2005 04:13 AM


Algorithems may be more neutral and detached than humans.

So a well constructed algorithem may offer more protection to privacy than a human system. An Algorithem will only deliver what is requested.

The unfortunate publicity on this topic may be looked on by historians as the functional equivalent of revealing the Ultra and Purple decrypts in WW II.

The leaks are an evil action, taken against the interests of our country.

Those responsible should be prosecuted to the max!

Posted by: rich at December 26, 2005 04:52 PM


First of all, the LLL shouldn't worry about their privacy unless they have really gone over to the dark side and are enabling terror and insurgency. Also, Cindy, Mike, Al and Babs shouldn't worry either since they have nothing to say that is of interest to "intelligence" analysts. Beside UBL and Zark and their minions the ones to worry are the French, Italians and Spainards whose use of baksheesh is well known and usually discovered by Echelon as well as the Chinese military who are currently on the primary target list. You learn more about the Norks and Iranians by listening to the French and Chinese chatter.

Posted by: Jack is Back! at December 26, 2005 02:22 PM


So all the hyperventalating was for not. Thier is no real invasion of privacy unless you have either a terrorist patern or key words to get you thrown onto the analyst desk. Imagine that the NSA and Bush are actually trying to procecute a war not just jokey for partisan advantage.

Now I wonder if the LLL's are going to force gov to release the key words and patterns they look for that way the terrrorist know what not to do? Unfortunatley I expect the answer will be yes after all you must always start with the assumption that Bushitler is a chimp that kanives to bring facism to amerika and any military related groups or departements are evil and faciast by default so any actions taken by these above must be seen as guilty until proven innocent of course. Never give the benifit of doubt like maybe we are all americans and should put partisan BS to the side and fight our common enemy as one, save the partisan stuff for later or domestic policies were it belongs. United we stand Divided we fall. May be a cheep one liner but usually the best common sence is.

Posted by: C-Low at December 25, 2005 11:29 AM


Actually the preffered method of comm between splodeydopes is the pre-paid cell phone. Spend fifty bucks cash, talk for 20 mins, and dump it.

Thats why the voice recog is so important. They tap a trunk and run the scans to try and pick up a certain goblin, and then find out who he's talking to.

Posted by: Alpha Sierra Tango at December 24, 2005 10:46 PM


Wouldn't there be three ways to filter. The first (simple) way would be obtaing the caller ID on a call of interest, then using that ID to see if anything more can be learned via full monitoring and tracing back records to see if continued monitoring was warranted. However, a more sophisticated target of interest would likely utilize random phones (pay) with pre-paid calling cards obtained using a phoney name (pun intended). For this guy, caller ID wouldn't be very helpful to track and monitor him. However, voice print technology could sort out the telltale signature (here is where I think NSA has made great strides in technology previously undisclosed, other than the fact that we have OBLs' voice print). The third way is to "pattern" detect as has been pointed out (using tactics, as has been disclosed, such as assistance of telecoms). Clearly, bad guys overseas are using random phones to the extent they use that form of communication. And it's likely bad guys on US soil are also doing so. Thus, it would seem that voice printing is an essential component of this story. FISA is non-operative and warrants can't be obtained if pattern detection and then voice printing need to occur prior to targeted monitoring with a warrant. But once that occurs, I'd guess the filtering is fairly accurate and simple. Note that this then can lead to means to potentially uncover the specific persons involved, whether in the US or overseas. Probably the basic caller ID methodology was useful years ago, but bad guys changed tactics, as reported, and the good guys (NSA) came up with a sophisticated integrated system, albeit more cumbersome, less accurate, and more time consuming than the original ID tactic. P.S. it would be somewhat beyond belief if caller ID wasn't used in the early to mid 90's. Last, I think internet spying is equally advanced. Some might say that internet communications would be done in code to defeat interception using key words and phrases, but it seems more likely that a coded intercept would pop out. So here we have another security problem as open discussions of this "spying" would lead to embeded code communication e.g. second word of 1st sentence is in "code" , third word in second sentence and so forth. Just some reasonable speculation by a retired finance guy.

Posted by: Jim Bunt at December 24, 2005 02:28 PM


Post a comment




Remember Me?


Please enter the code as seen in the image below to post your comment.