Gore also reportedly chided the NSA’s operations, many of which began after he left office, as a “threat to the heart of democracy.”
[… BUT What he revealed in the course of violating important laws included violations of the United States Constitution that were WAY MORE SERIOUS THAN THE CRIMES HE COMMITTED…]
Tag: Homeland Security
EPIC Freedom Awards to Allen, Amash, The Guardian, Snowden
EPIC is honored to recognize these Champions of Freedom who have worked to safeguard privacy, some at great personal risk,” said Marc Rotenberg, EPIC’s President and Executive Director.
EPIC Freedom Awards to Allen, Amash, The Guardian, Snowden
On June 2 the Electronic Privacy Information Center will celebrate 20
years of privacy advocacy with the 2014 EPIC Champions of Freedom
Awards.
Established in 1994, EPIC was created to focus public attention on
emerging privacy issues. EPIC maintains two of the most popular privacy
websites in the world – epic.org and privacy.org – and pursues policy
research, litigation, public education, and advocacy. EPIC’s Advisory
Board includes leading experts in law, technology and public policy.
EPIC established the Champion of Freedom Awards to recognize
individuals and organizations that safeguard the right to privacy with
courage and integrity. Internationally renowned security technologist
Bruce Schneier will host the 2014 EPIC celebration.
EPIC will honor University of Pennsylvania Law Professor Anita L.
Allen for her work as the nation’s leading privacy law scholar. A
longtime EPIC Advisory Board member, Professor Allen has helped shape
the modern understanding of the right to privacy.
EPIC will honor Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI) for his campaign to
defund the NSA’s telephone record collection program.
EPIC will recognize The Guardian newspaper for publishing documents
obtained by Edward Snowden that provided the basis for EPIC’s petition
to the US Supreme Court to end the bulk collection of Americans’
telephone records.
Edward Snowden will also receive an award from EPIC for disclosing the
secret court that documented the unlawful surveillance of Americans and
for transforming the debate about privacy protection.
“EPIC is honored to recognize these Champions of Freedom who have
worked to safeguard privacy, some at great personal risk,” said Marc
Rotenberg, EPIC’s President and Executive Director.
Previous recipients of the Champion of Freedom Award include Senators
Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), and journalist Martha Mendoza
(2013); Senator Al Franken (D-MN), Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th
Circuit, and journalists Dana Priest and William Arkin (2012);
Representatives Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Rush Holt (D-NJ), former
Miss USA Susie Castillo, and the Wall Street Journal (2011);
Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), former FTC Commissioner Pamela
Jones Harbour, and the Rose Foundation (2010); Senator Ed Markey
(D-MA), director D.J. Caruso, philanthropist Addison Fischer, and
attorney Paul M. Smith (2009); and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) (2004).
EPIC has previously presented the Lifetime Achievement award to David
Flaherty (2013), Whitfield Diffie (2012), and Willis Ware (2012).
NSA's automated hacking engine offers hands-free pwning of the world
NSA’s automated hacking engine offers hands-free pwning of the world
With Turbine, no humans are required to exploit phones, PCs, routers, VPNs.
by Sean Gallagher – Mar 12 2014, 3:20pm EDT
Since 2010, the National Security Agency has kept a push-button hacking system called Turbine that allows the agency to scale up the number of networks it has access to from hundreds to potentially millions. The news comes from new Edward Snowden documents published by Ryan Gallagher and Glenn Greenwald inThe Intercept today. The leaked information details how the NSA has used Turbine to ramp up its hacking capacity to “industrial scale,” plant malware that breaks the security on virtual private networks (VPNs) and digital voice communications, and collect data and subvert targeted networks on a once-unimaginable scale.
Turbine is part of Turbulence, the collection of systems that also includes the Turmoil network surveillance system that feeds the NSA’s XKeyscore surveillance database. While it is controlled from NSA and GCHQ headquarters, it is a distributed set of attack systems equipped with packaged “exploits” that take advantage of the ability the NSA and GCHQ have to insert themselves as a “man in the middle” at Internet chokepoints. Using that position of power, Turbine can automate functions of Turbulence systems to corrupt data in transit between two Internet addresses, adding malware to webpages being viewed or otherwise attacking the communications stream.
Since Turbine went online in 2010, it has allowed the NSA to scale up from managing hundreds of hacking operations each day to handling millions of them. It does so by taking people out of the loop of managing attacks, instead using software to identify, target, and attack Internet-connected devices by installing malware referred to as “implants.” According to the documents, NSA analysts can simply specify the type of information required and let the system figure out how to get to it without having to know the details of the application being attacked.
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The NSA Can “Literally Watch Every Keystroke You Make”
Glenn Greenwald: The NSA Can “Literally Watch Every Keystroke You Make”
The German publication Der Spiegel has revealed new details about a secretive hacking unit inside the National Security Agency called the Office of Tailored Access Operations, or TAO. The unit was created in 1997 to hack into global communications traffic.