Author Archives: AlexMartin0

Useful Information to Explain the NSA to Others

Today I ran across an informative article that will help you explain to your friends and family why the mass spying of the NSA is bad.  Think of this as a cheat sheet to being able to answer to the common statements you receive when talking about the NSA to others.  The article is named “Debunking Eight Common Excuses for NSA Mass Surveillance.”  Please take the time to read this as it will prove helpful in your future conversations.

http://gizmodo.com/debunking-eight-common-excuses-for-nsa-mass-surveillanc-1471747346

 

Thank you!

 

Alex

Up to 200,000 Documents

Looks like the NSA is opening up on how many documents Edward Snowden has taken while on the job.  According to the “soon to be retired NSA chief, up to 200,000 documents are in Edward’s hands and are being actively given to the media.  As more and more of these releases come out, it will be interesting to see how all of this will play out.  Please see link below for information regarding this story:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/14/us-usa-security-nsa-idUSBRE9AD19B20131114?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637

 

MUSCULAR Project

GOOGLE-CLOUD-EXPLOITATION1383148810

Above image is the actual diagram, though simple, of the MUSCULAR project.  Including the sarcastic smiley face.  This project is a partnership between the NSA and the UK’s GCHQ that infiltrates the communication between Google’s and Yahoo’s data centers across the world.  Visit the following link from The Washington Post for all the details, it is pretty compelling.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-data-centers-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74-d89d714ca4dd_story_2.html

The good news is that these companies that we rely on everyday are starting to question Congress as well as trying to find ways to encrypt the data stream so that the NSA will not be able to parse through all the communications coming and going from their data centers.

Finally Getting Some Attention

Finally, the NSA and the President are having to answer questions regarding the USA spying operations. And finally, this was headline news on at least one of the nationial media outlets this morning.  What frustrates me is that it wasn’t the USA’s citizens that caused the NSA and the President to answer for their unconstitutional spy, but foreign leaders.  I am sure they are fed up with the USA snooping around in all their emails and their phone calls.  Please visit the link below for more information:

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/28/21209499-us-coping-with-furious-allies-as-nsa-spying-revelations-grow?lite

“The latest report, published Monday in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, said that the National Security Agency had collected information on 60 million calls in that country last December.”

Alex

Standing Together, Patriot Act 12th Anniversary

It boggles my mind that this type of information is not headlines news with our local and national media outlets.  Please take the time to read this link from the ACLU:

https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-free-speech/edward-snowden-saturday-demand-end-surveillance-state

On October 26, there was a rally in DC organized by the StopWatching.US coalition.  This marked the 12th anniversary of the signing of the Patriot Act into law.  As with anything regarding the government, this law was put into place with good (we would hope) intentions, but look at it now?  Being exploited and abused so that our government can watch everything we do even if it is not related to terrorist activities.

Here is a quote from Snowden that is an excerpt from the above link:

“In the last four months, we’ve learned a lot about our government.

We’ve learned that the U.S. intelligence community secretly built a system of pervasive surveillance. Today, no telephone in America makes a call without leaving a record with the NSA. Today, no internet transaction enters or leaves America without passing through the NSA’s hands. Our representatives in Congress tell us this is not surveillance. They’re wrong.

Now it’s time for the government to learn from us. On Saturday, the ACLU, EFF, and the rest of the StopWatching.Us coalition are going to D.C. Join us in sending the message: Stop Watching Us.”

Lets keep the momentum going!!  Spread the word!  We can make a change at the next Presidential election.

Alex

The Far Reach

Yet another revelation made today regarding the NSA and it’s PRISM program.

Please see source: 

 http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/14/20965353-report-nsa-sweeps-up-contact-lists-across-the-globe-including-those-of-americans?lite

The far reaching arm of the NSA keeps getting more personal.  We might as well just assume that our Government knows everything there is to know about us.  Especially those that share their lives on Facebook or any other social media website.  The NSA is in the process of mapping, or what I call creating a web, all Americas and who they associate with.

So the question is, do you mind that they know everything about you?  These guys are at the point where they can pick any citizen and know every detail about them.  From your call logs, call lengths, your personal contacts, bank accounts, where you live, what you purchase, travel, etc.  If you use Facebook, they know all the people you associate with and now they know all their information.  There is an article that came out recently about how they use social media to map everyone’s actions.  I will post that as soon as I find it.

If you are bothered by this, get off Facebook and any other social media sites.  Not only are these sites created to make money off you, these companies are required to create back door access for the NSA to use.

Alex

UPDATE – Another article to reference:

http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/14/nsa-collecting-email-and-messaging-contacts-worldwide/

 

 

Distractions

Please don’t let the government shutdown circus distract you from the fact that the PRISM program is still going strong.  I assure you, that program is still be funded and running as planned.

I guess my point is, with all the distracting news happening, it is easy to forget what really matters.  We still have three years until the next election.  We must make sure that the candidates, Republican, Democratic or independent, address the need to strengthen our Constitutional Forth Amendment, by putting safe guards on the NSA and the PRISM program.  Stop the unreasonable searches and seizures of innocent Americans.

Just my thought of today –

Alex

Abuse of Power

I know I am jumping ahead of myself but I wanted to get this out there.  There has already been several reports of abuse from the NSA regarding all the data it is illegally obtaining.  One of which is how employees at the NSA are using the data to check up on their love ones.  Please see source:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/27/politics/nsa-snooping/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

This isn’t the first incident and it will not be the last.  When someone or a government has this type of information, they will use it for purposes other than what it is intended for.

I’ve read somewhere incidences where information, other than “terrorist” intelligence, is given to other governmental agencies for domestic sting operations or simply knowing where to be at the right time.  In this same article, it was describe that the agency had to make up a reason why they were at a location at a certain time, by accident.

I will post this article soon.

Watch your back!

Also, please comment on these articles.  I would really like to hear your opinions.

Thank you Edward Snowden

Thank you Edward Snowden. Believe it or not, he performed a huge service for each and every one of us.

What he has done is open the table to allow the discussion of government surveillance on a scale that has never been seen before.  Which is good, because as the next presidential election year approaches, we will have an opportunity to make the change to this unconstitutional data dragnet.

I also want to thank the media outlets, mostly outside of the United States, for not being afraid to release the information that Edward has provided.  It is very interesting, that here in the States, the only time I see these releases (“Leaks”, as the US national media has coined it) become major headlines is on the weekends.  Which is interesting as I feel that this is done purposely.  They know less viewers are checking up on the news on the weekends.  Less exposure.

I don’t understand why this isn’t headline news!  I was floored when I first heard about this.  Am I the only one?

Be on the look out for links pointing to more specific information regarding the releases made my Edward.

Edward Snowden