Monitoring NSA in de VS en erbuiten, deel 7

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The German President, Joachim Gauck, concluded in an interview with the ZDF on 30.6.2013, that the NSA was not to be compared with the Stasi:

We know for example, that it is not like it was with the Stasi and the KGB – that there exist big filing cabinets in which all the content of our conversations are written down and nicely filed. This is not the case.
Wir wissen zum Beispiel, dass es nicht so ist wie bei der Stasi und dem KGB, dass es dicke Aktenbände gibt, in denen unsere Gesprächsinhalte alle aufgeschrieben und schön abgeheftet sind. Das ist es nicht.

This statement is completely correct. At the NSA, conversation contents are not written down nor filed - but digitally recorded, saved and can be searched and found within seconds.

In contrast to the Stasi, the NSA can count on new technologies and can therefore collect information in gigantic quantities. To get the picture, we compared the data volume in this little app:

According to a report by the NPR, the data center of the NSA in Utah will be capable of saving 5 Zettabytes (5 billion Terabyte). Assuming that a filing cabinet with 60 files (30.000 pages of paper) uses up 0,4 m˛, which would correspond to 120 MB of data, the printed out Utah data center would use up 17 million square kilometers. Thereby the NSA can capture 1 billion times more data than the Stasi!

SPOILER

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NSA Director Alexander Admits He Lied about Phone Surveillance Stopping 54 Terror Plots

The head of the National Security Agency (NSA) admitted before a congressional committee this week that he lied back in June when he claimed the agency’s phone surveillance program had thwarted 54 terrorist “plots or events.”

NSA Director Keith Alexander gave out the erroneous number while the Obama administration was defending its domestic spying operations exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. He said surveillance data collected that led to 53 of those 54 plots had provided the initial tips to “unravel the threat stream.”

But Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday during a hearing on the continued oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that the administration was pushing incomplete or inaccurate statements about the bulk collection of phone records from communications providers.

“For example, we’ve heard over and over again that 54 terrorist plots have been thwarted by the use of (this program),” Leahy said. “That’s plainly wrong,” adding: “These weren’t all plots and they weren’t all thwarted.”

Alexander admitted that only 13 of the 54 cases were connected to the United States. He also told the committee that only one or two suspected plots were identified as a result of bulk phone record collection.

Leahy was not happy. “We’re told we have to [conduct mass phone surveillance] to protect us, and the statistics are rolled out that they’re not accurate,” he said. “It doesn’t have the credibility here in the Congress, it doesn’t have the credibility with this chairman and it doesn’t have the credibility with the country.”

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Op woensdag 16 oktober 2013 09:07 schreef Ryan3 het volgende:
Kunnen we die NSA nu niet fucken, alle internetters bij elkaar... gewoon in elke post iets over terrorisme zeggen of zo...
Net als "...en overigens blijf ik van mening dat Carthago vernietigd moet worden...." van Cato....

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Op woensdag 16 oktober 2013 10:13 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Dat zou op zich al een vorm van terrorisme zijn. Duizend bommen en granaten!

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Op woensdag 16 oktober 2013 17:24 schreef raptorix het volgende:
Deze al voorbij gekomen?

http://www.theguardian.co(...)-guardian?CMP=twt_fd

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Op woensdag 16 oktober 2013 17:38 schreef Nemephis het volgende:
Wat een **** die Plasterk slappe lul zonder ruggegraat

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Op woensdag 16 oktober 2013 22:41 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

[..]

Shoot the messenger. De persvrijheid staat aardig onder druk door de NSA-leaks.

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The Obama administration doesn’t want the Supreme Court to look at NSA spying

President Barack Obama’s administration is urging the Supreme Court not to take up the first case it has received on controversial National Security Agency cybersnooping.

US government attorneys argue that the Supreme Court does not have the jurisdiction to take the case, filed in July by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC).

EPIC believes the NSA overstepped its authority by carrying out broad communications monitoring and surveillance worldwide, and demanded the program be stopped.

A US Supreme Court decision to take the case would be “a drastic and extraordinary remedy that is reserved for really extraordinary causes,” argued Donald Verrilli, an administration lawyer, in a statement released late Tuesday.

The US administration also believes the EPIC suit cannot move forward because it argues the court lacks authority under the 2001 Patriot Act to weigh in on the legality of NSA activities.

“This court lacks jurisdiction to issue a writ of certiorari to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,” the secret intelligence affairs court, Verrilli added.

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Op woensdag 16 oktober 2013 17:16 schreef zarGon het volgende:

[..]

.

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New EU rules to curb transfer of data to US after Edward Snowden revelations

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New European rules aimed at curbing questionable transfers of data from EU countries to the US are being finalised in Brussels in the first concrete reaction to the Edward Snowden disclosures on US and British mass surveillance of digital communications.

Regulations on European data protection standards are expected to pass the European parliament committee stage on Monday after the various political groupings agreed on a new compromise draft following two years of gridlock on the issue.

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NSA-baas Keith Alexander stapt op

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NSA-baas Keith Alexander stapt over een paar maanden op. Dat hebben functionarissen in de Verenigde Staten gezegd, meldt persbureau Reuters. Ook de tweede man van de inlichtingendienst, John Inglis, gaat weg.
Het vertrek van Alexander en Inglis zou niets te maken hebben met de omstreden afluisterprogramma’s waarvan klokkenluider Edward Snowden de afgelopen maanden details naar buiten bracht. De inlichtingenbaas had tegen eind april al besloten dat hij zou stoppen. Inglis gaat eind dit jaar met pensioen.

Een woordvoerder van de NSA liet aan Reuters weten dat Alexander in het voorjaar vertrekt. Hij werd acht jaar geleden onder president George Bush aangesteld en is daarmee de langst dienende chef van de dienst tot nu toe. Vermoedelijk grijpt president Barack Obama nu zijn kans om een nieuwe koers te varen met de inlichtingendienst.

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Brazilië schrijft geschiedenis op Algemene Vergadering VN

De Braziliaanse president Dilma Rousseff had in de weken voor de Algemene Vergadering van de VN duidelijk gemaakt dat er een aantal dingen waren gebeurd die zij ten strengste veroordeelde. Zo bleek uit de onthullingen van Edward Snowden dat de NSA zowat alle communicatie van het Braziliaanse petroleumbedrijf Petrobras bespioneerde, enkele dagen later bleek de Britse inlichtingendienst GCHQ hetzelfde te hebben gedaan.

Petrobras is niet bepaald een terroristische organisatie. Het is echter wel een geduchte concurrent van Amerikaanse en Britse petroleumbedrijven. Met andere woorden, de NSA deed hier aan economische spionage. Alsof dat nog niet erg genoeg was, bleek dat de NSA ook alle interne e-mails van de Braziliaanse president met haar staf al jarenlang afluisterde.

Rousseff zegde een gepland staatsbezoek aan de VS af. Een aantal grote handelsovereenkomsten, waaronder de aankoop van militair materiaal, die tijdens dat bezoek plechtig zouden worden ondertekend, werden uitgesteld. Zelfs na een persoonlijk gesprek van 20 minuten met president Obama kwam Rousseff niet op haar beslissing terug.

Wie dacht dat zij op de Algemene Vergadering een en ander met omfloerste bewoordingen zou omschrijven, vergiste zich. In haar toespraak nam de president geen blad voor de mond. De volledige toespraak vind je in de YouTube-link hieronder. Een uittreksel:

"Wat we hier voor ons hebben is een ernstig geval van schending van de mensenrechten en burgerrechten, een geval van een invasie en beroving van vertrouwelijke geheime informatie, die commerciële activiteiten betreft. Bovenal is dit een geval van minachting voor de nationale soevereiniteit van mijn land. Wij hebben de Amerikaanse regering ons protest laten weten en eisen verklaringen, excuses en garanties dat dergelijke daden of procedures niet meer zullen voorkomen. Vriendschappelijke regeringen en maatschappijen die oprechte strategische partnerschappen willen opbouwen, zoals in ons geval, kunnen onmogelijk toelaten dat aan de gang zijnde illegale acties doorgaan alsof dat de gewone gang van zaken is. Deze acties zijn totaal onaanvaardbaar."

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Fresh Leak on US Spying: NSA Accessed Mexican President's Email

The NSA has been systematically eavesdropping on the Mexican government for years. It hacked into the president's public email account and gained deep insight into policymaking and the political system. The news is likely to hurt ties between the US and Mexico.

The National Security Agency (NSA) has a division for particularly difficult missions. Called "Tailored Access Operations" (TAO), this department devises special methods for special targets.

That category includes surveillance of neighboring Mexico, and in May 2010, the division reported its mission accomplished. A report classified as "top secret" said: "TAO successfully exploited a key mail server in the Mexican Presidencia domain within the Mexican Presidential network to gain first-ever access to President Felipe Calderon's public email account."
According to the NSA, this email domain was also used by cabinet members, and contained "diplomatic, economic and leadership communications which continue to provide insight into Mexico's political system and internal stability." The president's office, the NSA reported, was now "a lucrative source."

This operation, dubbed "Flatliquid," is described in a document leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden, which SPIEGEL has now had the opportunity to analyze. The case is likely to cause further strain on relations between Mexico and the United States, which have been tense since Brazilian television network TV Globo revealed in September that the NSA monitored then-presidential candidate Enrique Peņa Nieto and others around him in the summer of 2012. Peņa Nieto, now Mexico's president, summoned the US ambassador in the wake of that news, but confined his reaction to demanding an investigation into the matter.

Now, though, the revelation that the NSA has systematically infiltrated an entire computer network is likely to trigger deeper controversy, especially since the NSA's snooping took place during the term of Peņa Nieto's predecessor Felipe Calderķn, a leader who worked more closely with Washington than any other Mexican president before him.

Brazil Also Targeted

Reports of US surveillance operations have caused outrage in Latin America in recent months. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff cancelled a planned trip to Washington five weeks ago and condemned the NSA's espionage in a blistering speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

The US surveillance of politicians in Mexico and Brazil is not a one-off. Internal documents show these countries' leaders represent important monitoring targets for the NSA, with both Mexico and Brazil ranking among the nations high on an April 2013 list that enumerates the US' surveillance priorities. That list, classified as "secret," was authorized by the White House and "presidentially approved," according to internal NSA documents.

The list ranks strategic objectives for all US intelligence services using a scale from "1" for high priority to "5" for low priority. In the case of Mexico, the US is interested primarily in the drug trade (priority level 1) and the country's leadership (level 3). Other areas flagged for surveillance include Mexico's economic stability, military capabilities, human rights and international trade relations (all ranked at level 3), as well as counterespionage (level 4). It's much the same with Brazil -- ascertaining the intentions of that country's leadership ranks among the stated espionage targets. Brazil's nuclear program is high on the list as well.

When Brazilian President Rousseff took office in early 2011, one of her goals was to improve relations with Washington, which had cooled under her predecessor, the popular former labor leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula focused primarily on establishing closer ties with China, India and African nations, and even invited Iran's then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Brazil, in a snub to the US. President Barack Obama postponed a planned visit to the capital, Brasília, as a result.

Rousseff, however, has distanced herself from Iran. And the first foreign minister to serve under her, Antonio Patriota, who recently resigned, was seen as friendly toward the US, maintaining good ties with his counterpart Hillary Clinton. Obama made a state visit to Brazil two years ago and Rousseff had planned to reciprocate with a visit to Washington this October.

Then came the revelation that US authorities didn't stop short of spying on the president herself. According to one internal NSA presentation, the agency investigated "the communication methods and associated selectors of Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff and her key advisers." It also said it found potential "high-value targets" among her inner circle.

Economic Motives?

Rousseff believes Washington's reasons for employing such unfriendly methods are partly economic, an accusation that the NSA and its director, General Keith Alexander, have denied. Yet according to the leaked NSA documents, the US also monitored email and telephone communications at Petrobras, the oil corporation in which the Brazilian government holds a majority stake. Brazil possesses enormous offshore oil reserves.

Just how intensively the US spies on its neighbors can be seen in another, previously unknown operation in Mexico, dubbed "Whitetamale" by the NSA. In August 2009, according to internal documents, the agency gained access to the emails of various high-ranking officials in Mexico's Public Security Secretariat that combats the drug trade and human trafficking. This hacking operation allowed the NSA not only to obtain information on several drug cartels, but also to gain access to "diplomatic talking-points." In the space of a single year, according to the internal documents, this operation produced 260 classified reports that allowed US politicians to conduct successful talks on political issues and to plan international investments.

The tone of the document that lists the NSA's "tremendous success" in monitoring Mexican targets shows how aggressively the US intelligence agency monitors its southern neighbor. "These TAO accesses into several Mexican government agencies are just the beginning -- we intend to go much further against this important target," the document reads. It goes on to state that the divisions responsible for this surveillance are "poised for future successes."

While these operations were overseen from the NSA's branch in San Antonio, Texas, secret listening stations in the US Embassies in Mexico City and Brasília also played a key role. The program, known as the "Special Collection Service," is conducted in cooperation with the CIA. The teams have at their disposal a wide array of methods and high-tech equipment that allow them to intercept all forms of electronic communication. The NSA conducts its surveillance of telephone conversations and text messages transmitted through Mexico's cell phone network under the internal code name "Eveningeasel." In Brasília, the agency also operates one of its most important operational bases for monitoring satellite communications.

This summer, the NSA took its activities to new heights as elections took place in Mexico. Despite having access to the presidential computer network, the US knew little about Enrique Peņa Nieto, designated successor to Felipe Calderķn.

Spying on Peņa Nieto

In his campaign appearances, Peņa Nieto would make his way to the podium through a sea of supporters, ascending to the stage like a rock star. He is married to an actress, and also had the support of several influential elder statesmen within his party, the PRI. He promised to reform the party and fight pervasive corruption in the country. But those familiar with the PRI, which is itself regarded by many as corrupt, saw this pledge as little more than a maneuver made for show.

First and foremost, though, Peņa Nieto promised voters he would change Mexico's strategy in the war on drugs, announcing he would withdraw the military from the fight against the drug cartels as soon as possible and invest more money in social programs instead. Yet at the same time, he assured Washington there would be no U-turn in Mexico's strategy regarding the cartels. So what were Peņa Nieto's true thoughts at the time? What were his advisers telling him?

The NSA's intelligence agents in Texas must have been asking themselves such questions when they authorized an unusual type of operation known as structural surveillance. For two weeks in the early summer of 2012, the NSA unit responsible for monitoring the Mexican government analyzed data that included the cell phone communications of Peņa Nieto and "nine of his close associates," as an internal presentation from June 2012 shows. Analysts used software to connect this data into a network, shown in a graphic that resembles a swarm of bees. The software then filtered out Peņa Nieto's most relevant contacts and entered them into a databank called "DishFire." From then on, these individuals' cell phones were singled out for surveillance.

According to the internal documents, this led to the agency intercepting 85,489 text messages, some sent by Peņa Nieto himself and some by his associates. This technology "might find a needle in a haystack," the analysts noted, adding that it could do so "in a repeatable and efficient way."

It seems, though, that the NSA's agents are no longer quite as comfortable expressing such pride in their work. Asked for a comment by SPIEGEL, the agency replied: "We are not going to comment publicly on every specific alleged intelligence activity, and as a matter of policy we have made clear that the United States gathers foreign intelligence of the type gathered by all nations. As the President said in his speech at the UN General Assembly, we've begun to review the way that we gather intelligence, so that we properly balance the legitimate security concerns of our citizens and allies with the privacy concerns that all people share."

Meanwhile, the NSA's spying has already caused considerable political damage in the case of Brazil, seriously denting the mutual trust between Rousseff and Obama. Brazil now plans to introduce a law that will force companies such as Google and Facebook to store their data inside Brazil's borders, rather than on servers in the US, making these international companies subject to Brazilian data privacy laws. The Brazilian government is also developing a new encryption system to protect its own data against hacking.

So far, Mexico has reacted more moderately -- although the fact that the NSA infiltrated even the presidential computer network wasn't known until now. Commenting after TV Globo first revealed the NSA's surveillance of text messages, Peņa Nieto stated that Obama had promised him to investigate the accusations and to punish those responsible, if it was found that misdeeds had taken place.
In response to an inquiry from SPIEGEL concerning the latest revelations, Mexico's Foreign Ministry replied with an email condemning any form of espionage on Mexican citizens, saying such surveillance violates international law. "That is all the government has to say on the matter," stated a spokesperson for Peņa Nieto.

Presumably, that email could be read at the NSA's Texas location at the same time.

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Kroes noemt onthullingen Snowden behulpzaam

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Eurocommissaris Neelie Kroes (Digitale Agenda) heeft zich in een interview met het Duitse tijdschrift Der Spiegel positief uitgelaten over de onthullingen van klokkenluider Edward Snowden over de Amerikaanse en Britse spionagepraktijken. Kroes zegt dat over Snowdens handelswijze te twisten valt, maar dat zijn onthullingen zeer ‘behulpzaam’ zijn.

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Kroes is kritisch op de reactie van de Europese Commissie op de onthullingen. Onderhandelingen met de VS over een vrijhandelsverdrag worden ondanks de onthullingen voortgezet.

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Op maandag 21 oktober 2013 22:11 schreef kloonbeer het volgende:
Waar maken we ons druk om we hebben niks te verbergen.

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Op maandag 21 oktober 2013 22:48 schreef Igen het volgende:

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Niks te verbergen? We hebben in Nederland geen politieke standpunten, geen diplomatieke relaties, geen gevoelige bedrijfsinformatie, helemaal niks?

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Op donderdag 24 oktober 2013 20:40 schreef jasparon het volgende:
Het grootste probleem is dat alle data wordt opgeslagen. Over 10 jaar een zoekopdracht om bepaalde mensen, denkwijzen of andere zaken eruit te halen. Passieve monitoring kan dan in een keer actief worden. Jouw "vrije" mening in 2013 kan in 2024 reden zijn om je te typeren zoals hun dat uitkomt.

En kom niet dat alle nutteloze data wordt verwijderd...

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'Amerika waarschuwt bondgenoten voor aankomende onthullingen Snowden'
De Verenigde Staten is bezig bondgenoten te waarschuwen voor de gevolgen van komende onthullingen van Edward Snowden, die onder meer betrekking zouden hebben op geheime samenwerking met de Verenigde Staten.

SnowdenDe Verenigde Staten waarschuwt landen, zodat ze zich kunnen voorbereiden, zegt de krant The Washington Post op basis van anonieme bronnen bij overheden. De documenten zouden onthullen dat diverse landen geheime samenwerkingen hebben met de Amerikaanse geheime dienst NSA om data uit te wisselen. Omdat niet alle overheidsinstanties en regeringen hiervan op de hoogte zijn, zouden die onthullingen verstrekkende gevolgen kunnen hebben.

Het is onduidelijk of Nederland ook is gewaarschuwd, maar ondenkbaar is dat niet. Nederland is al vele jaren een bondgenoot van de Verenigde Staten in de internationale politiek. Dat de Amerikaanse geheime dienst enige interesse heeft in Nederland, is duidelijk: de NSA onderschepte in een maand metadata van 1,8 miljoen telefoontjes in Nederland. Bovendien zei Snowden onlangs dat er onthullingen over Nederland aan zitten te komen. Ook België zou tot de gewaarschuwde landen behoren. Dankzij de vestiging van veel Europese instanties in Brussel zullen buitenlandse mogendheden veel interesse hebben in de communicatie in België, zoals bleek bij de hack van Belgacom.

De NSA probeert inmiddels te achterhalen welke documenten Snowden allemaal heeft ontvreemd. Vorige week werd duidelijk dat Snowden de documenten te pakken kon krijgen door verouderde beveiligingssoftware. Hij zou 30.000 documenten hebben meegenomen, maar er zou nog geen patroon te ontdekken zijn.

_{Bron: http://tweakers.net/nieuw(...)llingen-snowden.html}

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Duitsers willen eigen internet om spionnen te weren

Of de Amerikaanse veiligheidsdiensten nu wel of niet het mobieltje van Duits kanselier Angela Merkel hebben afgeluisterd, in Duitsland gaan vast stemmen op voor een apart 'Duits' internet. Dit meldt persagentschap Reuters. .

De lancering van 'E-Mail made in Germany' van Deutsche Telekom.Telecomreus Deutsche Telekom, deels in handen van de Duitse staat, riep naar aanleiding van de recente spionageonthullingen de andere Duitse communicatiebedrijven op om het lokale Duitse internet af te schermen van buitenlandse inlichtingendiensten. Deutsche Telekom lanceerde deze al een 'E-mail made in Germany'-dienst die e-mail encrypteert en enkel langs Duitse servers stuurt.

Dat het Deutsche Telekom menens is, bevestigt concurrent Vodafone aan Reuters. Vodafone onderzoekt momenteel of het ingaat op het Deutsche Telekom-voorstel en hoe dat dan zou moeten. Mocht het niet lukken om tot een deal te komen, moet het Duitse parlement een wet aannemen om een omleiding van het Duitse internetverkeer te verplichten. .

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Op vrijdag 25 oktober 2013 19:32 schreef Probably_on_pcp het volgende:
Nog even hier posten:

Alsof Obama en het Amerikaanse congres ook maar iets te zeggen hebben over de NSA. De macht in de VS ligt allang bij mensen achter de schermen. De president en congresleden zijn maar voorbijgangers die gecontroleerd worden door deze mensen achter de schermen.

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Op vrijdag 25 oktober 2013 19:44 schreef gebrokenglas het volgende:

[..]

En wie zijn dan die mensen achter de schermen? De bankers?

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Leaked memos reveal GCHQ efforts to keep mass surveillance secret

Exclusive: Edward Snowden papers show UK spy agency fears legal challenge if scale of surveillance is made public

The UK intelligence agency GCHQ has repeatedly warned it fears a "damaging public debate" on the scale of its activities because it could lead to legal challenges against its mass-surveillance programmes, classified internal documents reveal.

Memos contained in the cache disclosed by the US whistleblower Edward Snowden detail the agency's long fight against making intercept evidence admissible as evidence in criminal trials – a policy supported by all three major political parties, but ultimately defeated by the UK's intelligence community.

Foremost among the reasons was a desire to minimise the potential for challenges against the agency's large-scale interception programmes, rather than any intrinsic threat to security, the documents show.

The papers also reveal that:

• GCHQ lobbied furiously to keep secret the fact that telecoms firms had gone "well beyond" what they were legally required to do to help intelligence agencies' mass interception of communications, both in the UK and overseas.

• GCHQ feared a legal challenge under the right to privacy in the Human Rights Act if evidence of its surveillance methods became admissable in court.

• GCHQ assisted the Home Office in lining up sympathetic people to help with "press handling", including the Liberal Democrat peer and former intelligence services commissioner Lord Carlile, who this week criticised the Guardian for its coverage of mass surveillance by GCHQ and the US National Security Agency.

The most recent attempt to make intelligence gathered from intercepts admissible in court, proposed by the last Labour government, was finally stymied by GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 in 2009.

A briefing memo prepared for the board of GCHQ shortly before the decision was made public revealed that one reason the agency was keen to quash the proposals was the fear that even passing references to its wide-reaching surveillance powers could start a "damaging" public debate.

Referring to the decision to publish the report on intercept as evidence without classification, it noted: "Our main concern is that references to agency practices (ie the scale of interception and deletion) could lead to damaging public debate which might lead to legal challenges against the current regime."

A later update, dated May 2012, set out further perceived "risks" of making intercepts admissible, including "the damage to partner relationships if sensitive information were accidentally released in open court". It also noted that the "scale of interception and retention required would be fairly likely to be challenged on Article 8 (Right to Privacy) grounds".

The GCHQ briefings showed the agency provided the Home Office with support in winning the PR battle on the proposed reforms by lining up people to talk to the media – including Lord Carlile, who on Wednesday gave a public lecture condemning the Guardian's decision to publish stories based on the leaked material from Snowden.

Referring to the public debate on intercept evidence, the document notes: "Sir Ken McDonald [sic] (former DPP [director of public prosecutions]), Lord Goldsmith (former AG [attorney general]) and David Davis (former Shadow HSec [home secretary) [have been] reiterating their previous calls for IaE [intercept as evidence].

"We are working closely with HO [Home Office] on their plans for press handling when the final report is published, e.g. lining up talking heads (such as Lord Carlisle [sic], Lord Stevens, Sir Stephen Lander, Sir Swinton Thomas)."

Carlile was the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation in 2001-11, and was awarded a CBE in 2012 for his services to national security.

Another top GCHQ priority in resisting the admission of intercepts as evidence was keeping secret the extent of the agency's co-operative relationships with telephone companies – including being granted access to communications networks overseas.

In June, the Guardian disclosed the existence of GCHQ's Tempora internet surveillance programme. It uses intercepts on the fibre-optic cables that make up the backbone of the internet to gain access to swaths of internet users' personal data. The intercepts are placed in the UK and overseas, with the knowledge of companies owning either the cables or landing stations.

The revelations of voluntary co-operation with some telecoms companies appear to contrast markedly with statements made by large telecoms firms in the wake of the first Tempora stories. They stressed that they were simply complying with the law of the countries in which they operated.

In reality, numerous telecoms companies were doing much more than that, as disclosed in a secret document prepared in 2009 by a joint working group of GCHQ, MI5 and MI6.

The agencies' report contended that allowing intercepts as evidence could damage relationships with "Communications Service Providers" (CSPs).

In an extended excerpt of "the classified version" of a review prepared for the Privy Council, a formal body of advisors made up of current and former cabinet ministers, the document sets out the real nature of the relationship between telecoms firms and the UK government.

"Under RIPA [the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000], CSPs in the UK may be required to provide, at public expense, an adequate interception capability on their networks," it states. "In practice all significant providers do provide such a capability. But in many cases their assistance – while in conformity with the law – goes well beyond what it requires."

GCHQ's internet surveillance programme is the subject of a challenge in the European court of human rights, mounted by three privacy advocacy groups. The Open Rights Group, English PEN and Big Brother Watch argue the "unchecked surveillance" of Tempora is a challenge to the right to privacy, as set out in the European convention on human rights.

That the Tempora programme appears to rely at least in part on voluntary co-operation of telecoms firms could become a major factor in that ongoing case. The revelation could also reignite the long-running debate over allowing intercept evidence in court.

The GCHQ submission goes on to set out why its relationships with telecoms companies goes further than what can be legally compelled under current law. It explains that in the internet era, companies that wished to avoid being legally mandated to assist UK intelligence agencies would often be able to do so "at little cost or risk to their operations" by moving "some or all" of their communications services overseas.

As a result, "it has been necessary to enter into agreements with both UK-based and offshore providers for them to afford the UK agencies access, with appropriate legal authorisation, to the communications they carry outside the UK."

The submission to ministers does not set out which overseas firms have entered into voluntary relationships with the UK, or even in which countries they operate, though documents detailing the Tempora programme made it clear the UK's interception capabilities relied on taps located both on UK soil and overseas.

There is no indication as to whether the governments of the countries in which deals with companies have been struck would be aware of the GCHQ cable taps.

Evidence that telecoms firms and GCHQ are engaging in mass interception overseas could stoke an ongoing diplomatic row over surveillance ignited this week after the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, accused the NSA of monitoring her phone calls, and the subsequent revelation that the agency monitored communications of at least 35 other world leaders.

On Friday, Merkel and the French president, Franįois Hollande, agreed to spearhead efforts to make the NSA sign a new code of conduct on how it carried out intelligence operations within the European Union, after EU leaders warned that the international fight against terrorism was being jeopardised by the perception that mass US surveillance was out of control.

Fear of diplomatic repercussions were one of the prime reasons given for GCHQ's insistence that its relationships with telecoms firms must be kept private .

Telecoms companies "feared damage to their brands internationally, if the extent of their co-operation with HMG [Her Majesty's government] became apparent", the GCHQ document warned. It added that if intercepts became admissible as evidence in UK courts "many CSPs asserted that they would withdraw their voluntary support".

The report stressed that while companies are going beyond what they are required to do under UK law, they are not being asked to violate it.

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Op vrijdag 25 oktober 2013 19:44 schreef gebrokenglas het volgende:

[..]

En wie zijn dan die mensen achter de schermen? De bankers?

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ACLU: Lavabit 'fatally undermined' by US request for encryption keys

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Leaving

As many of you likely know, it was announced last week that I am leaving the Guardian. My last day here will be 31 October, and I will write my last column on that date.

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Op vrijdag 25 oktober 2013 23:11 schreef gebrokenglas het volgende:
Glenn Greenwald stopt ermee bij The Guardian.

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Op vrijdag 25 oktober 2013 23:25 schreef Eyjafjallajoekull het volgende:

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Ja, omdat hij een eigen nieuws platform gaat beginnen, niet zo gek dus

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Op zaterdag 26 oktober 2013 00:21 schreef APK het volgende:
Snowden kreeg toch alleen -een jaar- asiel in Rusland als hij verder zijn bek zou houden?
Of ben ik inmiddels in de war met een andere zaak, want het lukt niet echt tot nu toe

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Op zaterdag 26 oktober 2013 07:49 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:

Hij houd z'n bek.Maar Glenn Greenwald heeft alle documenten al.

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Warrantless surveillance evidence faces court test in 'terrorist' case

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The Justice Department has said for the first time that it intends to use information gained from one of the government's warrantless surveillance programmes against an accused terrorist, setting the stage for a probable supreme court test of the Obama administration's approach to national security.

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Op zaterdag 26 oktober 2013 22:37 schreef Papierversnipperaar het volgende:
The Empire fights back:

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"Merkel, Rousseff pakken NSA aan"

_{zondag 27 okt 2013, 19:13 (Update: 27-10-13, 19:28)}

Bondskanselier Merkel bereidt samen met de Braziliaanse president Dilma Rousseff een VN-resolutie voor tegen de spionagepraktijken van de Amerikaanse inlichtingendienst NSA. Dat schrijft de Duitse krant Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Volgens de krant hebben Duitse en Braziliaanse diplomaten dit weekend gewerkt aan de resolutie. Verwacht wordt dat de resolutie met grote meerderheid wordt aangenomen door de Algemene Vergadering van de VN.

Scherpe storm
Er is al een internationaal verdrag tegen "willekeurige of onwettige inmenging in privésferen of gezinsleven". Die bescherming moet volgens de twee landen worden uitgebreid naar het internet.

In de tekst worden de Verenigde Staten niet genoemd, maar het is duidelijk dat het afluisterschandaal van de NSA de aanleiding is. Rousseff veroordeelde donderdag in scherpe woorden het afluisteren van bondskanselier Merkel door de NSA.

Zelf annuleerde de Braziliaanse president onlangs uit woede een bezoek aan de VS.

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Op zondag 27 oktober 2013 23:09 schreef Jan-Slagter het volgende:
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