Yes We Scan

[apantherfrommd]

Tennessee Bill Would Shut Down NSA Spy Center


Legislation would cut off water and electricity to facility involved in cracking encrypted data

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
January 22, 2014

Legislators in Tennessee have introduced a bill that would ban the state from providing water and electricity to an NSA data center which is currently involved in building supercomputers designed to crack encrypted data.

The Fourth Amendment Protection Act, which mirrors legislation introduced in other states, would prohibit local and state agencies from “providing material support to…any federal agency claiming the power to authorize the collection of electronic data or metadata of any person pursuant to any action not based on a warrant.”

The bill also disincentivizes local companies from doing business with the NSA.

“We have an out of control federal agency spying on pretty much everybody in the world. I don’t think the state of Tennessee should be helping the NSA violate the Constitution and the basic privacy rights of its citizens – and we don’t have to,” said State Sen. Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville), who introduced the bill. “This bill may not completely stop the NSA, but it will darn sure stop Tennessee from participating in unjustified and illegal activities.”

The bill’s language that bars government utilities from providing water and electricity to the NSA is crucial because Tennessee is home to the Multiprogram Research Facility (MRF) located on the East Campus of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Inside this facility, NSA researchers are currently working on building supercomputers able to crack encrypted information which is set to be stored at the NSA’s newly built mammoth data center in Bluffdale, Utah.

Recent revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden confirmed that the federal agency is also working on an encryption-cracking quantum computer capable of “owning the net.”

Cutting off water and electricity to the facility would obviously prevent the NSA from being able to power and cool its huge network of computers and other equipment, rendering the facility obsolete.

Similar to legislation recently introduced in the state of Washington, the bill would also make it illegal for public universities to serve as NSA research hubs or recruiting grounds while also making information gathered by the NSA without a warrant inadmissible in state court. Lawmakers in Arizona, Indiana, Oklahoma and California are also considering similar bills.

“The main thing to understand is that this bill denies the NSA material support from the state, and that includes state universities. People are going to be upset because they see value in Oak Ridge. But this legislation only bans material support to those activities which are part of the warrantless mass-surveillance that the federal government has been engaging in, and not everything else,” said the Tenth Amendment Center’s Mike Maharrey.

“The bottom line is that the people of Tennessee don’t want the NSA consuming massive amounts of their resources so the agency can spy on them, and pretty much everybody in the world too. It has to stop,” he added, stressing that legislative action across the country was not merely symbolic and was part of an effort to create a roadblock that will force the federal government to dial back NSA spying.

[redrum]

Unbeliebable. I mean unbelievable, to cut from a member of Congress discussing unconstitutional domestic spying practices to alert us on a pop star. On so many levels that is the perfect example of a country gone absolutely bat shit insane.

Priorities ya' know.

Wouldn't Bieber just be SO popular in state prison? He is straight up gangsta you know.

[cryingbluerain]

[apantherfrommd]

FEDS WANT TO TRACK YOUR DNA LIKE A LICENSE PLATE

Seek biosignature spying ability to identify, locate specific individuals

By Steve Peacock

WND.com

Feds want to track your DNA like a license plate

The federal government doesnt just want the ability to track down your car; it wants to be able to track down your body as well.

Just as details are emerging about a controversial, nationwide vehicle-surveillance database, WND has learned the federal government is planning an even more invasive spy program using physiological signatures to track down individuals.

The goal of this research is to detect as well as analyze and categorize unique traits the government can exploit to identify, locate and track specific individuals or groups of people.

According to the programs statement of objectives, The scope of human-centered [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, or ISR] research spans the complete range of human performance starting at the individual molecular, cellular, genomic level.

Documents WND located through routine database research reveal the ability to follow people by detecting certain characteristics of operational interest is designed for U.S. military and intelligence-gathering superiority.

Read whole article here

[Walter]

When I clicked on your article link, it closed down my server.....

[cryingbluerain]

Nobody in Congress gives a crap that ordinary citizens were being spied upon. Only when Congress is spied upon does it become a concern. Now they're worried about the Constitution being trampled on. But what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Afraid that some of their dishonest or illegal activities might be made public perhaps?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/feinstein-cia-searched-intelligence-committee-computers/2014/03/11/982cbc2c-a923-11e3-8599-ce7295b6851c_story.html

[TypeO]

Nobody in Congress gives a crap that ordinary citizens were being spied upon. Only when Congress is spied upon does it become a concern. Now they're worried about the Constitution being trampled on. But what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Afraid that some of their dishonest or illegal activities might be made public perhaps?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/feinstein-cia-searched-intelligence-committee-computers/2014/03/11/982cbc2c-a923-11e3-8599-ce7295b6851c_story.html

Much like racism, these clowns think hypocrisy is reserved solely for conservatives.

[apantherfrommd]

http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-industrial-scale-malware-spying-150802626.html

NSA Pretends To Be Facebook To Spy On The World
Malware can record audio and take photos of web users without their knowledge.

Steve Watson

March 11, 2014

The latest Snowden leaks on the NSA reveal that the spy agency is masquerading as Facebook in order to infect millions of computers around the world with malware as part of its mass surveillance program.

Glenn Greenwald reported the latest information today, noting that the practice has been in operation for over ten years with the help of British and Japanese intelligence.

The NSA, according to the leaks, has been distributing malware “implants” which can siphon out data from computers around the globe. The agency reportedly used a fake Facebook server as a launching pad to grab information from hard drives. The malware has also been designed to covertly record audio from a computer’s microphone and take snapshots with its webcam.



The internal documents describe the NSA’s own practice as “industrial-scale exploitation” of computer networks.

Chief research officer at the security firm F-Secure, Mikko Hypponen, described the practice as “disturbing,” noting that it could inadvertently affect the security of the entire internet.

“When they deploy malware on systems they potentially create new vulnerabilities in these systems, making them more vulnerable for attacks by third parties,” Hypponen told The Intercept.

Hypponen added that because the system is designed to operate without a great deal of human oversight, it could lead to the malware infection process spiraling “out of control”.

“That would definitely not be proportionate,” Hypponen said. “It couldn’t possibly be targeted and named. It sounds like wholesale infection and wholesale surveillance.”

The NSA refused to comment on the latest revelations, suggesting that because the practice is used for foreign and counterintelligence purposes, it is protected under a recent policy put in place by President Obama.

However, the evidence in the leaked documents indicates that the targets of NSA’s malware were not significant threats to national security, raising serious questions over the legality of mass surveillance tactics.


In one secret post on an internal message board, an operative from the NSA’s Signals Intelligence Directorate describes using malware attacks against systems administrators who work at foreign phone and Internet service providers. By hacking an administrator’s computer, the agency can gain covert access to communications that are processed by his company. “Sys admins are a means to an end,” the NSA operative writes.

The internal post – titled “I hunt sys admins” – makes clear that terrorists aren’t the only targets of such NSA attacks. Compromising a systems administrator, the operative notes, makes it easier to get to other targets of interest, including any “government official that happens to be using the network some admin takes care of.”

The program appears to be part of NSA’s TAO (Tailored Access Operations), and is aimed at “Owning the Internet” according to the leaked documents. The leaked Black Budget of the program reveals it had a price tag of $67.6 million last year.

[apantherfrommd]

Dianne Feinstein wants drones regulated

By: Andrea Drusch

March 16, 2014 08:26 PM EDT

For Sen. Dianne Feinstein, regulation of unmanned aerial vehicles has gotten personal.

In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday night, the California Democrat said a drone spied into the window of her home during a protest outside her house, and that privacy concerns for the technology were “major.”

Feinstein appeared as a pro-regulation voice in a Morley Safer segment on the legal questions surrounding the commercial drone industry.

(PHOTOS: Pro, con: Best quotes about drones)

“When is a drone picture a benefit to society? When does it become stalking? When does it invade privacy? How close to a home can a drone go?” Feinstein said, listing questions she would like to see answered in the complex regulation process.

“I’m in my home and there’s a demonstration out front, and I go to peek out the window and there’s a drone facing me,” she recalled.

Demonstrators from Code Pink who were protesting government surveillance at the time, said the device was merely a toy helicopter, but Feinstein used the instance to sound off about the importance of controlling the technology through government regulation.

“It’s going to have to come through regulation— perhaps regulation of size and type for private use,” she said. “Some certification of the person that’s going to operate it … some specific regulation on the kinds of uses it can be put to.”

(Also on POLITICO: Fast and Furious echoes in CIA-Senate fight)

Feinstein, who is the chairwomen of the senate intelligence committee, has been a defender of the NSA’s spying program, but raised questions about the use of drones for law enforcement.

“This is a whole new world now, and it has many complications,” Feinstein said. “What is an appropriate law enforcement use for a drone? When do you have to have a warrant? When don’t you have to have a warrant? What’s the appropriate governmental use for a drone?”

[apantherfrommd]

http://youtu.be/_VhOkg_g3uo

[apantherfrommd]

Samsung Admits Private Conversations Being Sent to Internet Server
http://youtu.be/svtm9BMcxCk


In responding to privacy concerns over their Smart TVs recording private conversations and sending them to a third party, Samsung admitted that voice data is “sent to a server” during the process.
The controversy stems from Samsung’s global privacy policy, which advises users to, “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.”

Samsung is by no means the only company potentially capturing private conversations during its data collection process. In 2013, gamers complained that Microsoft Kinect was monitoring their Skype conversations for swearing and then punishing them with account bans.

The company informs its users that they “should not expect any level of privacy concerning your use of the live communication features,” while Microsoft also “may access or disclose information about you, including the content of your communications.”

The notion of every private conversation, even within the confines of someone’s living room, being under surveillance, was a prospect raised by Senator John McCain in the aftermath of the Donald Sterling controversy last year.
“It’s the world we’re living in, you don’t like it, but everything I say I expect to be recorded,” McCain stated.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/info/privacy-SmartTV.html

Gesture Controls and Facial Recognition

Your SmartTV is equipped with a camera that enables certain advanced features, including the ability to control and interact with your TV with gestures and to use facial recognition technology to authenticate your Samsung Account on your TV. The camera can be covered and disabled at any time, but be aware that these advanced services will not be available if the camera is disabled.
Gesture Control.

To provide you with the ability to control your SmartTV through gestures, the camera mounted on the top of your SmartTV can recognise your movements. This enables you, for example, to move between panels and zoom in or zoom out. We record information about when and how users use gesture controls so that we can evaluate the performance of these controls and improve them.
Facial Recognition.

The camera situated on the SmartTV also enables you to authenticate your Samsung Account or to log into certain services using facial recognition technology. You can use facial recognition instead of, or as a supplementary security measure in addition to, manually inputting your password. Once you complete the steps required to set up facial recognition, an image of your face is stored locally on your TV; it is not transmitted to Samsung. If you cancel your Samsung Account or no longer desire to use facial recognition, please visit the applicable settings menu to delete the stored image. While your image will be stored locally, Samsung may take note of the fact that you have set up the feature and collect information about when and how the feature is used so that we can evaluate the performance of this feature and improve it.

[apantherfrommd]

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine...

Behind Closed Doors

Some things are private, right?

Like what you do inside the bathroom of your own hotel room?

Not if the EPA has its way.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants hotels to start monitoring how long you spend in the shower.

Seriously.

The agency is in the process of creating a device to track how much water you use.

Then it wants you to use that data to convince you to clean up quicker.

Quote -- "Hotels consume a significant amount of water..." the grant to the University of Tulsa states, "...This device will wirelessly transmit hotel guest water usage data to a central hotel accounting system."

From there the data can be sent to your smartphone -- a report card of sorts -- for how responsibly you showered.

Reflection tech (Data Collection)

Hey Bro, they gotcha coming and going. The use whatever you have against ya. Could be your cell phone, your tv, your fridge.

Does anyone have a smart meter? Yeah, those things are a joy. It's how they keep tabs of specifics you do in your home. By the voltage increase/decrease, they know when you're home what you're doing, what you turn on/off determined by the voltage. They can tell your pattern. When you tuen off the PC, when you turn off the tv at night.

And when you buy a product that has that symbol: you know the one -

It's giving them easier consent. Things with this Icon are made to work in conjunction with your smart meter even better. Worse thing about a smart meter, it's 2-way. You can turn your A/C on in the Summer, and they can turn it off or down. Not to mention the radiation you're accumulating the closer you are to it.

Fortunately they can't do this with old school tech. http://www.businessinsider.com/drug-dealers-are-buying-nokia-8210-phones-2015-1

[zepscoda]

I had some extra time today and watched this. It is, at the very least , thought provoking. Edited very well to get their point across ... .upload date looks to be about a year old :

http://youtu.be/qQzz-TpRfC4

[Freeyyaa]

And who is to blame?

[apantherfrommd]

I had some extra time today and watched this. It is, at the very least , thought provoking. Edited very well to get their point across ... .upload date looks to be about a year old :

http://youtu.be/qQzz-TpRfC4

Cool video. Loved the Black Sabbath at the 12 minute mark. It appears the video hits the nail on the head.

I went to the grocery store tonight and I see this thing with multi legs land in the parking lot.

I asked the policeman next to it, "What is this - a drone?" He said "It is a RFUAV." I said "Ok, so in other words, it's a drone." He said, "Well yes". I felt like running the thing over.

And who is to blame?

#1. The Puppets in Power that carry out these things.

#2. People sleeping.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

[TypeO]

It's my understanding the regulation of drones has been assigned to the DOJ, which I find peculiar. Seems to me it should be the FAA.

Best of my knowledge it IS the FAA.

And they have been paying a rather inordinate amount of attention to drones and quickly passing stifling regulations to practically eliminate legal use of these beyond a few feet in your backyard.

Our city is "addressing the drone issue" and, I kid you not, while the anchor was reading the story, the graphic on the screen behind him showed a Predator drone.

And interview with a city councilman revealed him stating they were discussing proper regulation of drones in order to "protect the public".

People who are unaware of the recent spike in drone use by private citizens are being led to believe that the issue involves Predator-type military drones in the hands of private citizens.

[apantherfrommd]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEVlyP4_11M

John Oliver grills Edward Snowden over potentially harmful NSA leaks

[apantherfrommd]

[apantherfrommd]

Well hey. Looks like Rand Paul temporarily brought our 4th amendment. Right to privacy. Right to chat without NSA snooping on us. Obama is pissed. So are the liars at the NSA that got busted in a lie.

I for one an happy. It's nice to see someone kicking the ballz of the NSA.

Does anyone else on this site care about the 4th amendment (your right to privacy)?

Or am I the only one?

Hey, I am grateful for the rights I have. Anyone else? (crickets chirping)

[Walter]

I'm very concerned about this and have been since they put this "Patriot Act" in place after 9/11. That and this failed "airport security" that just wants to harass us, but lets bombs and weapons through at a 95% clip.... Oh wait, they are being re-trained and/or reassigned. Great job with securing America and taking away our right to privacy, D.C.!

[IpMan]

Well hey. Looks like Rand Paul temporarily brought our 4th amendment. Right to privacy. Right to chat without NSA snooping on us. Obama is pissed. So are the liars at the NSA that got busted in a lie.

I for one an happy. It's nice to see someone kicking the ballz of the NSA.

Does anyone else on this site care about the 4th amendment (your right to privacy)?

Or am I the only one?

Hey, I am grateful for the rights I have. Anyone else? (crickets chirping)

Rand Paul may be a bit of an odd duck but what he did the other day was one of the most American actions I have seen in quite a long time. Good job Rand for taking on the "Patriot Act" and winning, at least temporarily.

Yes, Paradise Valley is at it again. Not only do they have a slew of red light cameras, speed cameras, license plate cameras, and now hidden cactus cams but the newest claim to fame is a real kicker. PV, the surveillance capital of AZ, is outlawing ALL private drone use throughout the city with the exception of a few feet on one's own property. Talk about irony!!!

[zepscoda]

" believes the planes use cameras and infrared imaging technology to photograph people and vehicles in a broad swath of the city "

http://m.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/305398901.html

[apantherfrommd]

" believes the planes use cameras and infrared imaging technology to photograph people and vehicles in a broad swath of the city "

http://m.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/305398901.html

Yeah, this was spying as well. It caused some Vets to go into "ghost mode". It actually happened in more places that Minneapolis. Baltimore and your home as well as others. It's been traced back to Virginia as the source under 3-lettered names.

Obama has issued 19 secret directives

Obama signed PPD-28, an order on electronic eavesdropping.

Twit! Thanks for your transparency.

[apantherfrommd]

Rather than discussing anyone political (as not to break with forum rules (as I have followed since the change-over), I'll just post on this thread as a "matter of fact" of what is and what should never be.  

Does anyone here have a Yahoo E-mail account? Too bad.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yahoo-nsa-exclusive-idUSKCN1241YT

Exclusive: Yahoo secretly scanned customer emails for U.S. intelligence - sources

Yahoo Inc last year secretly built a custom software program to search all of its customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by U.S. intelligence officials, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company complied with a classified U.S. government demand, scanning hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts at the behest of the National Security Agency or FBI, said three former employees and a fourth person apprised of the events.

Some surveillance experts said this represents the first case to surface of a U.S. Internet company agreeing to an intelligence agency's request by searching all arriving messages, as opposed to examining stored messages or scanning a small number of accounts in real time.

 

I edited out a bunch, but the link is there.　

In a separate incident, Yahoo last month said "state-sponsored" hackers had gained access to 500 million customer accounts in 2014. The revelations have brought new scrutiny to Yahoo's security practices as the company tries to complete a deal to sell its core business to Verizon Communications Inc for $4.8 billion.

On ‎6‎/‎3‎/‎2015 at 8:24 AM, Walter said:

I'm very concerned about this and have been since they put this "Patriot Act" in place after 9/11. That and this failed "airport security" that just wants to harass us, but lets bombs and weapons through at a 95% clip.... Oh wait, they are being re-trained and/or reassigned. Great job with securing America and taking away our right to privacy, D.C.!

 

I agree with you. I hate living around DC too. Oh the shame! LOL Best to you and yours, Chuck. I hope y'all stay safe during Hurricane Matthew.