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 dirtdogg
Registered: 04/03/12
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 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens 
#16198533 - 05/08/12 07:59 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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1. The NSA is building a massive data center in Utah to read every email you'll ever send.
Many of us are aware that little of what we say on social networks is really private. But you'd think your emails would be safe from prying eyes — especially those of your government. Not so, once the government completes work on a top-secret Utah data center reportedly built to spy on civilian communications.
The $2 billion facility, slated to be complete by September 2013, is allegedly designed to be able to filter through yottabytes (10^24 bytes) of data. Put into perspective, that's greater than the estimated total of all human knowledge since the dawn of mankind. If leaked information about the complex is correct, nothing will be safe from the facility's reach, from cell phone communications to emails to what you just bought with your credit card. And encryption won't protect you — one of the facility's priorities is breaking even the most complex of codes.
The good news (if there is any) is that the sheer volume of internet traffic and emails sent in a single day is far too much to be read by human eyes. Instead, the government will likely need to rely on complicated algorithms to assess each transmission and decide if they represent a security threat. So you're probably out of the government's earshot here... as long as you watch what you say.
2. The FBI maintains detailed files on numerous public, semi-public, and private figures.
Have you ever thought of taking a job with the government? If you value your privacy, think twice — the government runs incredibly extensive background searches on its high-profile applicants.
What kind of information does the government want from its applicants? Well, when former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was under consideration for a job with George H.W. Bush's administration in 1991, the FBI compiled a massive file on him. Included in that file: the fact that Jobs had a 2.65 GPA, his history of marijuana and LSD usage, and his tendencies to "distort reality" and to "twist the truth" in order to achieve his goals.
Of course, Jobs is far from the only figure with an FBI file. Other public personalities profiled by the FBI include John Lennon, Marilyn Monroe, Jimi Hendrix, and even Anna Nicole Smith. If you're curious about what goods the FBI has on you, you can always submit a request to view your own personal file. It is worth noting, of course, that the government doesn't profile everyone — just certain people of interest.
Is your data out there for the taking?
3. Homeland Security is reading your tweets and Facebook status messages.
Unless you play around with your Twitter and Facebook privacy settings, just about anything you say is public. So it might not come as a surprise that the Department of Homeland Security is seeking contractors to build software and hardware capable of reading through what it calls "publicly available social media." Essentially, the government wants to read through your tweets and status messages to see if there's any information that might help in detecting threats.
There are some ground rules to the project. The government won't pose as a Twitter follower and won't accept or send any Facebook friend requests. Still, even with those restrictions, there's a lot of information floating out there for the feds to read, even if most of it is nonsense about Justin Bieber.
4. Your ISP may soon be required to keep files on what sites you visit.
The idea sounds pretty far out there — a law that would require your internet service provider to keep constant tabs on you, along with detailed records of what websites you visited and when. But that's exactly what the Hawaii state legislature proposed this January with H.B. 2288 and companion bill S.B. 2530. The bill, sponsored by State Rep. John Mizuno (D), "requires internet service providers... keep consumer records for no less than two years." The bill then goes on to specify that these records must include "each subscriber's information and internet destination history information."
Thankfully, the bills' sponsors withdrew the offending legislation from debate. But the reason wasn't just public outcry. Also a factor was the fact that the U.S. House of Representatives is considering a similar bill titled Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act. That bill, sponsored and written by Texas Republican Representative Lamar Smith, would mandate that commercial ISPs create logs of customers' names, bank information, and IP addresses. That information could later be used by attorneys seeking to prosecute in a criminal trial or even in civil cases and divorce trials.
Not much is private anymore
Between private companies violating your privacy and now the government, is there any way to avoid prying eyes? Not really, unless you make significant changes in the way you use the web. So before you send that next tweet or post that next Facebook status message, think about whether or not you'd be okay with a complete stranger looking at it — because that's very well what may happen.
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the quieter you are the more you can hear
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jvm
long strange trip
Registered: 05/08/07
Posts: 1,893
Last seen: 1 month, 2 days
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: dirtdogg]
#16198572 - 05/08/12 08:26 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Do you have a link for a source?
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dirtdogg
Registered: 04/03/12
Posts: 66
Last seen: 8 months, 15 days
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: jvm]
#16199004 - 05/08/12 11:09 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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the quieter you are the more you can hear
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Absent Minded
Registered: 04/13/12
Posts: 2,894
Loc: New Jersey
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: dirtdogg]
#16199374 - 05/08/12 12:58 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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yahoo is a shit source for everything, but that being said, I really would not doubt it if every single one of these was true.
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sheekle: fuck peace love and unity
sheekle: death despair and misery
sheekle: is where it's
"Foremost among them was the suspicion that my strange and ungovernable instincts might do me in before I had a chance to get rich. No matter how much I wanted all those things that I needed money to buy, there was some devilish current pushing me off in another direction – toward anarchy and poverty and craziness. That maddening delusion that a man can lead a decent life without hiring himself out as a Judas Goat." - The good Doctor
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tp123
Stranger
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Absent Minded]
#16200001 - 05/08/12 04:11 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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fucking bullshit
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I have a tendency to talk/write about drugs that i know nothing of, and do not do
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Don Juan
Yaqui Indian
Registered: 10/14/09
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Absent Minded]
#16200029 - 05/08/12 04:17 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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everyone on a website like this will be traced and have a file for sure... if this is true, which i dont really doubt
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist
Registered: 03/10/07
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Don Juan]
#16200520 - 05/08/12 06:17 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Don Juan said:
everyone on a website like this will be traced and have a file for sure...
I doubt it. I have seen my FBI file, and it says a lot of stuff, much of it is not true. But nothing about mushrooms or the shroomery.
I have never seen any evidence that the websites that you visit will get you a FBI file.
Or really any kind of file.
2 years ago I went through an extensive federal background check for a security clearance. They contacted all agencies and compiled every little shred of evidence that they had into a stack of papers 2 inches tall. Every time I had ever spoken to any police officer, there was a record of it, which they considered. In the end they ended up denying me due to old BS that wasn't particularly relevant. If they knew what I was doing on the internet they would have denied the hell out of me, but they only had very limited information which was mostly inaccurate.
The government didn't even know I was Alan Rockefeller, even though all my friends know that.
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Sober
Its getting stranger.
Registered: 10/17/11
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Absent Minded]
#16200629 - 05/08/12 06:42 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act
haha wtf. how about "raping your personal privacy act"?
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I have no right to call myself one who knows. I was one who seeks, and I still am, but I no longer seek in the stars or in books; I’m beginning to hear the teachings of my blood pulsing within me. My story isn’t pleasant, it’s not sweet and harmonious like the invented stories; it tastes of folly and bewilderment, of madness and dream, like the life of all people who no longer want to lie to themselves.
~Hermann Hesse, Demia
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NWlight
Just look
Registered: 01/13/10
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Sober]
#16200660 - 05/08/12 06:48 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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^ Yeah, best way to steal someone's rights is to make them feel scared or say it's for the children. typical.
Quote:
And encryption won't protect you — one of the facility's priorities is breaking even the most complex of codes.
lol seriously? Even sites like hushmail w/ the java plug used?
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Hilarious and inconsequential, the lot of it. Enjoy the ride. Music is medicine.
  
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Smitington
Unidentified Flying Object
Registered: 08/10/09
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: NWlight]
#16201903 - 05/08/12 11:05 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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The article somewhat embellishes the facts here. They don't currently have a way to break every encryption method, but the thought is that they will hold on to encrypted messages with the intention that some day a method will be discovered.
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NWlight
Just look
Registered: 01/13/10
Posts: 11,695
Last seen: 4 hours, 20 minutes
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Smitington]
#16201928 - 05/08/12 11:09 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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I was gonna say.... Either I have almost zero understanding of computers or they're exaggerating 
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Hilarious and inconsequential, the lot of it. Enjoy the ride. Music is medicine.
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 trip forever
Stranger
Registered: 08/21/09
Posts: 5,839
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#16202838 - 05/09/12 01:43 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Alan Rockefeller said:
Quote:
Don Juan said:
everyone on a website like this will be traced and have a file for sure...
I doubt it. I have seen my FBI file, and it says a lot of stuff, much of it is not true. But nothing about mushrooms or the shroomery.
I have never seen any evidence that the websites that you visit will get you a FBI file.
Or really any kind of file.
2 years ago I went through an extensive federal background check for a security clearance. They contacted all agencies and compiled every little shred of evidence that they had into a stack of
papers 2 inches tall. Every time I had ever spoken to any police officer, there was a record of it, which they considered. In the end they ended up denying me due to old BS that wasn't particularly relevant. If they knew what I was doing on the internet they would have denied the hell out of me, but they only had very limited information which was mostly inaccurate.
The government didn't even know I was Alan Rockefeller, even though all my friends know that.
How do you go about seeing your FBI file?
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Edited by trip forever (05/09/12 01:44 AM)
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 31,943
Last seen: 10 hours, 1 minute
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: trip forever]
#16203459 - 05/09/12 06:54 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
trip forever said:
How do you go about seeing your FBI file?
Most people get their FBI file by following these instructions:
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/nics/general-information/cgbrochure
I got mine by applying for a government security clearance.
My FBI file says that I hacked into the DMV computers, though I never actually connected in any way. Someone else was busted for it and he thought that I also had access to the DMV, and told the feds that. I never heard from the feds.
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Synapse Trap
Truth on my tongue
Registered: 02/19/12
Posts: 908
Last seen: 5 months, 25 days
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#16203517 - 05/09/12 07:31 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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I would be afraid that contacting them would "alert" them in some way.
Seems like their thought process would be like "Only a criminal would be interested in what the US Govt knows about them, law abiding citizens would have no need to check their own record if they are squeaky clean."
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"Johnny's in the basement mixin' up the medicine..
I'm on the pavement thinkin' 'bout the government.." -Dylan
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Black Sabbath live in Paris 1970
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^^ Best LSD ever taken in my life circa 1985 Houston, Texas
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist
Registered: 03/10/07
Posts: 31,943
Last seen: 10 hours, 1 minute
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Synapse Trap]
#16203527 - 05/09/12 07:38 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Synapse Trap said:
I would be afraid that contacting them would "alert" them in some way.
I have heard that if you don't have a FBI file, if you request it they will start one.
I wouldn't worry about it though. There is nothing wrong with having a file. Nothing will ever come of it.
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Synapse Trap
Truth on my tongue
Registered: 02/19/12
Posts: 908
Last seen: 5 months, 25 days
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Alan Rockefeller]
#16204916 - 05/09/12 04:14 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Well, I've opened a file on the FBI and ATF, starting with ruby ridge, and Waco.
Attention web crawlers: I'm joking.
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"Johnny's in the basement mixin' up the medicine..
I'm on the pavement thinkin' 'bout the government.." -Dylan
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Black Sabbath live in Paris 1970
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^^ Best LSD ever taken in my life circa 1985 Houston, Texas
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dirtdogg
Registered: 04/03/12
Posts: 66
Last seen: 8 months, 15 days
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Re: 4 high-tech ways the federal government is spying on private citizens [Re: Synapse Trap]
#16205993 - 05/09/12 07:38 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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still its scary shit to think about.
this cispa thing has got the ball rolling on all of this.
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the quieter you are the more you can hear
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