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The Telecom Digest for June 10, 2013
Volume 32 : Issue 125 : "text" Format
Messages in this Issue:
Boundless Informant: the NSA's secret tool to track global surveillance data (Monty Solomon)
NSA's Prism surveillance program: how it works and what it can do (Monty Solomon)
Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance (Monty Solomon)
Remember All Those Passwords? No Need (Monty Solomon)
How the U.S. Uses Technology to Mine More Data More Quickly (Monty Solomon)

====== 31 years of TELECOM Digest -- Founded August 21, 1981 ======

Telecom and VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) Digest for the Internet. All contents here are copyrighted by Bill Horne and the individual writers/correspondents. Articles may be used in other journals or newsgroups, provided the writer's name and the Digest are included in the fair use quote. By using any name or email address included herein for any reason other than responding to an article herein, you agree to pay a hundred dollars to that person, or email address owner.
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We must fight spam for the same reason we fight crime: not because we are naive enough to believe that we will ever stamp it out, but because we do not want the kind of world that results when no one stands against crime.  - Geoffrey Welsh


See the bottom of this issue for subscription and archive details and the name of our lawyer, and other stuff of interest.


Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 14:46:57 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Boundless Informant: the NSA's secret tool to track global surveillance data Message-ID: <p06240811cdda7dbcc26e@[10.0.1.13]> Boundless Informant: the NSA's secret tool to track global surveillance data Revealed: The NSA's powerful tool for cataloguing global surveillance data - including figures on US collection Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk Sunday 9 June 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/08/nsa-boundless-informant-global-datamining http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/08/nsa-boundless-informant-data-mining-slides http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2013/jun/08/boundless-informant-nsa-full-text
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 14:44:58 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: NSA's Prism surveillance program: how it works and what it can do Message-ID: <p06240810cdda7d76b1e7@[10.0.1.13]> NSA's Prism surveillance program: how it works and what it can do Slide from secret PowerPoint presentation describes how program collects data 'directly from the servers' of tech firms James Ball guardian.co.uk Saturday 8 June 2013 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/08/nsa-prism-server-collection-facebook-google
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 14:43:10 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance Message-ID: <p0624080fcdda7cec917d@[10.0.1.13]> Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind revelations of NSA surveillance The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill and Laura Poitras in Hong Kong guardian.co.uk Sunday 9 June 2013 The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell. The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he said. Snowden will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world's most secretive organisations - the NSA. In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant." ... http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance ***** Moderator's Note ***** There are three things that children do not know: 1. There is no Santa CLaus 2. Governments don't always tell the truth 3. Adults have secrets Bill Horne Moderator
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 15:03:12 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: Remember All Those Passwords? No Need Message-ID: <p06240818cdda817ba300@[10.0.1.13]> Remember All Those Passwords? No Need By DAVID POGUE June 5, 2013 "If you want to avoid having your identity stolen, use long passwords that contain digits, punctuation and no recognizable words. Make up a different password for every Web site. And change all of your passwords every 30 days." Have these security pundits ever listened to themselves? That advice is clearly unfollowable. I currently have account names and passwords for 87 Web sites (banks, airlines, blogs, shopping, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter). How is anyone - even a security professional - supposed to memorize 87 long, complex password strings, let alone remember which goes with which Web site? So most people use the same password over and over again, and live with the guilt. There are solutions. Most Mac and Windows Web browsers now offer to memorize passwords for you. But that feature doesn't work on all Web sites, and is generally of little help when you pick up your phone or tablet. At that point, the only person you've locked out of all your online accounts is you. The only decent solution is to install a dedicated password memorization program (like Roboform, KeePass, LastPass, 1Password, and so on). Last week, one of the best was just improved: Dashlane, now at 2.0. It's attractive, effective, loaded with timesaving features and available for Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android - and it's free. ... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/technology/personaltech/too-many-passwords-and-no-way-to-remember-them-until-now.html Concerns About Dashlane, and Answers June 6, 2013 In my column in Thursday's paper, I reviewed Dashlane, a very cool, free program that automatically enters your names, passwords, credit card information and other details on Web sites. As usual when something terrific and free comes along, many readers' primary reaction was suspicion, sometimes verging on paranoia. When the topic is as touchy as privacy, well, multiply that by 10. Here are some of the most frequently e-mailed concerns about Dashlane - and their answers: ... http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/06/concerns-about-dashlane-and-answers/
Date: Sun, 9 Jun 2013 14:48:58 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> To: telecomdigestmoderator.remove-this@and-this-too.telecom-digest.org. Subject: How the U.S. Uses Technology to Mine More Data More Quickly Message-ID: <p06240812cdda7e5ce7d4@[10.0.1.13]> How the U.S. Uses Technology to Mine More Data More Quickly By JAMES RISEN and ERIC LICHTBLAU June 8, 2013 WASHINGTON - When American analysts hunting terrorists sought new ways to comb through the troves of phone records, e-mails and other data piling up as digital communications exploded over the past decade, they turned to Silicon Valley computer experts who had developed complex equations to thwart Russian mobsters intent on credit card fraud. The partnership between the intelligence community and Palantir Technologies, a Palo Alto, Calif., company founded by a group of inventors from PayPal, is just one of many that the National Security Agency and other agencies have forged as they have rushed to unlock the secrets of "Big Data." Today, a revolution in software technology that allows for the highly automated and instantaneous analysis of enormous volumes of digital information has transformed the N.S.A., turning it into the virtual landlord of the digital assets of Americans and foreigners alike. The new technology has, for the first time, given America's spies the ability to track the activities and movements of people almost anywhere in the world without actually watching them or listening to their conversations. New disclosures that the N.S.A. has secretly acquired the phone records of millions of Americans and access to e-mails, videos and other data of foreigners from nine United States Internet companies have provided a rare glimpse into the growing reach of the nation's largest spy agency. They have also alarmed the government: on Saturday night, Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the director of national intelligence, said that "a crimes report has been filed by the N.S.A." With little public debate, the N.S.A. has been undergoing rapid expansion in order to exploit the mountains of new data being created each day. The government has poured billions of dollars into the agency over the last decade, building a one-million-square-foot fortress in the mountains of Utah, apparently to store huge volumes of personal data indefinitely. It created intercept stations across the country, according to former industry and intelligence officials, and helped build one of the world's fastest computers to crack the codes that protect information. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/us/revelations-give-look-at-spy-agencys-wider-reach.html?pagewanted=all
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