I haven’t fully read the report yet, but part of the opening paragraph describes that the NSA treats visitors to Linux Journal, which I do with great frequency, as part of an extremist network? It’s just a Linux magazine! I’m sure your own people use the magazine to learn about Linux, too, NSA!
…a popular internet journal for Linux operating system users called “the Linux Journal - the Original Magazine of the Linux Community”, and calls it an “extremist forum”.
I’m just baffled and confused how it got that label.
The reporting is not ‘bad’, it’s accurate: TAILS is specifically described as software advocated by extremists, the implication (since the comment is offered as a justification for surveillance) being that those who advocate use of TAILS (e.g., Linux Journal) are extremists.
In any case, quibbling about the wording in the comments misses the point: that the NSA tracks Linux journal readers on the grounds that they are likely to be extremists.
$TAILS_terms=word('tails' or 'Amnesiac Incognito Live System') and \
word('linux' or ' USB ' or ' CD ' or 'secure desktop' or ' IRC ' or 'truecrypt' or ' tor ');
[...]
fingerprint('ct_mo/TAILS')=
fingerprint('documents/comsec/tails_doc') or web_search($TAILS_terms) or [...]
That seems very broad. A web search for “tails cd” is enough to trigger this fingerprint. I guess only terrorists like Lisa Loeb CDs.
I want to meet the person who implemented this. Not to berate them, but just because this seems like a really boring job. When I got to the point where they were looking for bridge nodes, I started thinking about the project manaent aspects of this. Some guy making a list of every fingerprint they need, some guy tapping away turning it into code. Are they agile or so they use waterfall?
Even if you’re a true believer and we’ve got to stop the terrorists, this is a pretty sucky job.
I haven’t fully read the report yet, but part of the opening paragraph describes that the NSA treats visitors to Linux Journal, which I do with great frequency, as part of an extremist network? It’s just a Linux magazine! I’m sure your own people use the magazine to learn about Linux, too, NSA!
I’m just baffled and confused how it got that label.
[Comment removed by author]
The reporting is not ‘bad’, it’s accurate: TAILS is specifically described as software advocated by extremists, the implication (since the comment is offered as a justification for surveillance) being that those who advocate use of TAILS (e.g., Linux Journal) are extremists.
In any case, quibbling about the wording in the comments misses the point: that the NSA tracks Linux journal readers on the grounds that they are likely to be extremists.
That seems very broad. A web search for “tails cd” is enough to trigger this fingerprint. I guess only terrorists like Lisa Loeb CDs.
Given past disclosures, do we really think ‘very broad’ is a downside to the NSA?
I want to meet the person who implemented this. Not to berate them, but just because this seems like a really boring job. When I got to the point where they were looking for bridge nodes, I started thinking about the project manaent aspects of this. Some guy making a list of every fingerprint they need, some guy tapping away turning it into code. Are they agile or so they use waterfall?
Even if you’re a true believer and we’ve got to stop the terrorists, this is a pretty sucky job.
Some additional coverage: http://rt.com/news/170208-nsa-spies-tor-users/