So we are now all being watched

I do not know if this was posted already but think its a good share for some to take noticed of.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/nsa-labels-linux-tails-users-extremists/

Fans of Tails (The Amnesic Incognito Live System) Linux operating system use it because of the well-documented security and anonymity features it provides. The system utilizes a Tor browser, which also affords more anonymity to users while browsing sites on the web.

Linux fans are typically outspoken about the OS, and are quick to argue the benefits with OSX and Windows users. They have developed a reputation for being champions of open source and anonymity when computing. Tails and Tor users are not only fans of the OS, but are also focused on security. The NSA recently became interested in these users' activity, reportedly labeling Linux Journal Readers and Tor and Tails users as extremists, according to Techspot.

Documents leaked in connection with Edward Snowden purportedly included XKeyscore, a surveillance program that Snowden and anti-surveillance proponents criticized. Members of the Tor Project obtained the XKeyscore source code and reviewed it in detail. The Tor Project discovered that the NSA flagged members of the Tor community and their related IP addresses for surveillance.

The program flags any IP address involved in any web search for the term Tails or its meaning. The program refers to Tails Linux distribution as "a comsec mechanism advocated by extremists on extremist forums," according to Techspot. Some speculation exists that a second leaker (in addition to Snowden) helped provide and possibly decipher the source code, but no supporting evidence of this has yet come to light. In response to the allegations, the NSA released an official statement, saying "the NSA collects only what is authorized by law to collect for valid foreign intelligence purposes." The statement emphasized that strict oversight and compliance processes are in place to ensure that programs like XKeyscore are used as intended, and as allowed by law. Countries including the U.K., New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. are exempt from surveillance of this kind. Other OS proponents may consider Linux users to be a unique or eccentric group of users, but the application of the "extremists" blanket label has created a strong backlash in the tech community.

tl;dr Basically search anything about TAILS get your on the NSA list (XKeyscore program)

I think the NSA needs to stop worrying about us and more about the people they hire, seems like the people that work for them seem to like to leak documents.


Comments


[62 Points] FrozenSignal:

If the selection has a 51% chance of being foreign it will be collected. Xkeyscore with its handy pull down menu allows the operator to pick between choices of why someone would be 51% foreign. Fucking idiots are so incompetent and the program is so poorly written that an operator actually mistyped a country code into xkeyscore and actually ended up collecting all of washington dc. The system is set up so it doesnt even ask you Are you sure you want to do this. Nothing. Just boop and your off eavsdropping on whoever you want to . And lets all remember that to the NSA the word Collection actually doesnt mean collection as we know it to be in Websters Dictionary....Only when they "Look" at that material is it classified as being collected...HUH? WHAT? How can you just change the meanings of words...Its absolutely disgusting whats happening to our basic human rights.


[23 Points] 7katalan:

NSA Agent 1: "Under careful consideration, we've decided to remove "TAILS" from our XKeyscore list. I don't know where you sick fucks get off drawing the characters from Sonic the Hedgehog doing those things, but for the love of god, it's 94 percent of our collected material! Tails DOES NOT have breasts, and if he did, he wouldn't be shitting out of them!"


[21 Points] mejuwi1:

Thats why you gotta STOP USING shit like GOOGLE/YAHOO/MSN companies I'd like to call BigInternet

Use disconnect search. Preferably over TOR when searching.


[14 Points] None:

Duck duck go


[14 Points] Molly-saurus:

"They" are supposed by many of the fringe conspiracy theorists to have two lists that people considered to be subversive to the gubment end up on in case of an uprising or martial law has been declared. One list has the names of those to be detained and the other has the names of those who will be executed in such a scenario. I have this recurring fantasy that I am on an even more secret third list of people they have investigated and want to party with. And so in my fantasy when the proverbial shit hits the fan, a big black helicopter swoops down amid the chaos and lands on my roof in a dramatic fashion and the door gunner waves me aboard and it takes me to the Bohemian Grove complex where there's like, all this coke... and Bailey Jay is there riding a mechanical goat like a bucking bronco! Just staring right in my eyes going, back and forth.... back and forth.


[7 Points] didYOUtryTOeat:

Well I sure an glad I'm not the only one using an anonymous browser. I feel if the technology is more widely used it make s each of us more and more anonymous. I'll walk around witha bocket full of tails drives and show friend s of friends who are reasonably interested how to use it, and they get right to it. +1 and again.


[7 Points] TrustedGuineaPig:

welcome to the game, you are now playing


[7 Points] stilldogman:

Countries including the U.K., New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the U.S. are exempt from surveillance of this kind.

I don't really believe that that is true (why the fuck would they actually be honest with us), but this DOES say that not everyone is getting put under surveillance for such things.


[5 Points] dvader19:

Unfortunately, TAILS users, TOR/i2p/Freenet users, political dissidents and activists, proponents of privacy and encryption, and many, many more have been thought of as suspect for a long time and, since 2001, may have their rights violated at any time.

Under the USA PATRIOT Act, those mentioned above and plenty others may be branded terrorists and can be indefinitely detained (and, of course, tortured). The Act also allows for police to search your home or business without your knowledge or consent and the FBI to search all your Internet and telecommunications data as well as your financial records without a court order.

Another important thing to remember is that any of your remaining rights not explicitly violated in the USA PATRIOT Act may be violated by the US FISC, which is roughly equivalent in power to the Supreme Court, is only accessible to federal law enforcement and intelligence, and between the years of 1979 and 2013 only denied 12 of 35,529 warrant requests, the majority of which come from the NSA. One example of a FISA Warrant would be the order of a child company of Verizon to provide an ongoing stream of ALL telecommunication records to the NSA.


[5 Points] NecroGod:

Pfft, of all the fucked up shit I type into a search engine any given day the word "tails" probably makes hardly a tiny blip on the huge red flag I've sewn for myself.


[6 Points] kyuven:

Jesus this is just disgusting. Wonder if it should concern me though. I live in Switzerland where we have pretty tight privacy rights. I mean, just look at our banks. If they are collecting data from here, I am definitely on the radar though...


[3 Points] 171gunslinger:

still the safest way for nonviolent people to obtain drugs safely and non fatally


[3 Points] LamarOdomFan7:

So your telling me the nsa knows about everything I google .. Guess they kno I'm ingesting mass quantities of herbal viagra


[3 Points] y_s_l_:

This info about xkeyscore was released in 2013, it's not new news. You can even check out a bit of the source code on Github, it's pretty nicely documented.


[3 Points] rmxz:

LOL, of course we're all being watched.

That was widely known long before Snowden from the documents in the 2006 EFF/AT&T/NSA lawsuits.


[2 Points] None:

[deleted]


[2 Points] None:

Sup NSA i know you're watching me lol

Edit: nice username ba


[2 Points] earthmoonsun:

Good. If they watch me, they just waste time and money. Isn't that good :)

I'm sure the NSA agent enjoys my submissions at /r/boobies and will always list me as a highly dangerous person.


[2 Points] drimilr:

NSA labels linux users as extremists. There was article a couple years ago that the NSA was logging visitors of Linux Journal since they considered linux users extremists.


[1 Points] JimTrivial:

seriously, why are they worried about all this shit when there's secure information just walking out the door. Its ridiculous


[1 Points] harmreductionforall:

People are wondering why oil prices are dropping. We need more oil than ever in the current day as more developing countries develop. So the demand for oil surely has not influenced its price. Quite simply it was replaced by a more financially lucrative market. That market is us, our personal data and all things internet that we will ever do.

Data mining, using emails, internet searches and websites viewed is now being used to create a new kind of check, not credit, not insurance, security check. This is nothing when it comes to getting a middle or lower class job. Its a big thing when you are the new executive for a big money company that's going to trust you with millions of their cash and expect you to make more. More worryingly its not applied to you if you apply for a job in any 3 letter organization. If a company can use this data that is freely traded across all platforms, from Win OS to websites, social medial etc. to guesstimate what they will believe is your true self, needless to say what the three letter agencies can dig up about you and label you as.

We are all guilty of making this happen, I'm sure some will shout and say the opposite but haven't we all clicked I agree without reading all the small print on at least 1 website, email or whatever online policy that flashes up to get to our goal behind the wall of text?

Forget what you do on Tor, if you have used Tor your a bad person till proven otherwise. That is unfortunately all the information they probably need about us small fish. Only when a small fish swims out into the big sea that they need to start using fancy software. That's why they need a database of all the small fishies so that when they catch one they know which one it was, hence let's make alternative computer tech evil so that as many small fish are on the database as possible.

The internet has been fucked for as long as I have ever known it. Their aren't many things in life that young teenagers can hack or break into so often and continue to remain functioning. Maybe in some countries teenagers go robbing banks but the world wide web allows a spotty teenager to annoy government websites, and yet most people still trust it with their entire lives on show in words and pictures. Who would deposit money in a bank robbed by 14 year old? The internet is so broke a nosy kid can play around with it.

Hmmm, now I'll stop ranting. Somehow I needed to get that off my chest, cough, cough.

TLDR; Personal data and personalized marketing is big money. Most of us are only useful for mass data mining, but once you want to do something corporate or big money having been on Tor once is probably enough to make them look at the next Ivy league candidate. We have given enough data already and we shouldn't expect any internet media, dark web or not, to protect it. Time to go darker?


[1 Points] f_leaver:

If you didn't already assume that they're trying to watch everything you do, you're doing it wrong.

Edit: to clarify, assume they're watching everything, make sure they can't see what you don't want them to see. That's what Tails and PGP are for.


[1 Points] madaboutmda:

dafuq is tails?


[1 Points] exmachinalibertas:

If you think they just now started watching, you're mistaken...


[-1 Points] None:

Mind totally blown..never occurred to me after all the leaks that have come out..about all the spying programs in place(only the ones that were aware of atm of course) that they'd have something specifically in place to target hot button words associated with programs used to hide people who wish to remain anonymous for obvious reasons. Never saw it coming or could have dreamed of it..not a chance.


[-4 Points] None:

So don't do anything illegal?