EFF, Greenpeace Fly Blimp Over NSA's Utah Datacenter; Launch Campaign To Stop Illegal Internet Spying

from the taking-it-to-the-skies dept

Fri, Jun 27th 2014 5:40pm — Mike Masnick

Earlier this week, EFF's Parker Higgins noted that he was about to head on a secretive "adventure to Utah" -- and now it's come out that he was actually there to fly a blimp over the NSA's infamous datacenter in Bluffdale, Utah. You know the one. It's received plenty of attention over the past few years, as it was designed to store a ton of electronic data that the NSA previously didn't have room for. Either way, EFF and Greenpeace teamed up to launch a new campaign called Stand Against Spying, and took to the skies in the blimp to get it some attention.

You can also see a brief video of the blimp taking off. If you look closely, you'll see the big arrow pointing downward from the blimp saying "NSA Illegal Spying Below." The blimp -- technically a thermal airship called the A.E. Bates, apparently flew over the center for about an hour. In an interview with the Guardian, Higgins noted just how enormous the datacenter appears to be from above:

"The data center is this massive, sprawling complex. I've seen pictures of it, but it's different from the air. You get a sense, really, for the scope of this, the scale of what they're doing there."

Check out the Stand Against Spying website, and, in particular, its new Congressional scorecard rating our elected officials on how good of a job they're doing (or not doing) in protecting our privacy against the NSA. The list, unfortunately, shows how polarized this debate is. There are a lot of "A"s on the list, and a ton of "D"s and "F"s. There are very few "B"s and "C"s in between. The methodology explains how the grades were awarded. Improving grades is pretty straightforward: sponsor or co-sponsor good privacy bills and then vote for them. Simple? Simple. Now, it's time to move more people into the "A" category.

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Filed Under: bluffdale, data center, nsa, protests, spying, surveillance, utah
Companies: eff, greenpeace

12 Comments

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That Anonymous Coward (profile), 27 Jun 2014 @ 6:01pm

They needed another banner that said this is where they remove and add the ssl.
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alternatives(), 27 Jun 2014 @ 6:07pm

A better use of a blimp
Than Ron Paul got from the 'ron paul revolution'.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2014 @ 6:30pm

Useful
That scorecard system would be very useful around election times. Especially if it was expanded to include other issues and a transparent and objective ranking.
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Charles (profile), 27 Jun 2014 @ 7:13pm

I went to the site...
signed the petition and tweeted to my Congressman and my two Senators. I wondered if they will tweet back or send the usual form email.

My actions may not do any good, but I had rather do something, anything rather than nothing at all.
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That One Guy (profile), 27 Jun 2014 @ 7:29pm

Re: I went to the site...
Look at it this way, their responses will tell you one of two things, depending on what they say:

1. They support the NSA, in which case they need to get the boot come next election. Make sure to tell them this.

2. They do not support the NSA, in which case they need all the support and encouragement they can get. Like before, make sure to tell them this.
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Anonymous Coward, 27 Jun 2014 @ 8:58pm

They should circle the blimp around Rep. Mike Roger's house. I'm sure he'd get a kick out of it.
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Agonistes, 27 Jun 2014 @ 10:46pm

I'm not totally behind Greenpeace, but I guess desperate times and all.
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Rekrul, 28 Jun 2014 @ 1:07am

How long until the area over the center is designated as restricted airspace? I'm guessing it will be done by the end of next week.
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Anonymous Coward, 28 Jun 2014 @ 2:31am

Re:
Frankly I'm surprised it's not restricted. But since it isn't, I wonder if Greenpeace or someone else has enough funding for a camera-drone campaign? Watch the cars coming and going, throw in some image-recognition/processing and generate a public list of employees. After all, if the First Amendment is enough for ALPR manufacturers...
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TestPilotDummy, 28 Jun 2014 @ 10:25am

The 'Colors' of that blimp
Is it just me?

Or does that blimp scream out, "Norton Lambert Close-Up"

Maybe just getting OLD....
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PRMan, 28 Jun 2014 @ 11:52am

Re: Useful
Yeah. We can vote out all the As and keep the Ds and Fs. Thanks a lot. Makes it easy.
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Anonymous, 28 Jun 2014 @ 12:20pm

Were they blasting "99 Red Balloons" as they flew over?
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