Former NSA Head Says You Can Avoid Government Spying By Using This One Simple Trick
from the 'simple'-as-in-'slow' dept
Former NSA head Keith Alexander -- the original Million Dollar (a month) Man and premier cybersecurity consultant to the banking industry -- is taking his years of expertise (and several mysteriously non-public patents) on the road, speaking at whatever venue will have him.
He recently delivered remarks at MIRcon in Washington, explaining exactly how simple it is for Americans to avoid the sort of domestic surveillance they always assumed they'd never have to worry about (you know, because of the Constitution and its various amendments, etc.). And remember, this man is asking $1 million a month to rent his brain.
"Our data's in there (NSA databases), my data's in there. If I talk to an Al Qaeda operative, the chances of my data being looked at is really good, so I try not to do that. If you don't want to you shouldn't either," he told MIRcon delegates.Easy for Alexander to say. He probably has a general idea who they are. But what about the rest of us? It's not like Al Qaeda operatives are particularly forthcoming about their day jobs. How are we supposed to stay off the NSA's radar? And what if it's not us, but a friend of a friend talking to… I don't know… students of Yemeni descent who currently reside in the Alabama area?
This advice is less than useless. Those who actively seek contact with terrorists likely know to stay clear of surveilled channels. Those who aren't seeking contact have their data (and sometimes communications) agnostically hoovered up by the US government's various surveillance and investigatory arms.
And what about other threats, both acknowledged and unacknowledged? Lots of rumbling is being heard about new strains of domestic extremism and threats, many of which sound suspiciously like groups the government finds annoying rather than actually dangerous.
Alexander's answer is worse than just being overly-simplistic. It's glib. It's the sort of flip answer no one who exited a national security agency mid-crisis should be handing out. While I understand that going much deeper into the subject matter would soon take it into classified areas, this is the sort of obtuse answer one expects from a clueless, low-level local politician, rather than from someone who spent more than a decade overseeing the NSA's operations.
It's the same sort of condescension we see far too often from people in positions of power. Don't want trouble with the cops? Well, don't break laws and don't give us any lip. Except that being law-abiding doesn't keep you from having your car impounded or your house raided. Don't want extra attention from the NSA? Follow Keith Alexander's advice -- advice that's nullified if anyone a hop or two away on the communication chain has communicated with Al Qaeda operatives. Or if your communications are routed through overseas internet 'backbones.' Or any number of other variables.
I guess one of the few things we have to look forward to is Keith Alexander turning some of our nation's banks into temporary homes for document-leaking insiders. Installing an NSA head as a security consultant will probably prompt a few suited revolutionaries to spring into action, finally putting those administrative privileges and USB drives to work for the public good.
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Filed Under: al qaeda, keith alexander, nsa, surveillance
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'Just ignore the camera at the window, they probably won't look at the pictures later.'
First and foremost, just because the idea is completely and utterly ridiculous, he used to run the NSA, there is no way in hell his personal information is in the database. That database is an arsenal waiting to be used(maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but as long as it exists, so does the potential), I find it highly unlikely he'd allow information that could be used against him at some point to remain in it.
That out of the way, it's important to note that he's not telling people how to avoid government spying. That statement has nothing about not being spied on unless you believe in the peeping tom defense, the 'It's not a violation of your privacy if you don't know about it and we don't look at it' one they like to trot out every so often.
No, the only thing he's saying is that to decrease the odds of your information being looked at, you need to do the impossible and not talk to anyone tagged as 'dangerous'. Or talk to anyone who may in turn talk to someone on one of the 'dangerous person' lists. Depending on how many 'jumps' they still consider relevant, the list may be even more extensive than that, but given we're talking about the NSA, who couldn't answer honestly even if you just asked them what time it is, knowing how long the chain is is all but impossible.
He's not telling people how not to be spied on, he's telling people that they will be spied on, like it or not, and if they don't want their information looked at, they need to do the impossible and know everything there is to know about who they talk to, who the people they talk to talk to, and so on.
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Re: 'Just ignore the camera at the window, they probably won't look at the pictures later.'
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Re: Re: 'Just ignore the camera at the window, they probably won't look at the pictures later.'
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Re: 'Just ignore the camera at the window, they probably won't look at the pictures later.'
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Al Qaeda operative... duh... its just above their names on the alCIAduh issued name tags.
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The bad news is...
(Unless you abolish the NSA. Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.)
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Seriously, I hope no one actually paid him for this piece of useless fucking bullshit.
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TRAITOR!!
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Treat them for the criminals they are.
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Not everyone can be perfect
I don't think this is likely at all. The silk road guy likely knew how to stay clear of surveilled channels and look how that turned out for him.
Just because you want to "blow up infidels", or whatever, doesn't make you a computer network security expert.
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Re: Not everyone can be perfect
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Re: Not everyone can be perfect
I would say at this point being a computer network security expert and avoiding surveilled channels are unrelated, because the computer networks are all surveilled. The people who want to talk about blowing stuff up without getting caught don't even use cell phones, let alone computers.
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Re: Not everyone can be perfect
Maybe - but he became careless. It is difficult to avoid creating a visible footprint when you are making money.
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Besides not giving cops lip is no guarantee that you will not get pounded. Same probably applies for more "sophisticated" three letter agencies.
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Buy pizza from the wrong store ....
But as to renting Alexander's brain -- that's not what anyone is going to pay him for. It's his connections that are the main draw, and perhaps the hope of getting useful but classified information from him.
Let's face it, he is completely clueless when it comes to technology. Which means clueless when it comes to data security.
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The only way to avoid NSA surveillance
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This is not how to avoid the spying
If my data is in there already, then the spying was done and could not be avoided.
If I'm not talking to Al Qaeda, then my data should not even be in there to begin with.
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This, right there, is the exact opposite of freedom of speech. You must be careful what you say, and who you talk to, not just in public, but also in private. Everything is monitored, stored, and can haunt you to the end of time.
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In the best tradition of soft tyranny, a government can shape the political dialog to fit its agenda, just by telling its citizens that they are being watched. In one sense, the Snowden leaks were a boon to those in power: since his leaks, I find myself pausing before writing certain thoughts in emails, or searching for specific terms on the web.
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The most important point, maybe you can avoid associating with people who are officially on today's list of targets BUT.
1. The NSA might not be telling us the full list of "dangerous associations" (given their track record it would be really surprising if they were).
2. As has been pointed out before - not everyone with access to this data is necessarily "on our side". The government has been successful in identifying "whistleblowers" who have access to the data - but then that is comparatively easy because they put the information itself into the public domain. Edward Snowden could have secretly passed his information to the Iranians or even IS or Al Qaeda and no one would have found out.
3. The nightmare scenario is what happens if the nature of the US government changed and decided to act against groups or opinions that are currently regarded as fine. The data is there ready to be used even against those who currently think of themselves as "the good guys".
ut imagine what might happen if the ethos of the government changed
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Sophistry
They probably had to staff up after Obama dropped the hop count from 3 to 2.
And now that I've posted this, if they didn't already have one they will soon.
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Re: Sophistry
Want to spy on a given individual, just have someone you've had tagged as a 'terrorists' or 'dangerous individual' give them a call, and just like that, instant legal justification to tap into and scoop up their communications.
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its like all the other profiling...
2. you are guilty if you look calm...
3. you are guilty if you assert your rights...
4. you are guilty if you refuse your rights...
5. you are guilty if you talk...
6. you are guilty if you don't talk...
...et cetera ad infinitum ad nauseum
to sum up: you are guilty unless you are of the 1%...
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And your friend's friends, your neighbor's friends, your neighbor's relatives, your neigbor's relative's friends, vague acquaintances, people you call accidentally, friends of people who have the same name as you, ...
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A big failure with the idea that you should not talk to extremists
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Re: A big failure with the idea that you should not talk to extremists
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"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" .. and with my golden key will listen to you all forever more from my golden throne and you will be secure. Fuck this guy.
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Nomenclature
(in other words, business as usual)
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There's another way to avoid Government Spying.
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Re: There's another way to avoid Government Spying.
Methinks that much/most of the NSA's public surveillance program is specifically aimed at gathering dirt on anyone in America who might run for office with the sort of mindset you mention above. To the NSA, that sort of person is the true Terrorist Under The Bed.
If you can find such people, you can likely vote'em in to office, but they will belong to the NSA immediately afterwards.
---
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How to fry a government spy's brain
I will then file an FOIA request to obtain the video of all their heads exploding.
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Re: How to fry a government spy's brain
Enhanced surveillance in 3... 2... 1...
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Annoying
There are not enough people in the world to effectively keep tabs on all the people in the world.
All this data just serves as a method for convicting someone based on circumstantial evidence after the fact.
It's like all of the arguments in support of torture. In the end, torture is actually detrimental to any military effort as it undercuts the perception of the just cause and also motivates the enemy to fight to the death rather than surrender. The reality of spying on citizens is that it causes the government itself to function as a criminal entity, undermines its authority, and in the end does no real good in terms of preventing the acts it purports to prevent. Rather, it replaces them with an even more pervasive threat of violence from the government itself.
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It's just statistics.
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And statistically, the odds that you interact with someone two or three "hops" distant from someone who is connected to terrorism (in the eyes of the government) is very, very high. Which is what makes the advice glib: it's worthless advice that is easily said.
Also, it's just plain wrong. If I genuinely have no interaction with anyone of interest to terrorist-hunters, even four hops distant, my communications are still being spied on by the NSA and stored in their database.
Which makes the advice worse than glib. It's a lie.
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Also, it's just plain wrong. If I genuinely have no interaction with anyone of interest to terrorist-hunters, even four hops distant, my communications are still being spied on by the NSA and stored in their database.
As mentioned earlier, this isn't advice on how to not have your data collected - that's impossible. It's how to not have your data "looked at".
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I'll put it back together by the end of the month. Promise.
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So the former head of the NSA has to TRY to not speak to Al Qaeda operatives? Oh, and since his information is "in there", he has been unsuccessful in this particular endeavor?
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What about framing?
So, Mr. Alexander, I ask you: How would you avoid suspicion if...someone...were to post your phone number on a "Car for Sale" ad, in a mosque? If you agree that might raise a false suspicion (or two) against you: perhaps you should rethink the system that would place you on an endless merry-go-round of suspicion over something so trivial.
The bottom line is that your "one simple thing" doesn't work, with the system the way it is. There will always be people who wind up on the merry-go-round of suspicion because of something idiotic over which they had no control.
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Re: What about framing?
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Wireless cameras
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http://www.endoacustica.com/ultra-miniaturized-cmos-color-camera.htm
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