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   Keeping up with the Snoops

   Josh Centers

   Even months after Edward Snowden's initial revelations about the U.S.
   National Security Agency's data collection programs, it seems like we
   learn something new every day. It can be overwhelming, but it's an
   issue about which we feel everyone should be well informed. With that
   in mind, here's a collection of the latest developments.

   First, if you need to catch up on the story so far, the New Yorker's
   Ryan Lizza has done a heroic job of [1]telling the story of the NSA's
   data collection programs since the 9/11 attacks. It's a long, long
   article, so I recommend saving it to a read-later service like
   Instapaper or Pocket, or even printing the whole thing out. It tells
   the story of how former Vice President Dick Cheney helped create the
   current situation, how President Obama helped codify it, even after
   campaigning against President Bush's warrantless wiretapping programs,
   and how intelligence officials lied to Congress and the secret FISA
   courts to protect the programs. Everyone should read and share this
   article.

   What Lizza's article doesn't mention is the just-revealed
   [2]intelligence operations occurring in online game services like World
   of Warcraft, Second Life, and Xbox Live. Agents with the NSA and its
   British counterpart, the GCHQ, have used online games since at least
   2007 to monitor communications, friend networks, behaviors, biometric
   data, and to recruit potential informants. Blizzard Entertainment,
   maker of World of Warcraft, said that if any surveillance was taking
   place, it was without its knowledge or consent. Microsoft, maker of
   Xbox Live, and Linden Labs, producer of Second Life, refused to
   comment.

   It's disturbing enough that the NSA is monitoring games played (at
   least in part) by children, but the agency is also [3]seeking to
   recruit, or 'convert' them as the NSA is fond of saying. NSA college
   internship programs specifically target journalism students with a 3.0
   or above GPA, which is admittedly a tempting prospect in an
   increasingly difficult field. It's not just college ' the NSA's High
   School Work Study Program seeks kids as young as 15 years old for
   entry-level positions. It sounds like a pretty good first job, with
   20'32 hours of work per week, paid federal holidays, and sick leave.
   And, over the last three years, 100 percent of participants who wished
   to 'convert' were hired.

   Even more disturbing is the recent revelation from a former FBI
   assistant director that the [4]FBI is able to activate your webcam
   without your knowledge in order to spy on you. Covering your webcam
   with a piece of tape, once the practice of seemingly paranoid tinfoil
   hatters, now seems like a sensible precaution. Christopher Poole, the
   founder of the infamous 4chan image board, has teamed up with General
   Electric to [5]create a 3D-printed bit of plastic to block webcams.
   Even in the future, politics makes strange bedfellows.

   Meanwhile, the outcry over pervasive NSA surveillance is growing. A
   group of well-known authors, including several Nobel laureates, have
   [6]signed a statement protesting mass surveillance and calling for an
   international bill of digital rights. If you wish, you can join them in
   [7]signing the pledge at Change.org. And it's not just writers. Former
   President Bill Clinton has [8]condemned the collection of economic data
   under the guise of security.

   But perhaps most importantly, Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft,
   Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and AOL have [9]signed a joint statement
   asking for the following surveillance reforms:
    1. Limits on governmental authority to collect user information
    2. Increased oversight and accountability
    3. The ability to publish government demands promptly
    4. The free flow of information between borders and for countries to
       not require service providers to operate locally
    5. A treaty to unify these processes between governments

   The potential economic consequences are dire for the tech industry
   (particularly with regard to item 4 above), as our own Geoff Duncan has
   pointed out in '[10]Are We Ready for the Post-Snowden Internet?' (6
   December 2013). The tech sector in the United States has been built in
   large part on a worldwide trust in the American Internet, and now with
   that trust vanishing, the future of our healthy tech sector is in
   jeopardy.

   But even with potentially devastating consequences for the United
   States economy, Senator Ron Wyden, an outspoken critic of NSA
   surveillance who was featured in Lizza's article, doesn't have much
   hope for true reform, since much of Congress is in favor of
   surveillance. And Wyden's friend-turned-rival, Senator Diane Feinstein,
   is pushing for 'reform' that in fact [11]would legitimize NSA data
   collection with only a minimum of additional oversight.

   That's it for this week's depressing headlines ' apart from the
   sensible precautions suggested in Joe Kissell's '[12]Take Control of
   Your Online Privacy,' the best thing you can do if you're concerned
   about the NSA's spying on U.S. citizens is express that concern to your
   elected representatives in Congress. You can also [13]support the
   nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is a actively fighting
   the NSA in court. Change won't be easy or come quickly, but it's clear
   that transparency and accountability must be codified in law if it is
   to happen.

References

   1. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/12/16/131216fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all
   2. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/09/nsa-spies-online-games-world-warcraft-second-life
   3. http://www.salon.com/2013/12/09/nsa_seeks_a_few_brave_interns_spy_agency_recruiting_students_as_young_as_15/
   4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/fbis-search-for-mo-suspect-in-bomb-threats-highlights-use-of-malware-for-surveillance/2013/12/06/352ba174-5397-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story_2.html
   5. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:195405
   6. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/09/nobel-writers-nsa-_n_4414951.html
   7. http://www.change.org/petitions/a-stand-for-democracy-in-the-digital-age-3
   8. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/12/09/bill-clinton-condemns-nsas-reported-collection-of-economic-data/
   9. http://reformgovernmentsurveillance.com/
  10. http://tidbits.com/article/14352
  11. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/10/sen-feinsteins-nsa-bill-will-codify-and-extend-mass-surveillance
  12. http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/online-privacy?pt=TB1203
  13. https://www.eff.org/nsa-spying