General Discussion

Jarla

(156 posts) Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:42 PM Jun 2013

PRISM: It sounds like the NSA is wiretapping the fiber optic cables of Google, Yahoo, etc. UPSTREAM

This appears to be the conclusion reached by computer security experts Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte in episode 408 of their podcast Security Now (Originally posted by Roco T. in this thread )

You get as close to Google as you can. You get on the router that is feeding Google, and you clone all of the data. And that's exactly - and that's why it's called PRISM is that now, at this bandwidth level, they're using fiber optic cables, so it splits the light. The power drops by 50% down each of the splits because the power of the light has been split, but that's - there's still plenty. And so it's going to be received easily by the other end. And then it goes off to this secret room controlled by the NSA.

Basically, they are suggesting that the NSA is making copies of all of the data that we send out over the Internet to Google before it reaches Google's servers. This data includes emails, instant messages, web search requests, etc. Much of it is not encrypted. The NSA then stores all of this copied data on its own computers.

This would mean that Google, Yahoo, etc. were probably telling the truth when they claimed that they knew nothing about PRISM.

I suspect that this also means that the government does not need to give Google a search warrant in order to collect this data, since the data isn't exactly Google's "property" until it reaches Google's servers.

So how is the collection of this data being regulated? Does the government need a search warrant to look through the copied, unencrypted data that it has stored on its own computers?

7 replies

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Highlight:

PRISM: It sounds like the NSA is wiretapping the fiber optic cables of Google, Yahoo, etc. UPSTREAM (Original Post) Jarla Jun 2013 OP

What? RobertEarl Jun 2013 #1

Steve Gibson is a charlatan unrepentant progress Jun 2013 #2

and it's not JUST Americans VanillaRhapsody Jun 2013 #3

SECRET TO PRISM PROGRAM: EVEN BIGGER DATA SEIZURE dkf Jun 2013 #4

Is there evidence of this, or is he saying that it is possible? arcane1 Jun 2013 #5

It's very similar to what AT&T tech Mark Klein attested to Jarla Jun 2013 #7

More speculation to add to the feeding frenzy giftedgirl77 Jun 2013 #6

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)

1. What?

Reply to Jarla (Original post)

Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:44 PM

Jun 2013

Don't you feel safer?

unrepentant progress

(611 posts)

2. Steve Gibson is a charlatan

Reply to Jarla (Original post)

Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:45 PM

Jun 2013

His primary skill is exploiting paranoia to sell his useless products, and market his personal "brand".

ETA: Explore the links at the sites below to learn more about Gibson.

http://attrition.org/errata/charlatan/steve_gibson
http://radsoft.net/news/roundups/grc

VanillaRhapsody

(21,115 posts)

3. and it's not JUST Americans

Reply to Jarla (Original post)

Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:45 PM

Jun 2013

and the Internet is not just American either...hence they don't think it's protected. And guess what...because of that...if they didnt do it...Russia or China etc would control it...

There in lies the conundrum.

dkf

(37,305 posts)

4. SECRET TO PRISM PROGRAM: EVEN BIGGER DATA SEIZURE

Reply to Jarla (Original post)

Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:48 PM

Jun 2013

Prism is one part of the program:

The fact that it is productive is not surprising; documents show it is one of the major sources for what ends up in the president's daily briefing. Prism makes sense of the cacophony of the Internet's raw feed. It provides the government with names, addresses, conversation histories and entire archives of email inboxes.

But that's not what they call the dragnet of data collection:

Despite that prohibition, shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President George W. Bush secretly authorized the NSA to plug into the fiber optic cables that enter and leave the United States, knowing it would give the government unprecedented, warrantless access to Americans' private conversations.

Tapping into those cables allows the NSA access to monitor emails, telephone calls, video chats, websites, bank transactions and more. It takes powerful computers to decrypt, store and analyze all this information, but the information is all there, zipping by at the speed of light.

"You have to assume everything is being collected," said Bruce Schneier, who has been studying and writing about cryptography and computer security for two decades.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/secret-prism-success-even-bigger-data-seizure

arcane1

(38,613 posts)

5. Is there evidence of this, or is he saying that it is possible?

Reply to Jarla (Original post)

Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:48 PM

Jun 2013

Jarla

(156 posts)

7. It's very similar to what AT&T tech Mark Klein attested to

Reply to arcane1 (Reply #5)

Sun Jun 16, 2013, 08:00 PM

Jun 2013

...in Hepting v. AT&T back in 2006.

It is alleged in the lawsuit that in 2002-2003, AT&T permitted and assisted the NSA to install a NarusInsight system in its San Francisco switching center (Room 641A), which was capable of monitoring billions of bits of Internet traffic a second, including the playback of telephone calls routed on the Internet, and thus in effect spying upon the entirety of the communication of many or all American citizens and businesses who use the Internet.

giftedgirl77

(4,713 posts)

6. More speculation to add to the feeding frenzy

Reply to Jarla (Original post)

Sun Jun 16, 2013, 07:59 PM

Jun 2013

All the conspiracy theories are being spun around & even the people who used to make fun of the tin foil brigade are becoming one.

At this point nobody wants to listen to logic, reasoning, or people who have experience with these issues. According to many the US is just as bad as the former USSR & apparently have nothing better to do then listen to average Americans phone calls about kids sports practices & other daily activities.

Oh look a Ron Paul ad isn't that fuckin convenient.

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