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These DODD DAM criminals
must be PUNISHED to the fullest extent of the law.
There is NO excuse for such invastion of
privacy of ordinary Ameriacan citizens.
And even WITH all these criminal
schemes--they STILL couldn't stop 911!!??
Tens of millions of terr-ists in America
NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls
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And you thought I was paranoid.
Those 800 Haliburton concentration camps will help protect the US against these terrible
people. ;-)
AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth volunteer data
First you give the basteds your money, then they sell you out. Ain't American capitalism
great? I bet they get a nice big tax break for that!
(Expect Wall Street bribes to the GOP to skyrocket)
Did you know, "One major telecommunications company declined to participate in the
program: Qwest."
Change your service - NOW!
Here's the Qwest customer service website.
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NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls
Updated 5/11/2006 12:30 AM ET
By Leslie Cauley, USA TODAY
The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens
of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people
with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing
information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of
any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations.
But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect
terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: The NSA record collection program
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person,
who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be
identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of
every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added.
For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed
records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family
members, co-workers, business contacts and others.
The three telecommunications companies are working under contract with the NSA,
which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the
sources said. The program is aimed at identifying and tracking suspected terrorists, they
said.
The sources would talk only under a guarantee of anonymity because the NSA program
is secret.
Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the
director of the CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. In that post, Hayden
would have overseen the agency's domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to
comment about the program.
The NSA's domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than
what the White House has acknowledged. Last year, Bush said he had authorized the NSA to
eavesdrop — without warrants — on international calls and international e-mails
of people suspected of having links to terrorists when one party to the communication is
in the USA. Warrants have also not been used in the NSA's efforts to create a national
call database.
In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was
focused exclusively on international calls. "In other words," Bush explained,
"one end of the communication must be outside the United States."
As a result, domestic call records — those of calls that originate and
terminate within U.S. borders — were believed to be private.
Sources, however, say that is not the case. With access to records of billions of
domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of
millions of Americans. Customers' names, street addresses and other personal information
are not being handed over as part of NSA's domestic program, the sources said. But the
phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain
that information.
Don Weber, a senior spokesman for the NSA, declined to discuss the agency's
operations. "Given the nature of the work we do, it would be irresponsible to comment
on actual or alleged operational issues; therefore, we have no information to
provide," he said. "However, it is important to note that NSA takes its legal
responsibilities seriously and operates within the law."
The White House would not discuss the domestic call-tracking program. "There
is no domestic surveillance without court approval," said Dana Perino, deputy press
secretary, referring to actual eavesdropping.
She added that all national intelligence activities undertaken by the federal
government "are lawful, necessary and required for the pursuit of al-Qaeda and
affiliated terrorists." All government-sponsored intelligence activities "are
carefully reviewed and monitored," Perino said. She also noted that "all
appropriate members of Congress have been briefed on the intelligence efforts of the
United States."
The government is collecting "external" data on domestic phone calls but
is not intercepting "internals," a term for the actual content of the
communication, according to a U.S. intelligence official familiar with the program. This
kind of data collection from phone companies is not uncommon; it's been done before,
though never on this large a scale, the official said. The data are used for "social
network analysis," the official said, meaning to study how terrorist networks contact
each other and how they are tied together.
Carriers uniquely positioned
AT&T recently merged with SBC and kept the AT&T name. Verizon, BellSouth
and AT&T are the nation's three biggest telecommunications companies; they provide
local and wireless phone service to more than 200 million customers.
The three carriers control vast networks with the latest communications
technologies. They provide an array of services: local and long-distance calling, wireless
and high-speed broadband, including video. Their direct access to millions of homes and
businesses has them uniquely positioned to help the government keep tabs on the calling
habits of Americans.
Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA,
the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it
was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the
government without warrants.
Qwest's refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Based
in Denver, Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the
West and Northwest. But AT&T and Verizon also provide some services — primarily
long-distance and wireless — to people who live in Qwest's region. Therefore, they
can provide the NSA with at least some access in that area.
Created by President Truman in 1952, during the Korean War, the NSA is charged with
protecting the United States from foreign security threats. The agency was considered so
secret that for years the government refused to even confirm its existence. Government
insiders used to joke that NSA stood for "No Such Agency."
In 1975, a congressional investigation revealed that the NSA had been intercepting,
without warrants, international communications for more than 20 years at the behest of the
CIA and other agencies. The spy campaign, code-named "Shamrock," led to the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was designed to protect Americans from
illegal eavesdropping.
Enacted in 1978, FISA lays out procedures that the U.S. government must follow to
conduct electronic surveillance and physical searches of people believed to be engaged in
espionage or international terrorism against the United States. A special court, which has
11 members, is responsible for adjudicating requests under FISA.
Over the years, NSA code-cracking techniques have continued to improve along with
technology. The agency today is considered expert in the practice of "data
mining" — sifting through reams of information in search of patterns. Data
mining is just one of many tools NSA analysts and mathematicians use to crack codes and
track international communications.
Paul Butler, a former U.S. prosecutor who specialized in terrorism crimes, said
FISA approval generally isn't necessary for government data-mining operations. "FISA
does not prohibit the government from doing data mining," said Butler, now a partner
with the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld in Washington, D.C.
The caveat, he said, is that "personal identifiers" — such as names,
Social Security numbers and street addresses — can't be included as part of the
search. "That requires an additional level of probable cause," he said.
The usefulness of the NSA's domestic phone-call database as a counterterrorism tool
is unclear. Also unclear is whether the database has been used for other purposes.
The NSA's domestic program raises legal questions. Historically, AT&T and the
regional phone companies have required law enforcement agencies to present a court order
before they would even consider turning over a customer's calling data. Part of that owed
to the personality of the old Bell Telephone System, out of which those companies grew.
Ma Bell's bedrock principle — protection of the customer — guided the
company for decades, said Gene Kimmelman, senior public policy director of Consumers
Union. "No court order, no customer information — period. That's how it was for
decades," he said.
The concern for the customer was also based on law: Under Section 222 of the
Communications Act, first passed in 1934, telephone companies are prohibited from giving
out information regarding their customers' calling habits: whom a person calls, how often
and what routes those calls take to reach their final destination. Inbound calls, as well
as wireless calls, also are covered.
The financial penalties for violating Section 222, one of many privacy
reinforcements that have been added to the law over the years, can be stiff. The Federal
Communications Commission, the nation's top telecommunications regulatory agency, can levy
fines of up to $130,000 per day per violation, with a cap of $1.325 million per violation.
The FCC has no hard definition of "violation." In practice, that means a single
"violation" could cover one customer or 1 million.
In the case of the NSA's international call-tracking program, Bush signed an
executive order allowing the NSA to engage in eavesdropping without a warrant. The
president and his representatives have since argued that an executive order was sufficient
for the agency to proceed. Some civil liberties groups, including the American Civil
Liberties Union, disagree.
Companies approached
The NSA's domestic program began soon after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the
sources. Right around that time, they said, NSA representatives approached the nation's
biggest telecommunications companies. The agency made an urgent pitch: National security
is at risk, and we need your help to protect the country from attacks.
The agency told the companies that it wanted them to turn over their
"call-detail records," a complete listing of the calling histories of their
millions of customers. In addition, the NSA wanted the carriers to provide updates, which
would enable the agency to keep tabs on the nation's calling habits.
The sources said the NSA made clear that it was willing to pay for the cooperation.
AT&T, which at the time was headed by C. Michael Armstrong, agreed to help the NSA. So
did BellSouth, headed by F. Duane Ackerman; SBC, headed by Ed Whitacre; and Verizon,
headed by Ivan Seidenberg.
With that, the NSA's domestic program began in earnest.
AT&T, when asked about the program, replied with a comment prepared for USA
TODAY: "We do not comment on matters of national security, except to say that we only
assist law enforcement and government agencies charged with protecting national security
in strict accordance with the law."
In another prepared comment, BellSouth said: "BellSouth does not provide any
confidential customer information to the NSA or any governmental agency without proper
legal authority."
Verizon, the USA's No. 2 telecommunications company behind AT&T, gave this
statement: "We do not comment on national security matters, we act in full compliance
with the law and we are committed to safeguarding our customers' privacy."
Qwest spokesman Robert Charlton said: "We can't talk about this. It's a
classified situation."
In December, The New York Times revealed that Bush had authorized the NSA to
wiretap, without warrants, international phone calls and e-mails that travel to or from
the USA. The following month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group,
filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T. The lawsuit accuses the company of helping
the NSA spy on U.S. phone customers.
Last month, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales alluded to that possibility.
Appearing at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Gonzales was asked whether he thought
the White House has the legal authority to monitor domestic traffic without a warrant.
Gonzales' reply: "I wouldn't rule it out." His comment marked the first time a
Bush appointee publicly asserted that the White House might have that authority.
Similarities in programs
The domestic and international call-tracking programs have things in common,
according to the sources. Both are being conducted without warrants and without the
approval of the FISA court. The Bush administration has argued that FISA's procedures are
too slow in some cases. Officials, including Gonzales, also make the case that the USA
Patriot Act gives them broad authority to protect the safety of the nation's citizens.
The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., would
not confirm the existence of the program. In a statement, he said, "I can say
generally, however, that our subcommittee has been fully briefed on all aspects of the
Terrorist Surveillance Program. ... I remain convinced that the program authorized by the
president is lawful and absolutely necessary to protect this nation from future
attacks."
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.,
declined to comment.
One company differs
One major telecommunications company declined to participate in the program: Qwest.
According to sources familiar with the events, Qwest's CEO at the time, Joe
Nacchio, was deeply troubled by the NSA's assertion that Qwest didn't need a court order
— or approval under FISA — to proceed. Adding to the tension, Qwest was unclear
about who, exactly, would have access to its customers' information and how that
information might be used.
Financial implications were also a concern, the sources said. Carriers that
illegally divulge calling information can be subjected to heavy fines. The NSA was asking
Qwest to turn over millions of records. The fines, in the aggregate, could have been
substantial.
The NSA told Qwest that other government agencies, including the FBI, CIA and DEA,
also might have access to the database, the sources said. As a matter of practice, the NSA
regularly shares its information — known as "product" in intelligence
circles — with other intelligence groups. Even so, Qwest's lawyers were troubled by
the expansiveness of the NSA request, the sources said.
The NSA, which needed Qwest's participation to completely cover the country, pushed
back hard.
Trying to put pressure on Qwest, NSA representatives pointedly told Qwest that it
was the lone holdout among the big telecommunications companies. It also tried appealing
to Qwest's patriotic side: In one meeting, an NSA representative suggested that Qwest's
refusal to contribute to the database could compromise national security, one person
recalled.
In addition, the agency suggested that Qwest's foot-dragging might affect its
ability to get future classified work with the government. Like other big
telecommunications companies, Qwest already had classified contracts and hoped to get
more.
Unable to get comfortable with what NSA was proposing, Qwest's lawyers asked NSA to
take its proposal to the FISA court. According to the sources, the agency refused.
The NSA's explanation did little to satisfy Qwest's lawyers. "They told
(Qwest) they didn't want to do that because FISA might not agree with them," one
person recalled. For similar reasons, this person said, NSA rejected Qwest's suggestion of
getting a letter of authorization from the U.S. attorney general's office. A second person
confirmed this version of events.
In June 2002, Nacchio resigned amid allegations that he had misled investors about
Qwest's financial health. But Qwest's legal questions about the NSA request remained.
Unable to reach agreement, Nacchio's successor, Richard Notebaert, finally pulled
the plug on the NSA talks in late 2004, the sources said.
Contributing: John Diamond
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/8448309.html
Today's newswire:
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/2006/05/11/
MARC
PARENT
CRIMES AND CORRUPTIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER NEWS
http://mparent7777.livejournal.com/
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/14409
http://www.dailykos.com/user/ccnwon
How NSA access was built into Windows
Duncan Campbell 04.09.1999
Careless mistake reveals subversion of Windows by NSA.
A CARELESS mistake by Microsoft programmers has revealed that
special access codes prepared by the US National Security Agency have been secretly built
into Windows. The NSA access system is built into every version of the Windows operating
system now in use, except early releases of Windows 95 (and its predecessors). The
discovery comes close on the heels of the revelations earlier this year that another US
software giant, Lotus, had built an NSA "help information" ![[Local Link]](http://www.heise.de/tp/english/icons/tplink.gif) trapdoor into its Notes
system, and that security functions on other software systems had been deliberately
crippled.
The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two
years ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a few weeks ago when
a second researcher rediscovered the access system. With it, he found the evidence linking
it to NSA.
Computer security specialists have been aware for two years that unusual features are
contained inside a standard Windows software "driver" used for security and
encryption functions. The driver, called ADVAPI.DLL, enables and controls a range of
security functions. If you use Windows, you will find it in the C:\Windows\system
directory of your computer.
ADVAPI.DLL works closely with Microsoft Internet Explorer, but will only run
crypographic functions that the US governments allows Microsoft to export. That
information is bad enough news, from a European point of view. Now, it turns out that
ADVAPI will run special programmes inserted and controlled by NSA. As yet, no-one knows
what these programmes are, or what they do.
Dr Nicko van Someren reported at last year's Crypto 98 conference that he had
disassembled the ADVADPI driver. He found it contained two different keys. One was used by
Microsoft to control the cryptographic functions enabled in Windows, in compliance with US
export regulations. But the reason for building in a second key, or who owned it, remained
a mystery.
A second key
Two weeks ago, a US security company came up with conclusive
evidence that the second key belongs to NSA. Like Dr van Someren, Andrew Fernandez, chief
scientist with Cryptonym of Morrisville, North Carolina, had been probing the presence and
significance of the two keys. Then he checked the latest Service Pack release for Windows
NT4, ![[External Link]](http://www.heise.de/tp/english/icons/extlink.gif) Service
Pack 5. He found that Microsoft's developers had failed to remove or "strip"
the debugging symbols used to test this software before they released it. Inside the code
were the labels for the two keys. One was called "KEY". The other was called
"NSAKEY".
Fernandes reported his re-discovery of the two CAPI keys, and their secret meaning, to
"Advances in Cryptology, Crypto'99" conference held in Santa Barbara. According
to those present at the conference, Windows developers attending the conference did not
deny that the "NSA" key was built into their software. But they refused to talk
about what the key did, or why it had been put there without users' knowledge.
A third key?!
But according to two witnesses attending the conference, even
Microsoft's top crypto programmers were astonished to learn that the version of ADVAPI.DLL
shipping with Windows 2000 contains not two, but three keys. Brian LaMachia, head of CAPI
development at Microsoft was "stunned" to learn of these discoveries, by
outsiders. The latest discovery by Dr van Someren is based on advanced search methods
which test and report on the "entropy" of programming code.
Within the Microsoft organisation, access to Windows source code is said to be highly
compartmentalized, making it easy for modifications to be inserted without the knowledge
of even the respective product managers.
Researchers are divided about whether the NSA key could be intended to let US
government users of Windows run classified cryptosystems on their machines or whether it
is intended to open up anyone's and everyone's Windows computer to intelligence gathering
techniques deployed by NSA's burgeoning corps of "information warriors".
According to Fernandez of Cryptonym, the result of having the
secret key inside your Windows operating system "is that it is tremendously easier
for the NSA to load unauthorized security services on all copies of Microsoft Windows, and
once these security services are loaded, they can effectively compromise your entire
operating system". The NSA key is contained inside all versions of Windows from
Windows 95 OSR2 onwards.
"For non-American IT managers relying on Windows NT to operate highly secure data
centres, this find is worrying", he added. "The US government is currently
making it as difficult as possible for "strong" crypto to be used outside of the
US. That they have also installed a cryptographic back-door in the world's most abundant
operating system should send a strong message to foreign IT managers".
"How is an IT manager to feel when they learn that in every copy of Windows sold,
Microsoft has a 'back door' for NSA - making it orders of magnitude easier for the US
government to access your computer?" he asked.
Can the loophole be turned round against the
snoopers?
Dr van Someren feels that the primary purpose of the NSA key inside Windows may be for
legitimate US government use. But he says that there cannot be a legitimate explanation
for the third key in Windows 2000 CAPI. "It looks more fishy", he said.
Fernandez believes that NSA's built-in loophole can be turned round against the
snoopers. The NSA key inside CAPI can be replaced by your own key, and used to sign
cryptographic security modules from overseas or unauthorised third parties, unapproved by
Microsoft or the NSA. This is exactly what the US government has been trying to prevent. A
demonstration "how to do it" program that replaces the NSA key can be found on
Cryptonym's website.
According to one leading US cryptographer, the IT world should be thankful that the
subversion of Windows by NSA has come to light before the arrival of CPUs that handles
encrypted instruction sets. These would make the type of discoveries made this month
impossible. "Had the next-generation CPU's with encrypted instruction sets already
been deployed, we would have never found out about NSAKEY."
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