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Submission + - XKEYSCORE: NSA'S Google for the World's Private Communications (firstlook.org)

Advocatus Diaboli writes: "The NSA’s ability to piggyback off of private companies’ tracking of their own users is a vital instrument that allows the agency to trace the data it collects to individual users. It makes no difference if visitors switch to public Wi-Fi networks or connect to VPNs to change their IP addresses: the tracking cookie will follow them around as long as they are using the same web browser and fail to clear their cookies. Apps that run on tablets and smartphones also use analytics services that uniquely track users. Almost every time a user sees an advertisement (in an app or in a web browser), the ad network is tracking users in the same way. A secret GCHQ and CSE program called BADASS, which is similar to XKEYSCORE but with a much narrower scope, mines as much valuable information from leaky smartphone apps as possible, including unique tracking identifiers that app developers use to track their own users."

also

"Other information gained via XKEYSCORE facilitates the remote exploitation of target computers. By extracting browser fingerprint and operating system versions from Internet traffic, the system allows analysts to quickly assess the exploitability of a target. Brossard, the security researcher, said that “NSA has built an impressively complete set of automated hacking tools for their analysts to use.” Given the breadth of information collected by XKEYSCORE, accessing and exploiting a target’s online activity is a matter of a few mouse clicks. Brossard explains: “The amount of work an analyst has to perform to actually break into remote computers over the Internet seems ridiculously reduced — we are talking minutes, if not seconds. Simple. As easy as typing a few words in Google.”

Comment Re:Morons ... (Score 4, Interesting) 190

If he has any brains, simply send every time there is "discovery" the same sheet of paper proving he has had it for 15 years.

You can tell the plaintiffs lawyers to go fuck them selves over and over and over again.

I have actually used the words "go fuck yourself" in response to a lawyers letter.

Lawyers hate being called out as the spineless slime they are.

Comment Re:And ticket prices? (Score 4, Insightful) 117

American corporations will instead do the following.

Get a government grant for the coatings, claim the actual full purchase price at full retail as the cost and pass that cost to ticket buyers.

Use the 5% fuel savings as a ,"we are saving the planet.... see? SEE?" advertising campaign.

Also add the costs of the advertising to the ticket prices.

Profits go up an additional 75%, claim they need more government subsidies.

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