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Cyphernomicon 11.7

Surveillance, Privacy, And Intelligence Agencies:
Surveillance Targets


   11.7.1. Things the Government May Monitor
           - besides the obvious things like diplomatic cable traffic,
              phone calls from and to suspected terrorists and criminals,
              etc.
           + links between Congressmen and foreign embassies
             - claims in NYT (c. 9-19-91) that CIA had files on
                Congressmen opposing aid to Contras
           + Grow lamps for marijuana cultivation
             - raids on hydroponic supply houses and seizure of mailing
                lists
             - records of postings to alt.drugs and alt.psychoactive
             - vitamin buyers clubs
           + Energy consumption
             - to spot use of grow lamps
             + but also might be refined to spot illegal aliens being
                sheltered or any other household energy consumption
                "inconsistent with reported uses"
               - same for water, sewage, etc.
           + raw chemicals
             - as with monitors on ammonium nitrate and other bomb
                materials
             - or feedstock for cocaine production (recall various
                seizures of shipments of chemicals to Latin America)
           - checkout of books, a la FBI's "Library Awareness Program"
              of around 1986 or so
           - attendance at key conferences, such as Hackers Conference
              (could have scenes involving this), Computer Security
              Conference
   11.7.2. Economic Intelligence (Spying on Corporations, Foreign and
            Domestic)
           + "Does the NSA use economic intelligence data obtained in
              intercepts?"
             - Some of us speculate that this is so, that this has been
                going on since the 1960s at least. For example, Bamford
                noted in 1982 that the NSA had foreknowledge of the plans
                by the British to devalue the pound in the late 1970s,
                and knowledge of various corporate plans.
             - The NSA clears codes used by the CIA, so it seem
                impossible for the NSA not to have known about CIA drug
                smuggling activities. The NSA is very circumspect,
                however, and rarely (or never) comments.
           + there have been calls for the government to somehow help
              American business and overall competitiveness by "levelling
              the playing field" via espionage
             - especially as the perceived threat of the Soviet bloc
                diminishes and as the perceived threat of Japan and
                Germany increases
           - leaders of the NSA and CIA have even talked openly about
              turning to economic surveillance
           + Problems with this proposal:
             - illegal
             - unethical
             + who gets the intelligence information? Does NSA just call
                up Apple and say "We've intercepted some message from
                Taiwan that describe their plans for factories. Are you
                interested?"
               - the U.S. situation differs from Japan and MITI (which
                  is often portrayed as the model for how this ought to
                  work) in that we have many companies with little or no
                  history of obeying government recommendations
             + and foreign countries will likely learn of this espionage
                and take appropriate measures
               - e.g., by increasing encryption
   11.7.3. War on Drugs and Money Laundering is Causing Increase in
            Surveillance and Monitoring
           - monitoring flows of capital, cash transactions, etc.
           - cooperation with Interpol, foreign governments, even the
              Soviets and KGB (or whatever becomes of them)
           - new radar systems are monitoring light aircraft, boats,
              etc.
 

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Previous Page: 11.6 Surveillance Methods and Technology

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