Guess Who Those Targeted Individuals Are

Here in the U.S., today is independence day. It’s a day to celebrate our forebears’ refusal to submit to what they considered unjust treatment at the hands of their government. One of their major complaints was general warrants: the notion that the government could enter your home and rifle through your belongings at will. They felt so strongly about it that the prohibition of the practice is enshrined in our constitution as the Fourth Amendment.

Now, sadly, general warrants are making a comeback, at least in the digital realm, in the United States and most other first world countries. We all know this story: the NSA, GCHQ, and other intelligence agencies have decided that they have the right—in the name of national security, of course—to snoop on our communications and digital data without warrant or specific cause.

The NSA for its part insists that, yes, they collect almost everyone’s information but except for targeted individuals that information is flushed within 48 hours or, at most, 30 days. If, like me, you’re inclined to a nasty, suspicious mindset, you might wonder who those targeted individuals are. Your Aunt Millie is sure it’s just Osama Bin Laden and a couple of his friends but the more cynical of us wonder if “targeted individuals” might be a bit more general.

Now we have an answer. One way to be targeted is to read Boing Boing. Well, Boing Boing is vaguely left-wing, I suppose, although still well within the mainstream so why would that get you targeted? Surely, reading an apolitical, technical site won’t get you targeted. It turns out, though, that reading Linux Journal—reportedly considered an “extremist forum” by the NSA—can also get you on the list. What do these sites have in common that excites the NSA’s suspicions?

The answer is, at the same time, shocking and obvious: reading an article on the technical details of TOR, Tails, or other privacy enhancing software is enough to provoke the NSA’s interest. Cory Doctorow reports that one expert suggested that the NSA is trying to separate the sheep from the goats; to split the population into those who know how to protect their privacy and those that don’t. Naturally, those in the first group are suspicious and therefore targeted.

If you read the links above you will see that the information is explosive. Almost too good to check as cynical journalist like to quip. So where did this story come from? The story apparently originated on the German site Tagesschau.de (in German, Google translation here). Happily, for those who don’t read German, there is an English language article that extends the Tagesschau.de article on DasErste.de. If you read nothing else, you should read this article, as it explains in detail where the information comes from and includes a link to XKeystore deep packet inspection rules.

There has been speculation that these latest revelations point to the existence of a second NSA leaker as none of this information was included in the known Snowden documents. Bruce Schneier, who has access to the Snowden documents, does not believe this information came from Snowden and believes there is a second leaker.

There’s a lot of information in the above links but you really should read it all. The original Tagesschau article was about the targeting of German sites so this story concerns you whether or not you are an American. If, after you read it, you aren’t infuriated, let me nominate you for The Alfred E. Neuman “What, me worry?” award.