NSA involved in snooping cookie shocker
Together with all the best wishes for 2006, Job, the esteemed FPF's computer wizzard, send an article he had read in 'The Register', about how the US National Security Agency (NSA) uses 'cookies' to track our keyboard behavior...
Shouldn't we all be grateful having a 'Big Brother' watching over us? Feel more secure...?
NSA involved in snooping cookie shocker
By Ashlee Vance in Mountain View
Holy global eavesdropping network, Batman! The NSA has - or rather had - cookies on its website.
Thursday 29th December 2005 - Daniel Brandt - he of Google watching and Wikipedia fiddling fame - discovered a pair of cookies lurking on the NSA's (National Security Agency) website. The cookies were set to expire in 2035 and could be used to track your online activity. That's a big no-no under federal rules that forbid the use of most persistent cookies.
The NSA removed the cookies after Brandt brought the issue to the agency's attention and after the AP started asking questions. "After being tipped to the issue, we immediately disabled the cookies," NSA spokesman Don Weber, told the news service. Government agencies can use cookies of the non-persistent variety but are discouraged from keeping an ongoing watch on citizens.
THE NSA? COOKIES?
WE KNOW, WE KNOW. YOU'RE SHOCKED.
In the context of the NSA's constant global monitoring of communications and more recent wiretapping flap, a couple of cookies hardly seem like a big deal. And, in fact, they're probably not. The NSA has played off the appearance of the cookies as an accident. A software upgrade allowed the nasty, persistent buggers to sneak on the website.
As Brandt points out, however, there are no exceptions in federal guidelines for "accidental" snooping. Or so we think. It seems that just about anything goes these days.
As Ty Webb once remarked:
"This isn't Russia. Is this Russia? This isn't Russia."
[andend] - ® The Register - Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/29/nsa_cookies/
RELATED STORIES:
NSA uses ECHELON against US citizens (16 December 2005)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/16/echelon_in_your_backyard/
THE WEB: PENTAGON'S PRIVATE INTERNET - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/dac45
ID cards: a story I thought I'd never write - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/7gszw
Google search - 'Tapping' and the National Security Agency - http://tinyurl.com/7gvlo
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://forpressfound.blogspot.com/
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/amn3q
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
* "Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful." - Henry Kissinger speaking at Evian, France, May 21, 1992 Bilderburgers meeting. Unbeknownst to Kissinger, his speech was taped by a Swiss delegate to the meeting.
* And global warcriminal Henry Kissinger and his ilk succeeded, but nobody apart from 'them' was 'grateful'. On the contrary: own US troops - even with tanks - appeared in the streets of Los Angeles: against anti-war protesters! - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/7qh65
* "People do not forget. They do not forget the death of their fellows, they do not forget torture and mutilation, they do not forget injustice, they do not forget oppression, they do not forget the terrorism of mighty powers. They not only don't forget: they also strike back." - 2005 Nobel Literature Prize winner Harold Pinter - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/9cyeq
* The infamous US 'Lie Factory' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/8ncal
* Help all the troops - of whatever nationality - to come back from abroad! - AND WITH ALL THEIR WEAPONS, WHICH WE WERE FORCED TO PAY FOR BY TAXES - [http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm ] - We need them badly at home in many countries to fight with us against our so called 'governments' and their malignant managers - Url.: http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/
FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.: http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html
-0-
Shouldn't we all be grateful having a 'Big Brother' watching over us? Feel more secure...?
NSA involved in snooping cookie shocker
By Ashlee Vance in Mountain View
Holy global eavesdropping network, Batman! The NSA has - or rather had - cookies on its website.
Thursday 29th December 2005 - Daniel Brandt - he of Google watching and Wikipedia fiddling fame - discovered a pair of cookies lurking on the NSA's (National Security Agency) website. The cookies were set to expire in 2035 and could be used to track your online activity. That's a big no-no under federal rules that forbid the use of most persistent cookies.
The NSA removed the cookies after Brandt brought the issue to the agency's attention and after the AP started asking questions. "After being tipped to the issue, we immediately disabled the cookies," NSA spokesman Don Weber, told the news service. Government agencies can use cookies of the non-persistent variety but are discouraged from keeping an ongoing watch on citizens.
THE NSA? COOKIES?
WE KNOW, WE KNOW. YOU'RE SHOCKED.
In the context of the NSA's constant global monitoring of communications and more recent wiretapping flap, a couple of cookies hardly seem like a big deal. And, in fact, they're probably not. The NSA has played off the appearance of the cookies as an accident. A software upgrade allowed the nasty, persistent buggers to sneak on the website.
As Brandt points out, however, there are no exceptions in federal guidelines for "accidental" snooping. Or so we think. It seems that just about anything goes these days.
As Ty Webb once remarked:
"This isn't Russia. Is this Russia? This isn't Russia."
[andend] - ® The Register - Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/29/nsa_cookies/
RELATED STORIES:
NSA uses ECHELON against US citizens (16 December 2005)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/16/echelon_in_your_backyard/
THE WEB: PENTAGON'S PRIVATE INTERNET - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/dac45
ID cards: a story I thought I'd never write - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/7gszw
Google search - 'Tapping' and the National Security Agency - http://tinyurl.com/7gvlo
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://forpressfound.blogspot.com/
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/amn3q
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
* "Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful." - Henry Kissinger speaking at Evian, France, May 21, 1992 Bilderburgers meeting. Unbeknownst to Kissinger, his speech was taped by a Swiss delegate to the meeting.
* And global warcriminal Henry Kissinger and his ilk succeeded, but nobody apart from 'them' was 'grateful'. On the contrary: own US troops - even with tanks - appeared in the streets of Los Angeles: against anti-war protesters! - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/7qh65
* "People do not forget. They do not forget the death of their fellows, they do not forget torture and mutilation, they do not forget injustice, they do not forget oppression, they do not forget the terrorism of mighty powers. They not only don't forget: they also strike back." - 2005 Nobel Literature Prize winner Harold Pinter - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/9cyeq
* The infamous US 'Lie Factory' - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/8ncal
* Help all the troops - of whatever nationality - to come back from abroad! - AND WITH ALL THEIR WEAPONS, WHICH WE WERE FORCED TO PAY FOR BY TAXES - [http://www.apfn.org/apfn/reserve.htm ] - We need them badly at home in many countries to fight with us against our so called 'governments' and their malignant managers - Url.: http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/
FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.: http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html
-0-
posted by Forpressfound at 12:14 AM
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