INTERNET
SERVICE PROVIDERS COMPLICIT WITH NSA
A BROODING
CYNYX OP - ED
Is your
Internet Service Provider part of this invasive program?
From
The Brooding Cynyx Editorial Board
(Friday June 7, 2013 New York,
New York) Call it what you will;
metadata sharing, data mining, data vacuuming or cyber-spying, the federal
government has broken their trust with the American people. It is that simple.
As intelligence and
counter-terrorism professionals often say, their successes and victories may
never be known to the public. The nature
of their operations and missions are usually so highly classified that their
very existence may not be known for decades after the fact. In the main lobby of the CIA Headquarters in
Langley Virginia, on one marble wall are carved several dozen black stars each
representing a CIA Officer who lost his or her life in the service of their
country. Not even in the CIA HQ are
their names and exploits easily determined.
These are the men and women who function sometimes for an entire career
in anonymity; Officers, Analysts, Operatives, Paramilitary Personnel, members
of the Clandestine Service whose names we will never know. Some of this secrecy is for “operational”
purposes, some of it simply because these CIA personnel were tasked with orders
and missions that need not be known.
We are staunch supporters of
the “War on Terror” although President Obama has made that an antiquated
phrase. By whatever name it is
designated we are indeed engaged globally with groups and nation/states intent
on doing as much harm to America, her citizens and interests as they possibly
can. This is a war fought in the shadows
and, given the technological sophistication of today, it is fought as much in
cyberspace as it is in back alleys, rugged mountains, wind-swept deserts, dense
jungles and teeming far off cities were our enemies live, train, plot and hide. Our military superiority has forced our
enemies to fight us asymmetrically; employing methods and means, tactics and
strategies of unconventional warfare. In
many profound ways this new type of warfare is more challenging than the
conventional wars we have fought throughout our history. This is a new day and the events of September
11, 2001 ushered in new age in warfare with challenges, risks, and perils never
before confronted. The nature of the
beast we fight today is in many ways exponentially more lethal armed with
potential capabilities that could not have been fully appreciated prior to
9-11-01.
As New Yorker’s we know
firsthand the brutality of what a small cadre of well financed zealots can
perpetrate and since that bright, sunny Tuesday in September 2001, we have
witnessed the increasing creativity that asymmetry dictates as our foes only effective
ways and means by which to engage us.
Our Special Forces and combined military might quickly vanquished the
Taliban and al Qaeda by the end of 2001 yet they remain reconfigured, smaller
cells less centrally controlled yet as determined and clever as ever. Our overwhelming conventional force decimated
the Iraqi Army only to be held to a years long semi-standoff with insurgents
armed with primitive Improvised Explosive Devises (IAD’s) and
determination. Our Army, Navy, Air
Force, Marine Corps and Special Forces are the absolute best the world has ever
seen. But, all our military might can be
at least partially, temporarily mitigated by an enemy that has nothing to lose.
Over the past two days
Americans have learned that some of our government’s intelligence gathering and
anti-terrorism initiatives have been more far-reaching domestically than has
ever before been admitted. These are
alarming revelations on many levels; legally, morally, and constitutionally. If anything, as Americans we hold our Rights
very close to our hearts and any hint that they are somehow being infringed,
especially without our knowledge and consent, creates a collective sense of
distrust, ill-will, and justifiable anger.
Actually, the scale and scope
of the government’s “Hoovering” efforts at sucking up all sorts of digital data
reported to have allegedly not been focused on Americans, is now being widely reported
to have indeed included Americans in this massive accumulation operation. Major Internet Service Providers including
Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo, Skype, Facebook and Apple have all issued press releases
this evening denying having any knowledge of or participation in any sort of
data sharing with any government law enforcement, intelligence or military
entity. Some of their denials were so carefully crafted with very precise
language that it is not a great leap to interpret them as de facto admissions. Likely, by this time Sunday the steady
individual drips from these leaks will have turned into a gusher of epic
proportions.
Here in New York City we have
become accustomed, perhaps not pleased, but certainly accustomed to our
“surveillance society”; the ubiquitous NYPD camera towers and the closed
circuit cameras that number in the tens of thousands throughout our City are
the perpetual “eyes in the sky”; we are never out of range of some camera for
too long. We accept this because we have
lived through a few attacks and have had some potentially catastrophic plots
foiled thanks to the hard work of NYPD and their Intelligence and Counter
Terrorism Units. For each dastardly plot
we know to have been interrupted there are likely a dozen we were never aware
of. New York City will always be in
terrorists eyes a “target rich environment” but we all have made it a much
“harder target”; our individual and collective awareness cannot be overstated.
Surveillance cameras are one
thing; after all we’ve been captured by cameras at ATM’s, gas stations,
department and convenience stores for many years. Actually, several recent events have
demonstrated the efficacy of these cameras.
However, the revelations that hit the headlines yesterday are by several
orders of magnitude much more disturbing to say the least. From the initial report that Verizon, with
over 98 million subscribers has been turning over logs of “metadata” every day
to the NSA was troubling enough. But, on
top of that, the revelation that the NSA has been directly tapping in to the
“central servers” of the largest Internet Service Providers (ISP’S) giving the
NSA access to a wealth of private and personal data about their users, in a
comparative sense, makes the Verizon arrangement look benign. The NSA has been amassing a “mega database”
by capturing everything from individual computers unique Internet address, and
everything the user enters from search terms, browser information, downloads,
e-mails, photographs, and all the digital media that defines so much of our
lives and constitutes the very infrastructure of global networks from banks,
insurers, lenders, libraries, universities; literally any entity with an
Internet presence. This arrangement
seems to defy not only some of the bedrock elements of our Bill of Rights but
of centuries of legal precedent that has guaranteed – yes, guaranteed - Americans freedom from illegal search and
seizure, guilt by association, and the arbitrary suspension of habeas corpus and due process under the
law.
The Brooding Cynyx have long
been vigorous and vocal supporters of most efforts of vigilance in our struggle
against global extremists and terrorism.
We have been ardent supporters of the law enforcement community,
particularly the best LEA in the world, the NYPD whose members have been
toiling tirelessly to protect our City.
We have largely supported the CIA in their intelligence gathering
operations overseas, been united behind our valiant troops efforts in
Afghanistan and have never ceased to be aware of the fact that America is
indeed engaged in what will likely be a decades long cat and mouse game with
those bent on inflicting death and destruction here on our shores. Looking over our six years of posts one can
easily determine where we have stood and continue to stand on this matter of
safety and security; life and death.
That said, now we must differ
with our government, now we are angered and outraged by the startling
revelations regarding the egregious infringements on our privacy. We have grave concerns about how the information
sucked up by the huge NSA apparatus will be used and from what other as of yet
revealed sources they collect it. That
so much of our personal digital information now comprises a mammoth database is
more than disturbing; it is a very frightening fact of life. It is not possible
to trust that such databases will not be used by other government agencies for reasons
tangentially, if at all, related to national security. Those who argue that they have nothing to
hide so they are untroubled having the government know so much about their
private lives are either naive or just foolish.
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