Passing the one-year anniversary of his remarks proposing to abolish bulk metadata collection, President Obama late yesterday took baby steps to curtail U.S. surveillance powers. The usual media uproar ensued, with privacy advocates bewailing the Administration’s “weak” response to their demands for reform. NSA and FBI spokespersons by and large bit their tongues and went along … [Read more...]
Glimmerglass: Unchallenged Leader of Photonic Surveillance
When Edward Snowden leaked word of the NSA’s ability to monitor transoceanic fiber optic cables, credit for such powers went to the agency’s internal operations -- with no mention of the company whose technology likely underlies the system: Glimmerglass. Based in Hayward, CA, Glimmerglass Cyber Solutions may well be the grand-daddy of all fiber optic interception and … [Read more...]
NSA Decryption: New Snowden Leak is Ancient History
A breaking Der Spiegel story on NSA decryption challenges aroused little interest in the U.S. this week, raising doubts whether source Edward Snowden remains relevant and if stolen files dating back many months still hold news value. While it's SOP in the media business that anything never before reported is still news, the same principle doesn't apply in the electronic … [Read more...]
Ed Snowden – One Year After
Approaching the one-year anniversary of Edward Snowden's revelations on the NSA, we were prepared for a big media splash gushing over his deeds and their impact. Never happened. But for a thoughtful piece in, of course, The Guardian, and any magazine coverage that may surface over the weekend, the big day came and went largely unobserved. One is reminded of those wedding … [Read more...]