NSA to Monitor Private-Sector Networks

Dennis Faas's picture

Under the questionable guise of cyber security, the National Security Agency (NSA), in partnership with The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and AT&T, will be monitoring private-sector networks.

The surveillance will continue despite the government's allegations that the NSA will only be scrutinizing data going to or from government systems. Whenever a person visits a 'dot-gov' (.gov) web site or sends an email to a government employee, their actions will be screened for potential harm to the network.

NSA's History of Illegal Surveillance

It's unclear exactly who is in charge of the NSA's efforts to monitor private networks. According to NSA Secretary Janet Napolitano, the NSA's actions will be guided, led and in a sense directed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). (Source: zdnet.com)

Assurances from the DHS about scrutinizing only data going to or from government systems are not comforting, given the NSA's history of illegal surveillance. The NSA has and is repeatedly breaking laws with their illegal surveillance.

Backdoor for Pervasive State Surveillance

In keeping with the tradition of his predecessor, President Obama lied about protecting privacy rights and discontinuing Bush-era illegal spying programs and has given the NSA the go-ahead to implement massive surveillance of the Internet, using the Einstein program, something billed as a cyber-security intrusion detection system for federal computer systems and networks. Some say the intent of Einstein is to initially monitor the email and web surfing activities of federal employees, citizens and contractors, not protecting government computer systems from outside intrusions.

As noted by The Intelligence Daily, with Einstein, you don't have to be a genius to know the government is fibbing. Einstein was developed in 3 stages: one to monitor Internet traffic and detect but not block abnormalities that might be cyber attacks, one to detect but not block viruses and other indications of attack and, still in development, one that detects and deflects security breaches -- with filtering technology that can read the content of emails and other communications.

Despite the usual government fibs about cyber security, the Einstein program is a backdoor for pervasive state surveillance that could be used for illicit purposes by the government.

AT&T Leading Way in Breaching User Privacy

AT&T, the NSA's private sector partner, will be once again leading the way in breaching its users' privacies and participating in the pervasive surveillance and is seeking legal protection from the state so that it won't be sued as a result of participating in the program. (Source: inteldaily.com)

Technical aspects provided to the government by AT&T will provide the ability to capture, sort, read and then store Americans' private communications en mass to the NSA and other federal agencies. Sprint, L3 Communications, Qwest, MCI, General Dynamics and Verizon will also participate in the government's illegal escapades.

If you ask me, the 'global war on terror' has turned into nothing more than an endless war on human rights -- many of the reasons listed in the Declaration of Independence that led to the American Revolution are again happening courtesy of Presidents Bush and Obama -- by the U.S. government with its citizens footing the bill. The cost for this endeavor is expected to exceed $2 billion.

NSA's Dubious History and the Fraudulent War on Terror

Citizens are also paying for an estimated one thousand government employees whose reported primary responsibility is to plug any leaks of classified or other information pointing to the U.S. government's involvement in the attacks of 9/11 that was used as an excuse to justify all the illegal spying.

The rubric of 'Cyber Security' is looking more like government malfeasance being utilized to cover-up more government malfeasance. Reports of increases in cyber attacks are coming in timely fashion, just as the U.S. Senate prepares to vote on egregious 'legislation' that would give the U.S. President unprecedented control over the Internet.

Visit Bill's Links and More for more great tips, just like this one!

Rate this article: 
No votes yet