India-US Strategic News and Discussion

[Bade]

Japan, is more of a closed society and the chances of them sharing anything is less than the west. They have spots where they excel for sure, but it seems all in private industrial hands. So business interests will rule and the collaboration with them will reflect more of that.

[Rudradev]

SEAL Team raids Somali Compound in pursuit of Al Shabab Leader
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/worl ... a/2928631/

[Philip]

NSA and GCHQ target Tor network that protects anonymity of web users

• Top-secret documents detail repeated efforts to crack Tor
• US-funded tool relied upon by dissidents and activists
• Core security of network remains intact but NSA has some success attacking users' computers
• Bruce Schneier: the NSA's attacks must be made public
• Attacking Tor: the technical details
• 'Peeling back the layers with Egotistical Giraffe' – document
• 'Tor Stinks' presentation – full document
• Tor: 'The king of high-secure, low-latency anonymity'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/o ... encryption

One technique developed by the agency targeted the Firefox web browser used with Tor, giving the agency full control over targets' computers. Photograph: Felix Clay

The National Security Agency has made repeated attempts to develop attacks against people using Tor, a popular tool designed to protect online anonymity, despite the fact the software is primarily funded and promoted by the US government itself.

Top-secret NSA documents, disclosed by whistleblower Edward Snowden, reveal that the agency's current successes against Tor rely on identifying users and then attacking vulnerable software on their computers. One technique developed by the agency targeted the Firefox web browser used with Tor, giving the agency full control over targets' computers, including access to files, all keystrokes and all online activity.

But the documents suggest that the fundamental security of the Tor service remains intact. One top-secret presentation, titled 'Tor Stinks', states: "We will never be able to de-anonymize all Tor users all the time." It continues: "With manual analysis we can de-anonymize a very small fraction of Tor users," and says the agency has had "no success de-anonymizing a user in response" to a specific request.

Another top-secret presentation calls Tor "the king of high-secure, low-latency internet anonymity".

Tor – which stands for The Onion Router – is an open-source public project that bounces its users' internet traffic through several other computers, which it calls "relays" or "nodes", to keep it anonymous and avoid online censorship tools.

It is relied upon by journalists, activists and campaigners in the US and Europe as well as in China, Iran and Syria, to maintain the privacy of their communications and avoid reprisals from government. To this end, it receives around 60% of its funding from the US government, primarily the State Department and the Department of Defense – which houses the NSA.

Despite Tor's importance to dissidents and human rights organizations, however, the NSA and its UK counterpart GCHQ have devoted considerable efforts to attacking the service, which law enforcement agencies say is also used by people engaged in terrorism, the trade of child abuse images, and online drug dealing.

Privacy and human rights groups have been concerned about the security of Tor following revelations in the Guardian, New York Times and ProPublica about widespread NSA efforts to undermine privacy and security software. A report by Brazilian newspaper Globo also contained hints that the agencies had capabilities against the network.

While it seems that the NSA has not compromised the core security of the Tor software or network, the documents detail proof-of-concept attacks, including several relying on the large-scale online surveillance systems maintained by the NSA and GCHQ through internet cable taps.

One such technique is based on trying to spot patterns in the signals entering and leaving the Tor network, to try to de-anonymise its users. The effort was based on a long-discussed theoretical weakness of the network: that if one agency controlled a large number of the "exits" from the Tor network, they could identify a large amount of the traffic passing through it.

The proof-of-concept attack demonstrated in the documents would rely on the NSA's cable-tapping operation, and the agency secretly operating computers, or 'nodes', in the Tor system. However, one presentation stated that the success of this technique was "negligible" because the NSA has "access to very few nodes" and that it is "difficult to combine meaningfully with passive Sigint".

While the documents confirm the NSA does indeed operate and collect traffic from some nodes in the Tor network, they contain no detail as to how many, and there are no indications that the proposed de-anonymization technique was ever implemented.

Other efforts mounted by the agencies include attempting to direct traffic toward NSA-operated servers, or attacking other software used by Tor users. One presentation, titled 'Tor: Overview of Existing Techniques', also refers to making efforts to "shape", or influence, the future development of Tor, in conjunction with GCHQ.

Another effort involves measuring the timings of messages going in and out of the network to try to identify users. A third attempts to degrade or disrupt the Tor service, forcing users to abandon the anonymity protection.

Such efforts to target or undermine Tor are likely to raise legal and policy concerns for the intelligence agencies.

Foremost among those concerns is whether the NSA has acted, deliberately or inadvertently, against internet users in the US when attacking Tor. One of the functions of the anonymity service is to hide the country of all of its users, meaning any attack could be hitting members of Tor's substantial US user base.

Several attacks result in implanting malicious code on the computer of Tor users who visit particular websites. The agencies say they are targeting terrorists or organized criminals visiting particular discussion boards, but these attacks could also hit journalists, researchers, or those who accidentally stumble upon a targeted site.

The efforts could also raise concerns in the State Department and other US government agencies that provide funding to increase Tor's security – as part of the Obama administration's internet freedom agenda to help citizens of repressive regimes – circumvent online restrictions.

Material published online for a discussion event held by the State Department, for example, described the importance of tools such as Tor.

"[T]he technologies of internet repression, monitoring and control continue to advance and spread as the tools that oppressive governments use to restrict internet access and to track citizen online activities grow more sophisticated. Sophisticated, secure, and scalable technologies are needed to continue to advance internet freedom."

The Broadcasting Board of Governors, a federal agency whose mission is to "inform, engage, and connect people around the world in support of freedom and democracy" through networks such as Voice of America, also supported Tor's development until October 2012 to ensure that people in countries such as Iran and China could access BBG content. Tor continues to receive federal funds through Radio Free Asia, which is funded by a federal grant from BBG.

The governments of both these countries have attempted to curtail Tor's use: China has tried on multiple occasions to block Tor entirely, while one of the motives behind Iranian efforts to create a "national internet" entirely under government control was to prevent circumvention of those controls.

The NSA's own documents acknowledge the service's wide use in countries where the internet is routinely surveilled or censored. One presentation notes that among uses of Tor for "general privacy" and "non-attribution", it can be used for "circumvention of nation state internet policies" – and is used by "dissidents" in "Iran, China, etc".

Yet GCHQ documents show a disparaging attitude towards Tor users. One presentation acknowledges Tor was "created by the US government" and is "now maintained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)", a US freedom of expression group. In reality, Tor is maintained by an independent foundation, though has in the past received funding from the EFF.

The presentation continues by noting that "EFF will tell you there are many pseudo-legitimate uses for Tor", but says "we're interested as bad people use Tor". Another presentation remarks: "Very naughty people use Tor".

The technique developed by the NSA to attack Tor users through vulnerable software on their computers has the codename EgotisticalGiraffe, the documents show. It involves exploiting the Tor browser bundle, a collection of programs, designed to make it easy for people to install and use the software. Among these is a version of the Firefox web browser.

The trick, detailed in a top-secret presentation titled 'Peeling back the layers of Tor with EgotisticalGiraffe', identified website visitors who were using the protective software and only executed its attack – which took advantage of vulnerabilities in an older version of Firefox – against those people. Under this approach, the NSA does not attack the Tor system directly. Rather, targets are identified as Tor users and then the NSA attacks their browsers.

According to the documents provided by Snowden, the particular vulnerabilities used in this type of attack were inadvertently fixed by Mozilla Corporation in Firefox 17, released in November 2012 – a fix the NSA had not circumvented by January 2013 when the documents were written.

The older exploits would, however, still be usable against many Tor users who had not kept their software up to date.

A similar but less complex exploit against the Tor network was revealed by security researchers in July this year. Details of the exploit, including its purpose and which servers it passed on victims' details to, led to speculation it had been built by the FBI or another US agency.

At the time, the FBI refused to comment on whether it was behind the attack, but subsequently admitted in a hearing in an Irish court that it had operated the malware to target an alleged host of images of child abuse – though the attack did also hit numerous unconnected services on the Tor network.

Roger Dingledine, the president of the Tor project, said the NSA's efforts serve as a reminder that using Tor on its own is not sufficient to guarantee anonymity against intelligence agencies – but showed it was also a great aid in combating mass surveillance.

"The good news is that they went for a browser exploit, meaning there's no indication they can break the Tor protocol or do traffic analysis on the Tor network," Dingledine said. "Infecting the laptop, phone, or desktop is still the easiest way to learn about the human behind the keyboard.

"Tor still helps here: you can target individuals with browser exploits, but if you attack too many users, somebody's going to notice. So even if the NSA aims to surveil everyone, everywhere, they have to be a lot more selective about which Tor users they spy on."

But he added: "Just using Tor isn't enough to keep you safe in all cases. Browser exploits, large-scale surveillance, and general user security are all challenging topics for the average internet user. These attacks make it clear that we, the broader internet community, need to keep working on better security for browsers and other internet-facing applications."

The Guardian asked the NSA how it justified attacking a service funded by the US government, how it ensured that its attacks did not interfere with the secure browsing of law-abiding US users such as activists and journalists, and whether the agency was involved in the decision to fund Tor or efforts to "shape" its development.

The agency did not directly address those questions, instead providing a statement.

It read: "In carrying out its signals intelligence mission, NSA collects only those communications that it is authorized by law to collect for valid foreign intelligence and counter-intelligence purposes, regardless of the technical means used by those targets or the means by which they may attempt to conceal their communications. NSA has unmatched technical capabilities to accomplish its lawful mission.

"As such, it should hardly be surprising that our intelligence agencies seek ways to counteract targets' use of technologies to hide their communications. Throughout history, nations have used various methods to protect their secrets, and today terrorists, cybercriminals, human traffickers and others use technology to hide their activities. Our intelligence community would not be doing its job if we did not try to counter that."

• This article was amended on 4 October after the Broadcasting Board of Governors pointed out that its support of Tor ended in October 2012.

• Bruce Schneier is an unpaid member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation's board of directors. He has not been involved in any discussions on funding.

Bruce Schneier: By reporting on the agency's actions, the vulnerabilities in our computer systems can be fixed. It's the only way to force change

[brihaspati]

Cosmo_R,
I get to hear a lot of this
(1) "that states should [not] behave with each other the same way individuals do."
(2) "At the state level, emotion has no place".
(3) "It has to be forward calculations."

Can you explain as to how this translates down to the individual level it ultimately affects?

If states should not behave with each other as individuals - then since ultimately concrete decisons at the state level are still going to be taken by individuals, you have to separate out perceived "individual" interests from supposed "state interests".

The devil lies in that detail of a separation. Analyzing decisions at state levels always reveals the imposition of individual or small-group perceptions as "state-level" interests. Emotions/biases/paranoias/greed/ideological commitments of individuals and small groups close to decision making always appear to shape what is going to be claimed as impersonal oh-so-unemotional state-level decisions.

Even if you say manage to do this separation, there will often be multiple and mutually contradictory options to choose from, which are then filtered by some priority list in turn selected from some value-system adhered to by the decision making group. There also, in choosing between alternatives - individual and small-group value-systems come into play - in turn bringing emotion, ityadi back into play.

The US history is chock full of such case histories.

[brihaspati]

Perhaps OT - but game theory with assumption of complete self-interest appears to fit in real life predictions/estimation more with individual interactions than at the state level models.

[brihaspati]

The latest understanding is a hierarchical system by which - foreign policy is affected/shaped by ideology of the individual. Top - core values [abstract values used by individuals to make priority queues], bottom [foreign policy attitudes], and most of the research that I am aware of - have concluded the role of individual emotion/core-values/ideology on shaping/choices/sub-choices in foreign policy at the state level. [Levinson, hurwiz -peffle, Page and Bouton, Gerber, Mondak] Many of these studies use US empirical data, so should be relevant for the current discussion.

[Vayutuvan]

birhaspati, it is always a game (no pun intended ) of reducing the number of players. Discrete multi-player games have an exponentially large (exponential in the numbert of players) nonsmooth non-convex solution space. Any reduction would help. Also the space might be thin in certain directions. Somehow if one can figure out the orthogonally complementary subspace(s) which are thin then they can be either eliminated from the model (not very good) or approximated by lumping. Once the model is down to the dominant variables and the number of variables is still too large, then try to combine correlated variables. That is where the characteristic functions etc. come in. Resources to crunch data, intuition, lessons learned from what has gone wrong in similar models in the past, ability to change the situation on the ground at a short notice, and most importantly having the data in the first place are all the US has. After all they (the one and only John von Neumann at Princeton) invented game theory.

After all this, one still has to do some amount of sub-structuring (hierarchically solve sub-games and combine and iterate) till one finds a solution. Once a solution is computed, then the real work of identifying the slacks and tight constraints starts. If a better solution can be found (think Lagrange multipliers) then some wiggling has to be induced artificially - interfere in internal affairs of a group, merge several groups together, or split and merge etc. a state that is easily tractable. I described in the abstract (terminologically speaking - but the subject is firmly in the domain of Applied Math) but one can plug in the domain terminology to make sense.

[svinayak]

What to Expect from Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s U.S. Visit

Another psy ops article

China
While India and the United States recognize that the ascension of China has had benefits for U.S. and Indian interests, both remain concerned over China’s claims to disputed islands and waterways in regards to other Asian nations, its strengthening military capabilities, and its potential to provoke conflict in Asia. For India, China’s increasing economic and military influence in Asia represents a direct challenge to India becoming a larger player on the regional and global stage. For the United States, China’s meteoric economic growth has raised concerns surrounding the right of access to international areas of the region such as waterways and trade routes.

The United States has hoped that India, along with other key allies in the Asia-Pacific, would assist in stabilizing the existing power balance. Meanwhile, China’s economic rise has raised new questions about the regional architecture and U.S. strategy; countries trade with China but still see the United States as a security provider. As a result, the United States has attempted to strengthen Indian capabilities through military weapons sales, joint training exercises, and proposals for co-production of military hardware. While Indian defense planners appear to be reforming and building their military with an eye toward China as a larger potential threat than even their archrival Pakistan, they are reluctant to directly challenge China’s growing presence in the Asia-Pacific given their extensive trading relationship and close proximity. China is a critical trading partner for India; annual trade between the two countries reached $67.8 billion in 2012 to 2013, and is expected to increase to $100 billion by 2015. Still, India has started to make inroads in the region. For instance, India recently offered a $100 million credit line for defense purchases to Vietnam, a sign that India is ready to engage China’s neighbors on defense issues.

[Prem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/sport ... .html?_r=0
Technology Firm From India Will Be New York Marathon Title Sponsor

ING, a Dutch financial firm that has expanded its footprint in America in recent years, will no longer sponsor the event. The New York City Marathon sponsor ING will end its decade-long relationship with the race and be replaced by Tata Consultancy Services, the Indian technology giant, race organizers said Wednesday. ING, a Dutch financial firm that has expanded its footprint in America in recent years, will no longer sponsor the event. It will be replaced by T.C.S. starting in 2014 when the race will be known as the T.C.S. New York City Marathon. It is an eight-year partnership. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chief executive and managing director of T.C.S., an information technology services and consulting company, said the sponsorship coincided with the company’s internal fitness programs (he participated in the New York City Marathon in 2009) and would allow the company to make its presence more known in the United States. It is part of the Tata group, an Indian industrial conglomerate, and T.C.S. has more than 277,000 consultants in 44 countries. Some 50 percent of its business is tied to the United States, he said. T.C.S. has been a technology consulting partner for New York Road Runners since 2010 and will develop a new mobile app for this year’s marathon. ING was the first title sponsor of the New York City Marathon, beginning in 2003, and has not disclosed the sponsorship amounts. The amount of the T.C.S. sponsorship also is not being disclosed, but one person with detailed knowledge of the deal said it was worth substantially more than the ING agreement. Given its business, Tata — which also sponsors marathons in Amsterdam, Berlin and Mumbai, India — is presumably trying to raise its profile with executives who might be running the New York City Marathon or watching it on television. In that sense, its sponsorship is not much different from those by I.B.M., SAP and other large technology firms that sponsor tennis, golf and other sporting events.
But unlike ING, which connected with runners through its retirement and wealth management businesses, it may be harder for Tata to connect directly with runners. As New York Road Runners began its search for a new title sponsor last year, T.C.S. was on the list from the beginning, along with several global companies, Wittenberg said. “It was an easy decision,” she said. “They share a commitment to our core values.” Nationwide, road racing has enjoyed a boom in recent years with record numbers of runners signing up for half-marathons and marathons. In New York, the marathon began in 1970 with 127 runners racing laps in Central Park. It now attracts more than 48,000 participants, 2 million live spectators and 330 million television viewers, many of them representing an affluent demographic, often coveted by advertisers. As part of the partnership, T.C.S. will also be a principal sponsor of each of the New York Road Runners’ major borough events, the Fifth Avenue Mile, the New York Mini 10K and the Midnight Run, as well as some youth programs.

[Agnimitra]

Was this noted?
Parliament of Religions stirs up a hornet’s nest: Refuses to commemorate Vivekananda anniversary

Seshadri Kumar • Wed, Sep 18, 2013
The 150th birth anniversary celebration of Swami Vivekananda scheduled to be held in Chicago on Sept. 27 and 28 under the banner “World without borders 2013” is in limelight for the wrong reason.

Chicago-based Council for World Parliament of Religions has withdrawn its support for the celebration, apparently on the urging of some Muslim and left wing groups.

...The groups such as the Coalition Against Genocide have been accusing Gujarat Chief Minsiter Narendra Modi and Vishwa Hindu Parishad in India of committing genocide against Muslims in the state.

[Prem Kumar]

There was a buzz in Twitter. Sudheendra Kulkarni posted some cr@p about being invited by the Pope for the inter-faith dialog & people took off on him.

The HAF also raised some strong words about this boycott.

On a related note: Ramdev was going to the UK to deliver a speech on Vivekananda anniversary when he was held up at immigration (there is a rumor that it was due to a secret "terror suspect" coding on his passport that was imprinted in Delhi airport emigration). Subsequently his visit to the U.S went smoothly

Time to boycott Parliament of Religions & Interfaith cr@p & expose them for their hypocrisy.

[devesh]

along with "boycott" there should probably be a parallel effort to launch a body that has similar functions and goals, which counters the C/WPR propaganda.

[Prem Kumar]

If you arent doing so already, plz follow Rajiv Malhotra on Twitter. He isnt an organization but has been on the forefront in the intellectual fight against Christianity & the Western worldview. Organizations like HAF are doing their part by fighting for a fair portrayal of Hinduism in U.S textbooks. I am also starting to see some mainstreaming of ideas amongst Indians in the U.S about how Christianity is trying to digest Yoga. Saw a recent talk about this at the nearby temple

[ramana]

Was the talk by a visitor from desh?

[Prem Kumar]

I think it was someone in the U.S. But the agenda was specifically about how West/Christianity is trying to appropriate Yoga by severing its relationship to India's past, trying to make Patanjali look not as important etc. The speaker's objective was to present facts about Yoga's connection to India, Patanjali & how to counter the false propaganda. Unfortunately, I couldnt attend the talk (I read about it after the fact). But was happy to see these issues being discussed by people other than Rajiv Malhotra.

[anmol]

[Philip]

How times have changed,if of all institutions the WPR boycotts Swami Vivekananda and his universal message of peace! The DC has a weekly page on him,which is a delight to read.The last one was his discourse on "love".It looks like there's little love left in the WPR if they give in to Islamist hate groups.

[Agnimitra]

Philip, the discourse of "Interfaith dialogue" and fora like WPR in the US have been subverted by Islamists for "interfaith diplomacy". It is taqiyyah pure and simple. I have mingled with one such Islamist group that regularly conducts "interfaith dinners" and "talks" with invitees ranging from senators to professors. But in their private Islamic study groups they openly berate Christianity and Judaism and hope for the takeover of the US by Islam. They swear by an interpretation of the first chapter of the Qur'an, that the Christians are being referred to by the phrase "those who have gone astray" and the Jews by the phrase "those who incur the wrath of Allah". Yet, their interfaith partners from Catholic, Christian and even Jewish organizations (and certainly the idiot senators and other politicians) are hardly aware of this, and are enamored of the suited and booted Westernized look, middle-eastern food and hospitality, and interfaith "sufi" gestures.

[Bade]

Contrast this with a recent visit by Bolden to ISRO facilities and increasing collaboration between India and the US in space sciences.

The restriction is based on a law passed in 2011 and signed by President Barack Obama that prevents NASA funds from being used to collaborate with China or host Chinese visitors at US space agency facilities.

"I have ordered a complete review of the access which foreign nationals from designated countries are granted at NASA facilities," Bolden told lawmakers.

"I have ordered a moratorium on granting any new access to NASA facilities to individuals from specific designated countries, specifically China, Burma, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan."

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new ... 742592.cms

[member_19686]

I think it was someone in the U.S. But the agenda was specifically about how West/Christianity is trying to appropriate Yoga by severing its relationship to India's past, trying to make Patanjali look not as important etc. The speaker's objective was to present facts about Yoga's connection to India, Patanjali & how to counter the false propaganda. Unfortunately, I couldnt attend the talk (I read about it after the fact). But was happy to see these issues being discussed by people other than Rajiv Malhotra.

I presume you are talking about this talk?



His blog:

http://bharatendu.com/

[Philip]

Mass spying: how the US stamps its supremacy on the Pacific region

The US is keen to convince its Pacific friends to fear a spy-friendly Beijing. The irony? Washington’s spying network is far more widespread than anything coming from the Chinese

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... ific-prism

Antony Loewenstein
theguardian.com, Wednesday 9 October 2013

NSA Prism illustration 'We still don’t know the exact extent of intelligence sharing between Australia and the US, except it’s very close and guaranteed to continue'. Photograph: Pawel Kopczynski/Reuters

What if China was beating the US at its own super-power game in the Pacific and we didn’t even notice?

While Washington distracts itself with shutdown shenanigans and failed attempts to control the situation in the Middle East, president Obama’s “pivot to Asia” looks increasingly shaky. Beijing is quietly filling the gap, signing multi-billion dollar trade deals with Indonesia and calling for a regional infrastructure bank.

Meanwhile in recent years, New Zealand has been feeling some of the US's attention, and conservative prime minister John Key is more than happy to shift his country’s traditional skepticism towards Washington into a much friendlier embrace. Canberra is watching approvingly. It’s almost impossible to recall a critical comment by leaders of either country towards global US surveillance. We are like obedient school children, scared that the bully won’t like us if we dare push back and argue harder for our own national interests.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), warmly backed by Australian prime minister Tony Abbott and New Zealand, is just the latest example of US client states allowing US multinationals far too much influence in their markets in a futile attempt to challenge ever-increasing Chinese business ties in Asia. German-born, New Zealand resident and internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom tweeted this week:

This erosion of sovereignty goes to the heart with what’s wrong with today’s secretive and unaccountable arrangements between nations desperate to remain under the US's security blanket, and New Zealand provides an intriguing case-study in how not to behave, including using US spy services to monitor the phone calls of Kiwi journalist Jon Stephenson and his colleagues while reporting the war in Afghanistan.

There’s no indication that Australia isn’t following exactly the same path, with new evidence that Australia knew about the US spying network Prism long before it was made public. We still don’t know the exact extent of intelligence sharing between Australia and the US, except it’s very close and guaranteed to continue. Frustratingly, the "Five Eyes" relationship between English-speaking democracies has only been seriously discussed publicly in the last years by Greens senator Scott Ludlam.

New Zealand is a close Australian neighbour, but news from there rarely enters our media. This is a shame because we can learn a lot from the scandal surrounding the illegal monitoring of Dotcom and the public outcry which followed, something missing in Australia after countless post-Snowden stories detailing corporate and government spying on all citizens.

Dotcom is the founder of Megaupload (today called Mega), a file sharing website that incurred the wrath of US authorities. Washington wanted to punish him but Dotcom obtained New Zealand residency in late 2010, bringing a close US ally into the mix. Intelligence matters usually remain top-secret, leading New Zealand journalist Nicky Hager tells me, but this case was different, blowing open the illegal spying on Dotcom. His lawyers scrutinised all the police warrants after the FBI-requested raid on his house. The government communications security bureau (GCSB) has always claimed it never monitored New Zealand citizens; Dotcom soon discovered this was false. Public outrage followed, and an investigation revealed many other cases of GCSB over-reach since 2003. Prime minister Key responded by simply changing legislation to allow spying on residents.

Hager explained to me what his investigations uncovered:

With Dotcom, GCSB helped the police by monitoring Dotcom's e-mail. What this largely or entirely meant in practice was that the GCSB sent a request through to the NSA to do the monitoring for them and received the results back. This means that the NSA used either wide internet surveillance (essentially "Echelon for the Internet") or else requests to the internet companies (Gmail etc) directly, ie the Prism type operations. It's not clear which it was.

The Key government now wants to increase its monitoring capabilities even more, and New Zealanders are showing concern.

I spoke at a public meeting in Auckland's town hall before the GCSB bill was passed. It was the biggest political meeting I can remember attending, with three levels of the large town hall completely full, and hundreds of people turned away. It's been a big thing here, becoming one of those issues that is a lightning rod for general unhappiness with the government.

New Zealand journalist Martin Bradbury has also been a vocal critic of the Dotcom case. He’s pushing for a New Zealand digital bill of rights and tells me that “the case against Dotcom is more about the US stamping their supremacy onto the Pacific by expressing US jurisdiction extends not just into New Zealand domestically, but also into cyberspace itself.”

I talked to one of Dotcom’s lawyers, Ira P Rothken, who went further:

The US government’s attack against Megaupload bears all the hallmarks of a political prosecution in favour of Hollywood copyright extremists. The US used its influence with New Zealand to unleash a military style raid on Dotcom's family, to spy on him, and to remove his data from New Zealand without authorisation – all of which has been found to be illegal. Megaupload and Kim Dotcom are today’s targets, but the US crosshairs can just as easily be trained on anybody globally who dares challenge or inconvenience a special interest that holds sway in Washington, and the US – with its notoriously insatiable appetite for demonstrating political and global power – seems all too willing to cooperate.

This brings us back to China and the US’s attempts to convince its Pacific friends to fear a belligerent and spying Beijing. The irony isn’t lost on the informed who realise Washington’s global spying network is far more pernicious and widespread than anything the Obama administration and corporate media tell us is coming from the Chinese.

Neither China nor the US are benign in the spying stakes. Both are guilty of aggressively pursuing their interests without informing their citizens of their rights and actions. Australia and New Zealand are weak players in an increasingly hostile battle between two super-powers, and many other nations in our region are being seduced by the soft power of Beijing (including Papua New Guinea, partly due to its vast resource wealth).

A lack of transparency abounds. What is desperately needed is an adversarial press determined to demand answers about Australia’s intelligence relationship with the US – and whether all citizens should now presume they’re being monitored on a daily basis.

PS:The "Five Eyes" club of English speaking "democracies".The US,UK,Canada,Oz and NZ.

[ramana]

Surasena, Please tell Mr. Tiwari I was not in station and didnt have notice of his speech in Bay Area.

Maybe next time in desh in patnam.


Thanks,

ramana

[Philip]

AgniM.Yes,I've been reading an analysis where such groups are taught (from verses) how to lie and deceive the rest in pursuing their ultimate goal of global conversion/dominance,sanctioned by their most revered teacher himself.It puts a different perspective on the genuineness of the institutions that allow such groups to flourish.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/o ... navy-seals

How the US raid on al-Shabaab in Somalia went wrong
Navy seals launched a daring night-time raid in Barawe, but were forced to retreat an hour later without their target – why?

Abdalle Ahmed in Mogadishu, Spencer Ackerman in Washington and David Smith in Johannesburg
theguardian.com, Wednesday 9 October 2013 13.35 BST

Al-Shabaab fighters in Somalia. The raid in Barawe aimed to capture Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, a senior commander. Photograph: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

As a mother of young children, Fadumo Sheikh is used to rising early. Last Saturday she was due to prepare their breakfasts before they went to the local madrasa. But the day started earlier than ever when, at around 2am, she was woken by the sound of sporadic gunfire.

Within sight of Sheikh's home in Barawe, Somalia, crack American navy Seals had launched a lightning amphibious assault on the Islamist militant group al-Shabaab. Less an hour later they would be forced to retreat, their mission far from accomplished. Based on interviews with witnesses and members of al-Shabaab, as well as official statements and media reports, the Guardian can present the most comprehensive picture yet of the daring pre-dawn raid – and where it went wrong.

The Americans' target was an innocuous two-storey beachside house in Barawe, a fishing town of about 200,000 people that was a crucial slave trade port in the colonial era. In particular, they had planned the delicate operation of capturing, not killing, Abdulkadir Mohamed Abdulkadir, a Kenyan of Somali origin and senior commander of al-Shabaab who was linked to a number of terrorist plots.

The house, about 200 metres from the sea on the town's east side, is understood to be used by foreign extremists who have gone to Somalia to take up al-Shabaab's cause. The group's presence there was not news to Sheikh.

"I live in a house near the beach and I used to see the house every day. There were so many al-Shabaab fighters entering and coming out," she said. "I usually see them going back and forth but I had never thought that so important a person was living inside the house."

Early morning gunfire was unusual, Sheikh continued, except when al-Shabaab was conducting training exercises. "I raised my ears and I continued to hear the gunfire growing. I had no feeling or thought of such an attack from the Americans. I looked at my watch about 30 minutes later and heard one explosion and then, a few minutes later, another explosion occurred, like boom!"

What had been invisible to Sheikh and other residents of Barawe was the stealthy advance of navy Seal team six – the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan – in a speedboat towards the Somalian coastline before first light. The team consisted of about 20 Seals, according to leaked accounts, and their craft was flanked on the Indian Ocean by three small boats to provide back-up.
'They looked like three big cows'

The Seals swept ashore, but not everyone in Barawe was asleep in those chilly early morning hours. Abdurahman Yarow, a longtime resident of the town, recalled: "I was wrapping my turban on my neck and head to protect against the cold and heading to the mosque. When I had nearly entered it, I heard a sound behind me. I saw what looked like three big cows going towards the north of the mosque – it was dark so I could not identify well what they were.

"After only 10 minutes I heard the first guns – that is, when the gun battle occurred between al-Shabaab fighters in the house and the US forces. I now understand the big cows I saw in the night were the American special forces with their military bags on their backs going in the direction of the house they targeted."

The Seals took up positions inside the house's compound, according to a report by NBC, which continued: "Then a lone al-Shabaab fighter walked out into plain view, smoked a cigarette, and went back inside, one source familiar with the details of the raid said. The fighter played it cool, and gave no indication that he had spotted the Seals. But he came back out shooting, firing rounds from an AK-47 assault rifle."
Barawe map

The element of surprise had been lost and al-Shabaab's fighters unleashed gunfire and grenades in a cacophony that rang out across the town, murdering sleep before dawn prayers. But the Americans continued on the offensive, according to an elder who did not wish to be named. "The attackers from the US divided into two groups," he said. "Group one, comprising six men, stormed the house and began shooting the people inside it, while group two, also of at least six men, were staying outside the house. The worst shooting took place inside where one al-Shabaab fighter was killed. Al-Shabaab had more fighters inside and they fought extremely hard against the Americans."

The elder continued: "The Americans tried to enter room by room into the house to start searching for the big fish but al-Shabaab got reinforcing fighters from other houses and then the situation deteriorated until the Americans retreated."

According to the NBC account, several Seals could see Abdulkadir through windows but he was heavily protected; according to al-Shabaab, he was not in the building. While Pentagon officials have been reluctant to provide a full narrative, they have said US forces retreated from the gun battle out of a concern for potential civilian casualties. Details leaked to the press suggest that the compound contained far more women and children than the Seals expected.

The commandos returned to their boat, grateful for having suffered no casualties, and finally there was calm. Sheikh recalled: "At 3am the call for prayer started, and all the gunfire stopped. A neighbour called me on the phone and said there is an attack against the mujahideen. When it became safe enough to see everything outside, I came out to look around. Outside the house which came under attack there were some fighters of al-Shabaab and some residents come to witness the incident.
Members of al-Shabaab, which was reportedly targeted in a foreign military raid on the Somali coast Members of al-Shabaab, targeted in a failed US military raid on the Somali coast. Photograph: Feisal Omar/Reuters

"These al-Shabaab fighters were not talking to the people. Some of them were masked and you could not see their faces. I saw one dead man and he was loaded into a car for burial. They were saying 'the martyr', which is the only word that you can understand for an al-Shabaab member who's been killed."

The dead man was Abdulkadir's bodyguard, according to one source in the town. On Tuesday, the Somali defence minister, Abdihakim Haji Mohamud Fiqi, claimed two al-Shabaab members had been killed: "We have found that two senior commanders – one of them foreign – were killed in the attack despite the top target not being found." A UN official in Somalia also said two al-Shabaab figures had been killed: one Sudanese man and another of Somali and Swedish origin.

Sheikh continued: "There were more fighters and supporters of al-Shabaab coming to the house in the morning; they were vowing that they will kill anyone who is found working with the non-believers.

"On the beach, the residents were looking at items left by US forces. I saw a grey military bullet-proof jacket. There was also blood scattered on the ground. There were military boots on the ground which we suspect were those of the Americans."
Local backlash

In the aftermath of the US assault, al-Shabaab deployed more heavily armed fighters to patrol the streets of Barawe, while also posting men and anti-aircraft weapons on the beach. There was also a local backlash with a hunt for suspected informants who helped US intelligence locate the house. A man who frequently used the local internet café was arrested on Sunday and is still being held.

Al-Shabaab took control of Barawe in 2008 and it became a refuge for its senior figures after they lost control of the capital, Mogadishu, and other towns in 2011. These have included the leader Ahmed Godane, who has been described as Africa's most wanted man after the Westgate mall bombing in Nairobi; Omar Hammami, the so-called "jihadist rapper" from Alabama killed last month after falling out with Godane; and Abdulkadir himself.
A destroyed section of the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya A destroyed section of the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, an attack blamed on al-Shabaab. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Barawe is about 135 miles (218km) from Mogadishu. The nearest town where government and African Union forces have control is Shalanbood, only 68 miles (110km) away. To the east is the Ambaresa training camp for al-Shabaab's foreign fighters. Forced marriage is common in Barawe: when al-Shabaab commanders including foreign fighters come for their daughter, few parents can say no, even if the girl is underage.

The events of Saturday 5 October could boost al-Shabaab's confidence in its defences but also give it notice that the world's most powerful military is ready to bring the battle to its doorstep. Speaking at a mosque in Barawe on Monday night, al-Shabaab's military operations spokesman Sheikh Abiasis Abu Mus'ab said: "Western countries … have to bear in mind we know that we are your target, but we will not be caught off guard.

"We know you are sharpening your knives to cut our heads off. We know our enemies. We will not oversleep so you can attack us at once. We are always vigilant and your cowardly attacks will end in failure."

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, who studies Somalia and al-Shabaab at the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, described Barawe as "right now the strongest area of sanctuary" for the militant group. He said it was likely that al-Shabaab expected something like a foreign raid after it perpetrated the attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall.

Gartenstein-Ross said the probable immediate response by al-Shabaab would centre around strengthening its internal security and grip on Barawe, rather than launching another terror attack.

"The raid has made them very nervous," he added. "In Barawe it's already been reported that al-Shabaab has implemented curfews. There will be an uptick in operational security and they will certainly use the way they repulsed this attack by navy Seals as a propaganda piece."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks to the traveling press about the U.S. government shutdown, at his hotel in Seoul, South Korea, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel speaks to the press in Seoul. Photograph: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

But the US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, said the operation in Somalia, along with a near-simultaneous one in Libya, demonstrated the "unparalleled precision, global reach and capabilities" of US counter-terrorism. "These operations in Libya and Somalia send a strong message to the world that the United States will spare no effort to hold terrorists accountable, no matter where they hide or how long they evade justice," Hagel said.

Pentagon spokesman George Little suggested that more special operations raids against al-Shabaab were yet to come. "Working in partnership with the government of the Federal Republic of Somalia, the United States military will continue to confront the threat posed by al-Shabaab," Little said in a statement on Monday. "The United States military has unmatched capabilities and could rely on any of them to disrupt terrorist networks and plots."

[anmol]

Is red state America seceding?
wnd.com | Nov 30th -0001

In the last decade of the 20th century, as the Soviet Empire disintegrated, so, too, did that prison house of nations, the USSR.

Out of the decomposing carcass came Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Moldova, all in Europe; Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus; and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

Transnistria then broke free of Moldova, and Abkhazia and South Ossetia fought free of Georgia.

Yugoslavia dissolved far more violently into the nations of Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Kosovo.

The Slovaks seceded from Czechoslovakia. Yet a Europe that plunged straight to war after the last breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939 this time only yawned. Let them go, all agreed.

The spirit of secession, the desire of peoples to sever ties to nations to which they have belonged for generations, sometimes for centuries, and to seek out their own kind, is a spreading phenomenon.

Scotland is moving toward a referendum on independence from England, three centuries after the Acts of Union. Catalonia pushes to be free of Madrid. Milanese and Venetians see themselves as a European people apart from Sicilians, Neapolitans and Romans.

Dutch-speaking Flanders wants to cut loose of French-speaking Wallonia in Belgium. Francophone Quebec, with immigrants from Asia and the Third World tilting the balance in favor of union, appears to have lost its historic moment to secede from Canada.

What are the forces pulling nations apart? Ethnicity, culture, history and language – but now also economics. And separatist and secessionist movements are cropping up here in the United States.

While many red state Americans are moving away from blue state America, seeking kindred souls among whom to live, those who love where they live but not those who rule them are seeking to secede.

The five counties of western Maryland – Garrett, Allegheny, Washington, Frederick and Carroll, which have more in common with West Virginia and wish to be rid of Baltimore and free of Annapolis, are talking secession.

The issues driving secession in Maryland are gun control, high taxes, energy policy, homosexual marriage and immigration.

Order Pat Buchanan’s brilliant and prescient books at WND’s Superstore.

Scott Strzelczyk, who lives in the town of Windsor in Carroll County and leads the Western Maryland Initiative, argues: “If you have a long list of grievances, and it’s been going on for decades, and you can’t get it resolved, ultimately [secession] is what you have to do.”

And there is precedent. Four of our 50 states – Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, West Virginia – were born out of other states.

Ten northern counties of Colorado are this November holding non-binding referenda to prepare a future secession from Denver and the creation of America’s 51st state.

Nine of the 10 Colorado counties talking secession and a new state, writes Reid Wilson of the Washington Post – Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, Weld and Yuma – all gave more than 62 percent of their votes to Mitt Romney. Five of these 10 counties gave Romney more than 75 percent of their vote.

Their issues with the Denver legislature: A new gun control law that triggered a voter recall of two Democratic state senators, state restrictions on oil exploration and the Colorado legislature’s party-line vote in support of gay marriage.

Scott Strzelczyk of the Western Maryland Initiative talks about seceding from the rest of the state.

In California, which many have long believed should be split in two, the northern counties of Modoc and Siskiyou on the Oregon border are talking secession – and then union in a new state called Jefferson.

“California is essentially ungovernable in its present size,” says Mark Baird of the Jefferson Declaration Committee. Baird hopes to attract a dozen counties to join together before petitioning the state to secede.

Like the western Maryland and northern Colorado counties, the northern California counties are conservative, small town, rural and have little in common with San Francisco or Los Angeles, or Sacramento, where Republicans hold not one statewide office and are outnumbered better than 2-1 in both houses of the state legislature.

Folks on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, bordered by Wisconsin and the Great Lakes, which is connected to lower Michigan by a bridge, have long dreamed of a separate state called Superior. The UP has little in common with Lansing and nothing with Detroit.

While the folks in western Maryland, northern Colorado, northern California and on the Upper Peninsula might be described as red state secessionists, in Vermont the secessionists seem of the populist left. The Montpelier Manifesto of the Second Vermont Republic concludes:

“Citizens, lend your names to this manifesto and join in the honorable task of rejecting the immoral, corrupt, decaying, dying, failing American Empire and seeking its rapid and peaceful dissolution before it takes us all down with it.”

This sort of intemperate language may be found in Thomas Jefferson’s indictment of George III. If America does not get its fiscal house in order, and another Great Recession hits or our elites dragoon us into another imperial war, we will likely hear more of such talk.

[Sagar G]

In other news Mr. Mouth Platitudes (Ashton Carter) is quitting on this dec.4

[Rony]

Is red state America seceding?

The comments to that article are more revealing and interesting.This should go into Understanding US Thread

[NRao]

In other news Mr. Mouth Platitudes (Ashton Carter) is quitting on this dec.4

Bound to have happened. Could be a blow to India. With Kerry in the sd and haggle in dd, this is not what India needed.

Expect him to lead the dd IF Clinton decides to stand and is elected.

[akashganga]

Is red state America seceding?
wnd.com | Nov 30th -0001

....
....

The five counties of western Maryland – Garrett, Allegheny, Washington, Frederick and Carroll, which have more in common with West Virginia and wish to be rid of Baltimore and free of Annapolis, are talking secession.

The issues driving secession in Maryland are gun control, high taxes, energy policy, homosexual marriage and immigration.

Order Pat Buchanan’s brilliant and prescient books at WND’s Superstore.

Scott Strzelczyk, who lives in the town of Windsor in Carroll County and leads the Western Maryland Initiative, argues: “If you have a long list of grievances, and it’s been going on for decades, and you can’t get it resolved, ultimately [secession] is what you have to do.”

And there is precedent. Four of our 50 states – Maine, Vermont, Kentucky, West Virginia – were born out of other states.

Ten northern counties of Colorado are this November holding non-binding referenda to prepare a future secession from Denver and the creation of America’s 51st state.

Nine of the 10 Colorado counties talking secession and a new state, writes Reid Wilson of the Washington Post – Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, Weld and Yuma – all gave more than 62 percent of their votes to Mitt Romney. Five of these 10 counties gave Romney more than 75 percent of their vote.

.....
.....

All the red state breaking up in US even if they happen will not have any significant impact to the US empire as they are all by white majority. Wait for a generation or two and you will start seeing majority spanish speaking latin american populations forming new states. That is when separatism will start biting the US empire. There is a dormant anger amongst the spanish speaking converts of latin america against english speaking anglos as they feel they were routed for world dominance by english language speaking whites. After few generations when spanish speaking latin population of the US becomes 40% or more with their high birth rates and illegal migrations the dormant volcano will explode. My 2 cents.

[NRao]

Wait for a generation or two and you will start seeing majority spanish speaking latin american populations forming new states

(Not that this is "India-US strategic News" - like most posts in this thread.)

Errr.....

Some 10 years ago that is what I thought too (told my kids to be fluent in Spanish).

The fact of the matter - per latest - is that the 2ng gen Latinos are moving to English. So, even Miami, where I was asked for my passport (as a joke), as the older generations say bye, is moving, very, very slowly, to English. So is Texas.

And, just as a reminder, THAT is exactly what the Chinese have been saying about India too. That India will fragment. Let us see what happens in AP/Telengana next.

[Sagar G]

In other news Mr. Mouth Platitudes (Ashton Carter) is quitting on this dec.4

Bound to have happened. Could be a blow to India. With Kerry in the sd and haggle in dd, this is not what India needed.

Expect him to lead the dd IF Clinton decides to stand and is elected.

No "blow" to India I can assure you that. Indian development of technology doesn't depend upon the meherbaanis of US. Since they failed to stop us even after their best of efforts hence this nautanki of bhaichaara. Whatever technology they deny us is either in development or will be developed eventually by India.

[akashganga]

Wait for a generation or two and you will start seeing majority spanish speaking latin american populations forming new states

(Not that this is "India-US strategic News" - like most posts in this thread.)

Errr.....

Some 10 years ago that is what I thought too (told my kids to be fluent in Spanish).

The fact of the matter - per latest - is that the 2ng gen Latinos are moving to English. So, even Miami, where I was asked for my passport (as a joke), as the older generations say bye, is moving, very, very slowly, to English. So is Texas.

And, just as a reminder, THAT is exactly what the Chinese have been saying about India too. That India will fragment. Let us see what happens in AP/Telengana next.

Yes the second generation latios speak english. That is because they have to survive. If you scratch the surface they are essentially spanish speaking in my opinion. This trend will continue for generations. They will not merge into english speaking society like the anglos did when they came to US from their motherlands in europe.

As for AP/Telengana, I can tell you one thing. There have been break up of states before uttranchal,jhakand, chatisgarh,etc. Overwhelming majority of hindus, buddists, sikhs, jains, and athiests in India want a united India. Only minority among muslism, and christians (Goa, and some north east) want separate country as they see themselves as legacy of islamic rule or british (christian) rule and not part of indic/dharmic civilizations. My 2 cents.

[arun]

X Posted with a hat tip to Pushkar Bhat from the Indian Naval Discussion thread.

Our Coast Guard detains US owned vessel sailing under a Sierra Leone flag of convenience holding 25 armed crewmen in “possession of sophisticated arms and ammunition, which included semi-automatic weapons and self-loading rifles” :

Ship with armed guards detained in Indian waters

[Philip]

Hilarious! Snowden gets kudos from US ex-intel officers.

http://www.euronews.com/2013/10/13/whis ... -officers/

Whistleblower Snowden rewarded by ex-US intelligence officers

US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has received an “Integrity in Intelligence” award from a group of former US intelligence officers critical of government surveillance programmes.

A video showing him receiving the award purports to be the first time Snowden has been seen in front of cameras since he was granted temporary asylum in Russia.

Growing backlash to government surveillance

By Martha Mendoza Associated Press Sat Oct 12, 2013
http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/ ... gency.html

SAN JOSE, California — From Silicon Valley to the South Pacific, counterattacks to revelations of widespread National Security Agency surveillance are taking shape, from a surge of new encrypted email programs to technology that sprinkles the Internet with red flag terms to confuse would-be snoops.

Policy makers, privacy advocates and political leaders around the world have been outraged at the near weekly disclosures from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden that expose sweeping U.S. government surveillance programs.

“Until this summer, people didn’t know anything about the NSA,” said Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University co-director Amy Zegart. “Their own secrecy has come back to bite them.”

Activists are fighting back with high-tech civil disobedience, entrepreneurs want to cash in on privacy concerns, Internet users want to keep snoops out of their computers and lawmakers want to establish stricter parameters.

Some of the tactics are more effective than others. For example, Flagger, a program that adds words like “blow up” and “pressure cooker” to web addresses that users visit, is probably more of a political statement than actually confounding intelligence agents.

Developer Jeff Lyon in Santa Clara, California, said he’s delighted if it generates social awareness, and that 2,000 users have installed it to date. He said, “The goal here is to get a critical mass of people flooding the Internet with noise and make a statement of civil disobedience.”

University of Auckland associate professor Gehan Gunasekara said he’s received “overwhelming support” for his proposal to “lead the spooks in a merry dance,” visiting radical websites, setting up multiple online identities and making up hypothetical “friends.”

And “pretty soon everyone in New Zealand will have to be under surveillance,” he said.

Electronic Frontier Foundation activist Parker Higgens in San Francisco has a more direct strategy: by using encrypted email and browsers, he creates more smoke screens for the NSA. “Encryption loses its’ value as an indicator of possible malfeasance if everyone is using it,” he said.

And there are now plenty of encryption programs, many new, and of varying quality.

“This whole field has been made exponentially more mainstream,” said Cryptocat private instant messaging developer Nadim Kobeissi.

This week, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University released a smartphone app called SafeSlinger they say encrypts text messages so they cannot be read by cell carriers, Internet providers, employers “or anyone else.”

CryptoParties are springing up around the world as well. They are small gatherings where hosts teach attendees, who bring their digital devices, how to download and use encrypted email and secure Internet browsers.

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you are doing, if the NSA wants to find information, they will,” said organizer Joshua Smith. “But we don’t have to make it easy for them.”

Apparently plenty agree, as encryption providers have seen a surge in interest.


SAN JOSE, California — From Silicon Valley to the South Pacific, counterattacks to revelations of widespread National Security Agency surveillance are taking shape, from a surge of new encrypted email programs to technology that sprinkles the Internet with red flag terms to confuse would-be snoops.

Policy makers, privacy advocates and political leaders around the world have been outraged at the near weekly disclosures from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden that expose sweeping U.S. government surveillance programs.

“Until this summer, people didn’t know anything about the NSA,” said Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University co-director Amy Zegart. “Their own secrecy has come back to bite them.”

Activists are fighting back with high-tech civil disobedience, entrepreneurs want to cash in on privacy concerns, Internet users want to keep snoops out of their computers and lawmakers want to establish stricter parameters.

Some of the tactics are more effective than others. For example, Flagger, a program that adds words like “blow up” and “pressure cooker” to web addresses that users visit, is probably more of a political statement than actually confounding intelligence agents.

Developer Jeff Lyon in Santa Clara, California, said he’s delighted if it generates social awareness, and that 2,000 users have installed it to date. He said, “The goal here is to get a critical mass of people flooding the Internet with noise and make a statement of civil disobedience.”

University of Auckland associate professor Gehan Gunasekara said he’s received “overwhelming support” for his proposal to “lead the spooks in a merry dance,” visiting radical websites, setting up multiple online identities and making up hypothetical “friends.”

And “pretty soon everyone in New Zealand will have to be under surveillance,” he said.

Electronic Frontier Foundation activist Parker Higgens in San Francisco has a more direct strategy: by using encrypted email and browsers, he creates more smoke screens for the NSA. “Encryption loses its’ value as an indicator of possible malfeasance if everyone is using it,” he said.

And there are now plenty of encryption programs, many new, and of varying quality.

“This whole field has been made exponentially more mainstream,” said Cryptocat private instant messaging developer Nadim Kobeissi.

This week, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University released a smartphone app called SafeSlinger they say encrypts text messages so they cannot be read by cell carriers, Internet providers, employers “or anyone else.”

CryptoParties are springing up around the world as well. They are small gatherings where hosts teach attendees, who bring their digital devices, how to download and use encrypted email and secure Internet browsers.

“Honestly, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you are doing, if the NSA wants to find information, they will,” said organizer Joshua Smith. “But we don’t have to make it easy for them.”

Apparently plenty agree, as encryption providers have seen a surge in interest.

Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, a free encryption service was being loaded about 600 times a day in the month before Snowden’s revelations broke. Two months later, that had more than doubled to 1,380, according to a running tally maintained by programmer Kristian Fiskerstrand.

Andrew Lewman, executive director of TOR, short for The Onion Router, said they don’t track downloads of their program that helps make online traffic anonymous by bouncing it through a convoluted network of routers to protect the privacy of their users.

But, Lewman said, they have seen an uptick.

“Our web servers seem more busy than normal,” he said.

Berlin-based email provider Posteo claims to have seen a 150 percent surge in paid subscribers due to the “Snowden effect.”

Posteo demands no personal information, doesn’t store metadata, ensures server-to-server encryption of messages and even allows customers to pay anonymously — cash in brown envelopes-style.

CEO Patrick Loehr, who responded to The Associated Press by encrypted email, said that subscriptions to the 1 euro ($1.36) per month program rose to 25,000 in the past four months. The company is hoping to offer an English-language service next year.

Federation of American Scientists secrecy expert Steven Aftergood said it is crucial now for policymakers to clearly define limits.

“Are we setting ourselves up for a total surveillance system that may be beyond the possibility of reversal once it is in place?” he asked. “We may be on a road where we don’t want to go. I think people are correct to raise an alarm now and not when we’re facing a fait accompli.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, who introduced a bipartisan package of proposals to reform the surveillance programs last month, told a Cato Institute gathering Thursday that key parts of the debate are unfolding now.

“It’s going to take a groundswell of support from lots of Americans across the political spectrum,” he said, “communicating that business as usual is no longer OK, and they won’t buy the argument that liberty and security are mutually exclusive.”
or PGP, a free encryption service was being loaded about 600 times a day in the month before Snowden’s revelations broke. Two months later, that had more than doubled to 1,380, according to a running tally maintained by programmer Kristian Fiskerstrand.

Andrew Lewman, executive director of TOR, short for The Onion Router, said they don’t track downloads of their program that helps make online traffic anonymous by bouncing it through a convoluted network of routers to protect the privacy of their users.

But, Lewman said, they have seen an uptick.

“Our web servers seem more busy than normal,” he said.

Berlin-based email provider Posteo claims to have seen a 150 percent surge in paid subscribers due to the “Snowden effect.”

Posteo demands no personal information, doesn’t store metadata, ensures server-to-server encryption of messages and even allows customers to pay anonymously — cash in brown envelopes-style.

CEO Patrick Loehr, who responded to The Associated Press by encrypted email, said that subscriptions to the 1 euro ($1.36) per month program rose to 25,000 in the past four months. The company is hoping to offer an English-language service next year.

Federation of American Scientists secrecy expert Steven Aftergood said it is crucial now for policymakers to clearly define limits.

“Are we setting ourselves up for a total surveillance system that may be beyond the possibility of reversal once it is in place?” he asked. “We may be on a road where we don’t want to go. I think people are correct to raise an alarm now and not when we’re facing a fait accompli.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, who introduced a bipartisan package of proposals to reform the surveillance programs last month, told a Cato Institute gathering Thursday that key parts of the debate are unfolding now.

“It’s going to take a groundswell of support from lots of Americans across the political spectrum,” he said, “communicating that business as usual is no longer OK, and they won’t buy the argument that liberty and security are mutually exclusive.”

[SaiK]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/c ... epage=true “We want a detailed report. It is a serious matter as the ship was carrying arms and bought diesel in India illegally,”

[akashganga]

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/10/11/ ... all_street

Today is columbus day in the US. Watch this to see what Columbus did to native people of americas. Columbus and his harsh brand of catholism wiped out completely native religions, destroyed their places of worship, and almost wiped out their culture and population. This is a forgotten history nobody even acknowledges. Even now soft power is used to make sure the native religions of americas are not revived as hard power is no longer an option.

[KrishnaK]

No "blow" to India I can assure you that. Indian development of technology doesn't depend upon the meherbaanis of US. Since they failed to stop us even after their best of efforts hence this nautanki of bhaichaara. Whatever technology they deny us is either in development or will be developed eventually by India.

Sorry to poke your EH AND DEE, but it does. If the US wanted to, an embargo as tight as the one around China will have been up by now.

[Raja Bose]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/sport ... .html?_r=0
Technology Firm From India Will Be New York Marathon Title Sponsor

The San Francisco Marathon is sponsored by Wipro.

[SaiK]

^are you running?

[Raja Bose]

^^Hain? Its over already....perhaps next year for the first half.

[NRao]

Ashton Carter quits, blow to US-India defence ties

Perhaps Michele Flournoy would be a good substitute.