Google NSA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement

[Guest RT]

Google's alliance with the NSA -- the intelligence agency is the world's most powerful electronic surveillance organization -- would be aimed at letting them share critical information without violating Google's policies or laws that protect the privacy of online communications.

"NSA is not able to comment on specific relationships we may or may not have with U.S. companies," the agency said in a statement.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a Freedom of Information Act request on Thursday, shortly after the agreement was made public, seeking more information about the arrangement (.pdf).

Executive Director Marc Rotenberg believes the agreement covers much more than the Google hack and that the search giant and intelligence agency were in talks prior to Google discovering that it had been hacked.

Google declined to comment.

[Guest Human]

Yeap! I read that article. It's very interesting stuff out there. That's why I use the screen name "Human", as well as others. It's a universal name for someone looking in a search engine.

 

Google is word specific. I know what the strengths and weaknesses of the search engines, but I won’t get into that.

[Guest Teri]

Why does Google want to track me?

[Guest Human]

Mostly for business, they can target ads to your specific searches. Don't worry, it's nothing. Anyways there is over 500 major search engines out there for the united states alone.

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Why does Google want to track me?

[Guest Saint Aubin]

Mostly for business, they can target ads to your specific searches. Don't worry, it's nothing. Anyways there is over 500 major search engines out there for the united states alone.

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I know I am being shortsighted by even uttering this (but maybe not) but I could not give a flying rat's behind if Google tracks me for business purposes: in fact, I'd prefer it.

Where can I get good weed?

Where can I find a doctor who will write me an Rx?

Where is a good place to get a mortgage?

Where can I find a good dentist who won't hurt me when s/he drills?

 

I want answers Google!!!

[Guest Human]

When I posted in another post that chinas golden fire wall was not limited to just china, but also here in the U.S., I was not kidding around.

 

It really does work both ways plus it also shows who is watching whom.

 

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I know I am being shortsighted by even uttering this (but maybe not) but I could not give a flying rat's behind if Google tracks me for business purposes: in fact, I'd prefer it.

Where can I get good weed?

Where can I find a doctor who will write me an Rx?

Where is a good place to get a mortgage?

Where can I find a good dentist who won't hurt me when s/he drills?

 

I want answers Google!!!

[Guest BGR]

 

The "Protect America Act" of 2006 which authorized the US military to take over local -domestic- governments "as necessary".

[Guest EFF]

All Google wants to do is track, track, track. Google's new Google Book Search Project has the ability to track reading habits at an unprecedented level of granularity. In particular, according to the proposed Google Books Privacy Policy, web servers will automatically "log" each book and page you searched for and read, how long you viewed it for, and what book or page you continued onto next:

 

When you use Google Books, we receive log information similar to what we receive in Web Search. This includes: the query term or page request (which may include specific pages within a book you are browsing), Internet Protocol address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and one or more cookies that may uniquely identify your browser.

 

In addition, because users must have a Google Account in order to purchase and view books, Google maintains a dossier, via its Web History service, of all books purchased unless the user gives up the right to view a book he or she already "bought."

[Guest anothervoice]

What scares me is Google CEO Eric Schmidt's response to concerns about search engine users' privacy. When asked during an interview for CNBC's recent "Inside the Mind of Google" special about whether users should be sharing information with Google as if it were a "trusted friend," Schmidt responded, "If you have something that you don't want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn't be doing it in the first place."

[Guest PBS Watcher]

Former AT&T technician Mark Klein and internet expert Brian Reid describe an NSA listening room that Klein discovered while working at the company's operations center. In "Spying on the Home Front" FRONTLINE talks to intelligence insiders and asks: Is the Bush administration's domestic war on terrorism jeopardizing our civil liberties? Coming May 15 to PBS and online at

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/homefront

In "Spying on the Home Front," coming May. 15, 2007 at 9pm (check local listings) Reporter Hedrick Smith presents new material on how the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program works and examines clashing viewpoints on whether the President has violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and infringed on constitutional protections.

In another dramatic story, the program shows how the FBI vacuumed up records on 250,000 ordinary Americans who chose Las Vegas as the destination for their Christmas-New Year's holiday, and the subsequent revelation that the FBI has misused National Security Letters to gather information. Probing such projects as Total Information Awareness, and its little known successors, Smith discloses that even former government intelligence officials now worry that the combination of new security threats, advances in communications technologies, and radical interpretations of presidential authority may be threatening the privacy of Americans.

[Guest EPIC]

In January 2008, George W. Bush issued the Directive, but it was never released to the public.24 Under this secret Directive, the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) was formed to "improve how the federal government protects sensitive information from hackers and nation states trying to break into agency networks." Since the Directive was issued, the NSA has pursued policies set out in the still-secret document. In fact, the Washington Post noted that the NSA, FBI and CIA, were charged with the responsibility of implementing the CNCI. The March 2009 resignation letter of the former head of the DHS National Cybersecurity Center, Rod Beckstrom, confirms that the NSA did in fact gain tremendous influence over DHS cybersecurity operations. In his letter, Mr. Beckstrom asserted that the “NSA effectively controls DHS cyber efforts through . . . technology insertions, and the proposed move of two organizations under DHS (the National Protection and Programs Directorate and the National Cybersecurity Center) to

a Fort Meade NSA facility.

 

President Obama’s recent focus on Transparency, Participation, and Collaboration between the public and executive agencies further justifies a renewed effort to disclose such information to the public. Despite the agency’s possession of the documents and the President’s openness initiative, NSA failed to make public the documents. Releasing the documents sought in the request would provide the opportunity for meaningful public participation in the development of new security measures that may have a significant impact on civil liberties, such as privacy. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs recognizes that cybersecurity initiatives must include actions to ". . . reassure [the public] that efforts to secure cyber networks will be appropriately balanced with respect for privacy and civil liberties."

 

As of 2009, Gmail had roughly 146 million monthly users. Despite the cybersecurity risk to the millions of Gmail users, Google did not enable complete encryption until after the hacker attack originating from China.

[Guest Luke]

What ever happened to Google's mantra "Don't Be Evil?"

 

http://investor.google.com/conduct.html

[Guest 84Saints]

Why is Google working with NSA and not Homeland Security? Isn't this their territory? If not, what is the use of the Department?

[Guest ACLU]

If companies like Google think they need the government’s help to secure their networks, then a civilian agency needs to step up to the task. Cybersecurity for the American people should not be handed over to a military spy agency, one that is insulated from public oversight and has a history of secretly exploiting vulnerabilities, rather than fixing them.

 

Concerned? You can take action today by sending a letter to Google, letting them know that you object to such a deal and value your privacy online.

 

Take action today by sending a letter to Google

[Guest Shane]

What about Google Buzz? Does that mean it will be tracking everything I do?

[Guest anafxfz]

Maybe Google Buzz is part of the deal with the NSA!

[Guest Human]

To answer your question, everything you do online is tracked in one form or another.

 

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What about Google Buzz? Does that mean it will be tracking everything I do?

[Guest Human]

Ooops forgot to add this part, when you take your computer to get fixed; The techs can download your hard drive unto their hard drive. Nothing is scared.

 

My last hard drive to bite the bullet, I opened up the hard drive, took out the disks, and turned them into pure metallic dust. Then I took a blow tourch to it with other fine metals.

 

Now is that taking information security to an extreme? Yeap!! But I believe in privacy.

[Luke_Wilbur]

I honestly do not think people even care. There is very little chatter on the subject.

[Guest antiklaus]

All information controlled by Google. Imagine them having your entire genetic data?

 

[Luke_Wilbur]

I have been jumping the gun on this topic. NSA was brought in to investigate how Google got attackedand how to prevent or mitigate it in the future. I think it might be best to read though the story to understand what is going on.

 

TheChinese are getting really bold. Here is a statement from Google ontheir recent Cyber attack. It appears that China's aim is to controlwhat people say outside China about them.

 

http://googleblog.bl...h-to-china.html

 

 

 

Now if NSA and Google do have some other relationship, I am sure it will be scrutinized. Everyone has been cooped up in their homes too much with all this snow. Not enough vitamin D.

[Guest antiklaus]

Google cannot guarantee the security of your data.

 

What does Google know about you? Depending on which Google services you use, Google might know your exact location, what your e-mail says, what you buy online, what your schedule is, who you know, what your credit-card numbers are, where you live, where all your friends and family live, what your interests are, what you read, what your voicemails say, who you talk to on the phone, your detailed health conditions and health history, and much more.

 

Google even offers a service called Google Email Uploader , which makes a copy of all your e-mail from Outlook or other desktop utilities and puts it into Google Apps, where it's backed up and searchable. They also now offer a service whereby you can upload any file to Google Apps. Now even pre-cloud personal data is moving to the cloud.

 

I follow Computer World for this type of information.

[Guest Human]

I understand what you mean, and Google is taking more of the government contracts out there.

 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/10/city-council-votes-to-adopt-google-email-system-for-30000-city-employees.html

 

The trend that I have been seeing for a while now is getting murky. Internet and Intranet is getting cloudy.

 

For me it's real simple; you keep intranet and internet separate. In the long term it will give government hackers from all over the world access to everyone’s computers via Google. But to go specific? "Very dangerous".

 

I also understand the governments view point when it comes to cyber warfare "which is another topic in and of itself".

 

This topic is geared more towards cyber spying, but not just by our government but by other governments.

 

That's one of another reason I miss the old days; Ya didn't have to worry about all of this stuff as much "The lines were clear".

 

I just wished that this stuff wasn't so darn complicated now.

 

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I have been jumping the gun on this topic. NSA was brought in to investigate how Google got attackedand how to prevent or mitigate it in the future. I think it might be best to read though the story to understand what is going on.

 

 

 

Now if NSA and Google do have some other relationship, I am sure it will be scrutinized. Everyone has been cooped up in their homes too much with all this snow. Not enough vitamin D.

[Guest Black Sun]

I think Google is aiming to create a worldwide peer-to-peer search application.

 

The Google desktop search app will eventually allow Google users to search other user's hard drives for items. By acquiring the dark fiber, Google becomes an ISP and can thus shield itself from the all the copyright infringing content on those users' hard drives. Our intelligence community will allow it to happen, but it wants in on it.

 

Of course the company refuses to comment.

 

http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-01-18/business/17356261_1_dark-fiber-networking-industry-google

[Guest Human]

Yeah!!! But any company that allows google to view their hard drive is stupid "Not foolish, just plain stupid”. Any company that's worth its salt does not allow it. I was having that discussion with another web forum four years back.

 

Intellectual property rights go bye bye in a big way. But it still does not detract from the greater implications of the internet, and how it is structured now.

 

Information= Intelligence.

 

If I drank? I would say to you; salut

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I think Google is aiming to create a worldwide peer-to-peer search application.

 

The Google desktop search app will eventually allow Google users to search other user's hard drives for items. By acquiring the dark fiber, Google becomes an ISP and can thus shield itself from the all the copyright infringing content on those users' hard drives. Our intelligence community will allow it to happen, but it wants in on it.

 

Of course the company refuses to comment.

 

http://articles.sfgate.com/2005-01-18/business/17356261_1_dark-fiber-networking-industry-google