Microsoft And Google To Stop Mass Surveillance NSA

Big tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Yahoo and American civil rights organizations like the EFF and ACLU have the US Congress a letter ( PDF controlled) which they call to stop the mass surveillance of telephone calls. It involves conversation data collected under section 215 of the Patriot Act. Section 215 allows to store the metadata calls the NSA. On 1 June this year expires this section and thus the authority for the NSA.

Opponents this is a good time to implement reforms. Congress has, however, consistently refused reforms of section 215, with threats to national security are given as a reason. In the letter sent now Congress is called to ensure that any proposal that section 215 adjusts at least put an end to mass surveillance, establishes rules for transparency and no demands on data storage or technology.

"We understand that the government plays an important role in protecting our communities, but we must do so in a manner consistent with our values ​​that. Almost two years after the government surveillance became known, the US government still has work to do to distrust in technology that it has caused to recover, " says Microsoft's Fred Humphries.

Gemalto Denies Scale Theft Encryption Keys

SIM card manufacturer Gemalto denies that the American and British secret services widely encryption keys of SIM cards have been stolen. That leaves the Netherlands-based company after research know.Last week The Intercept came with the message that the US NSA and the British GCHQ in 2010 had obtained access to the network of Gemalto there and had the encryption keys sim captured.

According to the SIM card manufacturer is discovered in 2010 and 2011, two sophisticated attacks against the company that seem to correspond to the attack methods that are defined in the document of The Intercept. In 2010, the company discovered suspicious activity on one of the French sites where a "third party" the office trying to spy.

In July 2010 a second incident was discovered, which were sent phishing e-mails to a telecommunications company seemed from Gemalto and contained an infected attachment. Also, this time it happen several times tried to gain access to the computers of Gemalto staff. The company calls it "likely" that an operation has been carried by the NSA and GCHQ. This would, however, only the office have been compromised.

There has therefore been no large-scale theft of encryption keys. In addition, Gemalto says it had already rolled out a secure exchange system in 2010 for the exchange of these keys with telecom providers, which is the risk of theft would create exceptional. However if keys are captured, they would only intelligence second generation 2G networks can eavesdrop. 3G and 4G networks would not be vulnerable to such attacks.

Organization Wants Gate And DuckDuckGo On Library Computers

Libraries are ideal places to promote privacy and anonymity and would therefore privacy tools like Tor Browser, DuckDuckGo, Tails and HTTPS Everywhere must be installed on library computers. This is suggested by the Library Freedom Project , a US organization that focuses on American libraries, but also helps libraries in other countries with this issue.

The Library Freedom Project also helps libraries with giving privacy-oriented computer classes. During the technical part, the aforementioned tools discussed. The library staff will explain how they Tor relays can be set and the standard library website over HTTPS can run. "Librarians are a professional group that have always been important privacy, but the development of mass surveillance has overtaken their technical capabilities," says Alison Macrina, founder of the Library Freedom Project.

According Macrina she learned librarians thanks to the tools of the Tor community to spread the use of anti-surveillance tools to the public. After being trained librarians begin their own lessons. "These lessons make a real difference in the lives of ordinary people who seek practical ways to get their digital privacy," said Macrina. She notes that the feedback from the ordinary Internet users the Tor Project may in turn help to increase the usability of Tor Browser and other tools.