XKeyscore taps all you do online
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 1, 2013
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Edward Snowden [File photo] |
The National Security Agency's top-secret program XKeyscore allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Guardian reported yesterday. (Snowden Case Timeline)
The NSA boasts that the XKeyscore, covering "nearly everything a typical user does on the Internet," is its "widest-reaching" system for developing intelligence from the internet.
The latest revelations come as senior intelligence officials testify to the Senate judiciary committee on Wednesday, releasing classified documents in response to the Guardian's earlier stories on bulk collection of phone records and Fisa surveillance court oversight.
According to the paper, XKeyscore gives analysts the ability to search through the entire database of your information without any prior authorization. An analyst must simply complete a simple onscreen form, and your online history is no longer private seconds later.
Thr Guardian noted that analysts can also use XKeyscore and other NSA systems to obtain ongoing "real-time" interception of an individual's internet activity.
The NSA defended the program, stressing that it was only used to legally obtain information about "legitimate foreign intelligence targets in response to requirements that our leaders need for information necessary to protect our nation and its interests."
Edward Snowden is currently holed up in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport while his request for asylum is under review by Russian immigration authorities, according to his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena.
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