58 Things We’ve Learned About the NSA

NSA bugged German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone from 2002 until 2013.
BBC, October 27, 2013

NSA spent $652 million to implant spyware on tens of millions of computers.
BBC, October 22, 2013

NSA collected more than 70 million French phone records in a single month.
Washington Post, October 21, 2013

NSA hacked Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s email account.
Der Spiegel, October 20, 2013

Documents reveal NSA’s extensive involvement in killer drone program.
Washington Post, October 16, 2013

NSA collects contacts from an estimated 500,000 buddy lists on live chat services each day.
The Washington Post, October 14, 2013

NSA Director defends the organizations mass surveillance programs, but believes the spies need to do a better job of explaining them to the public.
New York Times, October 12, 2013

Despite increasing controversy and criticism, secret court renews NSA’s authorization to continue sweeping phone data.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence press release, October 11, 2013

NSA’s computer HQ, bigger than Google’s largest data center, has experienced 10 electricity meltdowns and repeated loss of equipment in the last year.
Wall Street Journal, October 7, 2013

NSA targeted Tor network, relied upon by dissidents and activists for anonymous communication.
The Guardian, October 4, 2013

Newly unsealed document reveal that email provider used by Edward Snowden ordered to hand over encryption codes for Snowden’s messages (and those of all 400,000 other users) or pay $5,000 per day fine.
Wired, October 2, 2013

NSA chief admits misleading the public with figures on terror plots foiled by spying.
Washington Times, October 2, 2013

In 2010 and 2011 the NSA conducted a secret test of a program to collect bulk data about the cellphone locations of Americans.
New York Times, October 2, 2013

Privacy activist who initiated protest letter to NSA refused entry to the US — and officials refuse to tell him why.
The Guardian, October 1, 2013

NSA ‘Marina’ project tracks users browser activity and contact info for the last year, and can be used to create lifestyle profiles of millions of people—including US citizens who aren’t suspects.
The Guardian, September 30, 2013

CEO imprisoned after he wouldn’t spy for NSA wasn’t allowed to mention this during his trial, or to present evidence that his prosecution may have been in retaliation for his refusal.
Washington Post, September 30, 2013

Since 2010, the NSA has tracked the social network connections of US citizens.
New York Times, September 28, 2013l

NSA employee made unauthorized intercepts of the phone calls of numerous women over a period of six years without it being detected.
The Guardian, September 27, 2013

Director of NSA tells the Senate Intelligence Committee that there is no legal limit to how much phone date the government can collect.
Wall Street Journal, September 26, 2013

Senator Feinstein admits NSA is collecting Internet data upstream through secret agreements with telco companies—in direct contradiction to NSA public statements.
C-Span, September 26, 2013

Newly released documents show the NSA spied on Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King, Frank Church, Howard Baker and others.
The Guardian, September 26, 2013

NSA spy center in Utah has an estimated data capacity of 5 zettabytes—the equivalent of 1.25 trillion DVDs.
NPR, September 23, 2013

NSA gathers 13.5 billion pieces of information on India over the course of just 30 days.
The Hindu, September 23, 2013

NSA pays around $300 million per dollars to AT&T, Verizon and other telecom companies in exchange for access to phone calls.
Forbes, September 23, 2013

Secret court that authorized NSA spying contradicted the US Supreme Court on constitutional rights.
The Guardian, September 22, 2013

Justice Department internal ethics watchdog never probed judges’ concerns about NSA surveillance.
USA Today, September 19, 2013

Department of Justice tried to stop USA Today from running the above story.
Cryptome.org, September 19, 2013

USA telecommunications companies have never challenged NSA demands to hand over bulk metadata.
Wired. September 17, 2103

NSA monitors banks and credit card transactions — sometimes in apparent violation of national laws and global regulations.
Der Spiegel, September 16, 2013

NSA spent taxpayer dollars to build a war room modeled to look like the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.
PBS, September 13, 2013

NSA disguised itself as Google to spy.
CNET, September 12, 2013

NSA shares raw intelligence, including private information of American citizens with Israel. Secret deal places no limits on how Israel uses this data.
The Guardian, September 11, 2013

Yahoo CEO announces that she would have face prison if she told the truth about her company’s participation in NSA spying.
The Guardian, September 11, 2013

NSA violated laws on phone spying for years and misled the secret court that oversaw its operations.
Bloomberg News, September 11, 2013

NSA violations led judge to consider viability of surveillance program.
The Guardian, September 10, 2013

NSA used its influence to undermine vital web security standards.
Boing Boing, September 8, 2013

NSA can access private data on iPhones, BlackBerry and Android devices.
Washington Post, September 8, 2013

The NSA invested billions of dollars in a program code-named Bullrun to hack the encryption that protects banking data, medical records, etc.
New York Times September 5, 2013

NSA hacks “tens of thousands” of private computers every year.
Wired, September 4, 2013

NSA spyed on private emails of the Presidents of Brazil and Mexico.
NBC News, September 2, 2013

NSA spied on news broadcaster Al Jazeera
Der Spiegel, August 31, 2013

NSA believes it has the right to turn any private business into mass surveillance operation.
USA Today, August 27, 2013

NSA bugged the United Nations
The Atlantic, August 25, 2013

NSA employees used surveillance technology to spy on their lovers.
Washington Post, August 24, 2103

NSA paid millions to Google, Yahoo, Facebook and other companies to fund their help in surveillance.
The Guardian, August 22, 2013

Declassified court ruling from 2011 found government NSA illegally collected tens of thousands of emails between Americans in violation of the fourth amendment to the US constitution .
The Guardian, August 21, 2013

NSA program traced more than email metadata, but also included online communications—covering 75% of all web traffic.
Wall Street Journal, August 20, 2013

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year.
Washington Post, August 15, 2013

Members of Congress denied acces to basic information about the NSA.
The Guardian, August 4, 2013

NSA tool (XKeyscore) collects “nearly everything a user does on the internet”
The Guardian, July 31, 2013

Low-level NSA analysts could access information on private citizens with little or no supervison or court oversight.
ABC News, July 28, 2013

Microsoft gave NSA tools to unlock Outlook encryption even before
official launch.
The Guardian, July 12, 2013

NSA head James Clapper lied to Congress under oath.
Washington Post, June 30, 2013

Secret court has authorized broad orders allowing NSA to use information “inadvertently” collected from US citizens.
The Guardian, June 20, 2013

NSA swaps data with thousands of firms.
Bloomberg, June 14, 2013

NSA program code-named Boundless Informant gathered 3 billion pieces of intelligence in a single 30-day period.
The Guardian, June 11, 2013

NSA’s new Utah spy center will cover1.5 million square feet and use enough electricity to power 65,000 homes.
NPR, June 10, 2013

AT&T, Sprint also provide user information to the NSA.
Wall Street Journal, June 7, 2013

NSA Prism program taps into user data of Apple, Google, Facebook
and others.
The Guardian June 6, 2013

NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily.
The Guardian, June 5, 2013

Leave a Reply

%d