Data and Goliath (45 page)

a huge database of US citizens:
Karen DeYoung (25 Mar 2007), “Terror database has quadrupled in four years,”
Washington Post
, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/24/AR2007032400944.html.

where the various watch lists:
Julia Angwin (13 Dec 2013), “U.S. terrorism agency to tap a vast database of citizens,”
Wall Street Journal
, http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1
000
142412788732447830457817162304064
000
6.

procedures for getting on these lists:
Jeremy Scahill and Ryan Devereaux (5 Aug 2014), “Watch commander: Barack Obama’s
secret terrorist-tracking system, by the numbers,”
Intercept
, https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/08/05/watch-commander.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was on this list:
Eric Schmitt and Michael S. Schmidt (24 Apr 2013), “2 U.S. agencies added Boston
bomb suspect to watch lists,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/us/tamerlan-tsarnaev-bomb-suspect-was-on-watch-lists.html.

Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces:
US Department of Justice (2014), “Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces,”
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/taskforces/ocdetf.html.

Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative:
US Executive Office of the President (2009), “The Comprehensive National Cybersecurity
Initiative,” http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/foreign-policy/cybersecurity/national-initiative.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms:
Robert Beckhusen (5 Apr 2013), “The ATF wants ‘massive’ online database to find out
who your friends are,”
Wired
, http://www.wired.com/2013/04/atf-database.

Even the Pentagon has spied:
Lisa Myers, Douglas Pasternak, and Rich Gardella (14 Dec 2005), “Is the Pentagon
spying on Americans?”
NBC News
, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/10454316/ns/nbc_nightly_news_with_brian_williams-nbc_news_investigates/t/pentagon-spying-americans.
Marcy Wheeler (24 Jul 2007), “Cunningham, CIFA, and Cheney, a new chronology,”
Empty Wheel
, http://www.emptywheel.net/2007/07/24/cunningham-cifa-and-cheney-a-new-chronology.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service:
In 2014, a federal court ruled this practice illegal, and threw out a child pornography
conviction based on it. Victoria Cavaliere (18 Sep 2014), “U.S. court rules Navy wrongfully
monitored computers in child porn probe,” Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0HD2EU20140918.

the US has set up “fusion centers”:
Robert Mueller (15 Nov 2004), “The FBI: Improving intelligence for a safer America,”
address delivered to the Town Hall Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, http://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/the-fbi-improving-intelligence-for-a-safer-america.
US Department of Homeland Security (4 Sep 2012), “Fusion centers handout,” http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Fusion%20Centers%20Handout.pdf.
US House of Representatives (Jul 2013), “Majority staff report on the national network
of fusion centers,” Committee on Homeland Security, http://homeland.house.gov/sites/homeland.house.gov/files/documents/CHS%20SLFC%20Report%202013%20FINAL.pdf.

local police access to:
Torin Monahan (2010), “The future of security? Surveillance operations at Homeland
Security fusion centers,”
Social Justice
37, http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/archive/120_37_2-3/120_07Monahan.pdf.

supposed to focus on terrorism:
Priscilla M. Regan, Torin Monahan, and Krista Craven (3 Dec 2013), “Constructing
the suspicious: Data production, circulation, and interpretation by DHS Fusion Centers,”
Administration and Society
, http://aas.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/11/29/0095399713513141.abstract.

There’s minimal oversight:
Michael German and Jay Stanley (Dec 2007), “What’s wrong with fusion centers?” American
Civil Liberties Union, https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/privacy/fusioncenter_20071212.pdf.
Sharon Bradford Franklin et al. (6 Sep 2012), “Recommendations for fusion centers:
Preserving privacy and civil liberties while protecting against crime and terrorism,”
Constitution Project, http://www.constitutionproject.org/pdf/fusioncenterreport.pdf.

spied on political protesters:
Colin Moynihan (22 May 2014), “Officials cast wide net in monitoring Occupy protests,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/23/us/officials-cast-wide-net-in-monitoring-occupy-protests.html.
Mara Verheyden-Hilliard and Carl Messineo (5 May 2014), “Out of the shadows: The hidden
role of the Fusion Centers in the nationwide spying operation against the Occupy movement
and peaceful protest in America,” Partnership for Civil Justice, http://www.justiceonline.org/one-nation-under-surveillance/out-of-the-shadows-pcjf-report.pdf.

Joint Terrorism Task Forces:
US Federal Bureau of Investigation (2010), “Protecting America from terrorist attack:
Our Joint Terrorism Task Forces,” http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism_jttfs.
US Department of Homeland Security (19 Dec 2013), “Fusion Centers and Joint Terrorist
Task Forces,” http://www.dhs.gov/fusion-centers-and-joint-terrorism-task-forces.

shrouded in extreme secrecy:
American Civil Liberties Union (Sep 2013), “Unleashed and unaccountable: The FBI’s
unchecked abuse of authority,” https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/unleashed-and-unaccountable-fbi-report.pdf.
Roberto Scalese (10 Apr 2014), “ACLU sues FBI, US attorney for Todashev, Task Force
records,”
Boston Globe
, http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2014/04/10/aclu-sues-fbi-attorney-for-todashev-task-force-records/MYWzetg75Zy3DIpLB1nyrO/story.html.

investigating political activists:
American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado (24 Aug 2010), “New documents confirm:
FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force targets peaceful activists for harassment, political
surveillance,” http://aclu-co.org/new-documents-confirm-fbis-joint-terrorism-task-force-targets-peaceful-activists-for-harassment-political-surveillance.
Kevin Gosztola (4 Jul 2014), “FBI, JTTF and US Marshals are reportedly visiting political
activists about thirty year-old case,”
Dissenter
, http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2014/07/04/fbi-jttf-us-marshals-service-are-reportedly-visiting-political-activists-about-thirty-year-old-case.

spreading anti-Islamic propaganda:
Spencer Ackerman (23 Sep 2011), “New evidence of anti-Islam bias underscores deep
challenges for FBI’s reform pledge,”
Wired
, http://www.wired.com/2011/09/fbi-islam-domination/all.

harassing innocent civilians:
Adam Gabbatt (1 Aug 2013), “New York woman visited by police after researching pressure
cookers online,”
Guardian
, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/01/new-york-police-terrorism-pressure-cooker.
Carlos Miller (23 May 2014), “Terrorist Task Force cop visits man at home for photographing
police buildings,”
Photography Is Not a Crime
, http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2014/05/23/terrorist-task-force-cop-visits-man-home-photographing-police-buildings.
Steve Annear (11 Jul 2014), “ACLU files lawsuit after feds eye photographer’s ‘suspicious’
behavior,”
Boston Magazine
, http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/07/11/aclu-james-prigoff-terrorism-task-force-lawsuit.

listening posts in Oman:
Duncan Campbell (3 Jun 2014), “Revealed: GCHQ’s beyond top secret Middle Eastern
Internet spy base,”
Register
, http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/06/03/revealed_beyond_top_secret_british_intelligence_middleeast_internet_spy_base.

Cyprus:
Nicky Hager and Stefania Maurizi (5 Nov 2013), “Cyprus: The home of British/American
Internet surveillance in the Middle East,”
L’Espresso
, http://espresso.repubblica.it/inchieste/2013/11/04/news/the-history-of-british-intelligence-operations-in-cyprus-1.139978.
Richard Norton-Taylor (28 Nov 2013), “Secret memos show efforts of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ
to maintain Cyprus base,”
Gu
ardian
, http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/nov/29/intelligence-mi5-mi6-gchq-cyprus-national-archives.

Germany:
Sven Becker et al. (18 Jun 2014), “New NSA revelations: Inside Snowden’s Germany
file,”
Der Spiegel
, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/new-snowden-revelations-on-nsa-spying-in-germany-a-975441.html.
Hubert Gude et al. (18 Jun 2014), “Spying together: Germany’s deep cooperation with
the NSA,”
Der Spiegel
, http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/the-german-bnd-and-american-nsa-cooperate-more-closely-than-thought-a-975445.html.

France:
Jacques Follorou and Glenn Greenwald (21 Oct 2013), “France in the NSA’s crosshair:
Phone networks under surveillance,”
Le Monde
, http://www.lemonde.fr/technologies/article/2013/10/21/france-in-the-nsa-s-crosshair-phone-networks-under-surveillance_3499741_651865.html.
Jacques Follorou and Franck Johannes (4 Jul 2013), “Revelations on the French Big
Brother,”
Société
, http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2013/07/04/revelations-on-the-french-big-brother_3442665_3224.html.

Denmark:
Ryan Gallagher (18 Jun 2014), “How secret partners expand NSA’s surveillance dragnet,”
Intercept
, https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/06/18/nsa-surveillance-secret-cable-partners-revealed-rampart-a.

Australia:
Jason Om (30 Oct 2013), “Spy expert says Australia operating as ‘listening post’
for US agencies including the NSA,”
ABC News Australia
, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-30/australia-acting-as-listening-post-for-us-spy-agencies/5056534.

New Zealand:
Glenn Greenwald and Ryan Gallagher (15 Sep 2014), “New Zealand launched mass surveillance
project while publicly denying it,”
Intercept
, https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/15/new-zealand-gcsb-speargun-mass-surveillance.

probably every other country:
Craig Timberg (6 Jun 2014), “Vodafone reveals that governments are collecting personal
data without limits,”
Washington Post
, http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/governments-collecting-personal-data-without-limit-says-vodafone/2014/06/06/ff0cfc1a-edb4-11e3-9b2d-114aded544be_story.html.

surveillance of Indonesia:
Michael R. Gordon (7 Feb 2014), “Indonesia takes aim at Australia over spying on
talks,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/world/asia/indonesia-takes-aim-at-australia-over-spying-but-not-the-us.html.

Russia collects, stores, and analyzes:
Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan (Fall 2013), “Russia’s surveillance state,”
World Policy Journal
,
http://www.worldpolicy.org/journal/fall2013/Russia-surveillance. James A. Lewis (18
Apr 2014), “Reference note on Russian communications surveillance,” Center for Strategic
and International Studies, http://csis.org/publication/reference-note-russian-communications-surveillance.

built right into its Internet:
The latest version, SORM 3, collects bulk surveillance data from all communications
systems, providing both real-time and historical access. Andrei Soldatov and Irina
Borogan (21 Dec 2012), “In ex-Soviet states, Russian spy tech still watches you,”
Wired
, http://www.wired.com/2012/12/russias-hand/all.

the 2014 Sochi Olympics:
Owen Matthews (12 Feb 2014), “Russia tests ‘total surveillance’ at the Sochi Olympics,”
Newsweek
, http://www.newsweek.com/2014/02/14/russia-tests-total-surveillance-sochi-olympics-245494.html.
Joshua Kopstein (13 Feb 2014), “Sochi’s other legacy,”
New Yorker
, http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/sochis-other-legacy.

this data is also used against:
Gus Hosein (2010), “Privacy as a political right,”
Index on Censorship
39, https://www.privacyinternational.org/reports/privacy-as-a-political-right/surveillance-of-political-movements#footnote5_5pc3hb7.

China, too, attempts to monitor:
James A. Lewis (2006), “The architecture of control: Internet surveillance in China,”
Center for Strategic and International Studies, http://csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/0706_cn_surveillance_and_information_technology.pdf.

China also uses location information:
Australian (4 Mar 2011), “China mobile phone tracking system attacked as ‘Big Brother’
surveillance,”
Australian
, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/china-mobile-phone-tracking-system-attacked-as-big-brother-surveillance/story-e6frg6so-1226015917086.

turns mobile phones on remotely:
Frank Langfitt (29 Jan 2013), “In China, beware: A camera may be watching you,”
NPR Morning Edition
, http://www.npr.org/2013/01/29/170469038/in-china-beware-a-camera-may-be-watching-you.

monitors physical spaces:
Calum MacLeod (3 Jan 2013), “China surveillance targets crime—and dissent,”
USA Today
, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/03/china-security/1802177.

Messages containing words:
Vernon Silver (8 Mar 2013), “Cracking China’s Skype surveillance software,”
Bloomberg Business Week
, http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-08/skypes-been-hijacked-in-china-and-microsoft-is-o-dot-k-dot-with-it.

30,000 Internet police:
John Markoff (1 Oct 2008), “Surveillance of Skype messages found in China,”
New York Times
, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/technology/internet/02skype.html.

India:
John Ribeiro (13 Jan 2011), “RIM allows India access to consumer BlackBerry messaging,”
CIO
, http://www.cio.com/article/654438/RIM_Allows_India_Access_to_Consumer_BlackBerry_Messaging.
Amol Sharma (28 Oct 2011), “RIM facility helps India in surveillance efforts,”
Wall Street Journal,
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1
000
1424052970204505304577001592335138870. First Post (31 Dec 2012), “Telecos agree to
real-time intercept for Blackberry messages,”
First Post
, http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/telecos-agree-to-real-time-intercept-for-blackberry-messages-212476.html.