We begin today’s collection of headlines from the worlds of espionage and security with on ominous note with this entry from Threat Level:
Judges Poised to Hand U.S. Spies the Keys to the Internet
How does the NSA get the private crypto keys that allow it to bulk eavesdrop on some email providers and social networking sites? It’s one of the mysteries yet unanswered by the Edward Snowden leaks. But we know that so-called SSL keys are prized by the NSA – understandably, since one tiny 256 byte key can expose millions of people to intelligence collection. And we know that the agency has a specialized group that collects such keys by hook or by crook. That’s about it.
Which is why the appellate court challenge pitting encrypted email provider Lavabit against the Justice Department is so important: It’s the only publicly documented case where a district judge has ordered an internet company to hand over its SSL key to the U.S. government — in this case, the FBI.
If the practice — which may well have happened in secret before — is given the imprimatur of the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, it opens a new avenue for U.S. spies to expand their surveillance against users of U.S. internet services like Gmail and Dropbox. Since the FBI is known to work hand in hand with intelligence agencies, it potentially turns the judiciary into an arm of the NSA’s Key Recovery Service. Call it COURTINT.
The Guardian partially discloses:
Microsoft, Facebook, Google and Yahoo release US surveillance requests
Tech giants turn over data from tens of thousands of accounts
Limited disclosure part of transparency deal made last month
Tens of thousands of accounts associated with customers of Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Yahoo have their data turned over to US government authorities every six months as the result of secret court orders, the tech giants disclosed for the first time on Monday.
As part of a transparency deal reached last week with the Justice Department, four of the tech firms that participate in the National Security Agency’s Prism effort, which collects largely overseas internet communications, released more information about the volume of data the US demands they provide than they have ever previously been permitted to disclose.
But the terms of the deal prevent the companies from itemising the collection, beyond bands of thousands of data requests served on them by a secret surveillance court. The companies must also delay by six months disclosing information on the most recent requests – terms the Justice Department negotiated to end a transparency lawsuit before the so-called Fisa court that was brought by the companies.
MintPress News cozies up:
Google’s New Partnership With Law Enforcement Disquiets Privacy Advocates
What’s concerning most about the system for privacy advocates is that the information, which includes the photos and videos, is shared directly by Google with law enforcement.
Google may be in bed with U.S. government and law enforcement agencies more than the American public may have realized.
While the tech giant maintains it was unaware of the extent that the National Security Agency was using its cookie technology to gather information about the public, it was recently discovered that the company filed for two patents last year that actually benefit law enforcement.
Known as “Mob Source Phone Video Collaboration” and “Inferring Events Based On Mob Sourced Video,” the patents are for a system that would identify when and where a “mob” event takes place and would send multimedia alerts to those with a vested interest in the event, namely law enforcement and news agencies.
According to the patents, a “mob” event is anything that attracts an “abnormal” amount of attention in the form of photos and videos, which is determined by the system’s monitoring photos and videos for similar time and location stamps.
PCWorld ponders prosecution:
German federal prosecutor considers formal NSA investigation
Germany’s federal prosecutor is considering if there is enough evidence to warrant a formal, criminal investigation into the German government’s alleged involvement in the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) data collection program, a spokeswoman said Monday.
Privacy and human rights campaigners including the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), the International League for Human Rights (ILMR) and Digitalcourage on Monday filed a criminal complaint against the German federal government and the presidents of the German secret services for their alleged involvement in illegal and prohibited covert intelligence activities, they said in a news release.
The complaint also targeted German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German Minister of the Interior as well as U.S., British and German secret agents who are all accused of violating the right to privacy and obstruction of justice by cooperating with the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ to electronically spy on German citizens, they said.
The Guardian mulls disclosure:
Intelligence agencies should be subject to FoI, says information commissioner
John McMillan says FoI Act ‘can suitably apply to any agencies, parliamentary departments and the intelligence agencies’
Australia’s information commissioner has called for intelligence agencies to be subject to freedom of information laws and has expressed concern about “mixed messages” on open government and transparency.
In a wide-ranging interview with Guardian Australia on the state of privacy and freedom of information in Australia, the information commissioner, Professor John McMillan, said intelligence agencies should be subject to freedom of information (FoI) legislation.
“My preference would be at least for the FoI Act to apply to the intelligence agencies,” he said.
PCWorld hacks away:
Prominent cryptographers targeted by malware attacks
Belgian cryptographer Jean-Jacques Quisquater had his personal computer infected with malware as the result of a targeted attack that’s believed to be related to a security breach discovered last year at Belgian telecommunications group Belgacom. According to him, other cryptographers have also been targeted by the same attackers.
Belgacom, whose customers include the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, announced in September that it had discovered sophisticated malware on some of its internal systems.
German news magazine Der Spiegel reported at the time, based on documents leaked by former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, that British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) was responsible for the attack on Belgacom as part of a project code-named Operation Socialist.
The magazine later reported that GCHQ used packet injection technology called Quantum Insert developed by the NSA to target network engineers from Belgacom and other companies when they visited the LinkedIn and Slashdot websites. This technology can impersonate websites and can force the target’s computer to visit an attack server that uses exploits to install malware.
National Post denies:
Stephen Harper’s top security advisor denies reports of illegal spying on Canadians using airport Wi-Fi
The head of Communications Security Establishment Canada defended the collection of “metadata” on Monday, saying it helped identify foreign adversaries without snooping on the private communications of Canadians.
Testifying before the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence, John Forster shot back against allegations of overzealous government electronic surveillance that have arisen as a result of leaks by Edward Snowden.
In a rare public appearance that follows unprecedented scrutiny of the ultra-secretive spy agency, Mr. Forster denied CSEC had been monitoring the private communications of Canadians as it vacuumed up metadata, or “data about data.
While CBC News equivocates:
Spy agencies, prime minister’s adviser defend Wi-Fi data collection
‘It’s data about data,’ Stephen Harper’s national security adviser says of metadata collection
The head of Canada’s communications surveillance agency defended its use of metadata Monday and argued a test using Canadian passengers’ data — revealed by CBC News last week — didn’t run in real-time and wasn’t an actual operation.
John Forster, chief of the Communications Security Establishment Canada, defended the cybersecurity agency over revelations contained in a document released by U.S. National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Forster appeared before the Senate national defence committee amid the report that CSEC used airport Wi-Fi to track the movements of Canadian passengers, including where they’d been before the airport.
Pushing for a conclusion with TheLocal.se:
Prosecutor pressed to speed up Assange case
The Swedish prosecutor handling the Julian Assange case lashed out on Monday to calls urging him to push on with efforts to interrogate the whistle blower over sex crimes allegations stemming from a 2010 visit to Sweden.
Assange, who is suspected of rape and sexual assault involving two Swedish women in connection with a visit to Stockholm in 2010, remains holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has been for the last 18 months.
But Swedish MP Johan Pehrson, legal policy spokesperson for the Liberal Party (Folkpartiet), said on Sunday there was no point letting such a case fester.
“This is an exceptional case,” he said on the Agenda programme on Sveriges Television (SVT). “Which gets you thinking whether the prosecutor shouldn’t take one more look at it and take care of it once and for all.”
Military/industrial profiteering from Spiegel:
Arms Exports: Berlin Backs Large Defense Deal with Saudi Arabia
Berlin has often been criticized in recent years for selling weapons to questionable regimes. Now, the German government is backing a billion-euro deal for 100 patrol boats.
The German government has often drawn serious criticism for supporting defense deals with countries known to have democratic deficiencies. In the latest controversial move, SPIEGEL has learned that the new government in Berlin wants to secure a major defense deal with Saudi Arabia by offering Hermes export credit guarantees.
The information comes from a classified letter from a senior official in the Finance Ministry to the German parliament’s budget committee. The letter states that the German government intends to provide guarantees for the planned export of more than 100 patrol and border control boats to the Gulf state with a total value of around €1.4 billion ($1.9 billion). In the letter, official Steffen Kampeter writes of the “high importance in terms of economic and employment” of the deal, which includes contracts for the Bremen-based Lürssen Shipyard. Kampeter, a politician with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union, asked for the “confidential handling of the business data” because negotiations are still in progress and competition is expected from other countries.
Wasting it profligately, via Aero-News Network:
New C-27J Cargo Planes Stored In Arizona Boneyard
Military ‘Has No Use’ For For The Spartans
New C-27J Spartan cargo planes ordered by the U.S. Air Force are being delivered … directly to a storage “boneyard” in the Arizona desert. There are reportedly nearly a dozen new Spartans sitting on the ramp at Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson, AZ.
The Dayton Daily News reports that the Air Force has spent some $567 million to acquire 21 new Spartans since 2007, but has found that the Air Force does not have missions for many of the aircraft.
The planes had originally been acquired because of their ability to operate from unimproved runways. But sequestration forced the Air Force to re-think the airplane’s mission, and it determined that they were not a necessity, according to an analyst with the Project for Government Oversight.
World Socialist Web Site gets right to it:
Germany, US push aggressive policies at Munich Security Conference
This weekend, some 400 leading international political and military figures and representatives of defense contractors, banks and corporations gathered at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) to discuss the global military and security situation. Both John Kerry and Chuck Hagel participated, marking the first time the US secretaries of state and defense both attended the conference.
The MSC featured a series of speeches by top German officials announcing an aggressive military policy, effectively repudiating the traditional restraints on German militarism that have existed since the collapse of the Nazi regime at the end of World War II. The belligerent tone of the conference was laid down by the former East German pastor and current president of Germany, Joachim Gauck.
Declaring that Germany must stop using its past—i.e., its role in starting two world wars in the 20th century—as a “shield,” Gauck called for the country’s armed forces to be used more frequently and decisively. “Germany can’t carry on as before,” Gauck argued. It was necessary to overcome German indifference and European navel-gazing, he said, in the face of “rapid” and “dramatic” new threats to the “open world order.”
And that complex again, via the London Telegraph:
China and Russia help global defence spending rise for first time in five years
New forecasts show China’s defence spending will outstrip Britain, Germany and France combined by 2015
Soaring defence budgets in China and Russia mean global military spending is growing for the first time in five years, according to new forecasts.
Spending across Asia and the Middle East is surging even as the military powers of Europe and the US are forced to scale back dramatically in the face of austerity cuts – contributing to a steady change in the balance of military power.
The figures were disclosed as the secretary general of Nato issued a stark warning that the West will cede influence on the world stage because of its falling spending.
After the jump, Asian zone and militarism crises, censorship run amok, an assault on academic freedom, censorship in Egypt, a Spanish muckraker fired, military corruption, the German government hacked, and more. . .
Our first Asian headline covers the latest state secrecy laws via SINA English:
China says no cover-ups using state secrecy as excuse
China has unveiled new rules telling officials not to cover up what should be publicly available information using the excuse it is a state secret, in what state media said was a move towards greater government transparency.
China has vague state secret laws, covering everything from the number of people executed every year to industry databases and even pollution figures, and information can be retroactively labelled a state secret.
The issue received international attention in 2009 when an Australian citizen and three Chinese colleagues working for mining giant Rio Tinto were detained for stealing state secrets during the course of tense iron ore negotiations.
Jiji Press admonishes:
British Ambassador Warns against Asia Instability
British Ambassador to Japan Tim Hitchens on Monday warned against moves that damage stability in Asia, apparently concerned about tensions between Japan and neighboring nations such as China.
The British government “would be worried by actions which heightened regional instability,” Hitchens said in a conference hosted by the Research Institute of Japan, a Jiji Press affiliate.
Even if Japan cannot build perfect relations with its neighbors right away, the country should make preparations for a good opportunity in the future, the British diplomat said, calling for mechanisms to nurture trust between Japan and its neighbors.
People’s Daily declares:
Abe should be truthful on military ambition
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has tried again to play up the so-called China threat.
Speaking in a CNN interview broadcast on Sunday, Abe branded China’s normal military development a source of concern for countries in Asia, appealed for more transparency in military capability and warned China not to attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion.
His aim is to shift attention from his recent controversial visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine, and seek excuses for the revival of Japanese militarism.
His blame is groundless and just a tactic to blind the world. Actually, China has offered an overall picture of its national defense ranging from the security environment, national defence policy, to defense expenditure and arms control in its white papers on national defense
From the Japan Daily Press, ornamental blame:
Japanese government rebukes translator in charge of PM Abe’s WWI comments in Davos
A private interpretation firm has been chastised by the Japanese government for an employee’s wrongful translation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech in Europe earlier this month. Abe’s comments, which likened the relationship of Japan and China with pre-World War I Britain and Germany, were said to be grossly exaggerated.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Abe was quoted by media to have said that current relationship between his country and China is a parallel of Britain and Germany’s relationship before the First World War erupted. However, the Japanese transcript of the premier’s speech does not say that, according to a translation provided by the chief cabinet secretary. Abe was asked about the probability of Japan and China clashing, and he replied, “This year marks the 100th year since the First World War. At the time, Britain and Germany had a strong economic relationship, but they went to war. I mention this historical background by way of additional comment. If something like you suggest were to happen, it would cause serious losses to both Japan and China, but also cause significant damage to the world. We must ensure this will not happen.”
The Yomiuri Shimbun pushes the line:
Abe determined to keep explaining Yasukuni visit to other countries
Jiji Press Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday he will continue explaining to neighboring countries and the United States patiently about his recent visit to Yasukuni Shrine for the war dead.
At a meeting of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, Abe said, “I never intended to hurt the feelings of people in China and South Korea.”
“I want to continue explaining my intent courteously and sincerely,” he said.
Abe also said he will offer a full explanation to the United States to avoid misunderstanding and strengthen the bond between the two countries.
Kyodo News declares intentional ignorance:
Japan, U.S. say China air defense zone not to affect military operations
Japan and the United States agreed Monday that China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea will not be allowed to affect the operations of the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military.
In a meeting in Tokyo, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, affirmed the two countries’ continued coordination in dealing with China’s action, the Foreign Ministry said.
Beijing in November announced rules requiring aircraft entering the zone, which covers the Senkaku Islands administered by Japan but claimed by China, to file flight plans in advance and follow the instructions of Chinese controllers or face “defensive emergency measures.”
SINA English crosses the line, and back:
Chinese general identifies expelled foreign plane as Japanese
In a move almost certain to further enflame tensions in Northeast Asia, a top Chinese military official says a Japanese fighter jet entered China’s Air Defense Identification Zone on the first day of Chinese new year.
Citing an interview with Major General Luo Yuan , the Oriential Daily News reported Sunday, that a Japanese fighter entered China’s defense zone last Friday — the first day of the Lunar New Year.
Two Chinese fighters later drove the Japanese fighter out of the zone.
The military official said the move shows Japan’s intention to create a problem, and proves that it’s Tokyo raising tensions in East Asia.
A rational request from the Japan Daily Press:
Japan calls for crisis management mechanism with China to be established
Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies has published a report outlining a crisis management mechanism between China and its own nation. The police research arm of the Defense Ministry has prepared the report to discuss measures that need to be implemented to avoid a military conflict with the Asian giant. The 40-page report details the mechanism, which both countries have agreed upon to avoid any clash. Many analysts have been expressing concern over close proximity of Chinese and Japanese ships in the East China Sea, which could potentially lead to an armed conflict.
“Crisis management with China is possible. China deeply understands the necessity of crisis management especially in the context of preventing a crisis situation from escalating into a military confrontation or clash,” the report stated. A maritime communication mechanism has already been drafted by the two countries, which includes three levels.
The travel agent blues from Nikkei Asian Review:
Japan, South Korea in tug of war over Obama trip
Japan and South Korea are stepping up lobbying over U.S. President Barack Obama’s upcoming trip to Asia as the two nations compete for Washington’s attention as a key American ally.
Obama is now scheduled to swing by the Philippines and Malaysia — the two countries he could not visit in the fall because of the government shutdown — as well as Japan during his Asian tour in April.
Loath to be left off the list, South Korea is resorting to an intense charm offensive to secure a visit. And this does not sit well with Japan, because a trip to Seoul would force Obama to cut his Japanese stay short.
More historical politics from the Japan Daily Press:
South Koreans in Japan calling for monument to fellow nationals who died in atomic bombing
Some South Koreans in Japan are planning to erect a memorial for their fellow nationals who were killed when the atomic bomb was dropped during the Second World War. The idea, which is backed by the South Korean government, was announced by the South Korean consulate general in Fukuoka last Sunday.
Korea was annexed by Japan from 1910-1945, at the height of World War II. Many Koreans were taken to Japan and forced to work. When an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they were among those killed. The Federation of Korean residents in Japan is pushing for the monument to be built inside the Nagasaki Peace Park. The park commemorates victims of the atomic bombing in the city. Hiroshima has a similar peace park, and its memorial was set up in the 1970′s and the first of its kind in Japan.
People’s Daily relents:
DPRK’s anti-South Korea condemnation falls after peace overture
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) scaled down its anti-South Korean condemnation via radio broadcasts near the border line, Seoul’s defense ministry said Monday.
Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok told a routine press briefing that the DPRK’s threats and slandering of South Korea through radio programs broadcast near the inter-Korean border have been in a falling trend recently.
Excluding the reduction in the broadcast slandering, there has been no”visible” stop in military activities detected from the DPRK yet, the spokesman said. The DPRK has been conducting winter drills since December last year.
The war on academia from Jacobin:
New York State’s War on Academic Freedom
The New York State Legislature is readying to pass a bill that would make it illegal for any college or university in the state to use public monies to fund faculty membership in — or travel to — academic organizations that boycott the institutions of another country.
The clear target of this legislation, as the Speaker of the State Assembly has made clear, is the American Studies Association. The bill has already passed the NYS Senate; it is going to be voted on some time this week in the Assembly.
As the Center for Constitutional Rights and the New York chapter of the National Lawyers Guild state in this letter, the bill raises a host of constitutional red flags. Boycotts are time-honored expressive activities, protected as speech under the First Amendment. The clear and stated purposed of this legislation is to suppress speech on the basis of its content.
From Index on Censorship, cracking down:
Egypt’s draft anti-terrorism law sparks concern about censorship
The legislation could allow for social networking sites such as Facebook to be barred, if they are deemed to be endangering public order
Statement: Egyptian authorities must stop their attacks on media freedom from Article 19, the Committee to Project Journalists, Index on Censorship and Reporters Without Borders. PDF: Arabic
The wording of proposed anti-terrorism legislation in Egypt has been leaked, sparking concern amongst opposition activists over upcoming government censorship. The legislation could allow for social networking sites such as Facebook to be barred, if they are deemed to be endangering public order.
Al Sherooq, an Arabic-language daily newspaper, reported on the news, stating that ant-terrorism legislation “for the first time includes new laws which guarantee control over ‘terrorism’ crimes in a comprehensive manner, starting with the monitoring of Facebook and the Internet, in order of them not to be used for terrorism purposes”.
According to Al Sherooq, the document is now being circulated around Cabinet for approval, and will build upon the country’s new constitution, recently approved with 98% support. The constitution includes provisions for emergency legislation at points of crisis.
TheLocal.se cracks down:
Spain’s press freedom under fire in US media
Influential US newspaper The New York Times has reported the sacking of El Mundo editor Pedro J. Ramírez as “engineered retribution” by the Spanish government and compared press freedoms in Spain with those in China and Egypt.
In a feature published on Sunday, the newspaper interviewed the recently ousted Ramírez, who claimed that his dismissal was “a show of force by a government that wants to send a message to the whole media sector.”
Ramírez went on to say that it was an attempt “to use a time of clear economic weakness to force the media to be docile, servile and practice self-censorship.”
The editor was sacked last week from the centre-right newspaper El Mundo which he founded 25 years ago.
From International Business Times, a breath of not-so-fresh air:
China Discloses Official Air Pollution Data In Response To Appeals From Environmental Groups
In an unprecedented move toward transparency, the Chinese government has agreed to disclose official data on air pollution in answer to appeals from environmental groups.
Since Jan. 1, Beijing has mandated that 15,000 factories, including state-owned enterprises, publicly report details on their air emissions and water discharges in real time, the Washington Post noted on Sunday.
From USA TODAY, corruption, military style:
Recruiting fraud, kickback scandal rocks Army
Soldiers received bonuses for persuading friends to sign up during Iraq, Afghanistan wars.
More than 800 soldiers are under criminal investigation for gaming a National Guard program that paid hundreds of millions in bonuses to soldiers who persuaded friends to sign up during the darkest years of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, USA TODAY has learned.
Fraudulent payments total in the “tens of millions,” with one soldier allegedly pocketing $275,000 in illegal kickbacks, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY. At least four others made more than $100,000 each.
“This is discouraging and depressing,” Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said in an interview. “Clearly, we’re talking about one of the largest criminal investigations in the history of the Army.”
TheLocal.de takes a hacking hit:
German ministries hit in 16 million email theft
Each German government ministry and 17 of its members of parliament were targeted by the huge data theft in which 16 million online identities were stolen.
The data theft was revealed by the Federal Office for Online Security (BSI) at the end of January but at the time it refused to give out further details.
Der Spiegel magazine reported on Sunday that email addresses and passwords for 600 government employees at every ministry were taken, alongside the 17 MPs.
The attack was carried out by eastern European criminals, according to Der Spiegel.
The BSI knew about the theft in August 2013, when they were warned by the Federal Office of Criminal Investigations (BKA), but only made it public in January.
Our final headline, via The Verge, for your speculative edification:
US Department of Transportation will require car-to-car communications systems to prevent crashes
The connected car got a major push from the federal government today, as the Department of Transportation announced plans for a regulatory proposal that would require vehicle-to-vehicle communication devices in a future year. The proposal comes after a yearlong pilot program by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which will be releasing a report on its findings in the coming weeks. It’s just a first step towards the new communication system, but it’s a big one. “By helping drivers avoid crashes, this technology will play a key role in improving the way people get where they need to go,” US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx told reporters.
Automakers have increasingly embraced the “connected car” model in recent years, which would use high-speed, low-latency connections to enable a new kind of network between cars. The resulting network would allow for more sophisticated anti-collision and convoy systems, preventing crashes and easing traffic congestion. Rather than relying on brake lights to see when the car ahead of you is stopping, a car-to-car system could pull miles-per-hour directly from another driver’s onboard computer, allowing for a smooth and automatic deceleration rather than a traffic-stopping screech.
