Actually this isn't really a surprise. It slipped during a CNN interview, and I don't think very many people caught this:
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Notice at 1:05 what is said by Ambinder
What's that there at the bottom you ask? Well if you look at the Google help page [https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2645922?hl=en&ref_topic=1669035]:
I suspect the US intelligence agencies can also retrieve your geospatial coordinates from your IP address. Just about every smartphone has GPS, but for your home addres when you're on your home computer, I suspect the NSA has already purchased that technology. This type of technology is already a commercial product used by advertising companies. One such company that sells this product is MindMax [http://www.maxmind.com/en/geolocation_landing] where
Anyways, we should do something to support the NSA whistleblower who released the documents:
The Washington Post [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden], has left his Hong Kong hotel and is now undoubtedly on the run from US authorities. Presumably, he's planing to seek asylum somewhere. If you want to publicly support him, incentivize potential whistleblowers and establish a precedent of public support, then you can do the following:
As far as I know so far there is a case in front of the Supreme Court right now, Jewel vs NSA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_v._NSA], pertaining to indiscriminant NSA surveillance. Go over to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and and read about (https://www.eff.org/cases/jewel). This court case deserves attention in the media.
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Notice at 1:05 what is said by Ambinder
If you assume that the NSA has open access to Google servers, which is what the leaked PowerPoint slides imply, then it follows that the above statement from Ambinder is true. To see why, if you have gmail go into it and start composing your email. Type something and look at the bottom of the window:If you're a terrorist and you're composing an email, what this system allows the NSA to do is watch you compose the email in real time and figure out, as you're composing the email, where you are.
What's that there at the bottom you ask? Well if you look at the Google help page [https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2645922?hl=en&ref_topic=1669035]:
Google saves your emails to their servers as you compose them and the NSA has continuous access to Google's servers. Simple as that. Although it's so incredibly unlikely that there's actually some dude sitting reading emails as people type them lolz, but the technology and infrastructure is in place for that to be done.Saving: Gmail automatically saves your drafts while you're writing, so we've removed the "Save now" button (but you can verify that it's saved if you see the word, "Saved" next to the Discard button). Your draft will also be automatically saved when you close the compose window.
I suspect the US intelligence agencies can also retrieve your geospatial coordinates from your IP address. Just about every smartphone has GPS, but for your home addres when you're on your home computer, I suspect the NSA has already purchased that technology. This type of technology is already a commercial product used by advertising companies. One such company that sells this product is MindMax [http://www.maxmind.com/en/geolocation_landing] where
Here's an "accuracy chart" of their goelocation ability http://www.maxmind.com/en/geolite_city_accuracyMaxMind's GeoIP products enable you to identify the location, organization, connection speed, and user type of your Internet visitors. The GeoIP databases are among the most popular and accurate IP geolocation databases available.
Anyways, we should do something to support the NSA whistleblower who released the documents:
The Washington Post [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden], has left his Hong Kong hotel and is now undoubtedly on the run from US authorities. Presumably, he's planing to seek asylum somewhere. If you want to publicly support him, incentivize potential whistleblowers and establish a precedent of public support, then you can do the following:
Sign a thank you letter for Snowden on RootsAction.org
http://supportedwardsnowden.org/
Sign A petition on whitehouse.gove to pardon Snowden
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-edward-snowden/Dp03vGYD
Donate to a CrowdTitle fundraiser managed by Dwight Crow
https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/reward-edward-snowden-for-courageously-leaking-nsa-docs/description (more information here http://www.crowdsourcing.org/editorial/crowd-powered-campaigns-spring-up-for-nsa-leaker-edward-snowden/26485)
Sign a petition from the American Civil Liberties Union demanding the surveillance to stop
https://www.aclu.org/secure/stop-massive-spying-program
Sign a petition from the Electronic Frontier Foundation demanding Congress to take action
https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=9260
Sign another petition from the Electronic Frontier Foundation calling for CEO's of Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Skype, Yahoo, AOL, Apple to demand a congressional investigation
https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9297
As far as I know so far there is a case in front of the Supreme Court right now, Jewel vs NSA [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_v._NSA], pertaining to indiscriminant NSA surveillance. Go over to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and and read about (https://www.eff.org/cases/jewel). This court case deserves attention in the media.