Revealed: the top secret rules that allow NSA to use US data without a warrant

[Pholus]

181. Yes, it was worthwhile.

I have worked with HPC since 1992 so I know that how computing power can be applied. I don't believe many "impossibles" anymore -- I'd run out of imagination long before I run out of tractable problems that the computer can perform for me. Now, I have been reading Bruce Schneier's blog for several years now, it typically gives really good insights given the wide variety of practical experience of the readers. For example, they had already worked out that sampled call storage was technically feasible using COTS technology and that text to speech like you described would aid in the ability to index the calls. I highly recommend his blog (http://www.schneier.com/) to you as well as his books, "Beyond Fear" in particular. If you ever needed to understand the "Security Theater" that our airport security represents, see some of the most damning takedowns imaginable as he shows how anyone could circumvent the "no fly" list with photoshop. Strangely, despite this failure repeatedly being reported it was never fixed. He continues commenting on computer security daily. One of his latest columns, on US Offensive Cyberwar Policy, is a must read when you get offended in the least that China is trying to hack us. All the kewl kids are doing it...

One of the more reassuring things I've read about NSA data in the last week is the five year limit, which IF ENFORCED, adds at least some limits to the program. I don't believe it will be, of course. Once you've went through the trouble of preserving something it could seem perverse to destroy it merely because an arbitrary amount of time has passed. And data always can be shown to have value you didn't realize when you collected it.

And yet, that data if kept forever is the most profound violation of "the American Spirit" that I can think of. Among the various stories we tell ourselves about our country's good traits is the concept of reinvention. We were raised on stories of attempt, fail, reinvent, fail...then a miracle occurs...wild success. The ability to declare bankruptcy and start over is also an American idea. The chance for a fresh start. But a permanent record of everything you communicate will never allow that reinvention to occur on a personal level and by extension on the financial levels. It stratifies class and chains it to your personality.

That metadata that I keep hearing is harmless? It damns you by your associates. If X is untrustworthy and X is friends with Y and Y talks to you a lot, you are basically untrustworthy because of your association with X. I can imagine that if not now, a future generation of security clearances will be granted on a "six degrees of Kevin Bacon" analysis of your social network. Don't make friends with anyone who knows an anarchist or journalist and you'll do fine! I've written other threads where I have pondered on what advice to give my kids so that they can adapt to this brave new world we've got.

That data should NEVER have been collected, but if collected it should NEVER exist outside of an NSA server room where it was used for national security purposes only. That is why the "minimization document" represents such a crime, though I don't think people have really latched onto that. It demonstrates the application of data collected in a fashion antithetical to our national self-image being applied outside of the narrow mandate allowed it in the first place. Mission creep. Of course, data can always be shown to value you didn't realize when you collected. So the lure is strong.

Good exchange.