Thousands gather in Washington for anti-NSA 'Stop Watching Us' rally:
Thousands gathered by the Capitol reflection pool in Washington on Saturday to march, chant, and listen to speakers and performers as part of Stop Watching Us, a gathering to protest "Mass surveillance" Under NSA programs first disclosed by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. Ref. Source 1
NSA asked Japan to tap regionwide fiber-optic cables in 2011:
The agency's overture was apparently aimed at gathering information on China given that Japan is at the heart of optical cables that connect various parts of the region. But Tokyo turned down the proposal, citing legal restrictions and a shortage of personnel, the sources said. Ref. Source 1
No Morsel Too Minuscule for All-Consuming N.S.A.:
From thousands of classified documents, the National Security Agency emerges as an electronic omnivore of staggering capabilities, eavesdropping and hacking its way around the world to strip governments and other targets of their secrets, all the while enforcing the utmost secrecy about its own operations. Ref. Source 4
NSA grapples with huge increase in records requests:
Fueled by the Edward Snowden scandal, more Americans than ever are asking the National Security Agency if their personal life is being spied on. And the NSA has a very direct answer for them: Tough luck, we're not telling you. Ref. Source 2
N.S.A. Report Outlined Goals for More Power:
Officials at the National Security Agency, intent on maintaining its dominance in intelligence collection, pledged last year to push to expand its surveillance powers, according to a top-secret strategy document. Ref. Source 8
Debuking excuses for NSA spying
We’ve heard from lots of folks who are passionately concerned about the NSA’s mass spying, but are struggling to get their friends and family to understand the problem and join the over a half-million people who have demanded change through stopwatching.us and elsewhere Ref. Source 1
NSA has capacity for decoding private conversations:
The cellphone encryption technology used most widely across the world can be easily defeated by the National Security Agency, an internal document shows, giving the agency the means to decode most of the billions of calls and texts that travel over public airwaves every day. Ref. Source 9