NSA Tried to Gain Access to Pakistani Government Database

The serial on the long tentacles of the National Security Agency (NSA) continues to grow. The NSA intercepts million of people face images circulating on the internet and used for facial recognition software for intelligence, as published on Sunday the New York Times from 2011 documents stolen by Edward Snowden. It is also revealed that NSA tried to access government databases in Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

A few months ago the Guardian reported that the NSA and its British counterpart and had intercepted Yahoo! user images taken from the front camera computers. The Times report goes much further and reveals a widespread practice in the past four years under the NSA’s efforts to capitalize the enormous flow of photographs circulating in emails, text messages, social networking and video conferencing; and considered equally relevant to other methods of espionage, as the scrutiny of phone calls.

In 2011 the agency intercepted “million images a day,” including 55,000 facial recognition quality, generating “tremendous untapped potential ” according to a leaked document, which highlights the opportunity it provides to meet the daily life and biography of individuals. The newspaper suggests that most foreigners would correspond to images obtained through the Internet, satellite and cable lines.

Still, the total number of collected by the NSA photographs, which are registered in a program of obtaining the call Megadata, including telephone conversations that are authorized in known as Section 215, was unaware of the provision of the patriotic Act under whose protection was developed. The reform program of mass collection phone calls is being debated on Capitol Hill after U.S. President Barack Obama, promised to limit its scope.

U.S. law does not provide for specific protection of privacy to facial images and experts say there is a significant loophole. An NSA spokeswoman quoted by the newspaper said the agency would require the approval of the courts to collect photographs of Americans, consider a content of communication and as is the case with the scrutiny of calls and emails. But communications between Americans and citizens abroad may be considered an exception.

The government agency intensified its draft facial identification after two failed attacks against the United States in 2009 and 2010, a man who tried to blow up an explosive that had hidden aboard a plane flying to Detroit and the failed detonation of a device in a car in Times Square in New York.

According to the newspaper, the NSA has the ability to cross registered in different databases images. For example, facial photographs intercepting videoconferencing over the Internet with images of log most wanted terrorists by the U.S., airline passenger information and photographs of the identity cards of foreign citizens recorded in international databases. This allows to identify a particular individual but physical appearance has changed.

The NSA, according to documents leaked to the Times, was trying to gain access to official databases in Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia to complete capacity further scrutiny in those countries. For example, managed to locate a militant training camp in Pakistan by comparing photographs taken by spy satellites with personal images outside intercepted by U.S..

Spokesman said the agency does not have access to photos of driver’s licenses and passports of U.S. citizens, but declined to comment if they have access to the database of the Department of State of photographs of foreign nationals applying for a visa residence in the United States. Neither wanted to assess whether the NSA obtains images of Americans through social networks like Facebook.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=44893

Posted by Shakira Subhani on Jun 7 2014. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.