SMS

NSA Collects Millions Of Text Messages Daily In ‘Untargeted’ Global Sweep

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Texting on BlackBerry mobile phone
The NSA has made extensive use of its text message database to extract information on people under no suspicion of illegal activity.

– NSA collects millions of text messages daily in ‘untargeted’ global sweep (Guardian, Jan 16, 2014):

• NSA extracts location, contacts and financial transactions
• ‘Dishfire’ program sweeps up ‘pretty much everything it can’
• GCHQ using database to search metadata from UK numbers

The National Security Agency has collected almost 200 million text messages a day from across the globe, using them to extract data including location, contact networks and credit card details, according to top-secret documents.

The untargeted collection and storage of SMS messages – including their contacts – is revealed in a joint investigation between the Guardian and the UK’s Channel 4 News based on material provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Read moreNSA Collects Millions Of Text Messages Daily In ‘Untargeted’ Global Sweep

SPIEGEL: NSA Has Full ‘Back Door’ Access To iPhone, BlackBerry And Android Smartphones

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a BlackBerry Z10 smart phone: Will the company face a setback following claims the NSA can spy on its phones? (REUTERS)

– Privacy Scandal: NSA Can Spy on Smart Phone Data (Spiegel, Sep 7, 2013):

SPIEGEL has learned from internal NSA documents that the US intelligence agency has the capability of tapping user data from the iPhone, devices using Android as well as BlackBerry, a system previously believed to be highly secure.

The United States’ National Security Agency intelligence-gathering operation is capable of accessing user data from smart phones from all leading manufacturers. Top secret NSA documents that SPIEGEL has seen explicitly note that the NSA can tap into such information on Apple iPhones, BlackBerry devices and Google’s Android mobile operating system.

The documents state that it is possible for the NSA to tap most sensitive data held on these smart phones, including contact lists, SMS traffic, notes and location information about where a user has been.

Read moreSPIEGEL: NSA Has Full ‘Back Door’ Access To iPhone, BlackBerry And Android Smartphones