[extropy-chat] NSA Patents method to locate internet users.

[Mike Lorrey]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46501  

Sunday, September 25, 2005


LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER
National Security Agency
gets fix on Internet users
Top secret group applies for patent
to ID physical address of Web surfers

Posted: September 25, 2005
1:00 a.m. Eastern


© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com 

Internet users hoping to protect their privacy by using anti-virus
software, Web anonymizers, false identities and disabled cookies on
their computer's Web browser have something new to worry about – a
patent filed by the National Security Agency (NSA) for technology that
will identify the physical location of any Web surfer. 

Patent 6,947,978, granted this week, describes a process based on
latency, or time lag between computers exchanging data, of "numerous"
known locations on the Internet to build a "network latency topology
map" for all users. Identifying the physical location of an individual
user, reports CNET News.com, could then be accomplished by measuring
how long it takes to connect to an unknown computer from numerous known
machines, and using the latency response to display location on a map. 

The rate at which data travels over the Internet constantly varies due
to the amount of traffic, the size of data files, the constant changing
of hardware and software by millions of users. Sometimes the system is
slow, sometimes it is fast. Because of this variation, knowing how long
it takes for a signal to travel to a location and back is not
sufficient to identify it's location. But knowing the latency of the
entire system at a given moment and the latency for a specific computer
provides a means of knowing relative locations, however fast or slow
the Internet is operating. 

While most users are unaware of it, their computers are able to "ping"
website addresses to trace the route their connection took and how much
time was required to complete the operation. Likewise other computer
users – hackers, for example – can ping their computer as well when
connected to the Internet. It is this feature that the NSA's patent
seeks to exploit. 

The NSA patent does not describe the intended use of the technology by
the agency, noting only general uses like measuring the "effectiveness
of advertising across geographic regions" or flagging a password that
"could be noted or disabled if not used from or near the appropriate
location," according to CNET News. But given NSA's status as the
nation's premier cryptologic organization, it's unlikely the technology
will be used to improve advertising. 

NSA is so secret that its acronym has been said to stand for "No Such
Agency." According to its website, "the National Security
Agency/Central Security Service ... coordinates, directs, and performs
highly specialized activities to protect U.S. government information
systems and produce foreign signals intelligence information. A high
technology organization, NSA is on the frontiers of communications and
data processing. It is also one of the most important centers of
foreign language analysis and research within the government." 

The agency has come under fire in the past for spying on American
citizens. In the 1970s, the agency was forced to admit that it had used
its eavesdropping equipment against Jane Fonda and other anti-Vietnam
War activists. The revelation led to a 1978 law banning spying by the
agency on U.S. citizens and resident aliens anywhere.   

In 2000, following reports revealing the existence of Echelon, a
massive data-mining project that filtered electronic and voice
communications around the world, then director of the National Security
Agency, Air Force Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden, and his boss, CIA Director
George Tenet, assured Congress, "We protect the rights of Americans and
their privacy. We do not violate them and we never will." 

"If, as we are speaking this afternoon, Osama bin Laden is walking
across the peace bridge from Niagara Falls, Ontario, to Niagara Falls,
New York, as he gets to the New York side, he is an American person and
my agency must respect his rights against unreasonable search and
seizure as provided by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution,"
Hayden testified. 

Post-9-11, if bin Laden goes online, NSA may actually know where he is. 

Mike Lorrey
Vice-Chair, 2nd District, Libertarian Party of NH
Founder, Constitution Park Foundation:
http://constitutionpark.blogspot.com
Personal/political blog: http://intlib.blogspot.com


		
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