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

[mail at harveynewstrom.com]

Mike Lorrey writes: 

> 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.

"Anonymity" on the Internet has never meant "untraceable".  Anonymity simply 
means your name is not identified in the packet.  However, the packets are 
still all routed on physical wires toward the recipients location until they 
are finally delivered to that exact spot.  Every router, mail hub and 
nameserver on the Internet participates in this process and can point toward 
the direction of the user.  Packets follow this trail all the way to the 
user, and so can sufficiently skilled humans.  Only the most naive Internet 
users would assume otherwise.  Encrypted, anonymous, uncrackable packets can 
still be followed as they move.  They are not invisible. 


> 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.

This is trivial to thwart.  Artificial time lags can be introduced to 
simulate longer latencies than would actually occur for a particular 
location. 

> NSA is so secret that its acronym has been said to stand for "No Such
> Agency."

I  have worked for agencies that did not officially exist.  One such example 
is the NRO, which now has been declassified and is known to have previously 
existed. 

> 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.

Definitely a concern. 

> The revelation led to a 1978 law banning spying by the
> agency on U.S. citizens and resident aliens anywhere.

No comment. 

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

The same way we did when he used his cellphone.  It may not help. 

 --
Harvey Newstrom <www.HarveyNewstrom.com>
CISSP CISA CISM CIFI NSA-IAM GSEC ISSAP ISSMP ISSPCS IBMCP