[ExI] Technology, Not Law, Limits Mass Surveillance

[Keith Henson]

On Wed, Jul 3, 2013 at 5:00 AM,  Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:

> From: Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org>
>
> http://www.technologyreview.com/view/516691/technology-not-law-limits-mass-surveillance/
>
> Ashkan Soltani
>
> July 1, 2013
>
> Technology, Not Law, Limits Mass Surveillance
>
> Improved technology enabled the NSA?s mass surveillance programs. Future
> improvements will make collecting data on citizens easier and easier.

> Recent revelations about the extent of surveillance by the U.S. National
> Security Agency come as no surprise to those with a technical background in
> the workings of digital communications. The leaked documents show how the NSA
> has taken advantage of the increased use of digital communications and cloud
> services, coupled with outdated privacy laws, to expand and streamline their
> surveillance programs. This is a predictable response to the shrinking cost
> and growing efficiency of surveillance brought about by new technology. The
> extent to which technology has reduced the time and cost necessary to conduct
> surveillance should play an important role in our national discussion of this
> issue.

Given the exposed facts and human nature, I can make a prediction as
to where this story will eventually go.

A subset of the information the NSA collects provides considerable
insight into predicting the movement of stock prices.  This is
actually a reasonable thing to do in the context of terrorists
attacks.

Though it was either refuted or swept under the rug, there were a lot
of stories about the stocks of United and American Airlines being
shorted in the days leading up to 9/11.

Given the nature of NSA and the low chances of being caught, how
likely do you think it is that someone, maybe a lot of someones, has
been using the information to effectively play the stock market?  It
might be noted that senators and representatives do quite a bit better
than average with the stocks they trade during the time they are in
office.  For that, all they need is a general idea of how the
purchases of the government will impact the company's stock.

I don't know how hard it would be for reporters to find people in the
venn diagram who have done considerably better than average in the
stock market and have a connection to the NSA.

But it might lead them to a significant story.

I have no idea if it is related, but the high frequency trading
programs have recently been performing poorly.  For data input to
those programs, I can imagine nothing better than the NSA's feed.

Keith