RichPowers

Ive compiled a condensed version of the New York Times Article (JAN. 14, 2014), highlighting some key points to ponder. A link to read the full article is below..

The N.S.A.’s efforts to reach computers unconnected to a network have relied on a century-old technology updated for modern times: radio transmissions. 

The radio frequency technology has helped solve one of the biggest problems facing American intelligence agencies for years: getting into computers that are not connected to any kind of network.

“What’s new here is the scale and the sophistication of the intelligence agency’s ability to get into computers and networks to which no one has ever had access before,”

There is no evidence that the N.S.A. has implanted its software or used its radio frequency technology inside the United States.

German newsmagazine, published the N.S.A.’s catalog of hardware products that can secretly transmit and receive digital signals from computers, a program called ANT. The New York Times withheld some of those details, at the request of American intelligence officials,

The N.S.A. refused to talk about the documents that contained these descriptions, even after they were published in Europe.

President Obama is scheduled to announce on Friday what recommendations he is accepting from an advisory panel on changing N.S.A. practices. The panel agreed with Silicon Valley executives that some of the techniques undermine global confidence in a range of American-made information products like laptop computers and cloud services.

indicates that the United States had already conducted “more than 50,000 worldwide implants,” .. A senior official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the actual figure was most likely closer to 100,000.

Mr. Obama tried to differentiate between conducting surveillance for national security — which the United States argues is legitimate — and conducting it to steal intellectual property.
“The argument is not working,” said Peter W. Singer of the Brookings Institution,..