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Couldn't agree more. In addition to that, the NSA (among other government organizations) sniffs and logs all internet (including Twitter) traffic. Given the u

Couldn't agree more. In addition to that, the NSA (among other government organizations) sniffs and logs all internet (including Twitter) traffic. Given the unlimited resources of the government to sift, sort, and mine this data (thanks to our taxpayer dollars) it wouldn't be at all surprising if they didn't already construct a superior, parallel analytic system unconstrained by any of the regulations or financial restrictions faced by Twitter.

awinograd 11y ago
This is a ridiculous claim. The government doesn't have the resources to monitor the entirety of the Internet.
- cm2187 11y ago
  If you take out porn videos and duplicate js libraries the text traffic is probably not that great!
  - cmurf 11y ago
    Right. And also deduct 90+% likely spam/phishing candidates, and all youtube and Netflix streams and what remains is what, 20%? 10%?
    - cm2187 11y ago
      I'd say less than that. Remove all https traffic, js frameworks, identical images, video, newspapers and major blog entries, and I'd guess the remaining text traffic must be 1-2% of the global traffic. One thing I'd guess too is that the NSA must have the mother of all password databases. Given all the login forms that went through unencrypted and still do. If I was the NSA that's the first thing I would have captured.
      - dangerlibrary 11y ago
        My understanding is that they store all https traffic to be decrypted later.
        cm2187 11y ago
        That I find harder to believe. A lot of video is going through https, that would be huge amounts.
        cyphar 11y ago
        Look up BULLRUN. That's literally what is happening.
        snowwrestler 11y ago
        Where in the BULLRUN materials does it say that the NSA is storing all HTTPS traffic on the Internet to be decrypted later?
        cyphar 11y ago
        "Encrypted Internet Traffic", combined with the construction of the largest data storage facility in the history of mankind does tend to suggest it's not just Snapchat photos.
      - Mtinie 11y ago
        I guess it is time to start hiding my sensitive data inside of customized versions of jQuery and Angular! :)
- StanislavPetrov 11y ago
  Where have you been for the last few years? What resources exactly do you think they lack? Why do you think the NSA just built a 1,000,000 square foot data center in Utah? https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/ https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/08/building-a-panopticon-the-evolution-of-the-nsas-xkeyscore/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/08/buildi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosure...
  - tptacek 11y ago
    "The NSA just built a 1,000,000 square foot data center in Utah" is not, in fact, a rebuttal to the parent comment.
  - winteriscoming 11y ago
    > https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/ https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/ FWIW - That's a parody site. However, that's not to disclaim that the Utah data center isn't being built.
    - Forbo 11y ago
      It was completed in September of 2014.
- xerophyte12932 11y ago
  Yes, but is it really that absurd to think the govt could monitor all twitter traffic and form a superior analytical tool if it wanted to?
- lowpro 11y ago
  Only the 98% of web traffic that goes through the US. Although really the other 2% wouldn't be hard to get considering the power they have.
  - cyphar 11y ago
    NSA has partnership with many other nation states. They get much more data than just the data which goes through the US.
    - Forbo 11y ago
      For anyone wanting more information on this, it is commonly referred to as "Five Eyes": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes Also of note is the "Future Enlargement" section of that article, where it expands on other partnerships: "Six Eyes", "Nine Eyes", "Fourteen Eyes".
- grey-area 11y ago
  oh tempora oh mores https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempora https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempora
sp332 11y ago
Twitter is TLS by default, so it wouldn't be very useful to just capture the traffic. They'd have to either MITM (which would be detectable e.g. by the SSL Observatory) or by obtaining Twitter's TLS keys for decryption.
- gknoy 11y ago
  I no longer feel that believing such things to be in the realm of the NSA's capabilities is an indicator of craziness.
  - sp332 11y ago
    Yeah, and now that I think of it, it would probably be easier to hack the other endpoint (the users' computers). I'm just saying, knowing that the NSA has been recording web traffic doesn't automatically mean they have all the tweets.

awinograd 11y ago

This is a ridiculous claim. The government doesn't have the resources to monitor the entirety of the Internet.

cm2187 11y ago
If you take out porn videos and duplicate js libraries the text traffic is probably not that great!
- cmurf 11y ago
  Right. And also deduct 90+% likely spam/phishing candidates, and all youtube and Netflix streams and what remains is what, 20%? 10%?
  - cm2187 11y ago
    I'd say less than that. Remove all https traffic, js frameworks, identical images, video, newspapers and major blog entries, and I'd guess the remaining text traffic must be 1-2% of the global traffic. One thing I'd guess too is that the NSA must have the mother of all password databases. Given all the login forms that went through unencrypted and still do. If I was the NSA that's the first thing I would have captured.
    - dangerlibrary 11y ago
      My understanding is that they store all https traffic to be decrypted later.
      - cm2187 11y ago
        That I find harder to believe. A lot of video is going through https, that would be huge amounts.
        cyphar 11y ago
        Look up BULLRUN. That's literally what is happening.
        snowwrestler 11y ago
        Where in the BULLRUN materials does it say that the NSA is storing all HTTPS traffic on the Internet to be decrypted later?
        cyphar 11y ago
        "Encrypted Internet Traffic", combined with the construction of the largest data storage facility in the history of mankind does tend to suggest it's not just Snapchat photos.
    - Mtinie 11y ago
      I guess it is time to start hiding my sensitive data inside of customized versions of jQuery and Angular! :)
StanislavPetrov 11y ago
Where have you been for the last few years? What resources exactly do you think they lack? Why do you think the NSA just built a 1,000,000 square foot data center in Utah? https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/ https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/08/building-a-panopticon-the-evolution-of-the-nsas-xkeyscore/ http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/08/buildi... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosures_%282013%E2%80%93present%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surveillance_disclosure...
- tptacek 11y ago
  "The NSA just built a 1,000,000 square foot data center in Utah" is not, in fact, a rebuttal to the parent comment.
- winteriscoming 11y ago
  > https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/ https://nsa.gov1.info/utah-data-center/ FWIW - That's a parody site. However, that's not to disclaim that the Utah data center isn't being built.
  - Forbo 11y ago
    It was completed in September of 2014.
xerophyte12932 11y ago
Yes, but is it really that absurd to think the govt could monitor all twitter traffic and form a superior analytical tool if it wanted to?
lowpro 11y ago
Only the 98% of web traffic that goes through the US. Although really the other 2% wouldn't be hard to get considering the power they have.
- cyphar 11y ago
  NSA has partnership with many other nation states. They get much more data than just the data which goes through the US.
  - Forbo 11y ago
    For anyone wanting more information on this, it is commonly referred to as "Five Eyes": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Eyes Also of note is the "Future Enlargement" section of that article, where it expands on other partnerships: "Six Eyes", "Nine Eyes", "Fourteen Eyes".
grey-area 11y ago
oh tempora oh mores https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempora https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempora

sp332 11y ago

Twitter is TLS by default, so it wouldn't be very useful to just capture the traffic. They'd have to either MITM (which would be detectable e.g. by the SSL Observatory) or by obtaining Twitter's TLS keys for decryption.

gknoy 11y ago
I no longer feel that believing such things to be in the realm of the NSA's capabilities is an indicator of craziness.
- sp332 11y ago
  Yeah, and now that I think of it, it would probably be easier to hack the other endpoint (the users' computers). I'm just saying, knowing that the NSA has been recording web traffic doesn't automatically mean they have all the tweets.