#unitedstatesofsecrets

[emilytesdale-me-blog]

In part one of the “United States of Secrets” it explains how the government created a program after the 9/11 attack. The program was called NSA, and was created to gather personal information of the people to prevent terrorist attacks that might occur. The government controlled pretty much the worldwide internet system collecting mass data through emails, the telephone, and text to manage and hear in on the conversations that were taken place to watch out for any suspicion. The program was questioned illegal and not morally right but the government continued to go through anyways. This controversial topic brought up two main concepts that we have talked about in class: network and interface. Without networks, the government wouldn't have been able to collect all the data that they did with the help of many different companies to keep the program up and running. Using the computers, they were able to access all the information they needed to stop the terrorists.  

[internetsocietyclass-blog]

Documentary Analysis: United States of Secrets (Part One)

            It all started with an archive of information that Edward Snowden shared with a journalist/documentary maker. On 9/11, the question was asked, “What didn’t we detect that we should have detected?” And so, the war on terrorism commenced above ground, while the surveillance on Americans began below ground. It is definitely against the law to use the National Surveillance Agency (NSA) to spy on Americans. So let us get that straight now, because there is no way around it. Using surveillance programs, NSA was trying to find unknown conspirators, but to find them, they had to suspect everyone. George W. Bush knowingly okayed the illegal invasion of all of America’s privacy in 2001 when he signed the Patriot Act. Only a small handful of people were aware of this operation and just how deep it went. “Thinthread” was a program made before 9/11 that could eavesdrop on all of America, but was programmed for privacy among citizens. But NSA already had its own Thinthread, just minus the privacy control. “It was unethical, immoral, stupid, and unconstitutional…” (United States of Secrets). One of the speakers in the video stated that these actions are a blatant violation of the first amendment. When a small piece of information on the giant project was leaked, George W. Bush informed The New York Times that if they made the story public then the newspaper would be at fault for the death of many Americans if/when terrorists attacked next. In his running campaign, Obama said, “No more secrecy! That is a promise I make to you as a commandment…no more wiretapping…” And yet, after winning the election, Obama continued the surveillance at the strong suggestions of his advisors.   

            I chose this artifact because it is a terrifying portrayal of how much the government sees looking at us so often. But, I also chose this picture because, being at that height, you aren’t able to catch a lot of details. I think this is key because while NSA does look at a good majority of our personal information, it is all skimming. They aren't looking to read about you. They are looking for particular cues that may elude to you being a terrorist. Yes, that doesn't sound so great. But I think it is important to understand the distinction, whether you agree with it or not.

            As far as Information goes, this entire documentary focuses on information and how it travels between computers, how it is filtered, searched, and collected in order to “search for terrorists” and “identify suspicious activity”. With Archive, it is evident that all of this information that is being collected does not just poof! And disappear. NSA (and pretty much all websites) collect the information in archives. Websites generally use this for commercial purposes so that they can place the appropriate ads on your desktop and make even more money.        

            Personally, I am not a criminal so I really don’t have anything to hide from the government and couldn’t really care less if they were snooping. That being said, I am not a criminal so there is no reason to snoop. I’m not going to go crazy and rant on this because plenty of people have already done that and I don’t have much to rant about, but I will say that there is this thing called “innocent until proven guilty” and it should be applied to our rights on the internet as well, considering it is just as much a part of our nation as the land we walk on.

[kanishatippens]

In part two of The United States of Secrets, all the information that Edward Snowden released was discussed. When Snowden was exposing the NSA and all the governments secrets, he revealed certain programs that proved major websites were working with the NSA to invade privacy. It was leaked that companies like Facebook, Google, and Yahoo, had partnered up with the NSA and could give them any information they wanted.

When browsing online, your browser can store cookies from certain websites, so they remember your preferences. Websites then use those cookies to advertise things that you may have searched for on your browser before. Because some of those major websites are working with the NSA, the government can use those cookies to spy on you. The meme above shows how everything you browse on the internet is linked together and can be traced back to you

This video is related to the idea of information because all the information we look at or put on the internet is being monitored. Wether is google using your information to put certain ads on your search results, or the government snooping through your stuff looking for certain information. This article was interesting to me because even though I might not be a terrorist and I am doing nothing wrong, it is shocking that the government can still have access to all my private information and have knowledge of what I browse on the internet.

[paigeypaigerrrs-blog]

"You can't survive, unless you keep them a secret." 

In the documentary titled United States of Secrets: Part 1, it asks the question - could the attack on September 11th in 2001 have been prevented? If so, how? And would it have been under a constitutional means? Towards the beginning of the documentary we learn that the National Security Agency (NSA) was created in order to prevent a surprise attack, but the irony of this situation is that the NSA were one of the last agencies to find out about the terrorist attack. As said in the documentary, some of the directors of the NSA found out because CNN was on the television in his office.. the television! These government officials that we are placing our trust and faith in to protect us can't even know that a huge attack is coming for a country.. now what is there to say about this?

Later, when President Bush asked the director of the NSA if anything could have been done to prevent this attack he replied with yes, but he does not have the authority. What General Hayden wanted to do was wire-tap into all phone calls, phone numbers, texts, e-mails and all other online information sources in order to monitor possible threats to the country. This goes against many US citizen's privacy rights because the NSA would be hacking into their private information without reason or warrant.

As seen through the remainder of the documentary, this is quite the controversial issue. Who decides what is constitutional or not? What networks are allowed to be monitored by the US government and what are the boundaries of wanting to protect its citizens and invading their privacy? 

[kanishatippens]

In part one of The United States of secrets, they talked about one of the governments highly classified programs. This program was initiated after 9/11 as a way of preventing terrorist attacks to happen. The plan included looking through the data of millions of Americans, and outside countries as well. The NSA could monitor peoples emails, phone calls, text messages, and basically any internet activity. When people inside the NSA tried to stand up against this program and say it was unconstitutional, they were hushed.

The government spying on its own citizens is an extremely controversial subject. The idea that the government  can invade your privacy and have knowledge of almost everything private in your life, upsets people. The picture above pokes fun of the idea that the government knows everything private about our lives.

This video fits in with the topic of privacy because it proves that nothing on the internet is really private. The argument of this video is very convincing, and pointed out things to me that I had never noticed before. 

[21stcenturychildd-blog]

In the second part of the documentary, United States of Secrets, the secrecy of The Program was breached when a young man who worked for the NSA, Edward Snowden, leaked thousands and thousands of documents to three news reporters. Although President Obama tried to downplay the severity by claiming The Program was only used on foreigners and not on US citizens, Snowden’s tell all video revealed the unconstitutionally of information collection that had been going on for years in the nations’ capital. At the same time, another source leaked that big Intel companies, like Google and Yahoo, had been selling their information to NSA when in actuality, the NSA had gone behind these company’s backs oversees to hack into the databases. In the same way that Gmail scans emails to suggest advertisements, the NSA wants to do the same thing to scan for terrorist information, claiming that it does not violate privacy laws.

The quote from Edward Snowden highlights the reasons why he leaked the information. He know that what the NSA and The Program were doing violated privacy laws and wanted to make sure that they were stopped, even if it meant risking his own freedom or life. 

The information collected by the NSA and intel companies are making an archive of every body’s lives. The ease of compression has allowed such information to easily be shared between government sources and communication companies even if we did not approve of it. The networking between Social Media, Commercial, and Information sites is what allows us to network to people and ideas all over the world. Although there have been many advances due to new media, we must realize that without knowing it, we are giving up personal information in exchange for an encyclopedia at our fingertips.

[21stcenturychildd-blog]

The documentary United States of Secrets attempts to uncover the secrets of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the controversial surveillance program they implemented after 9/11 called The Program. Because the NSA did not know about the surprise attacks, they feel like they are responsible for not protecting the people and that it could have been prevented if they had stronger security. Under General Hayden, they took the encryption used to protect the identity of US citizens out of an old program called Thin Thread and used it to monitor the phone calls and internet use of Americans. Although it obviously raises questions about ethics and constitutionality, the President, Vice President, Attorney General, and many other high ranking officials signed and were in support of The Program and even lied to cover the severity of the information being collected, despite protest from inside the NSA and the House of Representatives. The problem with The Program was that they were using outward facing information systems designed to catch terrorists to unnecessarily collect information on their own people. In a sense, the NSA has been trolling us all. 

Although technological advances and new media have helped people become more knowledgeable, it also opens doors for new secrets to be kept. The government was the first to use the Internet for the exchange of information and to create an archive and they have not stopped increasing the volumes of big data they’ve collected since. Without network, interface, algorithms, and archive the information collection and storage would not have been possible through The Program. The people working for the NSA are extremely intelligent and their skills should not be used to violate the constitution.

[hunchspace]

So yes - you should you should you SHOULD - watch United States of Secrets / Frontline. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/united-states-of-secrets/

^not sure if links work on tumblr - I love Frontline, and try to never miss it - however, it is online -

WATCH this - Part 2 next week - so worth the watch!