NSA leaker says audits on gov’t snooping don’t work

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/17/nsa-leaker-says-audits-govt-snooping-dont-work/

By Shaun Waterman
The Washington Times
June 17, 2013

The former National Security Agency contractor who leaked classified 
information about its telecommunications surveillance program said Monday 
that there are few safeguards to prevent abuse of data-gathering projects 
and that large amounts of data about Americans routinely are collected in 
dragnet searches, despite officials’ denials.

“The reality is this, ... [any U.S. intelligence agency] has access to 
query raw databases, they can enter and get results for anything they 
want. Phone number, email, user id, cell phone handset ID, and so on,” 
Edward Snowden told readers in a question-and-answer session on the 
British newspaper Guardian’s website.

“The restrictions against this are policy based, not technically based,” 
Mr. Snowden added.

He said that, even though U.S. intelligence officials note that the 
warrantless monitoring of U.S. citizens’ communications is illegal, 
“Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on 
the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant.”

[...]

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