Canadian Spy Agency Snooped Travelers With Airport Wi-Fi 159
Walking The Walk writes: "It seems the NSA isn't the only agency doing illegal domestic spying. According to a Snowden document obtained by the CBC, Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) has apparently been tracking domestic travelers, starting from when they first use free Wi-Fi at an airport, and continuing for days after they left the terminal. From the article: 'The document indicates the passenger tracking operation was a trial run of a powerful new software program CSEC was developing with help from its U.S. counterpart, the National Security Agency. In the document, CSEC called the new technologies "game-changing," and said they could be used for tracking "any target that makes occasional forays into other cities/regions."' The CBC notes early in the article that the spy agency 'is supposed to be collecting primarily foreign intelligence by intercepting overseas phone and internet traffic, and is prohibited by law from targeting Canadians or anyone in Canada without a judicial warrant.' Predictably, CSEC's chief is quoted saying that they aren't allowed to spy on Canadians, so therefore they don't. As observed by experts consulted for the story, that claim is equivalent to saying that they collect the data but we're to trust that they don't look at it."
Airport wifi (Score:5, Interesting)
"free" airport wifi is a vacuum operation. Interesting note: we were heading out on a vacation a couple of weeks ago. I plugged my iPad into the USB charger in the plane and got a nice popup (typing this from the screen shot I took):
So charging on planes is another thing to avoid for me.
Re: Three words (Score:2, Interesting)
The use of tracking MAC addresses is nothing new. In Sydney, Australia, there are traffic lights fitted with surveillance equipment. This information came out during a television story on ABC tv. What the government is doing is targeting bluetooth/wifi enabled devices, logging them into a database then the owners are tracked around the city. The government claimed that MAC addresses were not personally identifying so it's not a concern. The fact is that MAC addresses are identifiable and can be linked to whatever individual. If you have ever been arrested by sydney police and had to surrender your device, chances are that they will record the IMEI and MAC address. And for all those arm chair IT experts here: how the hell is the average user supposed to generate a new MAC address for their phones or tablets?! LOL
Re:Here's what's funny about all of this (Score:5, Interesting)
It's worth nothing that reinforced cockpit doors appear to have caused at least one plane crash where the pilot decided to commit suicide and take the rest of the passengers along for the ride.
So they're not a cost-free option.
It's also worth noting that, if the passengers had known what the hijackers had planned, they wouldn't have got anywhere near the cockpit doors before being beaten to death. The real flaw was the expectation that the hijackers would let them off in a day or two so they should just sit back and wait.
If we'd been beating the crap out of hijackers for decades instead of going along with them, 9/11 would never have happened.