NSA can "retain and make use of "inadvertently acquired" domestic communications if..."

[Skip Intro]

The top secret documents published today detail the circumstances in which data collected on US persons under the foreign intelligence authority must be destroyed, extensive steps analysts must take to try to check targets are outside the US, and reveals how US call records are used to help remove US citizens and residents from data collection.

However, alongside those provisions, the Fisa court-approved policies allow the NSA to:

• Keep data that could potentially contain details of US persons for up to five years;

• Retain and make use of "inadvertently acquired" domestic communications if they contain usable intelligence, information on criminal activity, threat of harm to people or property, are encrypted, or are believed to contain any information relevant to cybersecurity.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/20/fisa-court-nsa-without-warrant

So, if your communications are simply encrypted, they are subject to search and seizure without a warrant? Is that what that means?

[RobertEarl]

1. Oh jeez

My ISP tells me that all my data in and out is encrypted.

That via encryption, viruses are eliminated.

Everyone should ask their own ISP about their traffic.

The NSA has me by the short ones!! Youch!

[RobertEarl]

3. Passwords

They are encrypted.

So, if the NSA picks up a password, they immediately book you?

These are loopholes big enough to drive the first computer thru!

[Eric J in MN]

7. Passwords are also "information relevant to cybersecurity." (NT)

NT

[kentuck]

2. So you mentioned to your friend on a phone call back to New England...

that you were going to buy some pot? Could that be criminal activity? That covers a lot more ground than we might think?

[Catherina]

4. That would fall under "evidence of a crime that has been, is being, or is about to be committed

That would fall under "evidence of a crime that has been, is being, or is about to be committed"

Jameel Jaffer, the American Civil Liberties Union's deputy legal director, said in a statement today that:

After Congress enacted the FISA Amendments Act in 2008, we worried that the NSA would use the new authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of Americans' telephone calls and emails. These documents confirm many of our worst fears. The "targeting" procedures indicate that the NSA is engaged in broad surveillance of Americans' international communications.

The "minimization" procedures that supposedly protect Americans' constitutional rights turn out to be far weaker than we imagined they could be. For example, the NSA claims the authority to collect and disseminate attorney-client communications -- and even, in some circumstances, to turn them over to Justice Department prosecutors. The government also claims the authority to retain Americans' purely domestic communications in certain situations.

The documents suggest there are some significant loopholes in domestic surveillance: if an NSA analyst reviews an intercepted communication and finds "evidence of a crime that has been, is being, or is about to be committed," it can be forwarded to the FBI or other federal law enforcement agencies.

Another loophole is "a serious harm to life or property" -- which could sweep in intellectual property -- and "enciphered" data. Communications that contain "enciphered" data, which would likely include PGP but also could mean encrypted Web connections using SSL, may be kept indefinitely.

...

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57590364-38/nsa-can-eavesdrop-on-americans-phone-calls-documents-show/

[MannyGoldstein]

5. Does that make you drone-able? (nm)

[Catherina]

8. I hope not! Because you won't even see it coming. n/t

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. seems like it

[Life Long Dem]

9. I think he'd rather keep people confused

Instead of using the words "call record" throughout, he will use the word "data" stored for 5 years. When it's the call records being stored for 5 years.

[Catherina]

10. (Yes) Here's an encrypted message for the NSA

The encrypted 4th Amendment -- about the right size for signature files.

^@m^C@rijndael-128^@ ^@cbc^@mcrypt-sha1^@^Ue�k^W���.p��bxU^]�
�^P?sha1^@�Ȁ݀0�"^["{jT��^_^R�

The 4th Amendment, encrypted with a different key:

^@m^C@rijndael-128^@ ^@cbc^@mcrypt-sha1^@^U���,3^B�;��%2P欷.�y�sha1^@��x<ժ7^W�Ӫ$

Warning! Including this in your email will grant the NSA authority to store your communications (in the unlikely event that said communications are inadvertently collected in the process of protecting us from said terror).

[jazzimov]

11. NO, In fact, that entire portrayal is misleading.

According to the document:

A communication identified as a domestic communication will be destroyed upon recognition unless the Director (or Acting Director) of NSA specifically determines, in writing, that:

So, any communication that is determined to be domestic is to be destroyed as soon as it is identified. Any exceptions must be submitted in writing by the Director. By reading the rest of the document, the encrypted documents can only be kept until it can be deciphered and that information can be used in cryptanalysis of other documents.

As far as the "five years" is concerned, most of the sections say that info must be destroyed upon determination, with a five years as a MAXIMUM LIMIT.

[Skip Intro]

13. Oh, well if it's only kept for five years...

[Skip Intro]

12. Wow, the answer was just posted here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=post&forum=1002&pid=3058540 with a link to Forbes.

It evidently means what it says.

If it's encrypted, it's game.