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Snowden

Anthony Armstrong Jones, Lord Snowdon? No, not the photographer and former husband of Princess Margaret, but the database administrator, Edward, who is the focus of attention for having disclosed the methods or conduct of the NSA.

Some, the ignorant, have dismissed him for allegedly having claimed that he had "authority" to tap or access records for anyone providing he had identifying characteristics such as an e-mail address. "Authority" has a completely meaning in the IT world. It means access! System Administrators have access and generally to everything. That is why they are System Administrators. Perhaps, he should have used the word "access." but I say that is a distinction without a difference, especially given the path that this matter has taken.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Meta Data

The use of this expression causes me to smile.Its use displays deceit or, worse, ignorance. What is this meta-data anyway? While the term means data about data, here it is an accumulation of call records which, of course, is data in and of itself. It looks something like the below.



All phone companies have them and they form the basis of phone bills. The calling number -aka phone number- is the account number that identifies the customer; you. The number called identifies your contacts. The difference between connected time and disconnected time is call duration. One need not have an over-active imagination to understand that a caller's habits and whereabouts-patterns are consequently easily discernible.

US officials have defended the practice of gathering telephone and  internet data from private users around the world.
Prism
They say Prism cannot be used to intentionally target any Americans or anyone in the US, and that it is supervised by judges. I know nothing about Prism, but I know a little about prisms. They bend light. So t shed some light on all of this. Oops its bent. But since everything is supervised by federal judges,  I am fully reassured! Yikes!
So much for honesty.

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