- By Sebastian Anthony on August 21, 2013 at 2:24 pm
This morning you probably read the report that the NSA, despite its emphatic claims to the contrary, has the ability to scoop up 75% of all US internet traffic. Through various programs known as Fairview, Oakstar, Lithium, Blarney, Stormbrew, and old favorites such as XKeyscore and Prism, the US government gathers data from almost every US telecommunications company. Blarney, for example, according to former AT&T officials, sends a copy of anything interesting that crosses the AT&T network (which is huge) to the NSA.
Rather than worry about whether your internet activity is being snooped on by the US government, though (spoiler: it is), I thought I would instead take a different tack and surprise you with a glass-half-full approach. If the NSA can listen in on 75% of all traffic traveling through the US, then that must surely mean that a full 25% goes unmonitored. When you’re talking about a significant chunk of the internet’s infrastructure, representing exabytes (billions of gigabytes) of traffic every month, 25% is a significantly sizable swath that’s unchecked by the US government. 25% is easily enough room for you to surf the web without the omnipresent gaze of an overreaching government. But how do you stop being part of the quietly oppressed 75% and enjoy the freedom of the other 25%?
This morning you probably read the report that the NSA, despite its emphatic claims to the contrary, has the ability to scoop up 75% of all US internet traffic. Through various programs known as Fairview, Oakstar, Lithium, Blarney, Stormbrew, and old favorites such as XKeyscore and Prism, the US government gathers data from almost every US telecommunications company. Blarney, for example, according to former AT&T officials, sends a copy of anything interesting that crosses the AT&T network (which is huge) to the NSA.
Rather than worry about whether your internet activity is being snooped on by the US government, though (spoiler: it is), I thought I would instead take a different tack and surprise you with a glass-half-full approach. If the NSA can listen in on 75% of all traffic traveling through the US, then that must surely mean that a full 25% goes unmonitored. When you’re talking about a significant chunk of the internet’s infrastructure, representing exabytes (billions of gigabytes) of traffic every month, 25% is a significantly sizable swath that’s unchecked by the US government. 25% is easily enough room for you to surf the web without the omnipresent gaze of an overreaching government. But how do you stop being part of the quietly oppressed 75% and enjoy the freedom of the other 25%?