

Guess whose emails the NSA can't read - chris_wot
http://www.loweringthebar.net/2013/07/guess-whose-email-the-nsa-cant-read.html

======
alan_cx
Hang on, how is it a defense to say that? Can a startup, or any other
organisation, also say that? "Oh sorry, we don't have a search facility, so we
cant act on your warrant"?

I'm sorry, but how can any court accept that as a defense?

~~~
tehwalrus
A defense against FOI requests is that it would cost too much to collect the
data - the logic being that companies/governments shouldn't be legally obliged
to spend significant money just because someone put in an awkward request.

Of course, in this case, I still think they should reallocate some of the
their budget and upgrade the email system :/

~~~
wavefunction
FOIA requests over a certain threshold require the requester to pay fees, so
certainly the "cost" of a FOIA request can be passed along.

I'm skeptical about the problems the NSA has with searching emails, since they
could probably just install some of their own tools on their email servers to
index and collate. I have a feeling its more of a political lack of will
rather than technological. These folks want scrutiny into everyone else, not
themselves.

~~~
tehwalrus
I agree, I'm sure that is a big factor here! I was just emphasising the usual
excuse for ignoring FOI requests.

------
gmuslera
At least we have the answer for the old question. Nobody watches the watchers.

------
coldcode
I can't even think of a snarky comment. This is so ... pathetic. I think 5
year old children can come with better lies.

~~~
stan_rogers
IBM (Lotus) Notes with encrypt on receipt set (and without transaction logging
enabled, which works at the routing rather than the storage level) would do
it. There is no central repository as such, each user has their own mail
database, and each of those databases can be RSA-encrypted. Reading the
messages requires the user's private key, which an admin can get by requesting
from the user _or_ recovering the ID from the vault and using the password
recovery utility (a Shamir-type back door) or brute-forcing the password.
Without transaction logging, there is no global index to search other than a
domain search (which requires plaintext). Even without encryption, it may be
necessary to know which users to look at, since they may live in different
Notes domains within the org, and the messages of interest may be in archive
databases.

------
borplk
It's just their way of saying "Fuck You"

------
jasonjei
On top of that, they probably still are incapable of intercepting terrorist
email.

~~~
samstave
Especially considering the "terrorists" are actual employees.

------
mratzloff
I wouldnt be surprised if it were true. If it is, it's probably intentional.
Primitive technology gives them plausible rejection of broad FOIA requests of
exactly the kind requested.

~~~
ams6110
I don't think it passes the smell test. One thing they will be extremely
concerned about is employees who are leaking information to the outside. I
don't believe for a second that their in-house email, especially messages to
outside recipients, is not deeply screened for sensitive information and
indexed for later investigation of possible leaks.

------
jasonkolb
I'm sure they keep anyone who reponds to FOIA requests as far away from the
real good tech as possible. There's probably a little boolean flag on each
record that says "OK to send in response to FOIA requests" that hardly ever
gets checked... but if it ever does it gets transferred to the FOIA response
system. So you're probably dealing with crumbs of the real information to
begin with.

------
yyao
I was hoping that the link would say that they can't read PGP encrypted
messages or something along those lines. Alas, we can't be too sure about that
either.

------
phaemon
In what way would you actually get rid of all these "intelligence" agencies? I
don't think it's possible. I think they've successfully achieved a kind of
military coup where they are always funded, always exerting control over a
country and can't be removed in any way.

Am I wrong?

~~~
ferdo
What funds the NSA and the entire Military-Industrial Complex? If we changed
the underlying financial structure that supports it, the upper dependencies
would have to change or cease to exist also.

It's taken four or five generations to build this beast. It will take
generations to change it again. But in the meantime, I hope a small percentage
of people will take measures to defend themselves from the coup.

------
lifeisstillgood
Satire often bites deepest, and being made to look ridiculous is what draws
some of the harshest reactions from tyrannical dictatorships.

