Daily Archives: 14. Juni 2023
Office of the Director of National Intelligence Senior Advisory Group Panel on Commercially Available Information
(27 January 2022, approved for release by ODNI on 5 June 2023)
(U) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
(U) There is today a large and growing amount of what the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) refers to as “Commercially Available Information” (CAI). As the acronym indicates, and as we use the term in this report, CAI is information that is available commercially to the general public, and as such, is a subset of publicly available information (PAI). We do not use the term CAI to include, and we do not address in this report, commercial information that is available exclusively to governments. The volume and sensitivity of CAI have expanded in recent years mainly due to the advancement of digital technology, including location-tracking and other features of smartphones and other electronic devices, and the advertising-based monetization models that underlie many commercial offerings available on the Internet. Although CAI may be “anonymized,” it is often possible (using other CAI) to deanonymize and identify individuals, including U.S. persons.
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Today, in a way that far fewer Americans seem to understand, and even fewer of them can avoid, CAI includes information on nearly everyone that is of a type and level of sensitivity that historically could have been obtained, if at all, only through targeted (and predicated) collection, and that could be used to cause harm to an individual’s reputation, emotional well-being, or physical safety.
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(U) A May 2014 report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) provides a similar account:
(U) Data brokers collect data from commercial, government, and other publicly available sources. Data collected could include bankruptcy information, voting registration, consumer purchase data, web browsing activities, warranty registrations, and other details of consumers’ everyday interactions.
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1.3. (U) Examples of CAI. We do not attempt a comprehensive description of the scope and scale of data that are available as CAI, or the relevant markets, in part because they are so large and so dynamic. However, a few examples of CAI offerings will illustrate the current nature of available offerings:
• (U) “Thomson Reuters CLEAR is powered by billions of data points and leverages cutting-edge public records technology to bring all key content together in a customizable dashboard.”
• (U) LexisNexis offers more than “84B records from 10,000+ sources, including alternative data that helps surface more of the 63M unbanked/underbanked U.S. adults.”
• (U) Exactis has “over 3.5 billion records (updated monthly)” in its “universal data warehouse.”
• (U) PeekYou “collects and combines scattered content from social sites, news sources, homepages, and blog platforms to present comprehensive online identities.”
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As the FTC explained in its May 2014 report:
(U) Data brokers rely on websites with registration features and cookies to find consumers online and target Internet advertisements to them based on their offline activities. Once a data broker locates a consumer online and places a cookie on the consumer’s browser, the data broker’s client can advertise to that consumer across the Internet for as long as the cookie stays on the consumer’s browser. Consumers may not be aware that data brokers are providing companies with products to allow them to advertise to consumers online based on their offline activities. Some data brokers are using similar technology to serve targeted advertisements to consumers on mobile devices.
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2.2. (U) Examples of CAI Contracts. The IC currently acquires a large amount of CAI. Unclassified IC and other contracts for CAI can be found at Sam.Gov, a U.S. government website that allows searching by agency or sub-agency and by keywords, among other things. By way of example only, this website shows that the following agencies have, have had, have considered, or are considering the following contracts or proposals related to CAI:
• (U) The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with ZeroFox for social media alerting (15F06721P0002431)
• (censored)
• U) The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for social media reports on individuals who are seeking a security clearance (HHM402-16-SM-CHECKS), and with LexisNexis for “retrieval of comprehensive on-line search results related to commercial due diligence from a maximum number of sources (news, company, public records, legal, regulatory financial, and industry information),” among other things (HHM402-21-Q-0094)
• (U) The U.S. Navy with Sayari Analytics, Inc. for access to its database that “contains tens of thousands of previously-unidentified specific nodes, facilities and key people related to US sanctioned actors including ‘2+3’ threats to national security” (N0001518PR11212)
• (U) Various offices within the Treasury Department for access to Banker’s Almanac (RFQ-FIN-55100-21-0010)
• (U) The Department of Defense (DOD) for access to Jane’s online (W31P4Q17T0009)
• (U) The Coast Guard with Babel Street for “Open Source Data Collection, Translation, Analysis Application” (70Z08419QVA044).
(U) In addition, DIA has provided the following information about a CAI contract in an unclassified and publicly-available paper sent to Congress on January 15, 2021:
(U) DIA currently provides funding to another agency that purchases commercially available geolocation metadata aggregated from smartphones.
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US intelligence agencies buy Americans’ personal data, new report says
The report was completed in January 2022 but only recently declassified. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon asked the ODNI for the report.
“Congress needs to pass legislation to put guardrails around government purchases, to rein in private companies that collect and sell this data, and keep Americans’ personal information out of the hands of our adversaries,” Wyden said in a statement Monday in response to the report.
U.S. Spy Agencies Buy Vast Quantities of Americans’ Personal Data, U.S. Says
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Top-level study on Intel Community, Space Force satellite control coming soon
Since the Space Force’s inception three years ago, there’s been some tension between the newest military service and spy satellite agencies over who’s responsible for acquiring satellite imagery and ISR products and providing actionable information to military commanders.
Pioneer 10
Firsts:
– First spacecraft placed on a trajectory to escape the solar system into interstellar space
– First spacecraft to fly beyond Mars
– First spacecraft to fly through the main asteroid belt
– First spacecraft to fly past Jupiter
– Crossed the orbit of Neptune to become the first human-made object to go beyond Neptune
– First spacecraft to use all-nuclear electrical power
Key Dates:
March 2, 1972: Launch
July 15, 1972: Spacecraft entered the asteroid belt
Dec. 4, 1973: Pioneer 10’s closest approach to Jupiter
Feb. 1976: Pioneer crossed Saturn’s orbit
June 13, 1983: Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune
March 31, 1997: Routine contact with spacecraft terminated
Jan. 23, 2003: Pioneer 10‘s last signal is received on Earth
#OTD in 2019, @NASA‘s #NewHorizons flew by Arrokoth, the farthest object ever explored by spacecraft. Arrokoth is about about 50 AU, or 4 billion miles from the Sun. New Horizons is ~56 AU from Earth and will join Voyagers 1 & 2 in interstellar space in the 2040s.
5 Spacecraft Are Leaving The Solar System. What Did They See In Their Journey?
Pioneer 10: Pioneer 10 was launched in 1972 to explore the planets of the solar system. It achieved the first flyby of Mars, the first trip through the asteroid belt, and Jupiter‘s first flyby. It was the first time NASA had used nuclear energy to power its spacecraft. So, after Pioneer 10 passed Jupiter in 1973, it still had ample energy to keep going. Initially planned for 21 months, it continued to communicate with Earth for a total of 30 years.
What Spacecraft Will Enter Interstellar Space Next?
(January 30, 2019)
This milestone — reaching interstellar space — can be considered leaving the solar system by a certain definition. Let‘s be clear about what that entails. In 1990, the New York Times reported that Pioneer was reported to leave the solar system when it flew past Neptune‘s orbit. That‘s not what Voyager 2‘s scientists used to make their determination, however. Instead, the more recent measurements consider the crossing of the sun‘s heliopause, the theoretical boundary to its heliosphere, to be the determining factor for entering interstellar space. The heliosphere is a bubble of charged particles created by and flowing past the sun. Scientists use it to mark where interstellar space begins.
Raumsonde „Pioneer 10“ 40 Jahre aus Sonnensystem heraus
Am 13. Juni 1983 durchflog „Pioneer 10“ die Umlaufbahn des Neptun und wurde so laut NASA zum ersten menschengemachten Raumschiff, das am weitestentfernten bekannten Planeten unseres Sonnensystems vorbeiflog. Neptun ist im Mittel etwa 4,5 Milliarden Kilometer von der Sonne entfernt.
Mit „Pioneer 11“ und den beiden „Voyager“-Sonden folgten später ähnliche Missionen. „Voyager 1“ überholte „Pioneer 10“ schließlich als am weitesten von der Erde entferntes menschengemachtes Objekt. Zum bisher letzten Mal schickte „Pioneer 10“ im Jänner 2003 Daten, ein Kontaktversuch im März 2006 scheiterte.
Thanks @esaagar + @krystalball for having me back on your show! #Kennedy24
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RFK, Jr. Returns To Breaking Points
Breaking Points‘ Krystal and Saagar interview RFK, Jr. on his 2024 presidential run.
ON WHISTLEBLOWERS: Would @RobertKennedyJr pardon @Snowden and Assange? „I would put a statue of Snowden in Washington… how are you making this guy a criminal? He‘s an American hero… Assange, I‘m gonna pardon on day one. It‘s insane. He‘s effectively a newspaper publisher.“
Full interview:
To @POTUS and @TheJusticeDept: Stop the extradition of Assange. I am as indictable as he is on the exact same charges. I will plead „not guilty“ on grounds of your blatantly unconstitutional use of the Espionage Act. Let‘s take this to the Supreme Court.
(06.12.2022)
Stimmen zur verstärkt drohenden Auslieferung von Julian Assange an die USA nach der Entscheidung des High Court
In der vergangenen Woche gab der britische High Court die Entscheidung des Richters Sir Jonathan Swift bekannt, dass dieser zwei Berufungsanträge von Assanges Anwälten nicht zur Verhandlung zugelassen hat. Damit bleibt Julian Assange nur noch ein Rechtsmittel im Vereinigten Königreich. Seine Frau Stella kündigte an, dass ihr Mann einen erneuten Berufungsantrag einbringen werde. Zahlreiche Personen und Organisationen reagierten mit Stellungnahmen und Artikeln, von denen wir nachfolgend einige wiedergeben, zusammen mit einer eigenen Einschätzung.
Peace by peaceful means. Ceasefire and negotiations now! Statement from the International Summit for Peace in Ukraine, 2023.
We support all negotiations that stand for the logic of peace instead of the illogic of war.
We affirm our support for Ukrainian civil society who are defending their rights. We commit ourselves to strengthening the dialogue with those in Russia and Belarus who are putting their lives at risk opposing war and protecting democracy.
We call on civil society in all countries to join us in a week of global mobilization (Saturday 30th September – Sunday 8th October 2023) for an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations to end this war.
Vienna, June 11th, 2023
“We must all do our share, that we may be equal to the task of peace.” – Albert Einstein
Vienna’s International Summit for Peace in Ukraine Issues a Global Call for Action
During the weekend of June 10-11 in Vienna, Austria, over 300 people representing peace organizations from 32 countries came together for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine to demand an end to the fighting. In a formal conference declaration, participants declared, “We are a broad and politically diverse coalition that represents peace movements and civil society. We are firmly united in our belief that war is a crime against humanity and there is no military solution to the current crisis.”
To amplify their call for a ceasefire, Summit participants committed themselves to organizing Global Weeks of Action–protests, street vigils and political lobbying–during the days of September 30-October 8.