The NSA generally destroys communication of U.S. persons that are
collected incidental to collecting data on foreign individuals — unless
the communication is encrypted, which means that encrypted email and
text communications involving U.S. persons that are collected by the NSA
in the course of conducting bulk collections would be retained by the
agency. It does this as a matter of course, the document appears to say,
to further its research and assessment into cracking encryption.
- The
NSA may retain the encrypted communications for “any period of time”
during which it might prove to be useful.
Per the document:
“In the context of a cryptanalytic effort, maintenance of technical
data bases requires retention of all communications that are enciphered
or reasonably believed to contain secret meaning, and sufficient
duration may consist of any period of time during which encrypted
material is subject to, or of use in, cryptanalysis.”
- Furthermore, using the “wrong” encryption program might make you an
NSA target. That’s because the National Security Agency takes a number
of variables into account in determining whether it can target you for
surveillance. One indicator that you might be fair game: using “specific
types of cryptology or steganography” that are “extensively used by
individuals associated with a foreign power or foreign territory.”
- The NSA maintains a massive database of U.S. email addresses and
phone numbers. The agency says it does this only to help determine who
is a U.S. citizen and therefore make sure that it’s not accidentally
spying on those people.
- Per one of the documents,
the NSA “maintains records of telephone numbers and electronic
communications accounts/addresses/identifiers that NSA has reason to
believe are being used by United States persons. Prior to targeting, a
particular telephone number or electronic communications
account/address/identifier will be compared against those records in
order to ascertain whether NSA has reason to believe that telephone
number or electronic communications account/address/identifier is being
used by a United States person.”
- The NSA also maintains a database of information incidentally
collected from GSM and Home Location Registers to determine when a
foreign person being targeted has entered the U.S. According to the
document, “These registers receive updates whenever a GSM phone moves
into a new service area. Analysis of this HLR information provides a
primary indicator of a foreign user of a mobile telephone entering the
United States.”
Read the rest at Wired Magazine
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