Tor network offers users browse the Internet anonymously and is mostly
used by activists, journalists to conceal their online activities from
prying eyes. Whereas, Tails is a live media Linux distro designed boot
into a highly secure desktop environment and is different because it is
aimed at the privacy conscious “normal user” rather than government
workers.
The documents for the NSA’s
XKeyscore Internet surveillance system also indicate that the NSA was
apparently capturing the traffic of anyone reading a wide range of
articles on Linux Journal website and gathering up information of the
visitors.
The documents provided by Snowden on X-Keyscore last year indicated that
the surveillance program allowed NSA officials to obtain a person's
phone number or email address, read the content of email, and track full
Internet activity including browsing history without bothering the need
of any warrant.
The analysis of the top-secret source code for X-Keyscore the NSA uses
to conduct internet surveillance indicates that the program targeted at
least two German Tor Directory Authority servers, one based in Berlin
and the other in Nuremberg, as well as individuals using Tor.
It’s not just Tor and Tails the NSA is collecting data from. The report also reveals this code:
// START_DEFINITION
/*These variables define terms and websites relating to the TAILs (The
Amnesic Incognito Live System) software program, a comsec mechanism
advocated by extremists on extremist forums. */
$TAILS_terms=word('tails' or 'Amnesiac Incognito Live System') and
word('linux' or ' USB ' or ' CD ' or 'secure desktop' or ' IRC ' or
'truecrypt' or ' tor ');
$TAILS_websites=('tails.boum.org/') or ('linuxjournal.com/content/linux*');
// END_DEFINITION
"Months of investigation by the German public television broadcasters
NDR and WDR (ARD), drawing on exclusive access to top secret NSA source
code, interviews with former NSA employees, and the review of secret
documents of the German government reveal that not only is the server in
Nuremberg under observation by the NSA, but so is virtually anyone who
has taken an interest in several well-known privacy software systems," reads the ARD report.
However, the source code also reveals that the NSA has targeted a German
student who runs a Tor node, under the XKeyscore program. Still, it is
unclear how ARD obtained the NSA source code, and the broadcaster made
no mention in its report of Snowden, or the documents he leaked.
UPDATE
In response to ARD's allegations relating to the details uncovered in the Xkeyscore source code, the NSA provided the following
statement:
“
NSA collects only what it is authorized by law to collect for valid
foreign intelligence purposes - regardless of the technical means used
by foreign intelligence targets. The communications of people who are
not foreign intelligence targets are of no use to the agency.
In January, President Obama issued U.S. Presidential Policy Directive
28, which affirms that all persons - regardless of nationality - have
legitimate privacy interests in the handling of their personal
information, and that privacy and civil liberties shall be integral
considerations in the planning of U.S. signals intelligence activities.
The president's directive also makes clear that the United States
does not collect signals intelligence for the purpose of suppressing or
burdening criticism or dissent, or for disadvantaging persons based on
their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion.
XKeyscore is an analytic tool that is used as a part of NSA's lawful
foreign signals intelligence collection system. Such tools have
stringent oversight and compliance mechanisms built in at several
levels. The use of XKeyscore allows the agency to help defend the nation
and protect U.S. and allied troops abroad. All of NSA's operations are
conducted in strict accordance with the rule of law, including the
President's new directive.”