Microsoft: Talks with U.S. government on surveillance transparency break down

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Facebook does Prism damage control with first government request report

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Facebook got 25,000 government requests about users in the first half of 2013

Facebook received more than 25,000 requests from governments about its users during the first half of 2013, with nearly half of those requests coming from U.S. law enforcement and related agencies, the company said.

U.S. agencies made 11,000 to 12,000 requests for Facebook user information during the first six months of the year, with the rest of the world’s governments making about 14,600 requests, Facebook said in its first global government requests report, released Tuesday.

Other countries with high numbers of requests: India with 3,245, the U.K. with 1,975, Germany with 1,886, and Italy with 1,705.

The “vast majority” of the requests related to criminal cases, Colin Stretch, Facebook’s general counsel, wrote in the report. In many cases, the requests seek basic subscriber information, such as name and length of membership, while in other cases, law enforcement officials seek IP addresses or account content, he wrote.

Facebook doesn’t honor every request. In the U.S., Facebook provided some information in response to 79 percent of the requests, while in the U.K., it provided some information in 68 percent. The percentage was much lower for several countries. For example, Facebook provided information in response to just 27 percent of Argentina’s 152 requests and 39 percent of France’s 1,547 requests.

“We have stringent processes in place to handle all government data requests,” Stretch wrote. “We believe this process protects the data of the people who use our service, and requires governments to meet a very high legal bar with each individual request in order to receive any information about any of our users. We fight many of these requests, pushing back when we find legal deficiencies and narrowing the scope of overly broad or vague requests.”

Google and some other tech companies have released similar reports about government requests. Google began releasing a government data transparency report in 2009; in the second half of 2012, Google received more than 21,000 requests about its users.

Privacy International, a U.K.-based privacy group, applauded Facebook for releasing the numbers, but said recent leaks about data collection at the U.S. National Security Agency show that these kinds of transparency reports have limited use.

“We are left with a disturbingly hollow feeling regarding Facebook’s gesture, and it has little to do with Facebook itself,” the group said in a blog post. “Since [the NSA documents] have been published and analysed, the veil has been lifted on what information governments actually collect about us.”

The Facebook report only details lawful data requests, the group said. “We are now aware of a terrifying reality—that governments don’t necessarily need intermediaries like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft to get our data,” it added. “They can intercept it over undersea cables, through secret court orders, and through intelligence sharing.”

Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service.
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Is Windows 8 a Trojan horse for the NSA? The German Government thinks so

The German Government is now deeply suspicious that the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) technology built into a growing number of Windows 8 PCs and tablets is creating a gigantic back door for NSA surveillance, leaked documents have suggested.

Documents from the German Ministry of Economic Affairs obtained by German title Zeit Online uncover the alleged unease of officials at the direction of version 2.0 of the standard being developed under the auspices of the multi-vendor Trusted Computing Group (TCG).

TPM has been marketed as a security technology since its appearance in 2006, but version 2.0 would embed a chip on every PC that has complete control over which programs can and can’t run, a setting that can’t be over-ridden under Windows 8. The chip is also where the cryptographic data is stored for Windows BitLocker and it enables remote administration.

Windows 8 security going forward will be founded on TPM 2.0 and the ability to access or break it would be of huge value to any intelligence service.

TPM has been marketed as a security technology since its appearance in 2006, but version 2.0 would embed a chip on every PC that has complete control over which programs can and can’t run, a setting that can’t be over-ridden under Windows 8.

During TCG meetings, German officials appear to have expressed concern about the potential for abuse but were “rebuffed,” Zeit claims. The documents also refer to the NSA having representation at the meetings and the statement “the NSA agrees” in the context of leaving the technology in its current (presumably unreformed) state.

The context of this reference is not clear from the Zeit article but the implication is disturbing; the NSA thinks that TPM 2.0 does not offer a barrier to its operations.

German officials, including members of the Federal Office for Information Security (Bundesamt fr Sicherheit or BSI) concluded that “the use of trusted Computing technique in this form ... is unacceptable for the federal administration and the operators of critical infrastructure,” and would represent a “loss of full sovereignty over information technology.”

A second document expresses the belief that TPM 2.0 under Windows 8 is no longer usable while Windows 7 “be operated safely until 2020,” after which alternatives will need to be sourced.

Is the story overblown Teutonic paranoia or a valid concern about the growing power of state surveillance? Until recently, the presumption might have been to the former but the Snowden affair changed the dimensions of the debate.

The NSA has if not the capability then certainly the ambition to eavesdrop on every communication event on the Internet, and the willingness of large US firm to go along with that, or not, has generated huge controversy. Meanwhile, allegations that Microsoft has co-operated with the NSA to bypass the encryption used in some of its services are a matter of public record.

For cost reasons, TPM is rarely built into consumer PCs although the advent of Windows 8 is supposed to extend version 2.0 to all PCs over time.

For cost reasons, TPM is rarely built into consumer PCs although the advent of Windows 8 is supposed to extend version 2.0 to all PCs over time. Newer devices such as Windows 8 tablets and some phones are likely to have a TPM although getting precise data on this is not easy. Linux supports Intel’s TPM 1.0, although unlike 2.0 this can be loaded and unloaded from the endpoint.

Ironically, an expert quoted in the Zeit article goes on to worry that the Chinese Government as well as the NSA might be able to access data through TPM 2.0; many TPM chips are manufactured in the country.

After years of low-level discussion among security experts, worries over surveillance backdoors have suddenly become a mainstream topic. Last month an Australian report claimed that intelligence services in the ‘five eyes’ alliance (the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) had refused to use PCs made by Chinese-founded Lenovo over concerns about “backdoor hardware and firmware vulnerabilities.”

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Government turns to Tumblr and Twitter for new intelligence transparency drive

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Tesla aced its government safety test so hard it broke the testing machine

If vehicle safety has you so concerned you’re actually looking into what kind of permits it takes to make a tank street legal, maybe it’s time to consider picking up your very own Tesla. The electric vehicle start-up produced some mind-bending results during safety testing for the 2013 Tesla model S.

Earlier in August, the Tesla S earned a five-star rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in all the categories it tests for including head-on collisions, side impacts, and roll overs.

But the NHTSA’s rating tells only half the story.

Tesla recently announced some of the details of its first major round of safety testing. Only about one percent of all cars tested by the NHTSA earn an across-the-board five-star rating like the Tesla S, according to the company. Tesla also claims its car sets a “new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants.”

Whether or not that is just company bravado, the results of the Tesla S are pretty impressive. For starters, the company’s roof crush protection was so good it broke the testing machine at an independent commercial facility. The machine was applying a force of 4 g’s at the time.

That means, according to Tesla, you could stack four fully loaded Tesla S vehicles on top of a fifth Tesla and the bottom car’s roof wouldn’t collapse— Tesla says it can’t be sure if that’s the maximum pressure the car can take, seeing as how it broke the testing equipment.

Related to the roof’s rigidity, the car also has a low center of gravity thanks to the battery pan in the Model S. As a result, the Tesla S resisted all conventional attempts to induce the car to roll over.

Other highlights for the Tesla S’s NHTSA performance included driver-side protection that was able to preserve 63.5 percent of the driver’s residual space after impact. Tesla says to protect against side impacts, the Tesla S features multiple deep aluminum extrusions in the car’s side rail that help absorb energy from an impact.

Tesla also scored top marks for its rear crash testing and for high-speed impacts. Tesla credits the latter to not having a large gasoline engine block, meaning it can have a larger crumple zone to reduce the force of the impact.

But enough talk! Here's a Tesla getting slammed and living to tell the tale.

Ian is an independent writer based in Tel Aviv, Israel. His current focus is on all things tech including mobile devices, desktop and laptop computers, software, social networks, Web apps, tech-related legislation and corporate tech news.
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Bitcoin can be used for private transactions, German government says

The German Federal Ministry of Finance said on Monday that Bitcoin is not a full-fledged currency but that it is permissible to use it in private transactions.

But if companies want to use Bitcoins for commercial transactions, they need the permission of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), said Martin Chaudhuri, ministry spokesman.

Bitcoin is a digital currency that can be exchanged electronically. But like other virtual currencies it lacks the backing of a government entity or a central bank.

In Germany, Bitcoin is not seen as a real currency by the Ministry of Finance, said Chaudhuri. Bitcoin rather falls under the classification "Rechnungseinheiten als Finanzinstrument" which is a unit of account, he said.

The government clarified its position on Bitcoin at the request of a member of parliament (MP) a couple of weeks ago, said Chaudhuri.

While Bitcoin can be legally used for private transactions in Germany, the Ministry also has the position that the virtual currency has many disadvantages, according to Chaudhuri, noting above all Bitcoin's instability. But because Bitcoins don't have a great impact on the market due to their limited use, the risks are also limited, he added.

Along similar lines, the European Central Bank (ECB) concluded last October that at present, virtual currency schemes such as Bitcoin do not pose a risk to price stability, provided that money creation continues to stay at a low level.

Though virtual currencies tend to be inherently unstable, at the moment they cannot jeopardize financial stability due to their limited connection with the real economy, their trading low volume and lack of wide user acceptance, the ECB said at the time.

But because they are currently not regulated and are not closely supervised, participation in virtual currencies exposes users to credit, liquidity, operational and legal risks, according to the ECB. These currencies could also represent a challenge for public authorities because of the legal uncertainty, it added. And they can also be used by criminals, fraudsters and money launderers to enable their legal activities, the ECB noted.

While the impact of the risks is relatively small, the ECB will periodically revisit developments in virtual currencies to reassess risks.

A similar risk assessment is underway in the U.S. where last week it was revealed that a prominent U.S. Senate committee has launched a formal inquiry to investigate criminal activity and other risks tied to the use of virtual currencies like Bitcoin.

Loek Essers focuses on online privacy, intellectual property, open-source and online payment issues.
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Area 51 revealed by U.S. government as spy plane's home

Area 51 has been firmly embedded in American lore, often as the home of little green men secreted away in the Nevada desert. Now, the U.S. government has acknowledeged the existence of the site in a history of the Lockheed CL-282, also known as the U-2 spy plane.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed in 2002, George Washington University’s National Security Archive has published the CIA-authored report, The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and Oxcart Programs, to its site, complete with a full torrent of the document to minimize the load on its servers.

The report, authored in 1992, was originally classified as “secret,” but was declassified with redactions in 1998. Secreted away within those redactions were the references to Area 51, the site also known as “Groom Lake” in the Nevada desert. Those redactions were almost all eliminated in June; the university then published the report.

Jarnot.comA Google Earth shot of Area 51

Following World War II, the government's goal was to keep tabs on known and potentially hostile countries, with airborne surveillance seen as a means with great potential. The government also believed that a plane flying above 65,000 feet would evade the early-warning radars used by Russia and other hostile nations, and set out to develop a plane to do just that: the Lockheed CL-282 , which was renamed the U-2 in July 1955, according to the report.

The U-2 was fitted with a camera sensitive enough that it could take high-resolution photos even at those high altitudes. The A1 camera, as it was known, would take continuous, horizon-to-horizon photos of the ground beneath the aircraft.

Subequent “B” and “C” camera revisions were actually developed using the first instances of “ray-tracing,” where the movement of light through the camera’s lens was simulated via an IBM card-programmed calculator at nearby Boston University, according to the report.

CIAThe CIA report includes this barely-legible picture of the Groom Lake facility.

Unfortunately, the government also needed a site to build and test the aircraft, which was how Area 51 came to be. According to the report:

“As work progressed in California on the airframe, in Connecticut on the engines, and in Boston on the camera system, the top officials of the Development Projects Staff flew to California and Nevada to search for a site where the aircraft could be tested safely and secretly,” the report says.

“On 12 April 1955, Richard Bissell and Col. Osmund Ritland (the senior Air Force officer on the project staff) flew over Nevada with Kelly Johnson in a small Beechcraft plane piloted by Lockheed’s chief test pilot, Tony LeVier,” the report added. “They spotted what appeared to be an airstrip by a salt flat known as Groom Lake, near the northeast corner of the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) Nevada Proving Ground."

The report continued: "After debating about landing on the old airstrip, LeVier set the plane down on the lakebed, and all four walked over to examine the strip. The facility had been used during World War II as an aerial gunnery range for Army Air Corps pilots. From the air the strip appeared to be paved, but on closer inspection it turned out to have originally been fashioned from compacted earth that had turned into ankle-deep dust after more than a decade of disuse. If LeVier had attempted to land on the airstrip, the plane would probably have nosed over when the wheels sank into the loose soil, killing or injuring all of the key figures in the project.”

To make the site more attractive, Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, the leader of the Lockheed “Ckunk Works,” referred to the location as “Paradise Ranch”. Area 51 was simply the map designation.

A separate note by British author Chris Pocock notes that much of the information found in the report was already known, either by other, declassified documents, interviews with personnel, or just good old-fashioned legwork. One tool, the Declassification Engine, was released this May, with the hope that it will eventually become a shared workspace of sorts to peirce the veil of government secrecy.

Of course, since then, the mystery of sites like Area 51 have diminished somewhat, thanks to leaks, as well as to satellite overflights of virtually the entire world, via sites like Google Maps. But at a time when the world is being rocked by other reports of U.S. spying, it’s interesting to see what the government was up to more than fifty years ago.

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IBM, Verizon to compete for $10 billion in government cloud work

IBM, Verizon and eight other companies will compete for $10 billion worth of work to help move the U.S. Department of the Interior’s IT systems to the cloud.

The Department of Interior (DOI) anticipates saving over $100 million a year between 2016 and 2020 by shifting workloads from the 400 data centers that it now maintains.

“These contracts will not only allow us to move these apps to the cloud, but move them in a well-planned, methodical way,” wrote Andrew Jackson, DOI deputy assistant secretary for technology, information and business services, in a statement.

Ten companies have each been awarded an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contracts that will allow them to compete for individual task orders in building out the Interior Department’s cloud. AT&T, IBM, CGI Group, Unisys, Verizon, Lockheed Martin, Aquilent, Autonomic Resources, Global Technology Resources and Smartronix all were awarded contracts.

Typically with an IDIQ contract, a company is not awarded any money initially. An IDIQ is often referred to as a license to hunt, meaning that it is a set of terms that have been pre-negotiated between the vendor and the agency to expedite the process of issuing work orders.

With this IDIQ, the DOI will issue task orders for individual projects, which these 10 companies will compete for. Each company can be awarded up to $1 billion of work for DOI.

Other U.S. federal government agencies can use the IDIQ contract vehicle for their own work as well.

The first project under this contract vehicle will be to set up and host an SAP implementation. The agency will also issue task orders for virtual machines, storage, database hosting, secure file transfers, Web hosting, as well as for maintaining development and test environments.

The contract vehicle was scheduled to be issued in May, but was held up by a protest from a vendor that was not included in the final selection. CenturyLink argued that the contract wording was too vague to be truly competitive. The Court of Federal Claims struck down that challenge last week.

The DOI has been working with cloud computing for awhile. In 2012, the agency began consolidating all of its email and collaboration services to a cloud service, Google Apps for Government.

For IBM, the DOI contract is potentially the largest cloud computing job the company has been awarded. IBM expects that it will use the assets from its recent purchase of IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) provider Softlayer, which it plans to use in its Smart Cloud for Government hosted service.

Comprised of 16 bureaus and offices, the DOI oversees federal owned lands and U.S. natural resources, including 500 million acres of park lands. Its annual IT budget is more than $1 billion a year.

Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for the IDG News Service.
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