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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums?Did this Tor developer become the first known victim of the NSA's laptop interception program?
Did this Tor developer become the first known victim of the NSA's laptop interception program?
Submitted by sosadmin on Fri, 01/24/2014 - 14:29
Last night Andrea Shepard, a core Tor developer living in Seattle, posted this message to Twitter:
https://twitter.com/puellavulnerata/statuses/426597381727989760
The image she linked to shows the shipment tracking details for a computer Shepard ordered from Amazon, the global internet superstore and cloud computing giant that in late 2013 secured a $600 million contract with the CIA. Here's the image:
As you can see, the tracking details are highly unusual. Instead of shipping the computer directly from the Amazon storage facility in Santa Ana, California, to Shepard in Seattle, the package was first dispatched to Dulles, Virginia. From Dulles, it moved another four times around the military and intelligence belt in suburban Washington DC, finally landing in Alexandria at 11:03 am on January 23.
Contrary to Amazon's shipment tracking summary, Virginia is not the package's final destination. Shepard does not live in Alexandria and told Amazon to ship the computer to a Seattle, Washington address. You can see this for yourself in the top right hand corner of the image.
MORE & Larger Images?????:
http://privacysos.org/node/1311
MineralMan
(146,284 posts)blanked out the address, while leaving the ZIP+4, which resolves to an address. She also provided a name. I'm thinking whoever posted this is not too bright, overall.
I wouldn't do that.
In fact, if I were concerned about maintaining serious privacy or keeping my hardware out of government hands, I wouldn't have purchased any damn thing from Amazon. I'd have walked into a store and purchased it on the spot and walked out again. There are plenty of places to buy a laptop in Seattle, really.
randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]
MineralMan
(146,284 posts)keystrokes. TOR developer? Time to log out and buy a different keyboard, I think.
randome
(34,845 posts)But the article mentions 'laptop' and 'computer', so it's technically inaccurate, although the line between keyboard and computers is obviously getting shorter.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]
MineralMan
(146,284 posts)However, I suppose if one were a TOR programmer, some law enforcement agency might be interested. Not necessarily the NSA, either. There seems to be considerable interest in the darknet these days. I can't imagine why, but it could have something to do with drugs, illegal activities, and the like, I suppose.
Virginia is home to a number of alphabet agencies, if memory serves me.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)That's how stupid this is. She doesn't even have the damn thing--it got sent to the wrong place, and her response was to flog it for publicity on the Internet instead of complaining to Amazon and having them send her a new one.
MineralMan
(146,284 posts)This is all pretty sketchy, IMO.
Still, if I were concerned, I believe I'd buy my hardware locally and in person, taking it with me from the store's stock. Shouldn't be a problem in the Seattle area, I'd think.
And, as you note, seeking publicity doesn't seem a good idea for someone wanting to keep a low profile.
unblock
(52,181 posts)i have to think they'd have a way to cover their tracks.
far, far, far more likely is that it's an ordinary shipping screw-up, the kind that happens all the time without any help from the nsa.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Hint #1: an NSA conspiracy would not document itself via an Amazon tracking update system
Hint #2: If the computer she's never touched gets sent to the government instead of being sent to her, how would that help them spy on her?
Hint #3: Dulles is an airport, where stuff shipped by air would land.
This is publicity-seeking nonsense.
The crop circle nonsense is more credible.
Progressive dog
(6,900 posts)The Tor project lists names of their people, They must really be afraid of the NSA.
Try torproject.org,
jeff47
(26,549 posts)is so dumb they'd update UPS tracking on a package they intercepted.
Also, keyboards are not laptops.
bemildred
(90,061 posts)So you boost the signal power just a bit and put a receiver nearby ...