Boundless Informant ( eng. Boundless Informant - “unlimited informer”) is a system for processing and visualizing large data arrays used by the US National Security Agency as a tool for analyzing data collection activities on a global scale [1] . The system is described in the declassified FAQ , published in The Guardian on June 12, 2013 [2] . According to a top secret heatmap , also published by The Guardian and supposedly drawn from Boundless Informant , the NSA for the 30-day period ending in March 2013 intercepted almost 3 billion electronic communications messages in the United States.
The data analyzed by Boundless Informant includes data from a computer-based tracking software (DNI) and a telephone call recording database (DNR) stored in an NSA data archive called GM-PLACE. At the same time, according to published in The Guardian FAQ, this data does not include information collected in the framework of the Foreign Intelligence Watchdog Act . One of the sources of the database of telephone call records (DNR) is PRISM (the official name is US-984XN), the existence of which became known simultaneously with Boundless Informant . According to the published heatmap, Boundless Informant consolidates data from 504 separate DNR and DNI databases. The countries that are under observation are colored in various colors from green to red, depending on the intensity of the observation [3] [4] .
Content
History
Intelligence collection in the United States or for specific US citizens must be conducted in accordance with the Foreign Intelligence Tracking Act (FISA) and under the control of a special court - FISA court [5] [6] [7] .
The NSA has been collecting and processing data globally for decades, but recent data collection and analysis programs in the United States, such as PRISM, were put in place under President Bush and updated under President B. Obama in December. 2012 [8] .
The existence of the Boundless Informant program was first publicly announced on June 8, 2013, after secret documents about the program were leaked to The Guardian [1] [9] . Documents were provided to the newspaper by E. Snowden , a former employee of the NSA [10] .
Technology
According to published data, Boundless Informant uses free and open source software , which is therefore “available to all NSA developers” and corporate IT services using cloud computing . The program uses the Hadoop Distributed File System , a MapReduce distributed computing model, and a cloud database for data processing [11] .
Legal aspects
Section 702 of the Amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Tracking Act mentioned in documents relating to electronic interception, collection and analysis of metadata using the PRISM program. Many US congressmen expressed, verbally and in writing, that the validity of these amendments is questionable, since it is a question of collecting data on US citizens in the United States [12] [13] [14] [15] .
The American Union for the Protection of Civil Liberties in this regard made a statement: “Regardless of abuse, the problem with amendments to the law lies deeper: the law itself is unconstitutional” [16] .
Senator Rand Paul launched a legislative initiative to keep the NSA and other United States government from violating the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution using technologies and information systems like PRISM and Boundless Informant [17] [18] .
See also
- PRISM
- Stellar wind
- Room 641A
- List of computer tracking and electronic intelligence programs by country
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill. Boundless Informant: NSA's secret tooling to track global surveillance data | World news | guardian.co.uk . Guardian. The date of circulation is June 12, 2013. Archived July 3, 2013.
- ↑ Boundless Informant: NSA explainer - full document text | World news | guardian.co.uk . Guardian. The date of circulation is June 12, 2013. Archived July 3, 2013.
- ↑ Boundless Informant NSA data-mining tool - four key slides | World news | guardian.co.uk . Guardian. The date of circulation is June 9, 2013. Archived July 3, 2013.
- ↑ Government: 11 things you need spying . The Blaze, Inc. (June 7, 2013). Archived July 3, 2013.
- An Dean, John W. George W. Bush as the New Richard M. Nixon: Both Wiretapped Illegally, and Impeachable; FindLaw, December 30, 2005
- Im The Bush by Elizabeth Holtzman , The Nation , January 11, 2006
- ↑ Adopted By The House Of Delegates , American Bar Association , February 13, 2006
- ↑ Greenwald, Glenn . The Guardian (June 6, 2013). The appeal date is June 6, 2013.
- ↑ Boundless Informant | World news . The Guardian. The date of circulation is June 9, 2013. Archived July 3, 2013.
- ↑ Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance (June 9, 2013). The appeal date is June 9, 2013.
- ↑ Boundless Informant slides . Documentcloud.org. The date of circulation is June 9, 2013. Archived July 3, 2013.
- ↑ Office, Communications FISA Correspondence Update | Blog | US Senator Ron Wyden Unsolved . Wyden.senate.gov (December 10, 2012). The date of circulation is June 9, 2013. Archived July 3, 2013.
- ↑ Download | US Senator Ron Wyden Unsolved . Wyden.senate.gov. The date of circulation is June 9, 2013. Archived July 3, 2013.
- ↑ https://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/2012/06/IC-IG-Letter.pdf
- ↑ https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/natsec/faafoia201011212/FAAFBI0065.pdf
- ↑ FAA FOIA Documents | American Civil Liberties Union . Aclu.org (December 2, 2010). The date of circulation is June 9, 2013. Archived July 3, 2013.
- ↑ Sen. Paul to Introduce Fourth Amendment Restoration Act of 2013 Rand Paul | United States Senator
- ↑ Archived copy (inaccessible link) . The date of circulation is October 5, 2013. Archived October 12, 2013.