These two Wired articles may give you some idea of the depth and scope of the NSA unauthorised wiretapping scandal: yet again (although they think it is) it’s not just about Americans.
We in Europe are also being spied on as though we were enemies: but unlike them we don’t have even the figleaf of the Fourth Amendment to protect our nakedness in the eye of the US’ paranoid, unchecked security services. As if Echelon wasn’t bad enough…
NSA’s Lucky Break: How the U.S. Became Switchboard to the World
After reading that, you may be concerned that the NSA is spying on you. Want to find out? Then read The Newbie’s Guide to Detecting the NSA, which shows you how.
Here’s our own traceroute back to nsa.gov from Amsterdam. (munged slightly to protect our privacy):
Traceroute from RRC00 to nsa.gov.
traceroute to nsa.gov (12.110.110.204), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 gw.dev.nsrp.ripe.net (193.0.0.14) 0.937 ms 0.891 ms 72.475 ms
2 GigabitEthernet3-2.core2.ams1.level3.net (195.69.144.110) 14.957 ms 11.381 ms 18.267 ms
3 ae-0-54.mp2.Amsterdam1.Level3.net (4.68.120.98) 15.807 ms 25.059 ms 14.290 ms
4 ae-0-0.bbr2.NewYork1.Level3.net (64.159.1.42) 89.496 ms as-0- 0.bbr1.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.68.128.106) 84.947 ms ae-0-0.bbr2.NewYork1.Level3.net (64.159.1.42) 93.431 ms
5 ae-43-99.car3.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.68.16.197) 96.202 ms ae-33-
89.car3.NewYork1.Level3.net (4.68.16.133) 77.086 ms 75.008 ms6 ggr2-p360.n54ny.ip.att.net (192.205.33.93) 75.179 ms 77.331 ms 75.146 ms
7 tbr2.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.0.94) 77.908 ms 77.606 ms *
8 gbr5.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.11.26) 76.793 ms 75.358 ms 75.558 ms
9 ar4.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.123.214.57) 75.155 ms 76.423 ms 76.305 ms
10 12.126.221.90 (12.126.221.90) 84.946 ms 12.126.221.94 (12.126.221.94) 86.016 ms
12.126.221.90 (12.126.221.90) 86.830 ms
11 12.110.110.132 (12.110.110.132) 95.132 ms 126.533 ms 102.358 ms
12 * * *
13 * * *
14 * * *
15 * * *
16 * * *
17 * * *
18 * * *
19 * * *
20 * * *
21 * * *
22 * * *
23 * * *
24 * * *
25 * * *
26 * * *
27 * * *
28 * * *
29 * * *
30 * * *
Read that last Wired article (and the comments) then come back and look at the traceroute again. You’ll see exactly what I mean.
