Can the Government See Everything I Do Online? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nOne of the major programs for mass government internet surveillance was called XKEYSCORE. Ed had known that the government internet surveillance tech existed from what he\u2019d found, but being trained on it was a whole different matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ed could look up almost everything anyone does on the Internet. <\/strong>So, can the government see what you search? Yes. Ed was able to look up even the NSA\u2019s director or the president. If he had their IP address, phone number, or address, the program gave him access to their recent online browsing. Sometimes even a recording of their screen was available.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCan the Government See Everything I Do Online Without a Warrant?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
But what about a warrant? You might ask, can the government see everything I do online without a warrant? In looking at surveillance using this program, it wasn\u2019t often professional abuse. Ed mostly saw personal use\u2014LOVEINT. People would spy on their spouses or exes. If you use surveillance like this you can get ten years in prison, but no one in the NSA had ever been sentenced. The NSA couldn\u2019t publicly prosecute anyone because to do so, they\u2019d have to admit the secret mass surveillance system existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what if you’re not searching for anything relevant to the government? You may ask yourself, can the government see everything I do online even if it’s irrelevant? Ed also learned that almost everyone does two things on the Internet: store images of their family, and watch porn. Ed found the family element the most uncomfortable. Ed found a video of a target working on his computer with a young child sitting on his lap, and the child stared directly into the camera as if he knew Ed was watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protecting Yourself From Government Internet Surveillance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s not really possible to delete digital files. This is important part of the question “can the government see everything I do online” because it also makes it clear that what you do cannot be deleted. When people first built computers, they knew users would make mistakes. Engineers also knew that users wanted to feel like they had control and agency. They might not know how to fix computers and had to agree to terms of service, but at least they\u2019d be able to delete their own files.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, when you delete a file on your computer, it usually only looks like it’s gone.<\/strong> What actually happens is the reference to it. It\u2019s deleted from the file tree so you can\u2019t search for it or easily get to it, but it\u2019s still there if you look hard. The best you can do is overwrite it, again and again, until it’s so covered up it’s unusable, but that\u2019s not foolproof either because your computer might have a copy of it somewhere you can\u2019t find.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You may ask yourself: Can the government see everything I do online? What is government internet surveillance like? How extensive is it? Can the government see what you search for? Government internet surveillance is extensive and can track a wide range of activities. Technology used by the government can monitor online activities. Can the government see what you search for? Yes. Read more about how.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,24],"tags":[116],"class_list":["post-12413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","category-society","tag-permanent-record","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\n
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