Google partners with NSA, CIA on intelligence database

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_creates_miniGoogle_0331.html

Google is selling storage and data searching equipment to U.S. Intelligence agencies giving them the power to create internal searches of government data.

The CIA, FBI and National Security Agency have all reportedly banded together to create an internal government intranet – sharing data on a system called Intellipedia.

"Each analyst, for lack of a better term, has a shoe box with their knowledge," Sean Dennehy, chief of Intellipedia development for the CIA, told the San Francisco Chronicle Sunday. "They maintained it in a shared drive or a Word document, but we're encouraging them to move those platforms so that everyone can benefit."

There are three levels of information available to users: Top secret, secret and sensitive but unclassified. According to numbers provided by the CIA, 37,000 accounts have been established providing access to 200,000 pages of information.

Read more: The Raw Story

[goforit]

1. OMG!!!......A place to hide.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

2. THAT'S why that damned Google task bar is included with every

software install package that comes out these days- they're awful damned determined to get that thing installed on every computer out there. Now this just makes me more certain there's a lot more inside it than an innocent little task bar.

I will not have it on any of my machines.

[kestrel91316]

4. When I got this new laptop in Jan, it kept trying to bait me into

getting that Google desktop/taskbar thing going. I accidentally clicked on installing it (arghhhh) and it totally messed up my computer, hogged my drive so it was running busily (spying on my files??) all the time so I couldn't DO anything.

I figured out how to get it the hell off after a couple of days, but I thought it was PURE EVIL and this news does NOT surprise me in the least.

[pimpbot]

15. Doubt theres much harm in the google toolbar

If you're really worried you can capture the network traffic coming out of your computer and make sure, but I'm pretty sure if it was doing something bad it would be all over the Internet by now. I'm sure it collects information on your searching, but thats how they target the ads for you.

[fascisthunter]

3. When the Private Sector Gets Pissed It's a National Security Issue

Hello, fascism anybody?

[santamargarita]

5. I'm going to find a way around this and forget anything Google!

K&R

[pimpbot]

6. Did you people even read the article?

Google is selling their search technology to the Feds. They've had proprietary government created search engines running on their intranet for a long time, now they are just porting the google technology onto the intranet to make it easier to search for things, ON THE INTRANET.

This story has nothing to do with the Internet.

[santamargarita]

7. Yes! But did you read this?

Google told CNET: "As our privacy policy states, we comply with law enforcement requests made with proper service. We do not discuss specific law enforcement requests and generally do not share aggregate information about them. There are also some legal restrictions on what information we can share about law enforcement requests."

[bitchkitty]

9. So what's your point? n/t

[pimpbot]

14. Yes, I did read that

It really didnt fit in with the main topic of the article though. One of the main things that came out of the 9/11 commision report is that our government agencies have a culture of stovepiping information, and not sharing it. Licensing existing technology that is proven to work sounds a lot better to me than each agency throwing millions or billions of dollars at a contractor for them to create their own search engine from scratch. I believe the FBI case file index tool is a perfect example of this. The entire program was scrapped after wasting tons of money, because the contractor could never get it to work right, and the government kept changing the program requirements.

Of course the information being stored and search should be obtained through LEGAL means (proper FISA orders, etc). I am against the illegal wiretapping. The quote you mention pretty much confirms that google complies with law enforcement requests. We dont know if those requests were through legal means or under the PAA. If the police get a search warrant for a murderer's gmail account, google is obliged to handover the documents, for instance.



Link to info about the FBI problem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_Case_File

[Ian David]

8. So we can't use google-bombs to hyperlink Rick Santorum to Osama Bin Laden? n/t

[Amerigo Vespucci]

11. Hey, let's ratchet up the tone of condescension just a tad.

1). I copied and pasted 4 paragraphs of the article, in accordance with DU's rules on copyrighted material.

2). I copied and pasted them WITHOUT comment, so "you people" could follow the link and draw your own conclusions

3). I'm the original poster, and you replied to ME, and YES...I read the whole fucking enchilada. EVERY FUCKING SYLLABLE. You have an issue with a specific poster, reply to them. But you replied to ME, and this is what I've got to say to YOU.

Who the fuck are "you people," and what kind of low self-esteem issue leads you to addressing people in that manner?

[pimpbot]

13. holy crap

Chill out dude. I'm sorry I clicked "reply" on the original message, since I was trying to cover all the false info in the couple of replies before mine. Those are the people that I addressed by "you people". I apologize that my internet message board posting failed to convey the exact point I was trying to get across. You aren't really helping matters by using numerous curse words and questioning my self-esteem (not sure where that really fit in).

[cascadiance]

10. Hm... Since Microsoft is mentioned prominently here, I wonder if that's why they want to buy Yahoo

... to put together a "blanket" of surveillance on most of the net's traffic.

If that's the case, perhaps the Justice Department will try to clear the way for MSFT buying my company (Yahoo)! Damn! Thought there'd be enough legal challenges to it to stall it until 2009.

[bluesmail]

12. I thought it odd that DU was using google

HA! False Alarm :shrug: :shrug:

[superkia]

16. Just curious, what search engines does everyone use?