In the latest news report based on documents revealed by Edward Snowden, we’ve learned that the NSA creates profiles of porn viewing, online sexual activity and more from its vast database of Internet content and transactional data as part of a plan to harm the reputations of those whom the agency believes are radicalizing others through speeches promoting disfavored—but not necessarily violent—political views. The report—by Glenn Greenwald, Ryan Gallagher and Ryan Grim in the Huffington Post—shows how the NSA proposes to use personal information gleaned from electronic surveillance to blackmail, silence and otherwise marginalize people for advocating “radical” beliefs.
In my latest post, I show how the current Huffington Post documents illustrate that the NSA is abusing this technique and that there is inadequate legal authority regulating the NSA's ablity to create a dossier of embarrassing factoids, including about Americans, who are not violent terrorists. Read More.