Schneier on Security

2nd Annual Front Line Defenders Lecture, Dublin, Ireland
Co-sponsored by University College Dublin and Trinity College Dublin

Part 1: NSA & Background

What we’ve learned from the Snowden documents is that the NSA has turned the Internet into a giant surveillance platform.

Part 2: Society & Technology Today

Data is a byproduct of our information society socialization; a lot of the conversations we have – with friends, with college, with family members – happen in digital format.

Part 3: Metadata & Surveillance

Metadata fundamentally equals surveillance…

The New America Foundation held a discussion on National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance threats to cybersecurity, Internet freedom and the economy, and what could be done at both a personal and policy level to counter these threats.

Watch the Video on C-SPAN.org

Watch the Video (begins at 16:25)

Do you ever have the feeling you are being “watched?” If not, perhaps you should. According to security expert Bruce Schneier, who recently teamed up with The Guardian to review the Snowden documents, NSA surveillance through the Internet is far more robust and pervasive than most of us have ever imagined. In today’s hyper-connected society, with our ever-increasing dependence on the Internet, are we making ourselves increasingly more vulnerable? Or does our connectivity actually make us more secure? Who knows what about whom, and how is this information being used? Where does trust fit into this societal equation?…

Edward Snowden has given us an unprecedented window into the NSA’s surveillance activities. Drawing from both the Snowden documents and revelations from previous whistleblowers, Bruce Schneier’s talk described the sorts of surveillance the NSA conducts and how it conducts it. The emphasis was on the technical capabilities of the NSA, and not the politics or legality of their actions. Schneier then discussed what sorts of countermeasures are likely to frustrate any nation-state adversary with these sorts of capabilities. These will be techniques to raise the cost of wholesale surveillance in favor of targeted surveillance: ubiquitous encryption, target dispersal, anonymity tools, and so on…

Bruce Schneier talks about open government, transparency, privacy, and the NSA at an event hosted by the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GAPSA) at the Univeristy of Minnesota.

Watch on YouTube

Edward Snowden has given us an unprecedented window into the NSA’s surveillance activities. Drawing from both the Snowden documents and revelations from previous whistleblowers, this talk describes the sorts of surveillance the NSA conducts and how it conducts it. The emphasis is on the technical capabilities of the NSA, and not the politics or legality of their actions. Bruce then discusses what sorts of countermeasures are likely to frustrate any nation-state adversary with these sorts of capabilities. These are techniques to raise the cost of wholesale surveillance in favor of targeted surveillance: ubiquitous encryption, target dispersal, anonymity tools, and so on…

In light of recent revelations of the government’s surveillance practices, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute held a briefing on Capitol Hill on the impact of that surveillance on users, national security, and the private sector. The briefing provided insight into how the technology and regulatory environment has led to the current situation and the ramifications of that surveillance on society and governance overall, while also considering the challenges confronting the Obama Administration’s external Review Group. Beyond the well-known issues over civil rights, this was an important presentation on the technological implications of surveillance, and the dangers policy makers need to consider as they look to reform the government’s practices…