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Washington Post: NSA, FBI tapping directly into servers of 9 leading internet companies (update)

Washington Post NSA, FBI tapping directly into servers of 9 leading internet companies

On the heels of yesterday's revelation that the NSA is bulk collecting call logs from Verizon Business customers, the Washington Post is reporting tonight on another initiative, code named PRISM. According to the report, it gives the FBI and NSA access to "audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents and connection logs" from the central servers of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL (parent company of Engadget), Skype, YouTube and Apple. Another program called BLARNEY sniffs up metadata as it streams past "choke points" on the internet, continuing the theme of bulk scooping of data most would think is private. The Post's knowledge of these programs comes from PowerPoint slides (like the one shown above) provided by a "career intelligence officer" driven to expose how deep it goes.

So what can the project see? Analysts based at Fort Meade use search terms to determine at least 51 percent confidence in a subject's "foreignness" before pulling data, which can include that of people found in a suspect's inbox. On Facebook, they can utilize the service's built in search and surveillance capabilities, monitor audio, video, chat and file transfers or access activity on Google's mail, storage, photo and search services. So... are you still logged in?

Update: We've contacted several of the companies listed, and so far have heard directly from Facebook and Google. Both companies statements are available in full after the break, where Google reiterated its stance that it does not have or provide "back door" access to anyone, while Facebook Chief Security Officer Joel Sullivan states "We do not provide any government organization with direct access to Facebook servers." Apple has made a similar statement to CNBC denying any knowledge of or participation in such a program.We will add any other response or updates as we receive them.

Update 2: Microsoft has also responded, similarly claiming that it only provides customer data under specific requests such as subpoenas, and if there is any broader program then it does not participate in it. Its full statement is after the break with the others.

Update 3: The latest to chime in is Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, stating "The Guardian and The Washington Post articles refer to collection of communications pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. They contain numerous inaccuracies." His response goes on to point out that such actions cannot be used to "intentionally" target American citizens. Finally, he calls the disclosure of information about the program "reprehensible," and a risk to the security of Americans. You can check out that full statement (a more detailed version is available here) after the break and decide which part makes you feel less secure on your own.

Filed under: Internet, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook

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Source: Washington Post, Office of the Director of National Intelligence

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Bridge Collapse in Washington State

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Photos: Washington bridge collapses into river

Bridge Collapse in Washington State

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/24/us/washington-bridge-collapse/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

(CNN) -- Dan Sligh could see it coming. An 18-wheeler carrying an oversize load had just struck part of the Interstate 5 bridge over Washington's frigid Skagit River. And the pavement was giving way.

He slammed on the brakes, but the momentum of his truck and trailer carried Sligh and his wife off the bridge and into the water dozens of feet below, he told CNN affiliate KOMO Thursday, hours after the incident some 60 miles north of Seattle.

"You hold on as tight as you can," Sligh said. Then, a "white flash and cold water."

The impact dislocated his shoulder, but the Navy veteran just popped it back in and dragged his unresponsive wife to safety.

Photos: Washington bridge collapses into river

Another driver also fell from the bridge, according to state officials. Amazingly, no one died.

Witness: The bridge was just gone

"Rough day," Sligh told KOMO. "Glad to be here breathing."

The collapse was the result of a collision between the tractor-trailer and the overhead structure of the bridge, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste told reporters.

"The size of the load that he was carrying appeared to create a problem, causing him to strike the bridge," he said.

It had been rated "functionally deficient," according to a federal database, but it was not clear Friday if the bridge's condition played any role in the collapse.

The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to investigate the collapse. State police and the state highway department are also investigating.

The collapse happened around 7 p.m. Thursday.

Sligh told KOMO he was traveling south on the interstate behind the tractor trailer when he realized the load appeared to be about four feet too wide to fit through the bridge's superstructure.

"Anytime he wants to go over to the left would be OK," Sligh said he told his wife.

But another tractor-trailer appeared to hem the truck in to the right lane.

"There was a big puff of dust, and I hit the brakes."

Dale Ogden told CNN affiliate KING that he was driving near the tractor-trailer's pilot car when he saw a device on that car designed to indicate whether a truck can clear an obstacle hit the top of the bridge.

He then watched in his rear-view mirror as the truck struck the bridge, he told KING.

"It almost tipped the truck over but it came back down. It tipped it up to about a 30 degree angle to the left and it came back down on its wheels, and almost instantaneously behind that I saw girders falling in my rear-view mirror," he said.

The tractor-trailer did not go into the water. The driver was questioned but not detained, state police said.

The bridge carries about 77,000 cars a day, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

It was built 1955, according to KOMO, and was listed by the Federal Highway Administration as "structurally deficient."

That designation means parts of a bridge require monitoring or repair, but does not indicate the bridge is unsafe or likely to collapse, according to the agency. Most deficient bridges remain open to traffic, the agency says.

The number of bridges the state's transportation department considers structurally deficient has grown nearly 50% in the past six years, according to a 2012 government report.

Gov. Jay Inslee said the accident starkly demonstrates the need for additional funding for roads and bridges.

"We have some work to do on our bridges whether or not this accident happened, and we have some discussions in Olympia" -- the state capital -- "about making sure that we make investments in bridges to prevent this kind of thing from happening," he told reporters.

In March, President Barack Obama called on Congress to provide $21 billion for infrastructure construction, including improvements to existing roadways.

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“Massive Landslide” in Washington St

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“It sounded like an earthquake, and I heard something really loud and I looked out the master bedroom and noticed that about 20 tall trees were gone,” he said.

’I have no feelings whatsoever. I’m totally numb,’ resident Delia Curt told KOMO News.

Residents of a small island in Washington state are coming to grips with an early morning landslide that shocked their community and destroyed at least one home while endangering more than 30 others.

’I heard something loud, looked out my window and noticed I didn’t have any trees in the front yard anymore,’ said Bret Holmes, whose home was on the edge of the cliff. The area is known for its beautiful views, and is home to some of Washington’s wealthiest residents including Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Video:

A geotechnical engineer who was brought in after a landslide on Whidbey Island destroyed one home and forced the evacuation of 34 others told officials Wednesday night that the slide “is still active, the ground is still moving,” but that he had narrowed the area at risk.

Early Wednesday morning, the landslide shoved one home 20 feet off its foundation, destroying it. In addition, 17 homes on the top part of the slide at Fircrest Avenue were threatened and required evacuation, and another 17 homes on the road below the slide were threatened and required evacuation.

“Kind of like a nightmare, literally,” homeowner Bret Holmes said.

He said the nightmare began at about 4 a.m. Wednesday with a loud, booming sound.

“It sounded like an earthquake, and I heard something really loud and I looked out the master bedroom and noticed that about 20 tall trees were gone,” he said.

His view of Admiralty Bay and the Puget Sound is no longer obscured, but he lost about 75 feet of property and the slide continues toward his house.

“It was pretty scary. I got out there with a flashlight and then just kept hearing a rumbling and watching more and more of it (the land) fall away,” Holmes said.

He wasn’t alone. Behind several homes, the massive slide tore away grass and earth and tossed trees like toothpicks all along a ridge.

“I thought maybe a portion of it was always eroding, but that much of it? No, no. I mean, I lost over 50 percent of my yard,” said neighbor Delia Curt.

Neighbors rushed to the rescue, helping to pack up and carry anything they could grab.

“I just picked and chose what I wanted to take,” Curt said. “Don`t know if I can come back.”

The tech giant’s home was not destroyed but emergency crews cut across his lawn to save a neighbor who was in danger. Mr Holmes told the Whidbey News Times that he has been losing ground at his property all morning; there was previously more than 30 feet of land to the bluff’s edge but now there is just 15 feet. He said the land started to give way after he heard what he described as ‘a sonic boom’. One house was destroyed and 33 others were isolated or threatened after the 500-yard-wide landslide wiped out the ground along the coast of the island. Luckily, no one was injured. Eleven people from 16 homes along a road close to the water were evacuated by boat after the road became blocked by the landslide.

Another 20 to 25 people were evacuated from 17 homes along a road higher up the hill that is being threatened by the slide It was within 10 feet of one home – and a geotechnical engineer said the landslide was ‘still active’ last night. Whidbey Island officals say they were told ‘the ground is still moving’ by the expert from the Department of Natural Resources, who was brought in to test the soil in the wake of the dramatic scenes yesterday.

Officials said the slide broke across 400 to 500 yards on the hillside and downhill 600 or 700 yards to the water. Residents in Coupeville on Whidbey Island reported hearing a noise that sounded like rumbling thunder just after 4 a.m. on Wednesday as the land began to give way. Authorities said no one was hurt, but that a resident in the destroyed home had a pre-existing medical condition and was taken to the local hospital. ’I have no feelings whatsoever. I’m totally numb,’ resident Delia Curt told KOMO News. Neighbors began helping others to load furniture and other belongings on Wednesday afternoon in a frantic panic to get everyone away from the area. ’We don’t even know where the trucks are going,’ one woman told KOMO.

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