[tor-talk] Intercept: NSA MONKEYROCKET: Cryptocurrency / AnonBrowser Service - Full Take Tracking Users, Trojan SW

[Wanderingnet]

I'm puzzled by the entire basis of this posting. Bitcoin is, in itself, well-known to be completely transparent on the blockchain, making transactions traceable as a matter of course. Considerable study has been done in this regard. Bitcoin anonymity can only be guaranteed where transactions - the purchase of bitcoin itself - cannot be tied to a real world account and identity. 
The warning also seems to hinge on the use of a particular application in order to provide an exploit, though this is unclear. 
Have I got this wrong? 

https://hackernoon.com/privacy-on-the-blockchain-7549b50160ec

https://cointelegraph.com/news/are-bitcoin-transactions-traceable

https://www.novetta.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/NovettaBiometrics_BitcoinCryptocurrency_WP-W_9182015.pdf


​Sent from ProtonMail, Swiss-based encrypted email.​

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐

On March 20, 2018 6:40 PM, grarpamp <grarpamp at gmail.com> wrote:

> ​​
> 
> https://theintercept.com/2018/03/20/the-nsa-worked-to-track-down-bitcoin-users-snowden-documents-reveal/
> 
> https://www.reddit.com/search?sort=top&t=week&q=nsa+bitcoin
> 
> https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byPopularity&dateRange=pastWeek&query=nsa+bitcoin
> 
> https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=nsa+bitcoin
> 
> OAKSTAR MONKEYROCKET aka THUNDERISLAND
> 
> "agency working to unmask Bitcoin users about six months before
> 
> Ulbricht was arrested, and that it had worked to monitor Liberty
> 
> Reserve around the same time"
> 
> "American spies were also working to crack Liberty Reserve"
> 
> "analysts have .. tracked down senders / receivers of Bitcoin"
> 
> the agency was interested in surveilling some competing
> 
> cryptocurrencies, "Bitcoin is #1 priority,"
> 
> "using this “browsing product,” which “the NSA can then exploit.”
> 
> "These programs involve ventures with US companies."
> 
> Staff travel to "Virginia partner / these extremely patriotic
> 
> business associates" highly cloaked.
> 
> "
> 
> Partner provided first/last name metadata... large influx of
> 
> traffic... ftp process... causing disk space to fill up
> 
> "
> 
> Powers also used for traditional police work
> 
> “other targeted users will include those... International / Organised
> 
> Crime and Narcotics...Follow-The-Money" missions
> 
> "
> 
> cyber targets that utilize online e-currency services...
> 
> There’s no elaboration on who is considered a “cyber target.”
> 
> "
> 
> "
> 
> that the NSA would “launch an entire operation ... under false
> 
> pretenses” just to track targets is “pernicious,” ... Such a practice
> 
> could spread distrust of privacy software in general, particularly in
> 
> areas like Iran where such tools are desperately needed by dissidents.
> 
> This “feeds a narrative that the U.S. is untrustworthy,”
> 
> "
> 
> "Despite Bitcoin’s reputation for privacy... you should really lower
> 
> your expectations of privacy on this network.”
> 
> "
> 
> financial privacy “is something that matters incredibly” to the
> 
> Bitcoin community, and expects that “people who are privacy conscious
> 
> will switch to privacy-oriented coins” after learning of the NSA’s
> 
> work here.
> 
> "
> 
> "
> 
> If the government’s criminal investigations secretly relied on NSA
> 
> spying, that would be a serious concern. Individuals facing criminal
> 
> prosecution have a right to know how the government came by its
> 
> evidence, so that they can challenge whether the government’s methods
> 
> were lawful. That is a basic principle of due process. The government
> 
> should not be hiding the true sources for its evidence in court by
> 
> inventing a different trail.
> 
> "
> 
> https://theintercept.com/2017/11/30/nsa-surveillance-fisa-section-702/
> 
> "
> 
> Civil liberties advocates have long suspected that the Justice
> 
> Department is underreporting Section 702 cases in order to limit court
> 
> challenges to the controversial law. Some theorize that the government
> 
> conceals Section 702 use through a process known as “parallel
> 
> construction,” in which evidence obtained from the warrantless
> 
> surveillance authority is reobtained through traditional FISA
> 
> authorization, and the government only discloses the latter authority
> 
> in U.S. District Court. One defense lawyer referred to this practice
> 
> in a court filing as “laundering” Section 702 evidence.
> 
> "
> 
> “
> 
> The government intercepts Americans’ emails and phone calls in vast
> 
> quantities using this spying law and stores them in databases for
> 
> years,” said Patrick Toomey, staff attorney for the American Civil
> 
> Liberties Union’s National Security Project. “FBI agents around the
> 
> country then go searching through that trove of data as a matter of
> 
> course, including in domestic criminal investigations.
> 
> "
> 
> "
> 
> If the FBI uses parallel construction to conceal intelligence
> 
> community information, it would not be the only federal law
> 
> enforcement agency doing so. In 2013, Reuters obtained documents from
> 
> the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration that showed how agents were
> 
> trained to “recreate” investigative trails to conceal how intelligence
> 
> intercepts helped to identify criminal targets.
> 
> "
> 
> 
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