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posted by LaminatorX on Friday February 21 2014, @10:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the Nations-Spying-on-Authors dept.

fleg writes:

"The Guardian is reporting that while the author of The Snowden Files was writing it, paragraphs started self-deleting."

From the article:

By September the book was going well - 30,000 words done. A Christmas deadline loomed. I was writing a chapter on the NSA's close, and largely hidden, relationship with Silicon Valley. I wrote that Snowden's revelations had damaged US tech companies and their bottom line. Something odd happened. The paragraph I had just written began to self-delete. The cursor moved rapidly from the left, gobbling text. I watched my words vanish. When I tried to close my OpenOffice file the keyboard began flashing and bleeping.

[ED Note: Some of author's claims are of course unverifiable, but his insiders view of the early days of the story are interesting even so.]

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 21 2014, @03:01PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 21 2014, @03:01PM (#4339)

    In a recent talk by Jacob Appelbaum, he claims they have the capabilities to record keystrokes without software. (How's that for a mind blower?)

    Oh, that's easy. Just point an old-fashioned analogue video camera to the keyboard, and save the video on VHS tape. See? No software involved.

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by Common Joe on Friday February 21 2014, @03:51PM

    by Common Joe (33) <{common.joe.0101} {at} {gmail.com}> on Friday February 21 2014, @03:51PM (#4375) Journal

    Too bad you're AC. You obviously didn't look at my link. No cameras involved. No software involved. It is totally invisible unless you pull apart your USB plug and know what you're looking for. Finally, it transmits what you type into your keyboard so they can pick it up and they don't have to be next door. The link I provide / video I saw is one of the most enlightening things I've seen about NSA capabilities. If you think you know what they do because you can just pull an idea out of your butt, you're probably wrong. They are way more sophisticated and this article goes into gruesome details. If you're concerned about keeping a secure computer, I promise this will give you nightmares. Want another example? How about intercepts of computer hardware when you buy something from Amazon or Newegg? Yup. I'm not saying they do it for everything that is bought, but it can be done. Hey, AC, go read that article before you pull another idea out your butt.