[maxerickson]

Pointers to (seemingly) frivolous prosecutions (3) and pointers to anything resembling 4 or 6 would make them a lot more interesting.

Without just a little bit of evidence, they are like saying the NSA will shoot your dog.

My naive, facile reading suggests that systems like Signal, Pond and Tor tend to be more effective at actually securing communications, so it would be especially interesting to hear about the jackboots kicking them.

[nickpsecurity]

The technique used for No 3 is here and other documents suggest they work with many agencies rather than just DEA:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-van-buren/parallel-const...

Number 4 we're not going to get examples of: TAO & TAREX operate in a bubble. There are two known efforts to do this sort of thing but tactics are unknown. One is BULLRUN:

http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/17577/intelligence/nsa-b...

Additionally, the ECI leaks mention that the "FBI compels" firms to "SIGINT-enable" their stuff. This means the FBI has some way of coercing companies to backdoor things. The specifics were left out. That they've been doing it for years with no details public indicate even talking about it must be a crime. Like the other stuff.

IRS, SEC, whoever being used against people is a tactic with a long history. My bookmarks aren't giving me a link right now. I do recall Nacchio of Qwest claiming government came after him for being only ones not helping NSA. A quick Google had Binney saying IRS and NSA worked tight together albeit with speculation on Tea Party rather than obstacles to SIGINT as target.

http://www.wnd.com/2014/07/whistleblower-irs-in-cahoots-with...

And FBI raiding and seizing opponents stuff is well-known, happening to most leakers, too. Civil forfeiture is another weapon with a long history at FBI and DEA especially. Some journalists during Bush-Cheney Administration ended up on Do Not Fly list. Tor project people like Applebaum get harrassed at borders. So on and so forth. Many methods they can use without ever doing time for the abuse.

What they will do to you depends on who you are, what you're doing, what dirt they have on you, your resources, and so on. The uncertainty is one of their most powerful weapons. Never know when hammer will drop on you or how hard.

[maxerickson]

Specific examples are more interesting than raising the specter. You've doubled down on raising the specter.

[nickpsecurity]

Think I could've done better? Just file some FOIA requests and lawsuits on the subject requesting all specific examples of cooperation between NSA and other LEO's plus list of all TAO and BULLRUN activities against Americans. Bet you'll have less than I posted.

Btw, a manual for DEA of using NSA's evidence isn't a specter: means it's ongoing.

[maxerickson]

Ongoing retaliation against people working on crypto?

[nickpsecurity]

Part of my overall claims here is that the police state aspect of our government only kicks in on priority targets. Average person or project in crypto doesn't matter. A good case would be solid protection that applies to high-value target. Might support those like Wikileaks, Snowden, or terrorist cell that happens to use a specific product.

So, we saw LEO's and payment processors largely kill Wikileaks by cutting its donations off. Wikileaks supporter and Tor evangelist Jacob Appelbaum does plenty OPSEC to avoid problems they aim at him. Lavabit, Snowden's email provider, was shutdown after receiving a secret order to compromise all its users and lie to them about it (see records if you doubt that part). Surespot allegedly pulled its warrant canary after ISIS used its tech. Apple and other companies doing end-to-end messaging are getting hit hundreds of millions at a time via Virnetx: a shell company for patents from NSA, CIA, and SAIC.

Seems to be a number of actions and reactions against anyone that becomes a problem. Most never see it. Hence, would doubt it's a concern. That they do enforcement part with "legitimate" organizations and courts makes that more so. That's be beauty of the modern, Dual State: invisible to most means odds of questioning or getting rid of it are lower than prior surveillance and police state models.

[maxerickson]

You said I create an encryption system to protect email. It gets large uptake to point NSA and FBI are pissed by it. With current laws, they will feel free to

Lavabit shut down because they got a court order! Related to Snowden (who clearly violated the letter of the law, he isn't just some rabble rouser that they decided to hassle). It would also be more interesting if Lavabit was forced to shut down because it did not have the ability to access users communications, rather than the refusal of Levison of provide the FBI with access (a capability he did have).

You directly state that Appelbaum manages to avoid problems (remember where I started? How would he just avoid them shooting his dog?).