Is having an open file at the NSA the best indication you are a true patriot, political dissenter #xyz?

Answer 1

How would you know you have an 'open file'?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nsa

Strategy

The NSA increased its reliance on American industry for the purposes of domestic spying, through a project code-named Project GROUNDBREAKER.[4] It is linked to the DOD doctrines called "Fight the net" and "Information Operations Roadmap".[5] Ex-director Michael Hayden has said, "As the director, I was the one responsible to ensure that this program was limited in its scope and disciplined in its application".[6] Two examples of relying on American industry for the purposes of domestic spying are the use of CALEA[7][8] on US telecommunication companies, and NarusInsight. Under CALEA, all US telecommunication companies were forced to install hardware capable of monitoring data and voice by May 14, 2007. The act also forced US telecommunication companies to build national technology standards to support CALEA. NarusInsight is one type of spying hardware, capable of monitoring an OC-192 network line in real-time, and gives AT&T the power to monitor all 7,432,000 DSL lines it owns. According to Narus, after data capture its software can replay "streaming media (for example, VoIP), rendering of Web pages, examination of e-mails and the ability to analyze the payload/attachments of e-mail or file transfer protocols".

Provisions of CALEA
The U.S. Congress passed the CALEA to aid law enforcement in its effort to conduct surveillance of citizens via digital telephone networks. The Act obliges telephone companies to make it possible for law enforcement agencies to tap any phone conversations carried out over its networks, as well as making call detail records available. The act also stipulates that it must not be possible for a person to detect that his or her conversation is being monitored by the respective government agency. Finally, the Calea Implementation Unit at the FBI has clarified that: while buffering may be necessary to ensure successful transport, this buffering is envisioned as only lasting long enough to determine that the transmission was successful. Intercepted information is supposed to be sent to Law Enforcement concurrently with its capture, but the storing of the intercept on a CALEA device or hardware may not be legal.

On March 10, 2004, the DOJ, FBI and DEA filed a "Joint Petition for Expedited Rulemaking" in which they requested certain steps to accelerate CALEA compliance. This petition mainly involved extending the provisions of CALEA to cover citizens' communications that travel over the internet. This resulted in the FCC issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking entitled "In the Matter of Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and Broadband Access and Services" (FCC 04-187, 2004 WL 1774542) on August 9, 2004. The FCC received public comment and, in August 2005, adopted a "First Report and Order" concluding that CALEA applies to facilities-based broadband Internet access providers and providers of interconnected (with the PSTN network) Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) services. The First Report and Order also sought public comment on whether other (non-interconnected) types of VoIP services should be covered by CALEA and on how the Commission should consider granting exemptions from CALEA's requirements. In May 2006, the FCC adopted a "Second Report and Order", which clarified and affirmed the First Order:

The CALEA compliance deadline remains May 14, 2007, and applies equally to all facilities-based broadband access providers and interconnected VoIP service providers, with restricted availability of compliance extensions.
Carriers are permitted to meet their CALEA obligations through the services of “Trusted Third Parties (TTP)” including processing requests for intercepts, conducting electronic surveillance, and delivering information to LEAs. However, carriers remain responsible for ensuring the timely delivery of information to the LEA and protecting subscriber privacy, as required by CALEA.
Carriers are responsible for CALEA development and implementation costs, and may not recover these costs through a national surcharge.
Service providers to whom CALEA obligations were applied in the First Order must comply with the system security requirements of the First Order by within 90 days of the effective date of the Second Order.
Section 107 of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) states: “a telecommunications carrier shall be found to be in compliance with the assistance capability requirements under Section 103, and a manufacturer of telecommunication transmission or switching equipment or a provider of telecommunication support services shall be found in compliance with Section 106, if the carrier, manufacturer, or support service provider is in compliance with publicly available technical requirements or standards adopted by an industry association or standard-setting organization, or by the Commission under subsection (b), to meet the requirements of section 103.”

The Internet Engineering Task Force in 2000 decided not to consider requirements for wiretapping as part of the process for creating and maintaining IETF standards (RFC 2804). The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) presented a June 2006 paper authored by Vinton Cerf, Whitfield Diffie, among others which discusses the implications of applying CALEA to VoIP. In their opinion: In order to extend authorized interception much beyond the easy scenario, it is necessary either to eliminate the flexibility that Internet communications allow, or else introduce serious security risks to domestic VoIP implementations. The former would have significant negative effects on U.S. ability to innovate, while the latter is simply dangerous. The current FBI and FCC direction on CALEA applied to VoIP carries great risks.

The FCC’s First Report and Order, issued in September 2005, ruled that providers of broadband Internet access and interconnected VoIP services are regulable as “telecommunications carriers” under CALEA. That order was affirmed and further clarified by the Second Report and Order, dated May 2006. In that same month, on May 5, 2006, a group of higher education and library organizations led by the American Council on Education (ACE) challenged that ruling, arguing that the FCC’s interpretation of CALEA was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. However, on June 9, 2006, the D.C. Circuit Court disagreed and summarily denied the petition (American Council on Education vs. FCC, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Decision 05-1404, June 9, 2006).

Answer 2

It means that you did something that makes you stand out as a possible enemy of the people... like asking the question you just asked.

It doesn't take much to be branded an enemy of the people (Bushites) these days.

Answer 3

Ask Fred Livingstone about all the open files he had on Clinton's enemy's if you really want an answer to this question.

Answer 4

It appears so, but I'm sure that will change once terrorism isn't an issue of partisan competition, when Bush and his cronies are gone.

Answer 5

It just means you're one of the shadows our government is jumping at.