Using Linux can get you targeted by the NSA

The Linux Journal, a Linux user community website, has been flagged as an “extremist forum” by the United States’ National Security Agency (NSA), while its users have been flagged as “extremists” under the agency’s XKeyscore program, according to leaked source code. The source code, which was published this week by German public broadcaster, ARD, also identified at least two German Tor Directory Authority servers — one in Berlin, the other in Nuremberg — as being under surveillance by the NSA. The Tor Project is an independent, open-source anonymous software and browsing network that directs traffic through its free, worldwide, volunteer network to conceal users’ locations and usage from surveillance. According to an ARD report, the source code indicates that the German Tor servers are just two among a number of servers that have been targeted by the NSA for surveillance, under its XKeyscore program. The code cites a number of specific IP addresses of the Tor Directory Authority. The NSA’s XKeyscore program is a collection and analysis tool, and was one of a number of surveillance programs revealed in the documents leaked by former NSA contractor and whistleblower, Edward Snowden, last year.