Surveillance codename generator

A generator of realistic surveillance program codenames for the US National Security Agency.

The language used by a State to refer to its military programs is deliberately cryptic, its code names formed by derisory words or sarcastic phrases without apparent connection to the programs they designate.

Documents leaked by Edward Snowden in the last couple of years have exposed a series of exploits and surveillance programs of the National Security Agency. While some of these feature nicknames and codewords which are marginally suggestive of the covert projects they represent, they ultimately remain cryptic to an external onlooker. They constitute the terminology of a world of classified programs whose outlines are blurry and the very existence insecure.

SPOOK-I jams the network and emails you on behalf of the NSA

SPOOK-I is a hypothetical but operative US National Security Agency inspired machine. It mimics two surveillance techniques available to the NSA Tailored Access Operations unit, in order to expose the technology employed by state surveillance for the ‘weaponization of everyday’ devices.

When approaching SPOOK-I, the device jams your phone's WiFi network, scans and projects your name on the wall and sends you a email from an *@nsa.gov address.

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Snowden Files For All? Ben Kaden & Geert Lovink

NSA ANT Catalog

After years of speculation that electronics can be accessed by intelligence agencies through a back door, an internal National Security Agency (NSA) catalog reveals such methods already exist for numerous end-user devices.

Above is a spread from the NSA ANT catalog of everyday products and exploits to perform spying and surveillance. Or, as Jacob Applebaum puts it, a document witness of the weaponisation of everyday devices. These and other documents were published by the SPIEGEL in December 2013.

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CITIZENFOUR by Laura Poitras

Jacob Applebaum -- transmediale 2014 keynote: Art as Evidence