The NSA Tracked Porn Habits to Embarrass Religious Radicals

Now that the NSA's broad surveillance operations have been (and continue to be) unveiled, there's an 800-pound, tastefully nude gorilla in the room: What about all the embarrassing stuff we look at online? Well, the NSA's got that covered, too: a newly-leaked NSA document shows that the agency targeted the porn habits of vocal Muslim radicals, in a bid to stifle their recruitment efforts through discreditation.

According to a Huffington Post report, the Oct. 3, 2012 document argues that data collection activities are more than capable of uncovering information embarrassing enough to wreck the reputations of what it calls "radicalizers," or authority figures, like radical clerics, who are skilled at convincing people to join their cause. The report states that it already has a case study of six Muslim individuals, who are referred to as "exemplars" of how such efforts could be used to label influential people as hypocrites.

In other words, the document argues that by tracking porn habits and other embarrassing things—something that the report states is fully possible—the NSA can use its signals intelligence to produce real-world smear campaigns that can destroy the credibility of radical authority figures. Noting a previous report that stated that such radicalizers are extremly vulnerable to the unveiling of hypocrisy between their public and private lives, the document—which, quite notably, lists the Director of the NSA as its "originator"—argues that wrecking the reputations of influential Muslim radicals could prevent growth of the rank-and-file.

Of course, the six people used as examples in the document aren't actually accused of being terrorists. And, better yet, one of them is US-based, as the HuffPo report states:

None of the six individuals targeted by the NSA is accused in the document of being involved in terror plots. The agency believes they all currently reside outside the United States. It identifies one of them, however, as a "U.S. person," which means he is either a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident. A U.S. person is entitled to greater legal protections against NSA surveillance than foreigners are.

And that's where things get really sticky. Psychological operations and smear campaigns are as old as war, and calling out, say, an ultra-conservative religious zealot for trying to sneak into a brothel is fair game. Hell, mudslinging is the oldest tool in politics, and calling out public figures on their hypocrisy is important, especially when their carefully cultivated public image is the foundation of their power.

But tapping into someone's private internet history and communications is far more intrusive than digging up dirt in public records or finding a video of a mayor smoking crack. And beyond that, the NSA's capabilities are such that acquiring compromising information is way easier than it's ever been.

A whole lot of people look at porn, yet you'd be hard pressed to prove that a specific person you're trying to embarrass actually does without gaining access to his or her computer. Here, the NSA explains it has the tools to dig up dirt on just about anyone, as long as they're a target. Who decides that? A secret court that rubber stamps warrants left and right?

The screencap above is the kicker: "Communications profiles" of the six "exemplars" show that "very few of the contacts noted were associated with terrorism." The report argues that means that the targets are communicating with people susceptible to being converted to extremism. So the NSA wants to discredit people for their private activities because they associate with people that may be "susceptible to the extremist message."

As previously mentioned, calling out public figures for their hypocrisy, or trying to discredit leaders of an opposition group, is standard practice for politics. And, agree with it or not, there's a fair argument to be made that trying to eliminate a leader by ruining their reputation is more humane than killing them—and whoever else is nearby—in a drone strike. But when we know the NSA's surveillance activities encompass far more than just "radicalizers," and without public oversight, its ability—and stated desire—to collect embarrassing data to wreck people's reputations is extremely concerning.

@derektmead