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NSA Uses Illegal Cookies On Web Site
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-12-29
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
The National Security Agency (NSA) appears to be in a bit of a spot. In their zealous efforts to monitor telecomm traffic of all kinds, they utilized cookies on visitors to their site, an activity strictly banned by federal rules.
Cookies, in this case don't refer to chocolate chip varieties. Cookies refer to files generated at websites, allowing those sites to remember things like passwords so people won't have to retype them. This is one example and cookies are frequently used by commercial sites for all kinds of reasons. The problem is the NSA isn't supposed to use them. The reason they stopped is because a privacy activist complained. According to the AP, the NSA acknowledged the mistake.
NSA spokesperson Don Weber was quoted by the AP from a statement saying the cookie use resulted from a recent software upgrade. He went on to say the site uses temporary, permissible cookies (still illegal) and they are deleted when users close their browsers. He said as soon as they were notified, they stopped the cookies.
This behavior does seem somewhat suspicious considering all the recent allegations and admissions of eavesdropping, including the use of spyware. This would fall into that category.
While the NSA does have a responsibility to monitor transmissions, it does make one wonder when the specifically break laws. This isn't something that can necessarily be gotten around although one can expect the temporary cookie issue to appease most groups. It can only make one wonder what else they're watching.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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