- Aug 6, 2012
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I read this article on National Post, a Canadian paper, the title was different, alluding to the colour printer "spying on you", based on the premise of the dots which identify each printer and explained in this article. Interesting stuff if you enjoy spycraft and police methods (real police like the FBI, not like Canada's breed of self serving conmen that harm Canadas economy, but I digress).
Heavy stuff. How this woman was working at NSA even as a contractor when she is so willing to spill U.S secrets, not to mention, so sloppy in her methods, is beyond me. Not only is she treasonous, but not the brightest bulb in the pack. Surely she didn't think she was going to get away with this. You didn't need to be Columbo to follow the tracks, and it took less than a week to identify the perp.
The easy trail that led the feds to Reality Winner, alleged source of NSA leak
Criminal investigations into national security leaks tend to be long, complicated and delicate affairs. Sources generally cover their tracks, especially in an era when even the most innocuous computer activity leaves an electronic trail. Leaks are common, but prosecutions aren’t.
Edward Snowden took extraordinary precautions when he leaked troves of classified information on surveillance activity by the National Security Agency to journalists and was charged only after he publicly revealed himself to be the source. Thomas Drake, a former NSA executive, wasn’t indicted for several years after he passed on details about fraud and waste at the agency to the Baltimore Sun. Originally accused of felony espionage, Drake pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of exceeding authorized use of a computer.
In the case of Reality Leigh Winner, a government contractor accused of sending a top-secret document to a news outlet, federal authorities brought charges less than a week after being tipped off.
Winner, 25, was charged Monday with gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, as The Washington Post reported. Court documents did not identify the document that was leaked or the news outlet that received it, but the criminal complaint against Winner was unveiled shortly after the national security site the Intercept published a story containing an NSA report on Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 election.
Heavy stuff. How this woman was working at NSA even as a contractor when she is so willing to spill U.S secrets, not to mention, so sloppy in her methods, is beyond me. Not only is she treasonous, but not the brightest bulb in the pack. Surely she didn't think she was going to get away with this. You didn't need to be Columbo to follow the tracks, and it took less than a week to identify the perp.
The easy trail that led the feds to Reality Winner, alleged source of NSA leak
Criminal investigations into national security leaks tend to be long, complicated and delicate affairs. Sources generally cover their tracks, especially in an era when even the most innocuous computer activity leaves an electronic trail. Leaks are common, but prosecutions aren’t.
Edward Snowden took extraordinary precautions when he leaked troves of classified information on surveillance activity by the National Security Agency to journalists and was charged only after he publicly revealed himself to be the source. Thomas Drake, a former NSA executive, wasn’t indicted for several years after he passed on details about fraud and waste at the agency to the Baltimore Sun. Originally accused of felony espionage, Drake pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of exceeding authorized use of a computer.
In the case of Reality Leigh Winner, a government contractor accused of sending a top-secret document to a news outlet, federal authorities brought charges less than a week after being tipped off.
Winner, 25, was charged Monday with gathering, transmitting or losing defense information, as The Washington Post reported. Court documents did not identify the document that was leaked or the news outlet that received it, but the criminal complaint against Winner was unveiled shortly after the national security site the Intercept published a story containing an NSA report on Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 election.
