NSA Whistleblower: UK and US Collect Millions of Webcam Images. Will They Be Used to Smear and Blackmail Targets? | Global Research

NSA Whistleblower: UK and US Collect Millions of Webcam Images. Will They Be Used to Smear and Blackmail Targets? | Global Research

Newly-released Snowden documents show that the British and American spy agencies gathered and stored many millions of images from Yahoo web cam streams … and that a large percentage are naked or pornographic images.

Given that the spy agencies use porn to discredit activists – and apparently to blackmail critics -  it is worth asking whether that was the larger purpose for this spy program.

Indeed, Glenn Greenwald – who has seen all of the Snowden documents – tweets:

Regarding GCHQ/NSA collection of sex chat photos, remember they plot to use online sex activity to harm reputations ….

The Associated Press notes:

The stockpiling of sexually explicit images of ordinary
people had uncomfortable echoes of George Orwell’s “Nineteen
Eighty-Four,” where the authorities — operating under the aegis of “Big
Brother” — fit homes with cameras to monitor the intimate details of
people’s home lives.

***

The collection of nude photographs also raise questions about potential for blackmail.
America’s National Security Agency has already acknowledged that half a
dozen analysts have been caught trawling databases for inappropriate
material on partners or love interests. Other leaked documents have
revealed how U.S. and British intelligence discussed leaking
embarrassing material online to blacken the reputations of their targets.