The NSA(美国国家安全局) and GCHQ(英国政府通讯总部) are tapping popular smart phone apps such as Angry Birds to gather the enormous amounts of very personal data those bits of software collect—including age, gender, marital status, income, education level and more, according to new reports from the New York Times and The Guardian.
Citing secret documents provided by Edward Snowden, former NSA staff, the reports detail efforts to gain data collection from cell phone carriers and smart phones by tapping into “leaky”(有漏洞的) apps themselves.
Both spy agencies showed a particular interest in Google Maps, which is accurate to within a few yards or better in some locations and would clearly pass along data about the area where phone owner is.
“It effectively means that anyone using Google Maps on a smartphone is working in support of a GCHQ system,” reads a secret 2008 report by the NSA's sister spy agency, according to the New York Times.
More surprising is the wide range of apps that the agencies search for data, including innocent-seeming apps such as Angry Birds. One document in particular from GCHQ listed what information can be found from which apps, mentioning Android apps but suggesting the same data was available from the iPhone platform.
Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment of Finland said it had no knowledge of any NSA or GCHQ programs for tapping into its users’ data.
"Rovio doesn't have any previous knowledge of this matter, and have not been aware of such activity in 3rd party advertising networks," said Saara Bergstrom. "Nor do we have any involvement with the organizations you mentioned."
Mobile photos uploaded to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter appear to be a particularly rich source of information for the spy agencies as well. Metadata in the photos is briefly available. The NSA and GCHQ are able to tap into that metadata to collect a wealth of key data points about a person’s life.
“NSA does not profile everyday Americans as it carries out its foreign intelligence mission,” the agency told the Times in response to questions about the program.
During a Monday press conference, White House press secretary Jay Carney stressed that same position. "As the president said in his Jan. 17 speech, to the extent data is collected by the NSA, through whatever means, we are not interested in the communications of people who are not valid foreign intelligence targets（情报目标） and we are not after the information of ordinary Americans," he said.
小题1:American and British spy agencies were both particularly interested in the information gathered from_________.
A．Google Maps
B．Twitter
C．Angry Birds
D．Facebook小题2:According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A．The iPhone platform is more reliable than that of Android.
B．The New York Times interviewed Edward Snowden secretly.
C．It is difficult for common users to protect their personal information.
D．A document from NSA listed what information can be found from which apps.小题3:What did Jay Carney’s words imply?
A．NSA didn’t gather any worthy information from Americans.
B．NSA would stop its foreign intelligence mission in the future.
C．NSA and White House shared different attitude towards the affair.
D．NSA collected information with the permission of White House小题4:Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A．Angry Birds Give You Away
B．NSA Gather Information from Apps
C．Reports from the New York Times
D．Documents from Edward Snowden
