Sharon Goldberg Analyzes NSA “Traffic Shaping” Loophole

As the modern internet continues to grow with a fluidity that overlooks geopolitical borders, more and more attention is being paid to government surveillance tactics. Hariri Institute Fellow and Boston University associate professor of computer science Sharon Goldberg tackles this evolving challenge in her white paper, Surveillance without Borders: The “Traffic Shaping” Loophole and Why It Matters, published through The Century Foundation (TCF).

As Goldberg explains, “the NSA has clandestine means of diverting portions of the river of Internet traffic that travel on global communication cables.” What does this mean in practice? While the NSA is heavily restricted when it comes to domestic surveillance, they have much broader jurisdiction with regard to international communications. Goldberg’s report highlights the NSA’s practice of “traffic shaping,” which is “any technical means that deliberately re-routes Internet traffic to a location that is better suited, operationally, to surveillance.”

This ability to re-route domestic Internet traffic through international channels could potentially give the NSA un-checked access to communications inside the United States that they typically cannot tap into. As Goldberg notes, it’s impossible to know whether the NSA is using the tactic, “due to the classified nature of many national security surveillance programs, regulations, and legal decisions made by the surveillance courts.” However, she confirms that the “traffic shaping” loophole exists and suggests several options to increase appropriate oversight of these clandestine surveillance tactics.

Goldberg’s report “explores a legal, technical, and operational landscape that suggests that traffic spacing could be exploited to sidestep legal restrictions imposed by Congress and the surveillance courts.” Her analysis is a critical addition to the socio-political conversation on privacy and surveillance.

[Surveillance without Borders: The “Traffic Shaping” Loophole and Why it Matters Full Report]