A new leaked document claims that the National Security Agency has collected data on a number of people regarding their online sexual activity and evidence of their visits to adult websites as part of a scheme to damage their reputations.
This is perhaps the news everyone has been waiting for since the whole NSA scandal began in June – a privacy breach designed to embarrass and tarnish the reputations of the people they chose to target.
According to the Huffington Post, the document identifies six targets, all Muslims. All have been highlighted as examples of how personal vulnerabilities can be electronically monitored and then exploited to undermine credibility, reputation, and power.
The targets set by the NSA appear to be individuals dedicated to jihad, where exposure of their activities would lead to a loss of their power.
Furthermore, the individuals targeted by the NSA are not accused of participating in conspiracies, which means that the agency was simply seeking material for use in an emergency.
Former NSA general counsel and Bush administration Homeland Security official Stewart Baker doesn't think this idea is wrong. As he put it: "If these people are involved in the effort to recruit people to kill Americans and we can discredit them, we should."
Of course, who can be sure that the six people listed in the file are the only ones the NSA was monitoring? There are many who believe that the agency has such files on all US politicians.
