9. Who’s Searching the Searchers?

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Yes, a rhetorical question, we know. Many of us marvel at the technology that powers big search engines like Google or Bing. It’s just amazing how they are able to catalog so much information and make it available to us in the blink of an eye. Well, while your searching, you might interested to know that the NSA is searching, too! And perhaps they are searching with the intent of finding out what you are searching for! Yes, the NSA is believed to have their very own search engine, and it’s one with some very unique and powerful capabilities. Known in spy circles as “XKeyscore,” you can think of it as NSA’s private search engine for anything and everything they might want to know about someone. It’s reportedly the agency’s most widest-reaching resource for the purposes of gathering online intelligence. It sounds almost as if it’s as easy to use as Google! All the operative has to do is fill out an on-screen form specifying what it is they are looking for and the system goes to work sniffing out all the dirty laundry it can find. Currently, it appears the “score” is NSA:1 Us:0.