# Latest NSA news: They're harvesting online address books **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-nsa-news-theyre-harvesting-online-address-books/671286 "2013-10-15T04:27:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2013, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/latest-nsa-news-theyre-harvesting-online-address-books/671286/1 "2013-10-15T04:27:33Z")
The newest revelation about NSA surveillance: They are harvesting online email address books. If I understand the article correctly, this potentially extends not just to foreign targets but to millions of Americans, since domestic email often bounces around foreign servers. The linked [article](http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-collects-millions-of-e-mail-address-books-globally/2013/10/14/8e58b5be-34f9-11e3-80c6-7e6dd8d22d8f_story.html) also reports an entertaining anecdote about an Iranian whose Yahoo account was the target of particular attention. He had in his address book connections to Yahoo groups with hundreds or thousands of members, and while he was under scrutiny, he coincidentally got hacked by a spammer. The resulting deluge of garbage email almost crashed the Australian intelligence service, which was running the operation for the NSA.