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The NSA Selector

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302 points anigbrowl | 3 comments | 20 May 25 18:30 UTC | HN request time: 0.723s | source
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jll29 ◴[20 May 25 21:16 UTC] No.44045997[source]▶
In NSA parlance, a "selector" primarily is a string that semi-uniquely identifies and addresses a persons intercepted data, such as

- an IP address,

- an email address,

- a phone number,

- a SIM card's MSIN

- a person's social security number,

- a national ID card number,

- a passport number,

- a social media handle etc.

(elsewhere also known as "accessor", "key", "handle" or "index")

replies(3): >>44046092 #>>44046548 #>>44047161 #
tantalor ◴[21 May 25 00:14 UTC] No.44047161[source]▶
That doesn't tell me why this is called selector.
replies(2): >>44047419 #>>44049544 #
1. Fnoord ◴[21 May 25 01:11 UTC] No.44047419[source]▶
> In CSS, selectors are patterns used to match, or select, the elements you want to style. Selectors are also used in JavaScript to enable selecting the DOM nodes to return as a NodeList.

From [1]. This nomenclature was also used way before CSS even existed; in SQL.

[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_selecto...

replies(1): >>44047823 #
2. tantalor ◴[21 May 25 02:41 UTC] No.44047823[source]▶
That doesn't help at all. What do SQL or CSS have to do with it
replies(1): >>44048098 #
3. salawat ◴[21 May 25 03:49 UTC] No.44048098[source]▶
My guess is it is meant tongue-in-cheek seeing as it is a way to render into audio all network traffic. The idea being that if you are being targeted by some nefarious, infamous 3 letter agency who has gotten something nefarious running on your system, this could, in theory, be used to identify traffic you didn't intend to have happen.

Realistically speaking, it's hogwash because you'd have to profile all "loopback" traffic and whatnot, but in theory, with enough time and effort, that dastardly stream of bits could be heard, I guess. The circuit board itself though has quite a bit of punning in it.

Also... If they really want on your databus, they will get on your databus. After a certain point, cost is not an issue.