Unmasking by U.S. intelligence agencies

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Global surveillance
Disclosures
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Systems
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Laws
Five Eyes UKUSA Agreement Lustre U.S. USA Freedom Act FISA amendments EU Data Retention Directive Data Protection Directive GDPR China National Intelligence Law Cybersecurity Law UK Investigatory Powers Act 2016
Proposed changes
U.S. FISA Improvements Act Other proposals
Concepts
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Related topics
Espionage Intelligence agency Cryptography Tor VPNs TLS Human rights Privacy Liberty Satellites Stop Watching Us Nothing to hide argument
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Unmasking by U.S. intelligence agencies typically occurs after the United States conducts eavesdropping or other intelligence gathering aimed at foreigners or foreign agents, and the name of a U.S. citizen or entity is incidentally collected. Intelligence reports are then disseminated within the U.S. government, with such names masked to protect those U.S. citizens from invasion of privacy. The names can subsequently be unmasked upon request by authorized U.S. government officials under certain circumstances.^[1] Unmaskings occur thousands of times each year, totaling 10,012 in 2019.^[2]