XKeyscore

The internet’s old boogeyman is back in the spotlight: XKeyscore, the NSA’s tool for sifting through global internet data. It’s been shared with allied spy agencies from the UK to Japan, and even Denmark allegedly used it to snoop on nearby friends. The community isn’t debating what it is—they’re arguing what it means now. One camp, led by user apt-get, wonders: is this still a thing in 2025, or have local cops and private data brokers replaced the spooks? Cue the chorus of “it never went away” and side-eyes at today’s data gold rush.

Then comes the twist: user monerozcash insists the juiciest bit is that XKeyscore’s source wasn’t actually leaked by Snowden, pointing to Bruce Schneier’s post and a Reuters report—instant drama for the surveillance lore crowd. Privacy diehards, like codedokode, slam the panic button: encrypt everything and hide the website info that can leak in transit, sparking a mini flame war about “homegrown crypto” versus “please don’t roll your own.”

And because every spy story needs a villain, the thread dips into the Snowden-as-Russian-agent rumor mill—only to be swatted down as “not what the U.S. government believes,” followed by sarcasm and a “Comrade Krasnov” quip. The vibe: half tin-foil hat memes, half serious civil liberties talk, all wrapped in a very online tug-of-war over who’s really watching whom.