ACRONYMS

Acronyms in the area of signal intelligence, interception and related issues

Active Surveillance
Active Surveillance is usually based on a tool integrated in a communication devices that actively diverts the telecommunication to intercept it. In case of computers this is called a trojan, in case of physical locations (rooms, cars etc) this is usually called a bug (interception device).

COMINT
Communication Intelligence: is a Military/Intelligence Termin for any technical interception way to obtain Data from Telecommunication.

DR
Data Retention: Recording of all telecommunication traffic data (who calls who when and from where) but not call content.

LI
Lawful Interception: is an Euphemism for build-in Interception capabilities in compliance with legal framework regulating this. Trouble: This type of legal framework doesn't exist in some countries and what is "Lawful" is defined by a single person aka the head of the government

Passive Surveillance
Passive Surveillance is a non-intrusive (non-intervening) way of intercepting telecommunication from a physical or logical connection. In digital environments it is impossible to detect, while on the physical layer there might be minimal chances to identify a "tap"

SIGINT
Signals Intelligence: is a Military/Intelligence Term for all kinds of _TECHNICAL_ Interception ways (passive, active, through build-in or external technical measures) not limited to COMINT (communications intelligence) which is a subcategory of SIGINT

Strategic Surveillance
Strategic Surveillance is also called "massive surveillance", it is the complete monitoring and recording of all telecommunication, usually of a country or a specific connection, such as a submarine cable. Metadata (call/connection records) as well as Content of calls/connections are stored, filtered and archived for later analysis.