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NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds

Jango

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The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents.

Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by statute and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls.

The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance. In one of the documents, agency personnel are instructed to remove details and substitute more generic language in reports to the Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

In one instance, the NSA decided that it need not report the unintended surveillance of Americans. A notable example in 2008 was the interception of a “large number” of calls placed from Washington when a programming error confused the U.S. area code 202 for 20, the international dialing code for Egypt, according to a “quality assurance” review that was not distributed to the NSA’s oversight staff.

In another case, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has authority over some NSA operations, did not learn about a new collection method until it had been in operation for many months. The court ruled it unconstitutional.

The Obama administration has provided almost no public information about the NSA’s compliance record. In June, after promising to explain the NSA’s record in “as transparent a way as we possibly can,” Deputy Attorney General James Cole described extensive safeguards and oversight that keep the agency in check. “Every now and then, there may be a mistake,” Cole said in congressional testimony.

The NSA audit obtained by The Post, dated May 2012, counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12 months of unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications. Most were unintended. Many involved failures of due diligence or violations of standard operating procedure. The most serious incidents included a violation of a court order and unauthorized use of data about more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders.

NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds - The Washington Post

Not surprising at all that the N.S.A. is overstepping its boundaries, but sadly, it will cause some here, who blindly defend and swallow everything the N.S.A. does, to have exploding heads because their worldview is rapidly changing.
 
Unfortunately, I can't say I am surprised. Thanks for the link. :)
 
You're welcome. :)

Those bastids!

No surprise here - they threw out 4A protections, and, of course, then lied about it.

Guys like Snowden keep these little pricks honest.
 
Once again, who gets fired? nobody.
Who gets suspended without pay? nobody.
Who has their career placed in any jeopardy? nobody.
Who gets to tell lies to congress this time? probably all of them.
Who gets away with that? all of them.
Were laws broken again? Yes.
Will criminal charges be filed this time? no.


Government is way out of control. We saw this show just last month.
 
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds - The Washington Post

Not surprising at all that the N.S.A. is overstepping its boundaries, but sadly, it will cause some here, who blindly defend and swallow everything the N.S.A. does, to have exploding heads because their worldview is rapidly changing.

The number of violations is astonishing, indeed. When I read the article yesterday morning, however, I did not really have the feeling, that the problem was intractable. As a matter of fact, what we must do appears to be quite strait forward and something that we have done in similar situations in the past. There seems no question, that we both need the technology and protection against government overreach. So we have to make sure that institutional checks balance the new power that the technology gives us.
 
Once again, who gets fired? nobody.
Who gets suspended without pay? nobody.
Who has their career placed in any jeopardy? nobody.
Who gets to tell lies to congress this time? probably all of them.
Who gets away with that? all of them.
Were laws broken again? Yes.
Will criminal charges be filed this time? no.


Government is way out of control. We saw this show just last month.

I think it is absolutely correct, that a number of people need to be fired, stand court and punishment under the criminal code.

We do need to use that technology, though. Let there be no doubt in that. So how do we get government under control?
 
In my cynical view, government WILL NOT be brought under control, for a variety of reasons. It's way too late for that. Civic duty has been dormant for too many generations, and the government grown more powerful and militarized. Submission to authority has been very well inculcated into several generations of young americans.
 
2700 incidents over what denominator? I suspect this is a small almost infinitesimal number of breaches given the vast activities of NSA.

Typical tea partiers and their lack of math skills.
 
August 9th, 2013-President Obama:"If you look at the reports, even the disclosures that Mr. Snowden’s put forward, all the stories that have been written, what you’re not reading about is the government actually abusing these programs and, you know, listening in on people’s phone calls or inappropriately reading people’s e-mails. What you’re hearing about is the prospect that these could be abused. Now part of the reason they’re not abused is because they’re — these checks are in place, and those abuses would be against the law and would be against the orders of the FISC [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]."


Phony scandals? LOL. We're not invading people's privacy? LOL.


Nobody in their right mind believed a word he said anyway.
 
Does anyone here really believe that anything else is to be expected? I mean, even cops like to peek in at a good looking corpse being autopsied while having a donut or two. They are the beast that they are.
 
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds - The Washington Post

Not surprising at all that the N.S.A. is overstepping its boundaries, but sadly, it will cause some here, who blindly defend and swallow everything the N.S.A. does, to have exploding heads because their worldview is rapidly changing.

I thought this was one of those alleged "phoney scandals?."

The best part is that those who did call this a "phoney scandal" are now defending all this domestic spying while attempting to portray the spying as "logical" and some have gone as far as to claim "people don't have a right to privacy (and some don't want it)."

Simply amazing stuff..
 
August 9th, 2013-President Obama:"If you look at the reports, even the disclosures that Mr. Snowden’s put forward, all the stories that have been written, what you’re not reading about is the government actually abusing these programs and, you know, listening in on people’s phone calls or inappropriately reading people’s e-mails. What you’re hearing about is the prospect that these could be abused. Now part of the reason they’re not abused is because they’re — these checks are in place, and those abuses would be against the law and would be against the orders of the FISC [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]."


Phony scandals? LOL. We're not invading people's privacy? LOL.


Nobody in their right mind believed a word he said anyway.

What do you expect? Obama along with the majority of those in government are pathological liars.
 
2700 incidents over what denominator? I suspect this is a small almost infinitesimal number of breaches given the vast activities of NSA.

Typical tea partiers and their lack of math skills.

One time is too many.....

Of course these are only a couple of thousand of instances that we know of...

Cant say that I'm shocked that you're defending this alleged "phoney scandal."

Funny how it didn't exist (despite the evidence) and now that it is acknowledged you're attempting to write it off as a non-issue.
 
2700 incidents over what denominator? I suspect this is a small almost infinitesimal number of breaches given the vast activities of NSA.

Typical tea partiers and their lack of math skills.

Any number greater than zero is a problem.
 
What do you expect? Obama along with the majority of those in government are pathological liars.

What do I expect? LOL.

I figure out a long time ago. Anything but the truth from this administration.
 
Each president gets more ambitious in grabbing power. Until we make an example of you won't get away with it, it will get worse in future administrations.
 
What do I expect? LOL.

I figure out a long time ago. Anything but the truth from this administration.

If libertarians didn't consistently remind our tyrannical government that the Bill of Rights in fact isn't a hoax - we would have no civil liberties at all.

Libertarians are continually hated by both republicans and democrats but we're the ones that - despite the hate - that keep our freedoms intact...
 
The great thing is that government can always be trusted, just like we have been always told how stupid the slippery slope people are. After healthcare I wonder if there is anything else the left will need to control for us.

Thinking about it, it is pretty cool in my house here in AZ. Probably not fair to someone. We will probably have temperature regulations by the time my daughter gets my age. Sad really.
 
NSA broke privacy rules thousands of times per year, audit finds - The Washington Post

Not surprising at all that the N.S.A. is overstepping its boundaries, but sadly, it will cause some here, who blindly defend and swallow everything the N.S.A. does, to have exploding heads because their worldview is rapidly changing.

This is why I'm happy when individuals reveal state secrets to the public -- because almost invariably what they're revealing is that the government is out of control.
 
Once again, who gets fired? nobody.
Who gets suspended without pay? nobody.
Who has their career placed in any jeopardy? nobody.
Who gets to tell lies to congress this time? probably all of them.
Who gets away with that? all of them.
Were laws broken again? Yes.
Will criminal charges be filed this time? no.


Government is way out of control. We saw this show just last month.

The problem appears to be (everywhere) that the organization is held responsible but not the bureaucrats within. And when they are named they mumble denials or take the fifth. And when that happens it is the government taking the fifth, not just their employees.

The first job of any bureaucracy is to protect that bureaucracy and that's why the names of these bureaucrats are almost always protected It's as though having their names published was an invasion of their privacy, despite being on the public dollar.
 
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