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Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily [W:452]

Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

I don't know why you're addressing this to me since I haven't said anything to suggest the answer to that question is yes.

So you didn't post this:

ThePlayDrive said:
...Even further, you're focusing on liberal partisanship when there is plenty of conservative partisanship in the thread too
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

greenwald's gonna get it

The journalist who broke the news that the government is monitoring vast quantities of American phone records is claiming the U.S. is building a “massive” snooping apparatus committed to destroying privacy worldwide.

“There is a massive apparatus within the United States government that with complete secrecy has been building this enormous structure that has only one goal, and that is to destroy privacy and anonymity, not just in the United States but around the world,” charged Glenn Greenwald, a reporter for the British newspaper “The Guardian,” speaking on CNN. “That is not hyperbole. That is their objective.”

Greenwald, speaking with CNN’s Piers Morgan, appeared during a week in which Americans learned that according to reports, the National Security Agency and other parts of the government have been monitoring the phone records of Verizon users and accessing Internet information as part of intelligence-gathering procedures. Some Republicans and Democrats have defended the phone records strategy, including the highest-ranking members of the Senate Intelligence Committee — Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). But Greenwald dismissed those arguments.

“So whatever the Justice Department wants to do, they can beat their chests all they want,” he said. “People like Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss can have press conferences threatening people for bringing light to what it is they’re doing, but the only people who are going to be investigated are them. It’s well past time that these threats start to be treated with the contempt that they deserve. That’s certainly how I intend to treat them moving forward, with more investigation and disclosures.”

He also bashed the Obama administration for issuing “threats.”

“The Obama administration has been very aggressive about bullying and threatening anybody who thinks about exposing it or writing it or even doing journalism about it, and it’s well past time that come to an end,” he said.

Greenwald also told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the administration has taken a “warped and distorted” view of the PATRIOT Act, the legislation that authorized certain kinds of surveillance for security reasons in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“What the Obama administration is doing in interpreting the PATRIOT Act is so warped and distorted and it vests themselves with such extremist surveillance powers over the United States and American citizens that Americans would be stunned to learn what the Obama administration is doing,” he said on CNN’s “The Lead.”

Speaking with MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell, Greenwald dared lawmakers to investigate how information about the Verizon phone records leaked, as Feinstein has said should happen.

Let them go and investigate,” Greenwald said.

He added, “There is this massive surveillance state that the United States government has built up that has extraordinary implications for how we live as human beings on the earth and as Americans in our country, and we have the right to know what it is that that government and that agency is doing. I intend to continue to shine light on that, and Dianne Feinstein can beat her chest all she wants and call for investigations, and none of that is going to stop and none of it is going to change.”

Glenn Greenwald: U.S. wants to destroy privacy worldwide - Katie Glueck - POLITICO.com
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

curious

Several lawmakers said they had not been briefed on the Obama administration’s classified programs to monitor cellphone and Internet traffic.
That’s in direct contradiction to President Barack Obama’s assertion. The president said on Friday that “every member of Congress” has been briefed on the programs led by the National Security Administration.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said in a telephone interview late Friday that he learned about the two programs after requesting a briefing under “classified circumstances” following urging by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Durbin said congressional leadership and intelligence committees had access to information about the programs, but that the “average member” of Congress likely wouldn’t have been aware of the breadth of the telephone and Internet surveillance.

They don’t receive this kind of briefing,” Durbin said of the congressional rank-and-file.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who has railed against government intrusion on the Senate floor, told POLITICO that he “hadn’t been briefed on this particular issue,” referring to the NSA collection of phone records. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) also said he learned of phone monitoring through news reports, although he said it “wasn’t a surprise.”

“Not quite!” tweeted Rep. Billy Long (R-La.) in response to a tweet by ABC’s Rick Klein that said “Obama says ‘every member of Congress’ has been briefed on phone program #NSA; suggests only intel comm. knew of PRISM.”

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also get briefed, along with intelligence committee chairs and ranking members. Rank-and-file members of Congress, however, are only periodically briefed on specific incidents — there have been briefings recently on Syria and the Boston bombings.

Lawmakers: NSA surveillance news to us - POLITICO

another lie
 
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Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

curiouser

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responded to the “outrageous press reports about PRISM” today, saying the social media giant “is not and has never been part of any program to give the U.S. or any other government direct access to our servers.”

“We have never received a blanket request or court order from any government agency asking for information or metadata in bulk, like the one Verizon reportedly received. And if we did, we would fight it aggressively,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “We hadn’t even heard of PRISM before yesterday.”

He continued: “When governments ask Facebook for data, we review each request carefully to make sure they always follow the correct processes and all applicable laws, and then only provide the information if [it] is required by law. We will continue fighting aggressively to keep your information safe and secure.”

Facebook's Zuckerberg: We hadn't even heard of PRISM before yesterday - POLITICO
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily


Techcrunch has been following this story very closely and apparently none of the tech companies involved with PRISM knew that they were a part of this program, so either the companies are willfully ignorant, or it's a planted, fabrication... The perfect thing to distract the public; fear!

If PRISM Is Real, Why Are All These Tech Companies Denying Participation? | TechCrunch
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

I'm probably wrong but seem I recall libs going ballistic with the the though of Bush listening in...probably confused.
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

I'm probably wrong but seem I recall libs going ballistic with the the though of Bush listening in...probably confused.

Yeah... this lib is still pissed. Needless to say we wouldn't be in this position if the Bush administration and the GOP didn't hype fear and ram this through under the guise of protecting us after 9/11. Conservatives are just now finding out how to be pissed about this... 7 years too late. 7 years ago of course I was constantly being told by conservatives to get over it because if I've got nothing to hide then I got nothing to worry about. Fast forward 7 years up to a day or two ago we still have conservatives saying this:

(Lindsay) Graham clarified that under the law, "you just can't track people's phone calls," and said there must be a reasonable belief that the people being surveilled are involved in terrorism.

"I don’t think you're talking to the terrorists. I know you're not. I know I'm not, so we don't have anything to worry about,

link...
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

Yeah... this lib is still pissed. Needless to say we wouldn't be in this position if the Bush administration and the GOP didn't hype fear and ram this through under the guise of protecting us after 9/11. Conservatives are just now finding out how to be pissed about this... 7 years too late. 7 years ago of course I was constantly being told by conservatives to get over it because if I've got nothing to hide then I got nothing to worry about. Fast forward 7 years up to a day or two ago we still have conservatives saying this:

(Lindsay) Graham clarified that under the law, "you just can't track people's phone calls," and said there must be a reasonable belief that the people being surveilled are involved in terrorism.

"I don’t think you're talking to the terrorists. I know you're not. I know I'm not, so we don't have anything to worry about,​

If you were really pissed, you would call for the end to such practices regardless when they were begun...
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

If you were really pissed, you would call for the end to such practices regardless when they were begun...

It should've never started and it should not be in practice now. Hence why I'm still pissed about it. I'm not the one being inconsistent in this thread.
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

What is your point?
If a man has been beating his wife for over a decade, does that make it ok to continue doing it?
No one is listening to your phone calls.
It's really just a phone log of who you called and who called you.
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

The percentage of Americans who believe President Barack Obama’s administration has poor ethical standards is higher than that measured by Gallup at various points during presidencies of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, a new poll finds.

Thirty-two percent of those surveyed said top Obama officials have “poor” ethics, according to a Gallup poll on Friday. This compares with figures of 29 percent for George W. Bush, 21 percent for Bill Clinton, 7 percent for George H.W. Bush, and 15 percent for Ronald Reagan, pollsters said.

Ethical standards were rated on a four-step scale - “excellent,” “good,” “not good,” and “poor.”

Meanwhile, 49 percent consider the controversy over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups a “very serious” problem, with 58 percent disapproving of how Obama has handled the issue.

Gallup: 32% say White House ethics 'poor' - Rebecca Elliott - POLITICO.com
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

Didn't Obama say he would 'fundamentally transform this country'? Well....Welcome to the transformation....Like what you see?
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

Needless to say we wouldn't be in this position if the Bush administration and the GOP didn't hype fear and ram this through under the guise of protecting us after 9/11.

So Obama is renewing this program because hes afraid?
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

Seriously? This is old ****ing news. Where was your outrage during the Bush years?

I'm new and a Democrat and in the Bush years as today, I wondered what would be the worry if one had nothing to hide.

No one has privacy today, however many go along thinking they do, especially on sites like Face Book. If we are on the internet we have not one single bit of privacy and we really should give that some thought when bashing our President....but of course we all have a right to an opinion.

They will not read your emails or phone conversations or anything directed at Americans unless there is some connection to a foreign country where is might be questionable. We have complained so often the one agency doesn't know what the other is doing and now this is all on one data base to make it more efficient.

You will find out when you get to know me that I will call Obama when he needs to be, he is not perfect but on this issue, I would not. jmho
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

So, one of Obamas issues during the 2008 campaign was that he was against secret govt surveillance programs. He later said that once he got in office and he learned about these program, he changed his mind, and we see now that he has expanded them. So, given all that, shouldn't we question future politicians who claim the same things? Who assume they know whats going on, and why? And then campaign on that ignorance?
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

So, one of Obamas issues during the 2008 campaign was that he was against secret govt surveillance programs. He later said that once he got in office and he learned about these program, he changed his mind, and we see now that he has expanded them. So, given all that, shouldn't we question future politicians who claim the same things? Who assume they know whats going on, and why? And then campaign on that ignorance?
Obama is evolving. It's not that he said and did whatever was necessary to get elected and then did whatever he wanted. Nah. Couldn't be that.
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

I'm new and a Democrat and in the Bush years as today, I wondered what would be the worry if one had nothing to hide.

What was the worry then with the Democrats then when Nixon was in office if they had nothing to hid?

Then somehow you dont think that this information would ever be used for other puposes other than terrorism especially with this presidents record?

The man is a serial Liar and with all the scandals out there cannot be trusted, period. He has "Zero" credibility even with the NY Times at this point but somehow you still drone on that this is no big deal.
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

the guardian goes for it

The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian.

The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.

The Guardian has verified the authenticity of the document, a 41-slide PowerPoint presentation – classified as top secret with no distribution to foreign allies – which was apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the capabilities of the program. The document claims "collection directly from the servers" of major US service providers.

Although the presentation claims the program is run with the assistance of the companies, all those who responded to a Guardian request for comment on Thursday denied knowledge of any such program.

Several senior tech executives insisted that they had no knowledge of Prism or of any similar scheme. They said they would never have been involved in such a program. "If they are doing this, they are doing it without our knowledge," one said.

An Apple spokesman said it had "never heard" of Prism.

The program facilitates extensive, in-depth surveillance on live communications and stored information. The law allows for the targeting of any customers of participating firms who live outside the US, or those Americans whose communications include people outside the US.

It also opens the possibility of communications made entirely within the US being collected without warrants.

The participation of the internet companies in Prism will add to the debate, ignited by the Verizon revelation, about the scale of surveillance by the intelligence services. Unlike the collection of those call records, this surveillance can include the content of communications and not just the metadata.

Companies are legally obliged to comply with requests for users' communications under US law, but the Prism program allows the intelligence services direct access to the companies' servers. The NSA document notes the operations have "assistance of communications providers in the US".

When the FAA was first enacted, defenders of the statute argued that a significant check on abuse would be the NSA's inability to obtain electronic communications without the consent of the telecom and internet companies that control the data. But the Prism program renders that consent unnecessary, as it allows the agency to directly and unilaterally seize the communications off the companies' servers.

A chart prepared by the NSA, contained within the top-secret document obtained by the Guardian, underscores the breadth of the data it is able to obtain: email, video and voice chat, videos, photos, voice-over-IP (Skype, for example) chats, file transfers, social networking details, and more.

The document is recent, dating to April 2013. Such a leak is extremely rare in the history of the NSA, which prides itself on maintaining a high level of secrecy.

The Prism program allows the NSA, the world's largest surveillance organisation, to obtain targeted communications without having to request them from the service providers and without having to obtain individual court orders.

With this program, the NSA is able to reach directly into the servers of the participating companies and obtain both stored communications as well as perform real-time collection on targeted users.

The presentation claims Prism was introduced to overcome what the NSA regarded as shortcomings of Fisa warrants in tracking suspected foreign terrorists. It noted that the US has a "home-field advantage" due to housing much of the internet's architecture. But the presentation claimed "Fisa constraints restricted our home-field advantage" because Fisa required individual warrants and confirmations that both the sender and receiver of a communication were outside the US.

"Fisa was broken because it provided privacy protections to people who were not entitled to them," the presentation claimed. "It took a Fisa court order to collect on foreigners overseas who were communicating with other foreigners overseas simply because the government was collecting off a wire in the United States. There were too many email accounts to be practical to seek Fisas for all."

The new measures introduced in the FAA redefines "electronic surveillance" to exclude anyone "reasonably believed" to be outside the USA – a technical change which reduces the bar to initiating surveillance.

The act also gives the director of national intelligence and the attorney general power to permit obtaining intelligence information, and indemnifies internet companies against any actions arising as a result of co-operating with authorities' requests.

In short, where previously the NSA needed individual authorisations, and confirmation that all parties were outside the USA, they now need only reasonable suspicion that one of the parties was outside the country at the time of the records were collected by the NSA.

It boasts of what it calls "strong growth" in its use of the Prism program to obtain communications. The document highlights the number of obtained communications increased in 2012 by 248% for Skype – leading the notes to remark there was "exponential growth in Skype reporting; looks like the word is getting out about our capability against Skype". There was also a 131% increase in requests for Facebook data, and 63% for Google.

The NSA document indicates that it is planning to add Dropbox as a PRISM provider. The agency also seeks, in its words, to "expand collection services from existing providers".

Senator Christopher Coons of Delaware specifically warned that the secrecy surrounding the various surveillance programs meant there was no way to know if safeguards within the act were working.

"The problem is: we here in the Senate and the citizens we represent don't know how well any of these safeguards actually work," he said.

"The law doesn't forbid purely domestic information from being collected. We know that at least one Fisa court has ruled that the surveillance program violated the law. Why? Those who know can't say and average Americans can't know."

Other senators also raised concerns. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon attempted, without success, to find out any information on how many phone calls or emails had been intercepted under the program.

When the law was enacted, defenders of the FAA argued that a significant check on abuse would be the NSA's inability to obtain electronic communications without the consent of the telecom and internet companies that control the data. But the Prism program renders that consent unnecessary, as it allows the agency to directly and unilaterally seize the communications off the companies' servers.

When the NSA reviews a communication it believes merits further investigation, it issues what it calls a "report". According to the NSA, "over 2,000 Prism-based reports" are now issued every month. There were 24,005 in 2012, a 27% increase on the previous year.

Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's Center for Democracy, that it was astonishing the NSA would even ask technology companies to grant direct access to user data.

"It's shocking enough just that the NSA is asking companies to do this," he said. "The NSA is part of the military. The military has been granted unprecedented access to civilian communications.

"This is unprecedented militarisation of domestic communications infrastructure. That's profoundly troubling to anyone who is concerned about that separation."

NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others | World news | The Guardian

surprised?

merkley, wyden and durbin are
 
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Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

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Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

Not surprised, nor do I expect anything to change. Governments don't give up powers, people do give up outrage... soon the sheep will be okay with it and view anyone wanting privacy as either suspect or paranoid; And the water around the frog approaches a boil.
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

I just want to know where all the, "If you aren't doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about," people are? You know, the ones who staunchly defended President Bush when all this wiretapping news hit the media years ago?

Why does FOXNews spend more time on this Faux-issue than they do on their owner wiretapping citizens in the UK?

Face it folks, privacy is subjective. The validations for violating said privacy is also subjective.

I think we would all be surprised to know just how much about us is available for public or private disclosure, should one take the time to dig.
 
Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

How many conservatives around here do you think were ok with this type stuff when Bush was in office?

I certainly wasn't and many of my friends were not either.

I did not think Bush was the antichrist like many of you but I certainly did not agree with him on his immigration policy, patriot act, and the bail outs.
 
Re: Revealed: NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

Hey Obama, if you're reading this, go **** yourself.
 
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