IIRC one of the laws passed to deal with the internet (Millinieum ACT maybe?) mandated that the system would have a back door for the Government Security agencies to use that eliminated the need for doing physical wire taps. IOW such could be done by entering a few commands and one could monitor net traffice and phone calls via the “backbone”
I wouldn't worry too much about it.
The feds may have the technology, but they'll probably BOMB the actual use of it. So I wouldn't live in TERROR of them. If you do, you're likely to get all stressed out and just BLOW UP emotionally.
Especially if you have an EXPLOSIVE temperament.
Well, I guess I'd better wrap this post up before others think I'm just pontificating and start engaging in character ASSASSINATION.
Heh.
They are allowed to listen in to calls going overseas, as soon as that communication crosses the border.
They use tricks though, like saying they can’t tell if a call goes over satellite whether it is domestic or foreign.
There are also calls that go to tech support which has a US number, but they go overseas. All of those were completely fair game.
Bottom line, it seems that when in doubt, they listen.
Right after 9/11 my family joked about talking on the phone and being tapped.
In the past I’ve been a little more radical, lol, and libertarian. In the early days of widespread internet usage, mid-nineties, it was common among some to deliberately use a list of keywords, even bury it in code, in order to “jam” ECHELON.
How quickly we forget.
The Tea Party is here:
http://www.video.theblaze.com/media/video.jsp?content_id=27814627
The denial of IRS org’s limits the ability to broker space for rallies.
And I have also seen the fed cage’s on AT&T’s fiber loop. They have very expensive boxes. Secondarily, I have seen them upstream at core infrastructure providers.
I didn’t complain about it myself. I just knew if you screwed with it, you would get a call and a visit from the Feds. I don’t mind the equipment. I do mind that is a blanket tracking system with no respect for search and siezure.
A case can be made for a blanket sweep as a perimeter defense, say if a nuke is being smuggled in. But that too requires a court order for a limited time. The Verizon tap for instance, via the FBI, was INTERNAL monitoring- not external. Which means they aren’t protecting us from the outside, they are protecting themselves from us. That dog don’t hunt.
The internet was started by the government, no? (Al Gore invented it.) I hardly think it strange to have its tentacles firmly embedded in all digital transmissions.
The danger here isn’t so much in the collection of all this data but rather in who is doing the analysis and then taking action. Can you say ‘IRS’...? Remember it’s the govt and they’re only here to help.
Truth is, many exchanged private purchasing habits data and patterns to Marketers and received “air miles” or “points”. This has been a practise since the 1980’s.
Then, we exchanged even more private information to access “free” stuff like gmail, google+, chrome, facebook, hotmail, etc., etc., etc!!
What we HAVE NOT agreed to is access to our personal data and information so that one political party can massage a message to manipulate voters, or identify and political adversaries for retribution from the IRS, EPA, OSHA, DHS, HHS, Dept. of Education, and any other Federal Department.