Posted on 06/08/2013 3:06:34 PM PDT by neverdem
Today's stunning report that the National Security Agency is collecting the phone records of millions of U.S. Verizon customers is beginning to spark a backlash against the Obama administration from the left.
The Guardian reported that the NSA issued an order that allows it to collect phone records from Verizon customers "indiscriminately and in bulk regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing." Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.) confirmed that the order, which was issued in April, was a three-month renewal of an ongoing practice. The Washington Post reported that practice dates back to 2006...
--snip--
"This type of secret bulk data collection is an outrageous breach of Americans' privacy," Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley (D) said in a statement.
"In digital era, privacy must be a priority," tweeted former vice president Al Gore. "Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?"
--snip--
The key distinction between Obama and Bush here is that the Obama administration appears to have used legal means to carry out domestic surveillance. In this instance, the administration sought approval for the phone records order through the FISA court. But civil libertarians on the left say that the FISA court process is broken. Its orders are classified and the Verizon phone records collection casts an extremely wide net.
"This bulk data collection is being done under interpretations of the law that have been kept secret from the public," Sen. Merkley said. "Significant FISA court opinions that determine the scope of our laws should be declassified. Can the FBI or the NSA really claim that they need data scooped up on tens of millions of Americans?"
Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) have also pressured the administration for years to be more transparent about their domestic surveillance programs. Expect...
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Al Cereal Gore is outraged? Funny how that makes sense when he sits on the Apple board.
Algore didn’t seem too bothered by it when the Clinton regime was monitoring all communications with the NSA’s Echelon program.
are Verizon phone-number records,
available for divorce disputes?
if not, why not?
No, the key distinction between Obama and Bush is that the Bush Administration did not carry out warrantless domestic surveillance. They only intercepted data crossing outside the country. Besides, no FISA judge is going to issue an indiscriminate warrant that allows wholesale surveilling without regard to target or probable cause.
I’m betting Al Gore’s name isn’t on that list of 10K numbers never to be recorded from.
Most people will catch on the “legal” and contrast with illegal, where the key differentiating factor is foreign/domestic.
We need to be very careful as to specifics. There is a major effort by those seeking to stop actal anti-terrorism efforts to muddle legitimate and neccessary data collection with inherently invasive acts.
**tweeted former vice president Al Gore. “Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?”**
No, Gore, more than just you is obscene and outrageous.
Just think, the practice would fulfill that "well-regulated" aspiration in the 2A quite nicely. :-)
No, the key distinction is that the Bush Administration was engaged in tracking down muslim terrorists while Obama is digging up dirt on Americans who oppose his agenda.
> The left is revolting.
Yes, and despicable, too.
Someone must have recorded Gore telling the global warming scientist how to alter the truth. He sounds angry and scared.
They should go back to the Clintons and the ‘90s for the roots of such programs.
If Al Gore is outraged it makes me wonder. Sounds like BS to me.
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