Posted on 06/16/2013 12:40:25 PM PDT by John W
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama does not believe the recently disclosed top-secret National Security Agency surveillance of phone records and Internet data has violated Americans' privacy rights, his chief of staff said on Sunday.
The administration has said the top-secret collection of massive amounts of "metadata" from phone calls - raw information that does not identify individual telephone subscribers, was legal and authorized by Congress in the interests of thwarting militant attacks. It has said the agencies did not monitor calls.
Asked whether Obama feels he has violated the privacy of Americans, McDonough said, "He does not."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Justice Department Expands Hunt for Data on Cellphones
Cellphones seem to be increasingly attractive to the Department of Justice, documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union show. Agencies affiliated with the department used more than 37,600 court orders in 2011 to gather cellphone data, a sharp increase from previous years. They were almost equally divided between “pen register” data, which captures outgoing phone numbers, and “trap and trace” orders, which refer to incoming phone numbers, which means one phone could have two separate orders associated with it.
The total number has roughly doubled since 2007, when cellphone communications were more limited.
By law, the data can be obtained without a search warrant establishing probable cause, though the authorities do need to tell a court that it is relevant to an investigation. To get a wiretap that allows authorities to actually listen in on the contents of a call has higher legal barriers; law enforcement officials have to convince an impartial judge of probable cause.
(Excerpt)
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/justice-department-expands-hunt-for-data-on-cellphones/
Obama’s NSA eavesdropping goes beyond that of Bush... after campaigning on the promise of: “ No warrantless wiretaps if you elect me!”
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9845595-7.html
headlines read: “NSA Exceeds Legal Limits In Eavesdropping Program”, “ U.S. phone intercepts go beyond legal limits” , and “NSA Found Improperly Spying on Americans”.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123985123667923961.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE53F09820090416
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/15/justice-dept-nsa-improperly-spied-americans/
I’ve heard the claim that only 300 phones were monitored and that it stopped attacks (without knowing the content of the calls).
I call double bullstalin. It was a data sweep of all customers and mere “networking” of who’s contacting whom does not stop attacks.
But it does help build the type of voter database that Maxine Waters blabbed about in 2012.
Of course he doesn’t.
Wonder if NSA taps his phones.
OTOH, his Blackberry was specially modified to prevent eavesdropping.
Obama is a liar!
He doesn’t have to— he has Valerie Jarrett in the office next door, same set of buttons.
One thing about Yahoo is that they are choc full of libs there. I know a few people who work there in Santa Monica close to me, and they’ve got Odumbo stickers all over the place. The thing that peeves them is that the comments are mostly from anti-obama e-mail holders. Same thing with the LA Times.
ring ring
ObamaPhone. How can I snoop on ya today?
uhhh,, when will my oysters Rockafellar arrive?
soon, my dear, soon.
Obama does not feel Americans have any privacy. Or constitutional rights. They are dhimmis.
Speaking of databases, remember that 0bama brought the 2010 census from Commerce to the White House. Now there is a database!
Says the man who sealed all his records.
That’s because he doesn’t believe you have any privacy or a right to any.
We have met the Obama Administration, and found where al-Qa’ida is hiding. America surrenders.
It was probably modified to eavesdrop.
Like ME! :-D. Yeah. I love going through the comments that are usually 90-95% anti-der Fuerher. I hope it tweeks the hell out of all those libs!!
Of course he doesn’t. In Newspeak “privacy” means “murdering your unborn child” and is a right only women are accorded.
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