Posted on 08/09/2013 9:48:59 AM PDT by don-o
Edited on 08/09/2013 10:03:10 AM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
The National Security Agency has a secret backdoor into its vast databases under a legal authority enabling it to search for US citizens' email and phone calls without a warrant, according to a top-secret document passed to the Guardian by Edward Snowden.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Mrs. Bacon is an accomplice. It’s why she left The Closer. :)
Well, now the spies, and any citizens who want freedom and privacy are gonna have to kick the tech habit and go back to old school in order to keep stuff secret/private.
some “inadvertent room temperature” needs to descend on the “ruling class”
Dealing with the perversion of the constitution and implementation of thousands of laws in essence to hamstring Americans. Ruling by fiat, destruction of the separation of powers...that sort of thing.
Gubbamint has painted Americans into a “Law corner”.
Anything you do, anything you say can then be construed as sedition or against some sort of law against their evil schemes. Someday, all of us here on FR will most likely feel pressure or persecution from the words we've spoken. I have no doubt about it.
The words “Soft Tyranny” just hits the nail on the head. The precursor to full blown gubbamint control.
Here we sit, chewin the fat. Someday I'm afraid the powers that attempt to lord over a free people will step across the gray area and will awake a giant.
Gee, the Leadress said yesterday that he was “mad” and that reforms will be discussed. we are screwed. Hellllllloooooo UTAH!
REEEALY??
We The People vs. Fascism is the call. I'm shocked people still can't make the right one.
I am a retired NSA Officer, as I have said previously on this forum. I spent most of my 33 civilian years overseas an the tip of our spear. We were continually reminded of our responsibilities re the Fourth Amendment and the relevant Executive Orders. We were told that the collection, recording and/or reporting communications between US persons would lead to dismissal or prosecution. If this was being done, it was being done without our knowledge. So let’s don’t be disbanding the Agency just yet. There are still an awfully lot of bad guys out there. Ever hear of China? Russia?
This is obviously not the case; unless there's some redefinition of what "US Person" is. (Or 'collection', 'recording' or 'reporting'.)
If this was being done, it was being done without our knowledge. So lets dont be disbanding the Agency just yet.
I'm sorry, but I'm a fan of extreme measures in response to extreme violations. I think murder, rape, and treason should all be capital punishment — and I think the Constitution being systematically violated by an agency ought to be severely punished.
There are still an awfully lot of bad guys out there. Ever hear of China? Russia?
The best invasion-deterrent, IMO, is still a heavily armed population — you cannot control a land w/o boots-on-the-ground physical presence.
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Concur with your opinion about a heavily-armed populace being a major deterrence to attack by large enemy forces. Admiral Yamamoto was right on that account. We need someone to keep an eye (and ear) on any and all threats. This isn’t something that can be accomplished by using amateur radio equipment in one’s garage. It requires a lot of effort from professionals. And BTW, it was SIGINT that led to the shootdown of Yamamoto’s plan in he South Pacific.
Assuming the NSA has been storing and analyzing vast amounts of communication data, then someone high-up must know who Obama really is and to whom he gets his financial resources and directions? Maybe the same folks are controlling the NSA higher ups?
I just watched a show on Timothy McVeigh. If he was alive today the government wouldn’t have to execute him. His head would explode.
Let me say right up front to those who will flame me AND to the NSA, I don’t agree with what he did.
If this is so, then it happened Waaaay above my pay grade. I was just a low-level knuckle-dragging grunt.
That limitation is easily sidestepped:
The Drug Enforcement Administration has been the recipient of multiple tips from the NSA. DEA officials in a highly secret office called the Special Operations Division are assigned to handle these incoming tips, according to Reuters. Tips from the NSA are added to a DEA database that includes "intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records." This is problematic because it appears to break down the barrier between foreign counterterrorism investigations and ordinary domestic criminal investigations.(emphasis added)Because the SOD's work is classified, DEA cases that began as NSA leads can't be seen to have originated from a NSA source.
So what does the DEA do? It makes up the story of how the agency really came to the case in a process known as "parallel construction."...
"There aren't gonna be any damned permits! How can you get a permit to do a damned illegal thing? Look, price you name, money I got. " --Dr. McCoy, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
Just like the old Third Reich. How ‘bout that “fundamental transformation”?! When you’re out to bring down a country, you can’t allow the population to unite and resist the “change”.
It came from congressional testimony by one of the government witnesses - don't remember which one.
He also clarified that FISA approves the processes and procedures used. There are 28 people in the NSA who authorize the actual searches - FISA doesn't see or review them.
Periodically, FISA requires a spot check of queries to make sure they conform. They don't "audit" or investigate that all queries are appropriate (which wouldn't be too hard if the query audit logs are maintained properly).
Also, annually, the NSA produces a classified report for the congressional national security committee that is.... [drum roll]... 1/2 of 1 page long! WOW - transparency at it's finest.
And the useful idiots on Capital Hill are perfectly happy with all of this.
Yes, but it won't be that easy with...
Google vehicles roaming your neighborhood taking pictures of the front of your house, government agencies posting your info (voting records, home info by tax assessor including floor plans), utility / telcos / insurance / auto repair / financial / warranty companies reporting all of your usage and payment data to 3rd parties, electronic health records / prescriptions, employers reporting to 3rd parties, surveillance cameras on the ground and in the sky...
and so on ad nauseam.
Maybe, I’ll just run away and live in some cave out in the booties. I could wear a bearskin when I go out side, so they wouldn’t know I was human.LOL
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