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[eyecre8]

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A former employee with the NSA who after over 30 years with the agency quit and became a whistleblower, bringing to light many of their illegal activities and mass surveillance of American citizens.

 

Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama.

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April. Court order found here: 

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  Ed McFadden, a Washington-based Verizon spokesman, declined comment when asked about the whole ordeal. The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an "ongoing, daily basis" to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

 

The whistle-blower offered up likely motives of the recent court order by the Obama administration stating:

"Well, because they wanted to have leverage on everybody in the country, okay? That’s what Cheney wanted to do. I’m sure that was the issue. Do you want to know who’s in the tea party, and then tell the IRS who to target? Or things like that. Those are all possible things using these programs."

 

Revelations in recent days about the actions of the US National Security Agency seem to have shocked us awake to find that we are already living within a mature, widely embedded Orwellian nightmare.

 

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Organizations within the spotlight include but are not limited to: Google, Verizon, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, AOL, Twitter, Yahoo & ATT. Several of these technology giants have been battling to maintain their credibility on privacy issues over the weekend as further details emerged of their co-operation with US spy agencies. Apple, Facebook and Google issued strongly-worded denials that they had knowingly participated in Prism, a top-secret system at the National Security Agency that collects emails, documents, photos and other material for agents to review.

 

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The Obama administration officials held 22 separate briefings or meetings for members of Congress on the law that has been used to justify the National Security Agency's controversial email monitoring program, according to data provided by a senior administration official. According to the official, the sessions that took place over the course of 14 months starting in October 2011. Sen. John Thune told MSNBC on Monday that he didn't believe "that most members of Congress, perhaps, going into this were fully aware of how broad this program was."

 

Google CEO,Larry Page, had the following to say this past Friday:

"..First, we have not joined any program that would give the U.S. government—or any other government—direct access to our servers. Indeed, the U.S. government does not have direct access or a “back door” to the information stored in our data centers. We had not heard of a program called PRISM until yesterday."  Full post found here: 

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Each company mentioned not giving "direct access" to the government through the NSA Prism. The phrase comes from a Prism presentation slide that states: "Collection directly from the servers of these US service providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.". The repeated, identical phrasing of the term "direct access" adds another layer to each company's response. Using "direct access" in their response may be a roundabout way of saying "NSA Prism doesn't have direct access to our servers, but we're still giving the government all your data. 

 

According to the New York Times, some companies, including Google and Facebook, discussed setting up secure online "rooms" where requested information could be sent and accessed by the NSA. Such systems would allow them to dispute the idea of direct access. According to a report in the Washington Post on Sunday, Prism was created after extensive negotiations between the tech companies and federal authorities "who had pressed for easier access to data they were entitled to under previous orders granted by the secret Fisa court".

 

On Saturday, the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, acknowledged the existence of Prism but insisted it was only used under court supervision. He said: "The United States government does not unilaterally obtain information from the servers of US electronic communication service providers. All such information is obtained with Fisa court approval and with the knowledge of the provider based upon a written directive from the attorney general and the director of national intelligence." 

 

But the Washington Post reported that the secret court orders, made under section 702 of Fisa, served as "one-time blanket approvals for data acquisition and surveillance on selected foreign targets for periods of as long as a year". The Prism system allows agents at the NSA to send queries "directly to equipment installed at company-controlled locations", rather than directly to company servers.

 

These companies are denying that they give direct access to their servers, but what they have created is a complex legal and technological mechanism that amounts to the same thing.

 

The topic of US Surveillance has gone viral in just a matter of a couple days giving rise to several humorous meme's. In these, President Obama can be found directly listening in on our phone calls.

 

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On Sunday senator Mark Udall, a Senate intelligence committee member, told ABC's This Week: "My main concern is that Americans don't know the extent to which they are being surveilled."

He said: "We here this term metadata which has to do with where you make calls, when you make calls, who you are talking to. I think that's private information."

Udall called for greater transparency: "Let's have the debate, let's be transparent. Let's open this up."

 

Here 

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 is a great guide breaking down a lot of the current laws, terms, and lingo surrounding government surveillance

 

 

 

 

 

Via:

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[jl90]

Truly sad times we live in. Sorry Mr Washington Mr Jefferson Mr Franklin and all the people who serve to protect "We the People" We failed you greatly! (Hangs head walks away)

[aktrazer]

Such a great article.  

[jl90]

I would also apologize to my sons. You will live with the repercussions of our lack of vigilance after I have gone. Sorry.


The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
-Thomas Jefferson

[livinginkaos]

Very well written !

[shane1]

Wow after hearing about this for days that was probably the most understandable article I've read on the topic. Thank you

[jl90]

This will be my last post on this topic. Please indulge my more philosophical tendencies.

The path of freedom is paved with risk. The ability to face those risks on one's own terms is true freedom. Those who desire to be protected while they sleepwalk this path will one day wake to find the malevolent entities which claim to protect them have guided them into the tomb of subjugation.
-jl90

Thank you.

[sparky697]

The only problem I have with this article is that it makes it seem like this is only an Obama thing while Bush did the same thing. I only say this so people realize that this is all politicians that condone this behavior and we have to do something about the current political system if we want change. Not meant to start a political party war. I think they are both full of $#!+.

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[satman80]

 I think they are both full of beep..

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They prolly all are, one thing I learned is trust, it runs short, especially with lawyers, politicians.. what I did understand was, that this article was wrote with caution it seems, unless I missed something? (possible) .. Personally I think it was partisan, and not politically driven, just a cool hey look at that, sorta thing..  But, no matter what we say, or do, all our hands are tied no matter who is on what side of politics. Only thing we can do, is maybe try and fix it through lessons learned somehow, so we all have open phones that are ours for fun?.. idk, just babbling... :

Edited by satman80, 11 June 2013 - 04:19 PM.
woops on reply quote on swear

[tucstwo]

OMG, I LOL'd IRL...haha  :

 

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[RikRong]

While I believe it is our right to know that the gov't is monitoring us, I also believe this(these) "whistle blower(s)" failed the American people he(they) was(were) working for. He(they) was(were) trusted with secrets of the US, through the approval and granting of security clearances. Government employees are tasked with keeping secrets on a daily basis. It was his(their) sworn duty to keep these secrets guarded. If he(they) had leaked nuclear secrets to our enemies, he(they) would be branded a traitor. Just my opinion on the matter.

As for "PRISM", is anyone really surprised that there's a program designed to monitor the internet? I'm not. I'm sure there's been something like this in place since the internet started.

/can-o-worms/

[usmcamgrimm]

Let's see...he betrayed the trust of the government that betrayed the trust of the people?

Tapatalking from the pits of hell with my Slaytanic Rage machine!

[eyecre8]

I also believe this(these) "whistle blower(s)" failed the American people he(they) was(were) working for. He(they) was(were) trusted with secrets of the US, through the approval and granting of security clearances. Government employees are tasked with keeping secrets on a daily basis. It was his(their) sworn duty to keep these secrets guarded. 

 

Actually, he followed protocol outlined in government doctrines. In a recent interview he stated the following:

 

"Under the regulations for employment with the government, you’re required to report fraud, waste, and abuse. And that’s to be done to the Inspector General at the Department of Defense. So that’s what we did.

Specifically, with a program called “

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“, they were wasting a billion dollars on that program, when all the issues with it have already been solved, and we had been part of that solution."

"Just three months ago, the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified before the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee that the NSA 

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. NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines 

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 that the “NSA is not an indiscriminate vacuum, collecting anything and everything.” This week’s leaks suggest that is completely false."

 

"The point is that they never had to do it from the beginning. There were ways and means that I had showed them how to do it while protecting U.S. citizens. You could do that, and find all the bad guys in the world and not have to violate the constitutional rights of everybody."

 

I listed the URL below to the interview, but if you haven't checked it out yet, have a look. Very interesting stuff:  

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[RikRong]

Definitely a good read. 

 

Reporting FWA is mandatory and he did it, but it is 100% different than releasing classified info.  He reported it, and should have left the IG to do what they do.  If the IG didn't take care of it, then he takes care of it through his chain of command, all the way to the top, if that's what it takes.   

[jl90]

Definitely a good read. 
 
Reporting FWA is mandatory and he did it, but it is 100% different than releasing classified info.  He reported it, and should have left the IG to do what they do.  If the IG didn't take care of it, then he takes care of it through his chain of command, all the way to the top, if that's what it takes.

OK I lied one more post.

With all due respect
What you seem to fail to understand is when the "chain of command" is broken it may become necessary to operate outside of it. He was not selling secrets to Iran. He merely brought to light a huge abuse of power by the NSA. He also had to know the consequences would be steep. The fact that he released "classified" info is really minor compared to the actions of the govt.

[RikRong]

OK I lied one more post.

With all due respect
What you seem to fail to understand is when the "chain of command" is broken it may become necessary to operate outside of it. He was not selling secrets to Iran. He merely brought to light a huge abuse of power by the NSA. He also had to know the consequences would be steep. The fact that he released "classified" info is really minor compared to the actions of the govt.

Yes, I realize you have to go outside the chain, if it's broken, that's where the IG comes into play.  The IG is completely independent of any chain and is only responsible to its chain.  He should have tried to remedy in the chain, first.  However, not having faith in the system is no reason to "whistle blow."  Sorry, I was a little backwards, chain first, then IG. 

 

Personally, I'm not surprised, nor taken aback by the actions of the government.  They can spy on our neighbors north and south of us, and on our enemies overseas, they can spy on potential terrorists and criminals in our borders, but people immediately take offense if they think their rights have been breached by the government.  All the big internet companies keep your personal data, the same exact stuff that the government supposedly collected.  Do we take offense to it?  No, because it's a private company. What we don't think about is that these private companies can abuse/misuse this info, just like the government could.

 

I'm not really trying to convince anybody of who's right or wrong, just merely throwing a different opinion out there.  Actually, it seems that it's an opinion that doesn't fit in very well in the software coding/hacking community.  :

[jl90]

I agree with the basic principles of your post and totally respect your opinion. This free exchange of ideas is what this country should be about. So please understand I mean no offense nor do I wish to disrespect your opinion just saying my piece.

[RikRong]

I agree with the basic principles of your post and totally respect your opinion. This free exchange of ideas is what this country should be about. So please understand I mean no offense nor do I wish to disrespect your opinion just saying my piece.

No worries, no offense was taken by me, and I hope you didn't sense any disrespect from me. 

[jl90]

No worries, no disrespect or offense was noticed by me, and I hope you didn't sense any from me.

No I did not. I welcome differing viewpoints. Thank you for participating in honest respectful debate.

[Nagaro]

What we know NSA is doing while listening to our stuff

 

 

So, I'm going to be sure to give them one hell of a show