NSA Leaker Revealed: Edward Snowden

[steveox]

WHAT? The ACLU SUES OBAMA? Just wait until he sics the IRS on them now. Ill bet you rogue agents are gonna raid the ACLU

 

[Cruella]

In the same way I hope I am right. Going based on just what we know so far, I have to conclude that this is a legal program that respects our rights. That of course can change if different information comes to light.

Then why did Sensenbrenner, who was one of the architects of this law, say that what the Obama Admin. is doing now is NOT what the bill he helped write was about.

It's my understanding that the PRISM program, which has absolutely nothing to do with the metadating of phone numbers, is a completely separate thing. PRISM is collecting all internet data, including your e-mails, Skype, pictures, IM's, facebook, tweets, etc. Even what we've all been posting here on this website.

Why else do you think they need that new NSA 5-zettabyte complex out in the middle of nowhere?

Snowden isn't the only whistleblower on what the NSA is doing either. There are three others that I know of.

 

[BigRob]

Then why did Sensenbrenner, who was one of the architects of this law, say that what the Obama Admin. is doing now is NOT what the bill he helped write was about.

Because he is up for election and doesn't want to be on the wrong side of popular opinion in his district when he gets a primary opponent.

It's my understanding that the PRISM program, which has absolutely nothing to do with the metadating of phone numbers, is a completely separate thing. PRISM is collecting all internet data, including your e-mails, Skype, pictures, IM's, facebook, tweets, etc. Even what we've all been posting here on this website.

Why else do you think they need that new NSA 5-zettabyte complex out in the middle of nowhere?

Snowden isn't the only whistleblower on what the NSA is doing either. There are three others that I know of.

Prism is entirely seperate from the phone issue. And PRISM is NOT taking our emails, pictures etc. PRISM is authorized under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (the 2008 Amendments -- which Sensenbrenner voted for). This section expressly forbids the intentional targeting of any US citizen, and in fact any person known to be inside the United States. There is Judicial oversight here through the FISA court, the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence must provide semi-annual reports to Congress, and the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees in both chambers are reguarly briefed on the operations under section 702. Sensenbrenner just happens to be on the Judiciary Committee. If he has a problem with PRISM, then he is the highest level of hypocrite.

What he is really talking about I wager is the gathering of metadata. His newfound religion is equally absurd here in my view, as the Justice Department apparently briefed his committee on the program in a classified briefing, and he failed to ask any follow on questions about how the program is being operated. He clearly seemed satisfied at the time, and he is not claiming that he was lied to by Justice....so what are we left to take away?

 

[Cruella]

FBI requests for data on Americans up 1000% since 2009
Taken together, experts say, those revelations show the government has broadly interpreted the Patriot Act provision as enabling it to collect data not just on specific individuals, but on millions of Americans with no suspected terrorist connections. And it shows that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court accepted that broad interpretation of the law.

"That they were using this (provision) to do mass collection of data is definitely the biggest surprise," said Robert Chesney, a top national security lawyer at the University of Texas Law School. "Most people who followed this closely were not aware they were doing this. We've gone from producing records for a particular investigation to the production of all records for a massive pre-collection database. It's incredibly sweeping."

 

[BigRob]

FBI requests for data on Americans up 1000% since 2009
Taken together, experts say, those revelations show the government has broadly interpreted the Patriot Act provision as enabling it to collect data not just on specific individuals, but on millions of Americans with no suspected terrorist connections. And it shows that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court accepted that broad interpretation of the law.

"That they were using this (provision) to do mass collection of data is definitely the biggest surprise," said Robert Chesney, a top national security lawyer at the University of Texas Law School. "Most people who followed this closely were not aware they were doing this. We've gone from producing records for a particular investigation to the production of all records for a massive pre-collection database. It's incredibly sweeping."

Is it your assertion that the FBI requesting 212 (yes 212) requests for data on Americans (requested to a Court mind you) is somehow a gross overreach of government and a trampling of our rights and the end of privacy in our lives?

 

[Cruella]

Is it your assertion that the FBI requesting 212 (yes 212) requests for data on Americans (requested to a Court mind you) is somehow a gross overreach of government and a trampling of our rights and the end of privacy in our lives?

I don't have an assertion regarding the Patriot Act being used to investigate businesses, outside of this Administration using the power of the government for political purposes. I was more interested in the bolded sentence.... We've gone from producing records for a particular investigation to the production of all records for a massive pre-collection database.

 

[steveox]

The World isn't going to cater to the U.S. You think the British are really our friends? If they are our friends they would turn over Julian Assange and make him stand trial in an U.S Courtroom. China isn't going to turn Edward Snowden over to the U.S. Just like China forced George Bush to apologize bout our spyplane a refused to return the spyplane to the U.S

 

[Gipper]

Yeah....big brother is watching us....but apparently many Americans think it just fine.

Rand Paul: Big Brother Really Is Watching Us

Monitoring hundreds of millions of phone records is an extraordinary invasion of privacy.



By RAND PAUL​

When Americans expressed outrage last week over the seizure and surveillance of Verizon's client data by the National Security Agency, President Obama responded: "In the abstract, you can complain about Big Brother . . . but when you actually look at the details, I think we've struck the right balance."
How many records did the NSA seize from Verizon? Hundreds of millions. We are now learning about more potential mass data collections by the government from other communications and online companies. These are the "details," and few Americans consider this approach "balanced," though many rightly consider it Orwellian.
These activities violate the Fourth Amendment, which says warrants must be specific—"particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." And what is the government doing with these records? The president assures us that the government is simply monitoring the origin and length of phone calls, not eavesdropping on their contents. Is this administration seriously asking us to trust the same government that admittedly targets political dissidents through the Internal Revenue Service and journalists through the Justice Department?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324634304578537720921466776.html​

 

[Cruella]

I'm not as concerned about the collection of phone bills, as I am about the internet stuff.

Several congressmen came out of yesterday's closed door meeting with the spooks, shocked at the extent of
how much the government is collecting.

As long as we are to be kept in the dark about what they are doing, there will be a growing erosion of the public trust.

 

[Cruella]

Tonight on Hannity's show regarding yesterday's closed door meeting with the NSA and congressmen;

Rep.Loretta Sanchez; "what we know (meaning what the public has heard) is only the tip of the iceberg"
Rep King; "it's more than creepy, it's beyond the imagination of George Orwell". "not just the phone data but all internet activity, pictures of both sides of every envelope in snail mail, what the IRS uses, all open source data" (whatever open source means).

 

[dogtowner]

Tonight on Hannity's show regarding yesterday's closed door meeting with the NSA and congressmen;

Rep.Loretta Sanchez; "what we know (meaning what the public has heard) is only the tip of the iceberg"
Rep King; "it's more than creepy, it's beyond the imagination of George Orwell". "not just the phone data but all internet activity, pictures of both sides of every envelope in snail mail, what the IRS uses, all open source data" (whatever open source means).

open source data

data that anyone has access to like Wiki, comment sections of all sorts of media, here, court infirmation and much much more than Icould ever hope to list.

 

[Centrehalf]

In the same way I hope I am right. Going based on just what we know so far, I have to conclude that this is a legal program that respects our rights. That of course can change if different information comes to light.

And that's it in a nutshell. We need more info and since this is about national security we need to believe that the info we're given is correct in the first place. I saw this article this morning:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-5...drops-hint-about-isp-web-e-mail-surveillance/

C/net is not my go-to source for links but I shared this one because it does a pretty good job of addressing what I'm concerned about. According to this article the NSA is engaged in Domestic Spying and surveillance and you don't have to communicate with foreigners in order to be targeted. Metadata gets you noticed, warrants are obtained, and at that point content is read, and that's a clear violation of the 4th Amendment.

I also have a problem with secret interpretations of public laws. The intelligence community used to be governed by their own sets of laws, the idea that they can cherry-pick part of a public law and then "interpret" it to suit their needs concerns me.

The argument made by Hayden in this article is basically "the end justifies the means" and I am not a huge fan of that particular argument.

All of this is overseen by Congress, or is supposed to be, apparently the US Senate is not allowed to know how an organization they oversee interprets some of our laws. Twenty years ago some Congressmen kiting checks at the House post office was a major scandal, fast-forward to today and Congress has now extended to itself and their families the privilege of insider trading... and these are the people watching the watchers.

I admit, since we're talking about national security and our media has been censored in the past regarding national security, there's a very good chance that the article I linked to and every other article on this subject is total bullcrap.

 

[Gipper]

Where is the outrage??? Are Americans so dumb as to believe the Statists, who are nothing but liars?

​

A Time For Courage

MorningStar Prophetic Bulletin #78 - June 12, 2013
Rick Joyner
As the revelations of the last few weeks now make abundantly clear, our freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and our freedom of religion may have never been in greater jeopardy than they are right now. The remainder of this year will likely determine whether we will remain a free people or succumb to a terrible tyranny.
The scandals around Benghazi, the attacks on the press, and the IRS being used to target political enemies are some of the most shocking Federal Government overreaches in our history. Now we find these are only “the tip of the iceberg” of the assault on our freedoms and our basic privacy.
The revelation that the NSA has the capacity to monitor and store all phone calls, emails, text messages, social network posts, virtually all communications in America, and very soon the world, is so shocking that it is hard for many to believe. Already the power of our Federal Government to impose totalitarian control over its people is the greatest in history. The Administration maintains that their intentions are noble, regardless of the growing mountain of evidence to the contrary. Only the most naïve or ignorant believe that. Even if their motive is for security reasons, is that not the argument every other totalitarian regime in history used to gain control? Even if this Administration’s intent is noble, what about those Administrations which follow?
All of these revelations and scandals are far beyond anything we have ever witnessed. They are coming at us so fast that people may go numb and just shut down. In the Book of Daniel, the devil’s strategy is to attempt to “wear out the saints,” and this has always been an effective strategy. However, now is not the time to shut down and throw up our hands declaring that this is too much to process. Everything we hold dear as Americans, our most basic liberties, are in serious jeopardy. It is time for courage and our most resolute determination that this is not going to happen on our watch, and that we will never give up. It is not too late.

The Three Important Questions
There are three crucial questions to ask in any crisis: What is happening? What is not happening? What can I do about it? These were first stated by the U.S. Army Colonel made famous in the book and movie We Were Soldiers. In the first U.S. Army battle against a regular North Vietnamese Army, Colonel Moore used these questions to lead his force through what looked like impossible odds to ultimate victory. It was then adapted for the U.S. Army Manual as a commander’s basis for evaluating a crisis. We will use it here.

What is Happening?

• The Federal Government has built an unprecedented apparatus for monitoring its own citizens that is virtually total.

• The IRS was used extensively to harass and silence the political opposition of the Obama Administration.

• Evidence is surfacing that the DOJ, EPA, and other agencies were used for the same purpose.

• The Administration has illegally seized the communications of journalists who were probing the Administration’s activities.

• The level of the Administration’s lies and attempts to cover up what happened at Benghazi makes it clear that something extremely important is being hidden from the American people.

What is Not Happening?

• The Democratic Party has not awakened to how much its future is in jeopardy by what is unfolding. Its legacy could forever be destroyed by the level of overreach, scandal, and incompetence now surfacing in the Obama Administration. Democratic Party leaders and members continue to defend these indefensible actions as if they are already controlled by information of threats against them.

• The news media remains asleep, blind, or neutralized so that it is only tepidly covering what is shaping up to possibly be the biggest issues of our lifetime. As this is the biggest threat to the freedom of the press, more people are wondering if that freedom has not already been lost.

• With but a few exceptions, the Republican leadership in Congress is failing to demonstrate the kind of courage, resolve, and wisdom to lead us through this crisis that threatens the very foundations of our Republic.

• The majority of the American people are not waking up, but they are starting to stir.

• More people are becoming deeply alarmed, but they are not hearing a clear trumpet call to know how or where to rally.

http://www.morningstarministries.org/resources/prophetic-bulletins/2013/time-courage?utm_source=The+MorningStar+Ministries+eNewsletter&utm_campaign=99b41669bc-Special_Prophetic_Bulletin_6_12_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_38a2ee5121-99b41669bc-241500829#.Ubm2n_nCam4

 

[Cruella]

Obama's Snooping Excludes Mosques


The White House assures that tracking our every phone call and keystroke is to stop terrorists, and yet it won't snoop in mosques, where the terrorists are.

That's right, the government's sweeping surveillance of our most private communications excludes the jihad factories where homegrown terrorists are radicalized.

Since October 2011, mosques have been off-limits to FBI agents. No more surveillance or undercover string operations without high-level approval from a special oversight body at the Justice Department dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee.

 

[Texas_tea]

Obama's Snooping Excludes Mosques


The White House assures that tracking our every phone call and keystroke is to stop terrorists, and yet it won't snoop in mosques, where the terrorists are.

That's right, the government's sweeping surveillance of our most private communications excludes the jihad factories where homegrown terrorists are radicalized.

Since October 2011, mosques have been off-limits to FBI agents. No more surveillance or undercover string operations without high-level approval from a special oversight body at the Justice Department dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee.

Obama's not a Marxist Muslim ...... That's just some crazy extremist conservative conspiracy!

Obama's really a good Christian capitalist who needs a little more time to fix Bush's screw-ups!