U.S. intelligence program secretly probes Internet servers (4th amendment? We don't need no stinkin bill of rights!)

This has been going on for a long time. The FBI was able to put a bunch of mobsters away with evidence from conversations heard through cell phones that weren't turned on about five years ago. Before 9/11, there was a headquarters for this in building 7, but after that building came down that day, the job of spying on civilians was outsourced and moved over seas to two Israeli companies. I thought all of this was common knowledge.

it may be known, but apparently no one really cares.

it may be known, but apparently no one really cares.

Our government only spies on us for our own protection. What do you have to hide? 😉

Federal Judge Allows EFF's NSA Mass Spying Case to Proceed

Federal Judge Allows EFF's NSA Mass Spying Case to Proceed

*sigh*

US lawmakers vote against legislation to curb NSA's spying program

nytimes sometimes puts up a subscription page, so don't blame me if you can't get in...]

US lawmakers vote against legislation to curb NSA's spying program

nytimes sometimes puts up a subscription page, so don't blame me if you can't get in...]

I'm no longer suprised by this, GO FACISM!

when do I get the cameras in stalled in all the rooms of my house? I'll catch who's not flushing the toliet for sure, well, after I put in a FOIA (Freedom Of Information Act) request for the footage....assuming it's approved.

US lawmakers vote against legislation to curb NSA's spying program

nytimes sometimes puts up a subscription page, so don't blame me if you can't get in...]

The main stream media is not covering this, but yahoo finance did.

This is the latest video reporting on this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLFIj52ecFA

Looked for vote tally to see who voted for this and could not find yet. Clearly those who voted to approve this are voting to violate our rights to privacy. MHO

Peace!

Here is more on the debate before the vote....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffSD2zRX-kQ

Hear here.

Just for balance....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRhny8kYp34

Government can grab cell phone location records without warrant, appeals court says

Sen. Al Franken, ‘I don’t want transparency only where it’s convenient to the government.’

Sen. Al Franken has introduced a bill that would lift some of the steel curtain surrounding FISA and the Patriot Act. Franken explained, “I don’t want transparency only where it’s convenient to the government.”

Currently, companies are restricted by severe gag orders from disclosing information about the data that the government has requested that they turn over. Sen. Franken’s bill would change that.

Six blatant lies about spying from the NSA up to Obama (video)

Sen. Al Franken, ‘I don’t want transparency only where it’s convenient to the government.’

Sen. Al Franken has introduced a bill that would lift some of the steel curtain surrounding FISA and the Patriot Act. Franken explained, “I don’t want transparency only where it’s convenient to the government.”

Currently, companies are restricted by severe gag orders from disclosing information about the data that the government has requested that they turn over. Sen. Franken’s bill would change that.

Al Franken has some really good legislation (that never gets passed).

The case for a secrecy beat

Despite the recent blockbuster leaks about spying on the phone records of millions of Americans, and President Obama’s stated willingness to discuss the issues they raise, a front-page New York Times article on Tuesday asserted that “legal and political obstacles” make a vigorous public debate about surveillance and civil liberties highly unlikely.

Scott Shane and Jonathan Weisman of the Times made a solid case that neither the executive nor legislative branches—and neither Democratic nor Republican leaders—show real interest in disclosing anything more about the programs. As for the president, they noted that his record on national security disclosures belies any commitment to transparency.

The Times’s omission has some historical context. It’s hardly been a secret among national security reporters and civil libertarians that the sort of intelligence activity we’re hearing about via the leaks was long part of the Bush-Cheney surveillance regime, and that the Obama administration picked up the ball and ran with it. The Washington press corps just no longer considered such activities newsworthy—at least in part for some of the same reasons as the politicians, including the profound fear of terrorism in the years after September 11, 2001.

Ahh the media,,,, aka the 4th branch of the government (Propaganda division)

Especially reliant on this island.....

What Should, and Should Not, Be in NSA Surveillance Reform Legislation (from the EFF)

NSA loophole allows warrantless search for US citizens' emails and phone calls

Exclusive: Spy agency has secret backdoor permission to search databases for individual Americans' communications

What It Means to Be An NSA "Target": New Information Shows Why We Need Immediate FISA Amendments Act Reform

First, at least this much is clear: a “target” under the FAA must be (a) a non-US person and (b) not physically located within the United States. A “person,” for purposes of the FAA, includes individuals as well as “any group, entity, association, corporation, or foreign power.” Under the FAA, the government can thus "target" a single individual (e.g., Vladimir Putin), a small group of people (e.g., Pussy Riot), or a formal corporation or entity (e.g., Gazprom).

So, when the NSA decides to “target” someone (or something), it turns its specific surveillance vacuum at them. The NSA then believes it can intercept and analyze all electronic communications of the target (telephone conversations, email conversations, chat, web browsing, etc) so long as the “target” is overseas and remains overseas. As others have noted, this includes conversations the “target” has with Americans, which would then be “incidentally” collected. Keep in mind this does not require a warrant or even the approval of a court, which is only one way Senator Feinstein's reassurance was demonstrably false. But there's still more.

Obama Will Reform Spy Programs but Won't Admit Snowden's a Patriot

Obama is full of sh!t:

Well, whether Obama likes it or not, history will be the judge of whether Edward Snowden is a hero or a villain, and if public opinion is any guide, it sure is looking like the former is more likely. But that doesn't mean Obama's the villain! The president says that these reforms were all planned well before Snowden's leak. And if the leak hadn't happened, we would've ended up in the same place, he said.

Did Obama lie on national television?

"There is no spying on Americans. We don't have a domestic spying program. What we do have are some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or an email address that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist threat," Obama told Leno.

"That statement is just unbelievable and it reeks of this Orwellian newspeak," Timm told Shihab-Eldin. "When he talks to Jay Leno later in the clip, he says we can't listen to your phone calls or read your emails, and now we know with this New York Times story that is plainly not true. It is unfortunate that we have to parse through government statements a dozen times before we actually figure out what they are meaning to say. With all these questions that they get they are obfuscating and deflecting and deceiving the American public."

How to Decode the True Meaning of What NSA Officials Say

A lexicon for understanding the words U.S. intelligence officials use to mislead the public.

Safeguards keeping the NSA from spying on Americans were removed by the Obama administration

A step forward:

Fisa judge: Snowden's NSA disclosures triggered important spying debate

NSA collects millions of e-mail address books globally

NSA collects millions of e-mail address books globally

good to know we aren't JUST spying on ourselves..