Ask the questions... if you get reliable answers to send you toward a conspiracy... then follow it. BUT I could just as easily say that whistle blower Ed Snowden is a Chinese or a Russian mole working to discredit NSA.
You could! And I wouldn't blame you for raising those questions. That is a very legitimate line of questioning. The FACT is, you will BELIEVE that "conspiracy" if some official spokesperson from the government walks out in front of a microphone wearing a fancy costume and an official sounding title and tells you that. And to boot, you will use the logic that since the domestic spy program was brought to the attention of the American people by a foreign agent, then by default the spying program is GOOD and you will go into a fevered flag waving frenzy in support of the NSA storing all of your electronic communications.
The problem is box, you have only one source of reliable information, and that is from the people in government that were secretly collecting personal communications from the American citizens, or telling you there were WMD's in Iraq, or that an American ship was attacked by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin. So the proven liars with a history of lying are the only ones that can tell you the truth.
You are like a woman that stays in a relationship with an abusive boyfriend. No matter how much you get abused, you stay faithful, because he hits you because he loves you.
BREAKING: ACLU Files Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of NSA Phone Spying Program June 11th, 2013
The ACLU, a Verizon Customer, Says Government Data Collection Violates Its First and Fourth Amendment Rights
June 11, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org
NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a constitutional challenge to a surveillance program under which the National Security Agency vacuums up information about every phone call placed within, from, or to the United States. The lawsuit argues that the program violates the First Amendment rights of free speech and association as well as the right of privacy protected by the Fourth Amendment. The complaint also charges that the dragnet program exceeds the authority that Congress provided through the Patriot Act.
“This dragnet program is surely one of the largest surveillance efforts ever launched by a democratic government against its own citizens,” said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU deputy legal director. “It is the equivalent of requiring every American to file a daily report with the government of every location they visited, every person they talked to on the phone, the time of each call, and the length of every conversation. The program goes far beyond even the permissive limits set by the Patriot Act and represents a gross infringement of the freedom of association and the right to privacy.”
The ACLU is a customer of Verizon Business Network Services, which was the recipient of a secret FISA Court order published by The Guardian last week. The order required the company to “turn over on ‘an ongoing daily basis’ phone call details” such as who calls are placed to and from, and when those calls are made. The lawsuit argues that the government’s blanket seizure of and ability to search the ACLU’s phone records compromises sensitive information about its work, undermining the organization’s ability to engage in legitimate communications with clients, journalists, advocacy partners, and others.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
On Thursday, when you responded to news about massive ongoing surveillance of phone records of people in the United States, you slipped past the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. As the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, you seem to be in the habit of treating the Bill of Rights as merely advisory.
The Constitution doesn’t get any better than this: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
The greatness of the Fourth Amendment explains why so many Americans took it to heart in civics class, and why so many of us treasure it today. But along with other high-ranking members of Congress and the president of the United States, you have continued to chip away at this sacred bedrock of civil liberties.
As The Guardian reported the night before your sudden news conference, the leaked secret court order “shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk — regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.”
One of the most chilling parts of that just-revealed Surveillance Court order can be found at the bottom of the first page, where it says “Declassify on: 12 April 2038.”
Apparently you thought — or at least hoped — that we, the people of the United States, wouldn’t find out for 25 years. And the fact that we learned about this extreme violation of our rights in 2013 instead of 2038 seems to bother you a lot.
Rather than call for protection of the Fourth Amendment, you want authorities to catch and punish whoever leaked this secret order. You seem to fear that people can actually discover what their own government is doing to them with vast surveillance.
Meanwhile, the Executive Branch is being run by kindred spirits, as hostile to the First Amendment as to the Fourth. On Thursday night, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a statement saying the “unauthorized disclosure of a top secret U.S. court document threatens potentially long-lasting and irreversible harm to our ability to identify and respond to the many threats facing our nation.”
That statement from Clapper is utter and complete hogwash. Whoever leaked the four-page Surveillance Court document to Glenn Greenwald at The Guardian deserves a medal and an honorary parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in the Nation’s Capital. The only “threats” assisted by disclosure of that document are the possibilities of meaningful public discourse and informed consent of the governed.
Let’s be candid about the most clear and present danger to our country’s democratic values. The poisonous danger is spewing from arrogance of power in the highest places. The antidotes depend on transparency of sunlight that only whistleblowers, a free press and an engaged citizenry can bring.
As Greenwald tweeted after your news conference: “The reason there are leakers is precisely because the govt is filled with people like Dianne Feinstein who do horrendous things in secret.” And, he pointed out, “The real story isn’t just the spying itself: it’s that we have this massive, ubiquitous Surveillance State, operating in total secrecy.”
Obviously, you like it that way, and so do most other members of the Senate and House. And so does the president. You’re all playing abhorrent roles, maintaining a destructive siege of precious civil liberties. While building a surveillance state, you are patting citizens on the head and telling them not to worry.
Perhaps you should have a conversation with Al Gore and ask about his statement: “Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous?” Actually, many millions of Americans understand that the blanket surveillance is obscenely outrageous.
As a constituent, I would like to offer an invitation. A short drive from your mansion overlooking San Francisco Bay, hundreds of us will be meeting June 11 at a public forum on “Disappearing Civil Liberties in the United States.” (You’d be welcome to my time on the panel.) One of the speakers, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, could explain to you how the assaults on civil liberties and the wars you keep supporting go hand in hand, undermining the Constitution and causing untold misery.
Senator Feinstein, your energetic contempt for the Bill of Rights is serving a bipartisan power structure that threatens to crush our democratic possibilities.
A huge number of people in California and around the country will oppose your efforts for the surveillance state at every turn.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
ACLU needs to contact Box-a-Rox and talk to him about the fine print on their phone agreement. The ACLU is filing a frivolous lawsuit. Americans have agreed to have their phone communications stored in a government data bank to be listened to with the authorization of a secret foreign Surveillence court.
After all, the sharing of data could represent a convergence of interest between Washington and the commercial "miners" of information, the digital version of the frequent collaborations of the past between the government and American multinationals — this time with the collaboration of our own monitored selves, who have all been encouraged to upload our personal information onto their servers.
The computer monopolies of Silicon Valley have every interest in having good relationships with the government, most of all at this moment when they are playing big games for global control of the computer industry and intellectual property, topics which just happen to be on the agenda of the upcoming meetings between Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Palm Springs.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
ACLU needs to contact Box-a-Rox and talk to him about the fine print on their phone agreement. The ACLU is filing a frivolous lawsuit. Americans have agreed to have their phone communications stored in a government data bank to be listened to with the authorization of a secret foreign Surveillence court.
Yes its a good time to read the fine print- that says to keep your phone at least 3/4 " of and inch away from your body or you will microwave your gonads, culo and brain which will most probably kill you. Again people screwng themselves way more than the government ever will.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
'Quit Google, Facebook' suggests tech expert as surveillance scandal deepens 10 JUNE 13 by CHRIS BARANIUK
A best-selling author and technology expert has said that web users should boycott internet giants like Google and Facebook if it is confirmed they were involved in a US surveillance programme referred to as Prism. http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/10/tim-wu-google-boycott
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Yes its a good time to read the fine print- that says to keep your phone at least 3/4 " of and inch away from your body or you will microwave your gonads, culo and brain which will most probably kill you. Again people screwng themselves way more than the government ever will.
I thought government had all the regulations to protect me from ALL DANGERS? At least they have all my phone records and Internet activity stored-that should keep me safe and secure. Only if they could get my medical recor...Oh yeah...Obamacare.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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