Cissy may not like it but The US Congress is allowed to make 'secret' programs as part of their legislation. Cicero can change that by electing officials who oppose such action but for now... the laws were legal when passed and those who follow those laws are within the law.
Lol, you want me to believe in electing a representative that passes laws that allow the collection of my personal communication over the past 5 years, and forbids anybody to talk about it? Then they tell me the program is being overseen by a secret court run by politically appointed judges that is never publicly held accountable for their decisions to allow the government to listen to the communications they are storing. How do I vote to change a policy that I will never be made aware of? And when a whistleblower makes me aware of it, they treat him like a criminal and call him a traitor. You're kidding right?
Maybe if Edward Snowden runs for office I'll put down my beer and go vote.
LIFE WITH BIG BROTHER: CBS Confirms Multiple, “Sophisticated” Hackings of Reporter’s Computer Who Exposed Benghazi-Gate June 15th, 2013 Sharyl Attkisson @SharylAttkisson
CBS Statement: A cyber security firm hired by CBS News has determined through forensic analysis that Sharyl Attkisson’s computer…
…was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions in late 2012.” 10:38 AM – 14 Jun 2013
CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson revealed in May that her computer had been compromised. When asked about the situation, CBS News responded with a statement that it was conducting an investigation.
That investigation has reached the following conclusions, according to CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair:
“A cyber security firm hired by CBS News has determined through forensic analysis that Sharyl Attkisson’s computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions late in 2012. Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson’s accounts. While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data.
This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion.
CBS News is taking steps to identify the responsible party and their method of access.”
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
And now that we know the NSA is collecting all electronic communication and hacking into networks, I have real faith in e-voting machines. Another tool of the fraudulent democracy.
"Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee member" Rand Paul never heard of a govt phone surveillance problem until last week... yet "obscure" Senator Mark Udall of Colorado reported it on the Senate Floor over 2 years ago.
Maybe if Randy was doing his job as a member of Homeland Security and Govt Affairs... he might have asked fellow senator Udall who is not on Homeland Security committee (but knows more than Paul about it).
Gee, even fellow democrat Tester wasn't doing his job. You would think that Udall would have told Senators in his own party. Tester's been in office since 07, Rand Paul only since 2011. Only if Tester was doing his job. That's how box's democracy works, just like East German democracy.
Ohhhhh...it has to hurt box! They shoved it up your a$$ good and hard. And you are STILL defending it. "WHAT SCANDAL?"
Quoted Text
But just consider what she's saying: as a member of Congress, she had no idea how invasive and vast the NSA's surveillance activities are. Sen. Jon Tester(D), who is a member of the Homeland Security Committee, said the same thing, telling MSNBC about the disclosures that "I don't see how that compromises the security of this country whatsoever" and adding: "quite frankly, it helps people like me become aware of a situation that I wasn't aware of before because I don't sit on that Intelligence Committee."
Gee, even fellow democrat Tester wasn't doing his job. You would think that Udall would have told Senators in his own party. Tester's been in office since 07, Rand Paul only since 2011. Only if Tester was doing his job. That's how box's democracy works, just like East German democracy.
Ohhhhh...it has to hurt box! They shoved it up your a$$ good and hard. And you are STILL defending it. "WHAT SCANDAL?"
Lots of typing but no point!
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
With the NSA and the FISA court under the control of the Pentagon, I believe this domestic spying violates Posse Comitatus
10 U.S.C. § 375. Restriction on direct participation by military personnel The Secretary of Defense shall prescribe such regulations as may be necessary to ensure that any activity (including the provision of any equipment or facility or the assignment or detail of any personnel) under this chapter does not include or permit direct participation by a member of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps in a search, seizure, arrest, or other similar activity unless participation in such activity by such member is otherwise authorized by law.
NSA admits listening to U.S. phone calls without warrants
National Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too. Declan McCullagh by Declan McCullagh June 15, 2013 4:39 PM PDT NSA Director Keith Alexander says his agency's analysts, which until recently included Edward Snowden among their ranks, take protecting "civil liberties and privacy and the security of this nation to their heart every day."
NSA Director Keith Alexander says his agency's analysts, which until recently included Edward Snowden among their ranks, take protecting "civil liberties and privacy and the security of this nation to their heart every day."
The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed "simply based on an analyst deciding that."
If the NSA wants "to listen to the phone," an analyst's decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. "I was rather startled," said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.
Not only does this disclosure shed more light on how the NSA's formidable eavesdropping apparatus works domestically, it also suggests the Justice Department has secretly interpreted federal surveillance law to permit thousands of low-ranking analysts to eavesdrop on phone calls.
Because the same legal standards that apply to phone calls also apply to e-mail messages, text messages, and instant messages, Nadler's disclosure indicates the NSA analysts could also access the contents of Internet communications without going before a court and seeking approval.
The disclosure appears to confirm some of the allegations made by Edward Snowden, a former NSA infrastructure analyst who leaked classified documents to the Guardian. Snowden said in a video interview that, while not all NSA analysts had this ability, he could from Hawaii "wiretap anyone from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president."
There are serious "constitutional problems" with this approach, said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has litigated warrantless wiretapping cases. "It epitomizes the problem of secret laws."
1st they denied keeping any records of millions of Americans, that was a lie, then they denied listening to phone conversations, that is now another lie. This is insanity >
"In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a Patriot."
1st they denied keeping any records of millions of Americans, that was a lie, then they denied listening to phone conversations, that is now another lie. This is insanity >
That is FREEDOM!
In 2 weeks the flag wavers will be out watching fireworks and singing the hymns praising the State. Living in their reality based on nostalgia of some time in history that never was.
We will watch the president give a speech celebrating our independence. Delivering a speech laced with words like "liberty" and "freedom", despite these new revelations of domestic spying and the propaganda leading up to a war with Syria, along with all the other government abuses that have come out in recent weeks.
I can only hope I hear a roar of collective laughter across the country, as the American people watch in total amazement that the president can give such a speech with a straight face. It will be like watching a Monty Python skit.
". . . A law only exists as it is interpreted by the courts. In fact, as Oliver Wendell Holmes famously put it, you could define law as nothing other than a prediction of what the courts will do. So when courts interpret the law, they are in practical effect making the law by saying what the law is.
That is why legal interpretation needs to be public -- because it has the same effect as lawmaking. When it is secret, we have in effect secret law. And secret laws don't belong in democratic systems. Countries that have them don't even have the rule of law. They have rule by law, which is a very different thing, when the law isn't supervised by the people but is rather used to manage and control them. . . ."
When it(a law) is secret, we have in effect secret law. And secret laws don't belong in democratic systems. Countries that have them don't even have the rule of law. They have rule by law, which is a very different thing, when the law isn't supervised by the people but is rather used to manage and control them. . . ."
Just the way Box likes his laws, secret and controlling the people to abide by HIS ideological beliefs.
GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians' communications at G20 summits Exclusive: phones were monitored and fake internet cafes set up to gather information from allies in London in 2009
Ewen MacAskill, Nick Davies, Nick Hopkins, Julian Borger and James Ball The Guardian, Sunday 16 June 2013 15.46 EDT
Foreign politicians and officials who took part in two G20 summit meetings in London in 2009 had their computers monitored and their phone calls intercepted on the instructions of their British government hosts, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Some delegates were tricked into using internet cafes which had been set up by British intelligence agencies to read their email traffic.
The revelation comes as Britain prepares to host another summit on Monday – for the G8 nations, all of whom attended the 2009 meetings which were the object of the systematic spying. It is likely to lead to some tension among visiting delegates who will want the prime minister to explain whether they were targets in 2009 and whether the exercise is to be repeated this week.
The disclosure raises new questions about the boundaries of surveillance by GCHQ and its American sister organisation, the National Security Agency, whose access to phone records and internet data has been defended as necessary in the fight against terrorism and serious crime. The G20 spying appears to have been organised for the more mundane purpose of securing an advantage in meetings. Named targets include long-standing allies such as South Africa and Turkey.
There have often been rumours of this kind of espionage at international conferences, but it is highly unusual for hard evidence to confirm it and spell out the detail. The evidence is contained in documents – classified as top secret – which were uncovered by the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and seen by the Guardian. They reveal that during G20 meetings in April and September 2009 GCHQ used what one document calls "ground-breaking intelligence capabilities" to intercept the communications of visiting delegations.
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
NSA employees use data mining systems to spy on wives, ex-spouses? June 16th, 2013
“—WMR has learned from a knowlegable National Security Agency (NSA) source that agency employees are using various NSA data mining and surveillance systems, including PRISM meta-data and phone call transcripts, to snoop on their wives and ex-spouses. In addition, some NSA employees have offered to sell such information to individuals outside of NSA who want the goods on their wives and ex-spouses.
In one case, NSA surveillance data was used to track down the contact information and location data for an NSA official’s daughter. A Maryland court-issued restraining order prevented the NSA official from having any contact with his daughter.
The trafficking in NSA surveillance data for personal use and gain is known to NSA officials but they have made no move to curtail the abuses, according to our sources. In fact, wives and ex-spouses who have complained to NSA about problems resulting from the release of their personal data have been met with harassment from NSA’s internal security force, known as the “Q Group.”
In one case, the husband of an ex-wife of an NSA official experienced credit problems after his personal data was obtained by the NSA official who used it to create credit problems for the harassment target.”
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