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Forum Post: Washington Post Breaking News: NSA GETS DATA ON EVERY SINGLE CALL handled in U.S. by Verizon

Posted 10 years ago on June 6, 2013, 4:08 a.m. EST by therising (6643)
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14 Comments


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[-] 5 points by Builder (4202) 10 years ago

In the greatest surveillance effort ever established, the US National Security Agency (NSA) has created a global spy system, codename ECHELON, which captures and analyzes virtually every phone call, fax, email and telex message sent anywhere in the world.

ECHELON is controlled by the NSA and is operated in conjunction with the Government Communications Head Quarters (GCHQ) of England, the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) of Canada, the Australian Defense Security Directorate (DSD), and the General Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) of New Zealand.

These organizations are bound together under a secret 1948 agreement, UKUSA, whose terms and text remain under wraps even today.

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/echelon04.htm

[-] 5 points by therising (6643) 10 years ago

If we the people can utilize technology to unite, there's no stopping us no matter how much information they have. There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.

The rise of Occupy in all its forms (in person occupations and protests and electronic consciousness raising & networking) has helped we the people realize that we have more in common than we have separating us. That is a powerful revelation and as it strengthens and spreads, we will be able to begin making decisions from a position of unified strength rather than making demands from a position of divided weakness. The people are rising...

[-] 2 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

Hello therising, Agree---Well Said. We will find ways to overcome this 'Weapon Of Oppression'.

[-] 2 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

This is big. And positively frightening.

The Obama administration is spying on all calls millions of Verizon customers make each day to any phone number inside or outside the United States.

Tell President Obama: Don’t Spy on Me

The news broke when the Guardian1 unveiled the top secret court order2 that authorized the government’s shocking mass surveillance program.

This comes just weeks after we learned the Justice Department has been spying on journalists, and threatening them with criminal prosecution, just for doing their jobs.3

They’re watching the rest of us, too — and none of us can be silent about these outrageous government intrusions any longer.

Act Now: Stop the Mass Surveillance of Americans

This story is a decade in the making. In 2006, we learned that the Bush administration was using the Patriot Act to collect the phone records of tens of millions of Americans.4 The National Security Agency's goal at the time, according to sources, was "to create a database of every call ever made." The biggest phone companies were willing accomplices.

But this latest chapter is worse than almost anyone could have imagined. The newly exposed secret court order could give spy agencies access to data on every call Verizon customers make every day.

Verizon serves at least 100 million customers across the country. We don't know yet if this is the first time a court order like this has been made or whether the government is using the Patriot Act to track calls made by customers of every all phone companies.

Although we haven’t had evidence this clear before, some civil liberties advocates and surveillance experts think this type of order has become "routine."5

It shouldn’t be. We must act now.

Don’t Let the Obama Administration Track Every Phone Call You Make

Whatever law enforcement and national security aims the White House might claim, monitoring the activities of millions of innocent people for no good reason threatens our basic liberties and our freedom to connect.

It’s time to take a stand, and to tell the Obama administration to stop these extreme — and extremely dangerous — spying programs.

Thanks,

Matt, Craig, Josh, Lindsy, Tim and everyone else on the Free Press team

  1. Glenn Greenwald, "NSA Collecting Phone Records of Millions of Verizon Customers Daily," Guardian, June 5, 2013: http://act.freepress.net/go/14651?t=6&akid=4283.10012075._hbGps

  2. "Verizon Forced to Hand Over Telephone Data — Full Court Ruling," Guardian, June 5, 2013: http://act.freepress.net/go/14652?t=8&akid=4283.10012075._hbGps

  3. “DoJ Calls Fox News Reporter James Rosen ‘Co-Conspirator’ in Leak Case; Journalists Outraged,” Huffington Post, May 20, 2013: http://act.freepress.net/go/14655?t=10&akid=4283.10012075._hbGps

  4. Leslie Cauley, "NSA Has Massive Database of Americans’ Phone Calls,” USA Today, May 11, 2006: http://act.freepress.net/go/14653?t=12&akid=4283.10012075._hbGps

  5. Ellen Nakashima, “Report: Verizon Providing All Call Records to U.S. Under Court Order,” Washington Post, June 5, 2013: http://act.freepress.net/go/14654?t=14&akid=4283.10012075._hbGps

Free Press is a nonpartisan organization building a nationwide movement for media that serve the public interest. Learn more at www.freepress.net.

Join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

[-] 1 points by therising (6643) 10 years ago

Great info. Thanks!

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

I was just about to copy it over to your new post.

[-] 1 points by therising (6643) 10 years ago

Cool. Please do!

[-] 1 points by DKAtoday (33802) from Coon Rapids, MN 10 years ago

Done deal.

[-] 2 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

More site traffic this AM. Issue of concern to many.

[-] 2 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

All this under, a civil rights attorney.

[-] 2 points by therising (6643) 10 years ago

Incredible. We must push back.

[-] 2 points by Nevada1 (5843) 10 years ago

Yes, and it is happening. All this seems to be a polarizing event. The people have had enough of all this psychotic behavior by gov/TPTB. Nice to see the administration on defensive today.

[-] 1 points by therising (6643) 10 years ago

Oh yeah. I agree. And please see this new info here. Incredible: http://occupywallst.org/forum/more-breaking-news-from-washington-post-us-intelli/

[-] 2 points by LeoYo (5909) 10 years ago

U.S. Government Secretly Collecting Data on Millions of Verizon Users: Report

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/us-govt-secretly-collecting-data-millions-verizon-users-013542225.html

By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News

White House Correspondent

By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 12 hrs ago

Eep. The National Security Agency (NSA) has been collecting telephone records of millions of Verizon customers —right down to local call data—under a top-secret court order issued in April, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper reported late Wednesday. UPDATE: The Administration responds, defending a "critical tool" against terrorism and underlining that the government is not listening in on anyone's calls.

Under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) order, the Guardian reported, Verizon Business Services must provide the NSA “on an ongoing daily basis” with information from calls between the U.S. and overseas – but also with calls entirely inside the United States. Calls made entirely overseas were not affected. It was unclear whether phones in other Verizon divisions -- its regular cell phone operations, for instance -- were similarly targeted.

Guardian writer Glenn Greenwald, a frequent and fierce critic of the national security state’s expansion since 9-11, writes in his bombshell report that:

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

The order, issued April 25 and valid through July 19, requires Verizon to turn over the numbers of both parties, location data, call duration, and other information – though not the contents of the calls. The White House initially declined comment, but a senior administration official defended the activities described in the Guardian piece without confirming the specific report.

"On its face, the order reprinted in the article does not allow the Government to listen in on anyone's telephone calls," the official, who requested anonymity, said by email. "The information acquired does not include the content of any communications or the name of any subscriber."

And "information of the sort described in the Guardian article has been a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States, as it allows counterterrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities, particularly people located inside the United States," the official said.

Congress has been "regularly and fully briefed" on such practices, which occur under a "robust legal regime" and "strict controls and procedures...to ensure that they comply with the Constitution and laws of the United States and appropriately protect privacy and civil liberties," the official said.

Judge Roger Vinson’s order relies on Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. That part of the law, also known as the “business records provision,” permits FBI agents to seek a court order for “any tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items)” it deems relevant to an investigation.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the way the government interprets that provision -- though he is sharply limited in what he can say about classified information. Wyden and Democratic Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, another committee member, wrote a scathing letter to Attorney General Eric Holder in Sept. 2011 warning that Americans would be "stunned" if they learned what the government was doing.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) denounced the scope of the surveillance. "It’s analogous to the FBI stationing an agent outside every home in the country to track who goes in and who comes out," said Jameel Jaffer, ACLU Deputy Legal Director. The organization's Legislative Counsel, Michelle Richardson, bluntly branded the surveillance "unconstitutional" and insisted that "the government should end it and disclose its full scope, and Congress should initiate a full investigation."

And former vice president Al Gore, on Twitter, sharply condemned the government's actions:

Al Gore@algore

In digital era, privacy must be a priority. Is it just me, or is secret blanket surveillance obscenely outrageous? http://ow.ly/lKS13

6:39 PM - 5 Jun 2013