NSA reportedly collecting phone records of millions, though officials had denied hold

[Pete]

So it appears they are vacuuming in credit card activity also.

The problem is not that civilian sales agencies do it. The problem is that the government is doing it.

So now somebody in the government can push a few buttons and see that Joe spends 20% of his credit card purchases on gun, survival and outdoor stuff - and look here - another 5% was to the NRA-ILA, GOA and other similar groups.

Maybe we should slide this over to DHS and the FBI. Maybe we can find an outstanding parking ticket so we can do a 0200 no-knock search of his place and get another terrorist off the street.

[Pete]

Author of Patriot Act says NSA phone records collection 'never the intent' of law

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013...#ixzz2VWtCYixY

"The author of the Patriot Act said Thursday that a secret program under which the Obama administration was collecting phone records from millions of Americans is "excessive" and beyond the scope of the law.

Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who wrote the 2001 law, was among a host of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who raised alarm over the practice. ........"

The Patriot Act expires in 2015 - if not renewed. Does anyone really think if it's not they'll tear down the Bluffdale facility if the Patriot Act expires?

[Irishsquid]

Just throwing it out there. For you Android users, RedPhone and TextSecure are your friends. End-to-end encryption, as long as the person you are talking to uses them as well. If you're an iPhone type, look into silent circle.

Also, bear in mind that with TextSecure, if your phone is seized, the strength of your password is all you have. Something like OhGodOhGodItIs1984AndOrwellWasRight#!)#!)#!)#!) should do the trick. Also, if you don't have whole-disk encryption running on your phone, you are just asking for trouble.

[tonyz]

Official response from James Clapper, DNI.

June 6, 2013
DNI Statement on Recent Unauthorized Disclosures of Classified Information

The highest priority of the Intelligence Community is to work within the constraints of law to collect, analyze and understand information related to potential threats to our national security.

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.

The article omits key information regarding how a classified intelligence collection program is used to prevent terrorist attacks and the numerous safeguards that protect privacy and civil liberties.

I believe it is important for the American people to understand the limits of this targeted counterterrorism program and the principles that govern its use. In order to provide a more thorough understanding of the program, I have directed that certain information related to the “business records” provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act be declassified and immediately released to the public.

The following important facts explain the purpose and limitations of the program:

The judicial order that was disclosed in the press is used to support a sensitive intelligence collection operation, on which members of Congress have been fully and repeatedly briefed. The classified program has been authorized by all three branches of the Government.

Although this program has been properly classified, the leak of one order, without any context, has created a misleading impression of how it operates. Accordingly, we have determined to declassify certain limited information about this program.

The program does not allow the Government to listen in on anyone’s phone calls. The information acquired does not include the content of any communications or the identity of any subscriber. The only type of information acquired under the Court’s order is telephony metadata, such as telephone numbers dialed and length of calls.

The collection is broad in scope because more narrow collection would limit our ability to screen for and identify terrorism-related communications. Acquiring this information allows us to make connections related to terrorist activities over time. The FISA Court specifically approved this method of collection as lawful, subject to stringent restrictions.

The information acquired has been part of an overall strategy to protect the nation from terrorist threats to the United States, as it may assist counterterrorism personnel to discover whether known or suspected terrorists have been in contact with other persons who may be engaged in terrorist activities.

There is a robust legal regime in place governing all activities conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which ensures that those activities comply with the Constitution and laws and appropriately protect privacy and civil liberties. The program at issue here is conducted under authority granted by Congress and is authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). By statute, the Court is empowered to determine the legality of the program.

By order of the FISC, the Government is prohibited from indiscriminately sifting through the telephony metadata acquired under the program. All information that is acquired under this program is subject to strict, court-imposed restrictions on review and handling. The court only allows the data to be queried when there is a reasonable suspicion, based on specific facts, that the particular basis for the query is associated with a foreign terrorist organization. Only specially cleared counterterrorism personnel specifically trained in the Court-approved procedures may even access the records.

All information that is acquired under this order is subject to strict restrictions on handling and is overseen by the Department of Justice and the FISA Court. Only a very small fraction of the records are ever reviewed because the vast majority of the data is not responsive to any terrorism-related query.

The Court reviews the program approximately every 90 days. DOJ conducts rigorous oversight of the handling of the data received to ensure the applicable restrictions are followed. In addition, DOJ and ODNI regularly review the program implementation to ensure it continues to comply with the law.

The Patriot Act was signed into law in October 2001 and included authority to compel production of business records and other tangible things relevant to an authorized national security investigation with the approval of the FISC. This provision has subsequently been reauthorized over the course of two Administrations – in 2006 and in 2011. It has been an important investigative tool that has been used over the course of two Administrations, with the authorization and oversight of the FISC and the Congress.

Discussing programs like this publicly will have an impact on the behavior of our adversaries and make it more difficult for us to understand their intentions. Surveillance programs like this one are consistently subject to safeguards that are designed to strike the appropriate balance between national security interests and civil liberties and privacy concerns. I believe it is important to address the misleading impression left by the article and to reassure the American people that the Intelligence Community is committed to respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all American citizens.

James R. Clapper, Director of National Intelligence

http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroo...ed-information

[PedOncoDoc]

Originally Posted by Irishsquid

Also, bear in mind that with TextSecure, if your phone is seized, the strength of your password is all you have. Something like OhGodOhGodItIs1984AndOrwellWasRight#!)#!)#!)#!) should do the trick.

Looks like myt password has now been compromised - thanks a lot.

As long as you're not like this guy...

[Pete]

Trust us - We're from the IRS and the NSA, we're here to help and protect you.

[uspsmark]

"Verizon Wireless, America's largest (most listened to and watched) 4G LTE network. If you don't believe us, ask the NSA!"

[lindy]

Some perspective:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...illance-video/

[badshot]

For those whom wonder why they see those xxxxredactedxxxxx...you now know where it'll end up. Utah and another new 600k sqft data center under construction in Fort Meade.

[tonyz]

At the risk of some folks not reading the ENTIRE post...ya gotta laugh...there can be a grain of truth in humor.

<snip>

Welcome to the Domestic Surveillance Directorate

Your Data: If You Have Nothing to Hide, You Have Nothing to Fear

For security reasons, it is unrealistic to expect a complete list of information we collect for our national citizen database. In the spirit of openness and transparency however, here is a partial list:

internet searches
websites visited
emails sent and received
social media activity (Facebook, Twitter, etc)
blogging activity including posts read, written, and commented on - View our patent
videos watched and/or uploaded online
photos viewed and/or uploaded online
music downloads
mobile phone GPS-location data
mobile phone apps downloaded
phone call records - View our patent
text messages sent and received
online purchases and auction transactions
bookstore receipts
credit card/ debit card transactions
bank statements
cable television shows watched and recorded
commuter toll records
parking receipts
electronic bus and subway passes / Smartpasses
travel itineraries
border crossings
surveillance cameras
medical information including diagnoses and treatments
prescription drug purchases
guns and ammunition sales
educational records
arrest records
driver license information


Future Uses of Domestic Intelligence Data

In 2006, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) was created to invest in high-risk, high-payoff classified programs uniquely designed to provide research and technical capabilities for the Intelligence Community. IARPA-funded researchers are currently studying novel ways of processing and analyzing the explosive growth of domestic data.

The Aladdin program seeks to extract intelligence information from the high volume of videos uploaded to the internet.

The Babel program is developing agile and robust speech recognition technology that can provide effective search capability for analysts to efficiently process massive amounts of real-world recorded speech.

The Knowledge Discovery and Dissemination (KDD) program will develop advanced analytic algorithms that can effectively draw inferences across multiple databases to allow the Intelligence Community to create virtual fusion centers enabling analysts to produce actionable intelligence.

The Socio-cultural Content in Language (SCIL) Program will develop novel algorithms, techniques and technologies to uncover the social actions and characteristics of members of a group (ie; within discussion forums, online comment sections, social media, etc.) by examining the language used in relation to acceptable social and cultural norms.

The Reynard Program starts from the premise that "real world" characteristics are reflected in "virtual world" behavior. The program seeks to identify behavioral indicators in online virtual worlds and "massively multiplayer online games" that are related to the real world characteristics of the users. Attributes of interest include gender, age, economic status, educational level, occupation, ideology or "world view", and physical geographic location.

This is a parody of nsa.gov and has not been approved, endorsed, or authorized by the National Security Agency or by any other U.S. Government agency.

Much of this content was derived from news media, privacy groups, and government websites. Links to these sites are posted on the left-sidebars of each page.

<snip>

http://nsa.gov1.info/data/index.html

Again, don't be a knucklehead...this is a parody !

[Irishsquid]

Originally Posted by PedOncoDoc

Looks like myt password has now been compromised - thanks a lot.

As long as you're not like this guy...

Hehe..."buddy," is only the first word ;-)

Seriously...if anyone has questions about data security and privacy, feel free to ask. That's what I do for a living these days. In fact, I used to teach all the analysts on their way to the organization in question.

[sinjefe]

Originally Posted by tonyz

The only type of information acquired under the Court’s order is telephony metadata, such as telephone numbers dialed and length of calls.

I am soooo comforted. Taken out of context, huh? this sentence is exactly what the press said it was. So, Clapper can say whatever he wants but, at the end of the day, my phone calls are being catalogued for cross referencing against a terrorist database without any probable cause that I have done something wrong.

Jesus Christ! The stuff coming from this admin just keeps getting better and better.

[tonyz]

Originally Posted by sinjefe

The stuff coming from this admin just keeps getting better and better.

And, Clapper's discomfort is with the leak and decidedly not with the vast collection of data and cross referencing US citizens without PC.

Given the latest revelations regarding the IRS use of data...this government is getting out of hand.

"PING"

I'm outta here !

[lindy]

Regardless how this disclosure is spun in the press, here is the rub (IMO) taken from the original story from the Guardian:

Clapper attacked the disclosures by the Guardian and the Washington Post as "reprehensible" for risking "important protections for the security of Americans".

“Discussing programs like this publicly,” Clapper concluded, “will have an impact on the behavior of our adversaries and make it more difficult for us to understand their intentions.”

Disclosure of the massive surveillance of phone records and internet communications risks “long-lasting and irreversible harm” to US national security, the director of national intelligence says.

“There is a robust legal regime in place governing all activities conducted pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,” Clapper wrote, “which ensures that those activities comply with the Constitution and laws and appropriately protect privacy and civil liberties. The program at issue here is conducted under authority granted by Congress and is authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC). By statute, the Court is empowered to determine the legality of the program."
----------
In the end, the article clearly points out that the program isn't merely a rouge agency going nuts (like IRS focusing on conservative groups) but a program with Federal judicial scrutiny AND legislative oversight.

The public outrage SHOULD be at the disclosure and not the activity.

[tonyz]

Originally Posted by lindy

In the end, the article clearly points out that the program isn't merely a rouge agency going nuts (like IRS focusing on conservative groups) but a program with Federal judicial scrutiny AND legislative oversight.

'Cause the Attorney General, a Federal Judge and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid always get it right.

IMO, given this administration's track record a dose of healthy skepticism is past due...