While President Obama continues to tell the public that there is no widespread domestic surveillance program and denies the violation of privacy rights, another report again contradicts those statements. According to the Washington Post, the National Security Agency broke privacy rules thousands of times every year under the warrantless surveillance program. Moreover, it is important to keep in mind that civil libertarians view the programs themselves to be violations of Constitution, but the Administration violated even those rules. Moreover, this information did not come from Congress or the White House. It came from Edward Snowden. You remember him. He is the guy Obama said is no patriot and could have taken a different course to address his concerns. The information reviewed by the Post is more than would have been shared with Congress under current rules.
Some of the “inadvertent” spying is astonishing. For example, the NSA according to this article wanted to listen to calls going to Egypt at area code “20” but made a mistake. That mistake happened to capture a “large number” of calls from “202” — Washington D.C.
The violations also included the unauthorized use of information on more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders.
Obama insisted that “a court” reviews these programs, though he is referring to the widely ridiculed FISA court which lacks the authority to seriously monitor the program or reject all but a couple applications in its history.
A NSA official is quoted as saying that they are trying to do better and the public needs to trust the agency: “We’re a human-run agency operating in a complex environment with a number of different regulatory regimes, so at times we find ourselves on the wrong side of the line.” Sure, but what if these entire warrantless programs are on “the wrong side of the line”?
Source: Washington Post
Distraction is one of the prime tools of propagandists. It’s not only easy to use, it’s highly refined.
Anonymous,
Thank you for the link to the Press Think piece. I had not seen that yet.
“But people who find themselves in a Fourth Estate situation — “If the public knew what power was doing, power would not be allowed to do it anymore” — have power themselves now. If they have the goods, if they have the will, if they have “a tongue which others will listen to,” they can speak to the nation. And some will!”
If more citizens were willing to put themselves on the same line as Levinson, we wouldn’t be in this mess to begin with. As Nick and Gene said, so many shiny objects distract the sheeple.
Oh, please, Birther!
Talk about falling for a shiny object . . .
Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely: Obama’s Forged Birth Certificate & Multiple Social Security Numbers
Everything Obama and his administration have done / signed is ILLEGAL, NULL and VOID.
“Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely: Obama’s Forged Birth Certificate & Multiple Social Security Numbers
Everything Obama and his administration have done / signed is ILLEGAL, NULL and VOID.”
Frank,
This is known as locking the barn door after the horses are stolen. Even if what you say is true, which I doubt, it doesn’t matter at this point he’s the President just as G.W. Bush was illegally President. The idea now is to stop the illegal actions of the Intelligence Establishment and stop crying over past history.
Oliver Stone: Obama is a snake, we have to turn on him.
Errors in application for a search warrant are similarly dismissed, see US v Leon, which changed the whole landscape of the effectivity of search warrants.
If it is “shown” to be an “honest” error, the warrant is still considered valid, no matter what was found or how defective the warrant was.
“Unfortunately that is exactly what they plead, honest mistake, sorry.
And they get away with it,”
Gary T.,
This is where Libertarians like you and civil liberties types like me can coalesce on these type of issues. That is what I see as necessary, but to achieve it we must maintain the focus on our civil rights and not let ourselves get carried away with the areas where we disagree. If we win this battle, which we must, then we can worry about other issues. If we lose this battle, then the other issues won’t matter.
NSA statements to The Post
By Barton Gellman, Published: August 15
The National Security Agency offered these comments on The Washington Post’s article about privacy violations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-statements-to-the-post/2013/08/15/f40dd2c4-05d6-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html
http://pressthink.org/2013/08/when-youre-in-a-fourth-estate-situation/
“I think if the American public knew what our government was doing, they wouldn’t be allowed to do it anymore.” -Ladar Levison, founder of Lavabit
An understatement, from where I’m sitting. (There’s this little matter of an “elephant”… of an undisclosed domestic program… )
—–
At least one thing is clear: Snowden’s determination “to embolden others to step forward,” which I wrote about in my last post, is starting to work. Ladar Levison is proof. -Jay Rosen, from the above link
Unfortunately, there are miles to go… For the sake of all, let’s hope that we’re able to cover the distance.
But, I forgot to mention, only if you are law enforcement.
Mike:
Unfortunately that is exactly what they plead, honest mistake, sorry.
And they get away with it,
“Sorry, I flaked” is a perfectly good legal defense in our American courts today, and usually avoids the prosecution or the conviction.
How can that be a “mistake”?
“Egypt at area code “20″ but made a mistake. That mistake happened to capture a “large number” of calls from “202″ — Washington D.C.”
To dial Egypt from inside the US you have to preface the “20” with 011.
Unless their spyware is so sophisticated they don’t need to add the “011”?
Something fishy going on here.
“We’re a human-run agency operating in a complex environment with a number of different regulatory regimes, so at times we find ourselves on the wrong side of the line.”
So reason with me as LBJ would say. The next time a Swat Teams breaks down a door and shoots some people dead, only to discover they had the wrong address, couldn’t their spokesman make the same plea for understanding? Hey they’re only human.
Maybe official voyeurism is habit forming.
Oooo. Sparkly! lol Yeah. Some of us are really hard to fool with that propaganda trick. Too bad for the usurpers and the fascists.
And I agree, JH. Even the Captain had his limits of tolerance for the unethical.
That’s the shiny object.
Gene, This is just one of those “phony scandals,” pay it no mind. Look @ the racist rodeo clown in Sedalia, Mo.
Even Captain Renault would be disgusted with this President.
Like it or not, the Obama Administration is going to have to deal with the fact that no matter how they spin it this is a problem that isn’t looking like it’s going to go away. What did they expect once the sleeper has awakened? A pat on the back and an “atta boy!” for violating our rights and expanding upon the Bush tradition of an Imperial Presidency and treating the Constitution like a urinal puck?
And that’s a high utility quote whenever dealing with pols, nick.
Where’s senator difi….. Assuring American that its ok, she’s read it…. Then quoted on the news as not reading the legislation…. Because only a handful of folks have that high of a clearance…. Including staffers….. Yeah…. And a Boston Butt Roast does not come from a goat either…l
“I’ m shocked to see there is gambling in this establishment.” Captain Renault
This quote is getting a lot of mileage w/ this prez.