NSA collecting phone records of millions of Americans daily

[texanjoker]

imagine the internet recording they must do...

[mojo84]

imagine the internet recording they must do...

This turns my stomach. Makes me start to think there is something to the Utah data collection facility we've been hearing about.

[powerboatr]

imagine the internet recording they must do...

This turns my stomach. Makes me start to think there is something to the Utah data collection facility we've been hearing about.

AMARILLO has one or at least it did yesterday
oh wait the nsa says they dont have any such places sans the one in VA.

[JALLEN]

Verizon is the only one mentioned so far, but hey, it has NFL 24/7 now, so who will gripe?

AT&T was going to get a subpoena but their system is so crappy the data would have been all garbage.

[bizarrenormality]

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America's largest telecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/ju ... ourt-order" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm starting to feel a lot more sympathy for that wikileaks guy.

[tomtexan]

I pity the poor government worker bees stunned into boredom listening to all that chatter...yes, I found the cutest shoes, yep, I just chopped out a stump with my old axe, well mother-in-law is such a...blah, blah, blah...

They are not listening to the conversation itself, just "data" about the calls.

The data being collected includes which phone numbers are dialing and receiving each call, the time of day when each call is made, how long it lasts and other identifying information, but not the content of the calls themselves.

Yeah right!

[lbuehler325]

The data being collected includes which phone numbers are dialing and receiving each call, the time of day when each call is made, how long it lasts and other identifying information, but not the content of the calls themselves.

Yeah right!

It doesn't matter if they listen to the content. The privacy issue still stands. Without probable cause that I (as a Verizon customer) have committed a specific crime, it is an unreasonable search to seize records of who, when, and for how long I call/talk to anyone. But this administration (and the next, and the next after that) will never be truly held accountable for their acts of treason against our Constitution. FISA and the Patriot Act were huge power grabs by the Feds, and shows us just how ignorant we all (collectively) are. We sacrificed our liberty for a sense of security (a false sense at that). The Founders would be quick to point out that our actions prove that we deserve neither. Someone said it earlier; the Constitution has been shredded. Sad indeed.

[Beiruty]

As if the terrorists are stupid enough to use any kind of digital communication. They use mules and encrpyted messages. Only naive wanabes do otherwise. Where was this program in detecting Boston bombing?

[Excaliber]

Don't underestimate how dangerous this program is by kidding yourself that the information being collected is relatively innocuous. If it had little value, they wouldn't be spending billions to collect it in secret.

The time, data, called from and call to numbers, and locations the calls were made from and to would be downright handy if one wanted to identify the associates of a troublesome conservative citizen so they too could be subjected to IRS audits or denied healthcare under the new Obama system. Not that "the most transparent administration in history" would ever do such a thing.......

Just sayin'.

[Jumping Frog]

They are not listening to the conversation itself, just "data" about the calls.

The data being collected includes which phone numbers are dialing and receiving each call, the time of day when each call is made, how long it lasts and other identifying information, but not the content of the calls themselves.

Yeah right!

Do people realize that the phrase "and other identifying information" includes tracking your lat-long locations via the phone's GPS?

[chasfm11]

A more sobering point is the idea that the perpetrators of all this have not considered that possibly one day they might no longer be in control of it and that it all could be used against THEM. Yes, I know that the collection supposedly started in 2006, before the current regime took power. But like several other areas, this appears to have been taken to an extreme that the predecessors never imagined. How could anyone have imagined what DHS has morphed into?


In the past, some excesses were curbed because those in power knew that eventually an election would unseat them and that their opponents would be only too willing to follow in the footsteps that they started. One can only wonder if there will be another shift of power after an election and if it will go as smoothly as all of those in the past.

[DocV]

Do people realize that the phrase "and other identifying information" includes tracking your lat-long locations via the phone's GPS?

And, of course, OnStar and other vehicles come complete with phones whose service provider is.....


wait for it....




Verizon

[Beiruty]

Do people realize that the phrase "and other identifying information" includes tracking your lat-long locations via the phone's GPS?

And, of course, OnStar and other vehicles come complete with phones whose service provider is.....


wait for it....




Verizon

Verizon, supply communication services for DoD.

[VMI77]

I pity the poor government worker bees stunned into boredom listening to all that chatter...yes, I found the cutest shoes, yep, I just chopped out a stump with my old axe, well mother-in-law is such a...blah, blah, blah...

They are not listening to the conversation itself, just "data" about the calls.

The data being collected includes which phone numbers are dialing and receiving each call, the time of day when each call is made, how long it lasts and other identifying information, but not the content of the calls themselves.

Yeah right!

No, they're not listening to all these calls, but in addition to the metadata they are recording the content, and they can go back and look it up. There is nothing innocuous about this at all, even if they aren't recording calls. They can create a tree of every person you've called and every person they've called. Thinking about protesting some new and outrageous government violation of citizen's rights --they can roll you and everyone you talk to about it up at the press of a button. But I don't even think that's as serious as some of the other possibilities. Say conservative Senator so and so, you sure you want to vote yes on that Bill? Even after all those calls you made to one Mary Jane Mistress....we sure wouldn't want your wife to find out.

[t_kopecky]

What bothers me the most, whether it's TSA employees at the airport, government employees in Washington, or LEOs in a small town, is the number American citizens that are willing to work in positions where they have become OK with violating the rights of other American citizens. If the American Spirit was still alive in some of these people, they would not accept employment doing this to other Americans. Each one of us is required to watch our neighbor's back.