Obama Admin Grabs Millions of Verizon Phone Records

[Revmitchell]

According to a breaking report from the UK Guardian, Barack Obama’s National Security Agency has been collecting phone records of millions of domestic customers of Verizon under a court order obtained in April. The order requires Verizon to turn over phone records on an “ongoing, daily basis” to the NSA, both within the US and between the US and international sources.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/05/Obama-Verizon-phone

 

[Crabtownboy]

I am not sure why there is excitement about this at the moment. NSA has been monitoring phone calls for years and years. This isn't new with Obama. This is business as normal. How do you think they become aware of terrorist plots? When I was going back and forth to China in the '80's and '90's I was absolutely sure that any call I made to the university or friends there was recorded and I did not mind at all. Technology has advanced, computers have become faster and more messages can be checked for
"code words". Verizon is doing it under a court order, so it is legal.

As conservatives like to say on other issues, "If you are doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about." Well conservatives, you scream about stopping terrorists ... do you really mean it?

I do not see this as more intrusive than being checked every time I go the airport and go through a security check.

 

[Aaron]

I am not sure why there is excitement about this at the moment. NSA has been monitoring phone calls for years and years. This isn't new with Obama. This is business as normal. How do you think they become aware of terrorist plots? When I was going back and forth to China in the '80's and '90's I was absolutely sure that any call I made to the university or friends there was recorded and I did not mind at all. Technology has advanced, computers have become faster and more messages can be checked for
"code words". Verizon is doing it under a court order, so it is legal.

As conservatives like to say on other issues, "If you are doing nothing wrong, you have nothing to worry about." Well conservatives, you scream about stopping terrorists ... do you really mean it?

I do not see this as more intrusive than being checked every time I go the airport and go through a security check.

So Bush did right. :thumbs:

 

[Crabtownboy]

So Bush did right. :thumbs:

Right or wrong it started long before Bush. The NSA was founded in 1949.

Mission

NSA's eavesdropping mission includes radio broadcasting, both from various organizations and individuals, the Internet, telephone calls, and other intercepted forms of communication. Its secure communications mission includes military, diplomatic, and all other sensitive, confidential or secret government communications. It has been described as the world's largest single employer of mathematicians,[18] and the owner of the single largest group of supercomputers,[19] but it has tried to keep a low profile. For many years, its existence was not acknowledged by the U.S. government, earning it the nickname, "No Such Agency" (NSA). It was also quipped that their motto is "Never Say Anything".[20]
According to the Washington Post, "[e]very day, collection systems at the National Security Agency intercept and store 1.7 billion e-mails, phone calls and other types of communications. The NSA sorts a fraction of those into 70 separate databases."[21]
Because of its listening task, NSA/CSS has been heavily involved in cryptanalytic research, continuing the work of predecessor agencies which had broken many World War II codes and ciphers (see, for instance, Purple, Venona project, and JN-25).
In 2004, NSA Central Security Service and the National Cyber Security Division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agreed to expand NSA Centers of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance Education Program.[22]
As part of the National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 (NSPD 54), signed on January 8, 2008 by President Bush, the NSA became the lead agency to monitor and protect all of the federal government's computer networks from cyber-terrorism.[1] In 2010, Robert Gates called for DHS to have a "cell" that would be able to apply the full surveillance powers of NSA for domestic cyber security.[23]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency

So this is not new. But Obama haters will blame Obama for anything, evening something that began in 1949 ... even something that they would support and defend if a Republican was in office. :laugh:

 

[Revmitchell]

As usual Crabby doesn't know what he is talking about. Probably because he hasn't read the op as usual.

 

[Revmitchell]

The Obama administration has been collecting the phone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon under a top secret court order, according to a British newspaper report which raised new and troubling privacy questions.

While the administration defended its authority to seize phone records -- and stressed that it does not monitor calls -- one civil liberties group called this the "broadest surveillance order to ever have been issued."

"It requires no level of suspicion and applies to all Verizon subscribers anywhere in the U.S.," the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-verizon-customers-report-says/#ixzz2VRNHVFDd

 

[Crabtownboy]

The Obama administration has been collecting the phone records of millions of U.S. customers of Verizon under a top secret court order, according to a British newspaper report which raised new and troubling privacy questions.

While the administration defended its authority to seize phone records -- and stressed that it does not monitor calls -- one civil liberties group called this the "broadest surveillance order to ever have been issued."

"It requires no level of suspicion and applies to all Verizon subscribers anywhere in the U.S.," the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-verizon-customers-report-says/#ixzz2VRNHVFDd

I read the OP, I read the article you referenced as well as several others.

Do you have something to hide?

Do I really care if they monitor in any way my phone calls? No. I have nothing to hide.

And as I said, court order or not this type of thing has been going on for a long time.

You failed to mention Bush's program using NSA for mass surveillance, but then Bush is your hero. If you did not post every negative thing you read about Obama you might have a bit of credibility. But you do post all good and nonsense, mainly nonsense and thus your posts are like the boy who cried wolf ... except you cry wolf several times a day. <YAWN>

Oh, and remember under the Patriot Act you can be arrested and held indefinitely without being told what you are charged with and there is no requirement to let you family know where you are or why. That seems much more frightening that monitoring phone calls.

Indefinite detention - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indefinite_detention‎
In recent years, governments have indefinitely held those suspected to be involved ... indefinite detention without trial for 2 years and further extension as needed. ... USA PATRIOT act permits indefinite detention of immigrants; one of the most ...
‎Views - ‎Australia - ‎See also - ‎References
[PDF]
12. USA PATRIOT Act and Domestic Detention Policy - Cato Institute
www.cato.org/pubs/handbook/hb108/hb108-12.pdf‎
tighten the PATRIOT Act's requirements for advance judicial approval and ..... away, detained indefinitely without charges, denied legal counsel, and prevented ...
Jose Padilla: No Charges and No Trial, Just Jail | Cato Institute
www.cato.org/publications/.../jose-padilla-no-charges-no-trial-just-jail‎
Ordinarily, U.S. citizens cannot be detained without charge. ... Yes, Congress enacted the PATRIOT Act, which says that non-citizens suspected of terrorism can ...
The USA Patriot Act - Third World Traveler
www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Civil.../USA_Patriot_Act_BillRights.html‎
To an unprecedented degree, the Act sacrifices our freedoms in the name of ... are being held without bond under the pretext of unrelated criminal charges or ...
Suspected Terrorists Can Be Indefinitely Detained Without a Trial
www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/...detained-without-trial/46818/‎
Dec 31, 2011 – "The recently passed National Defense Authorization Act continues that slip ... the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens.

 

[Revmitchell]

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 unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...bama-and-it-could-involve-your-phone-records/

 

[Revmitchell]

And as I said, court order or not this type of thing has been going on for a long time.

And again you reveal you do not know what you are talking about

 

[Revmitchell]

Notice to all extreme left wing liberals.

Bush is not President anymore.

 

[SolaSaint]

You can bet if they are targeting Verizon, they are looking at all others like AT&T, Sprint, etc. Hey they have to be able to tell the IRS who to go after.

 

[Crabtownboy]

And again you reveal you do not know what you are talking about

Sorry, but I KNOW and I know it has been going on for a very long time. Grow up boy, face the facts and get on with your life. I have not lived a cloistered life. I know a few things that would curl your toes, but I cannot talk about them. For instance how the US and Russia came within 20 minutes of launching their nukes. Also how because of one Soviet officer, Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov, a nuclear war was averted. We were within seconds of one of their submarines launching nukes that time. That information is now unclassified.

You need to get out of your cloistered life and discover what the world is bout. Sitting on your duff in your office won't do it.

By the way, don't you have folk in your church who need to see you?

 

[InTheLight]

Sorry, but I KNOW and I know it has been going on for a very long time.
By the way, don't you have folk in your church who need to see you?

Here is the relevant part of the article that states this activity has never before been done:

The newspaper said the document, a copy of which it had obtained, shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of U.S. citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk, regardless of whether the people are suspected of any wrongdoing.

Furthermore, they are not listening in on phone conversations, they are collecting phone call records. It sounds like a fishing expedition.

In any event it is a huge violation of people's privacy rights. First the AP reporters phone records, and now, millions of random people. Sickening.

 

[ccrobinson]

Do you have something to hide?

Do I really care if they monitor in any way my phone calls? No. I have nothing to hide.

Why does it matter whether you or I have something to hide? It's a violation of privacy whether there is something to hide or not.

 

[Crabtownboy]

Why does it matter whether you or I have something to hide? It's a violation of privacy whether there is something to hide or not.

Well, for a long time it has been happening. Remember the blowup in 2006?

 

[ccrobinson]

Well, for a long time it has been happening. Remember the blowup in 2006?

Would you care to take a swing at actually answering my question?

 

[Crabtownboy]

Would you care to take a swing at actually answering my question?

If you mean the question about why does it matter ... to me personally it doesn't matter. To others it may matter ... but primarily only if they have something to hide.

Additionally:

The sweeping roundup of U.S. phone records has been going on for years and was a key part of the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program, a U.S. official said Thursday.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...d=maing-grid7|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk2&pLid=324167

 

[Matt Black]

I don't have anything particularly to hide but I would be uneasy at this level of government intrusion into our private lives. There's something that just doesn't smell right about it...

And I'm sure our government is up to it too, doubtless under the guise of national security.

 

[Tom Bryant]

If you mean the question about why does it matter ... to me personally it doesn't matter. To others it may matter ... but primarily only if they have something to hide.

It ought to matter to you. It was important enough for the issue to be dealt with in the Bill of Rights. And it has nothing to do with having nothing to hide. It is our constitutionally protected right!

 

[Crabtownboy]

It ought to matter to you. It was important enough for the issue to be dealt with in the Bill of Rights. And it has nothing to do with having nothing to hide. It is our constitutionally protected right!

Why haven't you protested before? It has been going on for a long time. I do not believe the founders had telephones in mind when they wrote the first amendment.

Do you object to security searches at airports?