NSA Admits It Listens To Calls

Started by Shiranu, June 15, 2013, 08:57:50 PM

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Shiranu

//http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57589495-38/nsa-admits-listening-to-u.s-phone-calls-without-warrants/

QuoteThe National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed "simply based on an analyst deciding that."
If the NSA wants "to listen to the phone," an analyst's decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. "I was rather startled," said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.

Not only does this disclosure shed more light on how the NSA's formidable eavesdropping apparatus works domestically it also suggests the Justice Department has secretly interpreted federal surveillance law to permit thousands of low-ranking analysts to eavesdrop on phone calls.

Don't worry... the NSA never listens to anything it shouldn't though.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

AllPurposeAtheist

I don't care anymore.. It's been past the point of no return since before J Edgar Hoover.
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

Smartmarzipan

Quote from: "AllPurposeAtheist"I don't care anymore..

I will never fucking understand this attitude. Seriously.
Legi, Intellexi, Condemnavi.

"Religion is the human response to being alive and having to die." ~Anon

Inter arma enim silent leges

Johan

Quote from: "Smartmarzipan"
Quote from: "AllPurposeAtheist"I don't care anymore..

I will never fucking understand this attitude. Seriously.
Why care about things you're powerless to change?
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful

Smartmarzipan

Quote from: "Johan"
Quote from: "Smartmarzipan"
Quote from: "AllPurposeAtheist"I don't care anymore..

I will never fucking understand this attitude. Seriously.
Why care about things you're powerless to change?

Why do so many people assume we're powerless?
Legi, Intellexi, Condemnavi.

"Religion is the human response to being alive and having to die." ~Anon

Inter arma enim silent leges

Shiranu

Quote from: "Johan"
Quote from: "Smartmarzipan"
Quote from: "AllPurposeAtheist"I don't care anymore..

I will never fucking understand this attitude. Seriously.
Why care about things you're powerless to change?

What a fucking terrible attitude. Have you heard of something called empathy, integrity or history? Because pretty much every major, terrible institution the people of the day said, "It's just too big to fail, we can't do anything about it so lets just accept it!"... but here we are without most of them.

Slavery? We will never fix that.
Women's right to vote? It's a men's game, women don't have the power to change that.
Vietnam? Why should the government care that people are against it, we can never end it.
"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Hydra009

Quote from: "Johan"Why care about things you're powerless to change?
Because it can be changed.  Because it must be changed.

AllPurposeAtheist

The government shouldn't be doing what it can to insure the safety of its citizens? If the NSA is listening in on my conversations they really have a tough job and have likely died of boredom..
Sorry, I used to be like everyone else, worried all the time what government was up to. I grew up under the constant threat of all out nuclear war with the Soviets and you know what? It didn't happen.
Let them listen in. Maybe they'll catch the bus on time when I call the transit authority for the time of the next bus due.
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

Hydra009

Quote from: "AllPurposeAtheist"The government shouldn't be doing what it can to insure the safety of its citizens? If the NSA is listening in on my conversations they really have a tough job and have likely died of boredom..
Sorry, I used to be like everyone else, worried all the time what government was up to. I grew up under the constant threat of all out nuclear war with the Soviets and you know what? It didn't happen.
Let them listen in. Maybe they'll catch the bus on time when I call the transit authority for the time of the next bus due.
Seriously, dude?   :-s

Johan

Quote from: "Smartmarzipan"Why do so many people assume we're powerless?
I don't know why other people assume it, I only know why I assume it. And I assume it because that's what I've seen. I grew up being told that it was my responsibility to participate in the political process and to make sure that my voice was heard. Along the same lines, I was taught that my vote was my voice and that I could change the course of things by using it.

Then I watched the majority of the country vote for the guy they wanted to be president and the next day, the other guy decided he had won even though he got fewer votes and what'd ya know? He became our president. My vote is my voice? Bullshit. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. I've seen more examples than I care to count at all levels of government from federal on down to the local code enforcement official where someone just decides that regardless of what the law says, they're going to do what they want and to hell with anyone who has a problem with it. And sometimes people actually rally and they protest or lobby or whatever to take the wrong thing and make it stop. And far far more often than not, in the end nothing changes.

Its great that there are still folks who are optimistic enough to believe that an agency like the NSA can be stopped from doing whatever the fuck they want to do. But I'm far too jaded to be able to fool myself in thinking that way anymore. Fool me once and all that.
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false and by the rulers as useful