Confirmed: the US government has a massive program to track all phone calls

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Azure

Assuming of course that Obama hasn't already abused his power.

IMO he has. Only need to look at the drone attacks to see that.

The killing of American citizens using drones is a perfect example of abusing that power. Since when did the Executive branch become the Judicial branch?

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

The killing of American citizens using drones is a perfect example of abusing that power. Since when did the Executive branch become the Judicial branch?

When they gave themselves the ability to, and the citizens let it happen.

[Azure]

Since 9/11 mostly.

Americans have turned a blind eye towards it all in the idea of national security. Sadly, the idea of dealing with the terrorism problem has gone from expansion of JSOC to unregulated drone attacks and spying on American citizens without due process.

And it has gone on and perhaps even been accelerated during the Obama administration.

[BigNumbers]

Ehhh - They are just tracking phone records, don't care if they know I called my Gangy...

[Azure]

If you think the US is just tracking phone records, perhaps you should read this article.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/201...adatacenter/1/

When Barack Obama took office, Binney hoped the new administration might be open to reforming the program to address his constitutional concerns. He and another former senior NSA analyst, J. Kirk Wiebe, tried to bring the idea of an automated warrant-approval system to the attention of the Department of Justice’s inspector general. They were given the brush-off. “They said, oh, OK, we can’t comment,” Binney says.

Sitting in a restaurant not far from NSA headquarters, the place where he spent nearly 40 years of his life, Binney held his thumb and forefinger close together. “We are, like, that far from a turnkey totalitarian state,” he says.

[Daradon]

Oh yeah, Obama has definitely run with the football. Very disappointing, especially since a lot of his campaign was saying he was going to roll back a lot of the measures made from legislation like the Patriot Acts. The drone program being the most damning I think.

Although, it does appear he really did try to close G Bay, and it was blocked by congress like a lot of the things he wanted to pass.

Sometimes it's hard to tell who is responsible for what. Not giving him a pass though, the buck obviously has to stop somewhere. Plus the drone thing seems to implicate him pretty personally. His kill list and everything.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by Azure

He is currently in Hong Kong, so who knows what will happen with him.

I don't think he is a conspiracy freak. .

A chump who claims HE, not just others/everyone in an entire agency, had authority to wiretap the President is automatically downgraded to a bit of a conspiracy freak.

That's a hard claim to dismiss and still give credibility to anything else he said.

Cowperson

[Azure]

The NSA has listening posts on arguably every single communications 'switch' in the US. If Obama is making a phone call, he is using AT&T or Verizon just like every other American, and they have the ability to track that.

Yes, I know everything is encrypted at the highest levels, but apparently the NSA is even making huge breakthroughs with that. AES seemed unbreakable when it was implemented, now according to the article on Wired, they might have the ability to crack it.

So could he wiretap the phone of the President? Absolutely I believe he could. That he would have on the other hand....

[Regorium]

Maybe it's just me, but I truly think that it's naive of everyone that thought this wasn't happening before these leaks. And, I think it's absolutely ludicrous for any of us, especially the ones on CP (the baller $100k+ income with tons of hookers and blow type) to be up in arms about it, since we have a vested interest in maintaining status quo.

In general, I'm lumping the people that are in an uproar about it now to the same conspiracy theory, paranoid anarchist type groups that have always existed.

Maybe I'm a fool, but I really don't see the slippery slope that other people do that will make me want to risk my life by protesting or rioting over something that is so incredibly irrelevant and miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

[icarus]

I can't believe this guy just told his co-habiting girlfriend 'I have to go away for a few weeks', then flew off to Hong Kong to be the biggest whistleblower since Manning and Ellsberg. She must be pissed.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Anyone who believes that this level of information gathering is acceptable is a fool. Like others have said, it's only a matter of time before another excuse comes along, and someone looking to consolidate and abuse power already has the tools to suppress the population.

You guys seriously don't believe this nonsense do you? I like Game of Thrones as much as the next guy but there's real life and then there's fiction.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

You guys seriously don't believe this nonsense do you? I like Game of Thrones as much as the next guy but there's real life and then there's fiction.

Huh, this isn't fantasy. When a 40 year veteran of the NSA says they're extremely close to a turn key totalitarian state, I think there should be some genuine concern. The people who live in a fantasy world are the ones who think giving up your right against unjustified search and seizure is acceptable. It's easy to brush it off when it doesn't affect you, but what if it does someday?

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by Regorium

Maybe it's just me, but I truly think that it's naive of everyone that thought this wasn't happening before these leaks. And, I think it's absolutely ludicrous for any of us, especially the ones on CP (the baller $100k+ income with tons of hookers and blow type) to be up in arms about it, since we have a vested interest in maintaining status quo.

In general, I'm lumping the people that are in an uproar about it now to the same conspiracy theory, paranoid anarchist type groups that have always existed.

Maybe I'm a fool, but I really don't see the slippery slope that other people do that will make me want to risk my life by protesting or rioting over something that is so incredibly irrelevant and miniscule in the grand scheme of things.

Maintaining the status quo would be retaining our rights against the government snooping on everything we do. Not the fictitious threat of terrorism destroying the western world.

[DuffMan]

[undercoverbrother]

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

You guys seriously don't believe this nonsense do you? I like Game of Thrones as much as the next guy but there's real life and then there's fiction.

There are tons of examples in history of the US government using the NSA to gather information on their political foes and using it against them.

Nobody remembers Watergate...?

[Azure]

Apparently he has checked out of his hotel in Hong Kong. Some government member in Iceland offered to help him. That would be like icing on the cake.

[Azure]

Here's the relevant text of the amendment:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
So in violating that law, the NSA is violating the constitutional right to privacy provided to Americans.

http://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-s...#ixzz2VpkjzMUA

[icecube]

Anybody who thinks this NSA prism BS is acceptable, needs to have some sense beaten into them with a sledgehammer. I'd love to be the one to do it too.

[opendoor]

I'm always somewhat puzzled by the nonchalant attitude many people have about things like this. I mean, if people are fine with all electronic communications being monitored by the government, then what would be considered an actual invasion of privacy?

Sure, if you're not doing anything wrong you'll probably never even notice, but almost anything could be justified with that logic. What if the government went through your house every day while you were at work? Would it be OK as long they put things back in their place when they were done? I mean, if you have nothing to hide and aren't doing anything illegal then why would you care that a bunch of people are looking through your house, right?

And before anyone bothers, I'm not trying to create a slippery slope argument. I'm just puzzled at what point some people actually feel their rights are being affected.