Oh Yes They Are Listening To Our Phone Calls, Barry

[bonnie]

Oh Yes They Are Listening To Our Phone Calls, Barry

Rick Moran

Shocking revelation from Capitol Hill where it was revealed at a Judiciary Committee hearing that the NSA can listen to the content of domestic phone calls of American citizens without a warrant. Further, the decision to listen to those calls can be made by a low level analyst.

CNET:

The 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.

Because the same legal standards that apply to phone calls also apply to e-mail messages, text messages, and instant messages, Nadler's disclosure indicates the NSA analysts could also access the contents of Internet communications without going before a court and seeking approval.

The disclosure appears to confirm some of the allegations made by Edward Snowden, a former NSA infrastructure analyst who leaked classified documents to the Guardian. Snowden said in a video interview that, while not all NSA analysts had this ability, he could from Hawaii "wiretap anyone from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president."

There are serious "constitutional problems" with this approach, said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has litigated warrantless wiretapping cases. "It epitomizes the problem of secret laws."

You have to read the whole Declan McCullagh article to get the depth of the penetration of our privacy by the NSA and the lack of safeguards to prevent serious abuses of the system.

This isn't "monitoring." This isn't "scanning." This is eavesdropping -- exactly what President Obama denied when he said "Nobody is listening to your phone calls." Oh, yes they are, Barry, and lying about it is about the most egregious breach of trust with the American people that has occurred in your administration.

The government is out of control and it's an open question whether enough can be done to salvage our constitutional liberties.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013...l#ixzz2WQdkymLq

[Guest]

Good article Bonnie. Or maybe I should say, revealing article. I e-mailed it to a friend that I work with.

[LifeHiscost]

Here's a comment from a group that was badmouthed by one of the posters on CA, which just goes to show, there's a little bit of good in all of us just waiting to get out.

"For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him. "

Romans 12:4 RSV

Quote:

http://hsionline.com/frequently-asked-questions/

Dear Reader,

CNN. MSNBC. Even Fox News!

They're all reporting that a majority of Americans don't care about their phone records being hijacked by the government.

Sure they said that...but probably only because of the way the question was asked.

I bet it was something like: If general phone records help us hunt down and capture terrorists-- and save Americans-- do you mind if the government has access to those records?

You'd practically have to be a member of Al Qaeda to disagree!

OF COURSE people are going to say it's okay...that they'd rather be safe than sorry.

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(Personal) Space Invaders

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But there's nothing safe about it and we will all be sorry if we don't put an end to it ASAP.

I think most people realize this goes WAY beyond investigating terrorism. And it's the first step down a very slippery slope...one that makes Watergate look like an old-fashioned game of telephone with a string and two cans.

The information they are collecting on us is vast. It isn't just phone records. It's phone records, Google searches, Facebook posts, YouTube videos and so much more.

It's an enormous trove of permanent, searchable and highly personal data. So there are all sorts of ways bureaucrats, companies and even employers can misuse it.

Just imagine how this private but potentially valuable information might be used down the road-- for companies willing to pay for it.

What if you made a phone call while you were driving? Maybe that data will go straight to Allstate.

Or if you used WebMD or Google to search for information on health issues and someone let it "slip" to Blue Cross?

What if you called a crisis hotline-- even for a friend-- and it got back to your boss?

Suddenly, this innocent little data gathering that was supposed to protect you from evil terrorists could ruin your life...in mere seconds.

And you might not even be the one doing it! Has anyone else ever used your phone or computer? Ever?

Government having unfettered access to our personal information isn't just invasive, it is dangerous. And the more than half of people that say they don't care will see just how dangerous when it is used against them.

Tracking our online communication, posts and interests won't prevent terrorism. It will just create a new government-sponsored brand of it.

So if the Obama administration wants to know who you're calling or emailing, make it easy. Call the White House, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and your own senator and representative. Send them all tons of email. And DEMAND that they stop stealing and storing your private information at once!

A government OF the people, BY the people, FOR the people should NOT do this TO the people.

God cares!

[joeb]

Here's a comment from a group that was badmouthed by one of the posters on CA, which just goes to show, there's a little bit of good in all of us just waiting to get out.

LOL. And here I was wanting that "little bit of good" in me would stick around and grow into a "lot of good" in me. Now you tell me that the good in me is trying to get away.....

[LifeHiscost]

Quote:

LOL. And here I was wanting that "little bit of good" in me would stick around and grow into a "lot of good" in me. Now you tell me that the good in me is trying to get away.....

I never stopped to think there was more than one way to pick up on that comment.

God cares!

[joeb]

Quote:

LOL. And here I was wanting that "little bit of good" in me would stick around and grow into a "lot of good" in me. Now you tell me that the good in me is trying to get away.....

I never stopped to think there was more than one way to pick up on that comment.

God cares!

It's just my obtuse brain. I love playing with words. Puns, the drier the better, double entendres both intended and unintended, etc... are my natural element. I see them everywhere. Most people think I'm nuts because of how I'll respond to things because they just can't follow it. It's like the thread in the Townhall about practical jokes. I said I love practical jokes, but I don't think anyone really got the joke.

[LifeHiscost]

I've heard that God has a sense of humor, otherwise He wouldn't have created the dodo bird.

"A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones."Proverbs 17:22 NKJV

And that's substantiated by science now.

Quote:

Most people think I'm nuts because of how I'll respond to things because they just can't follow it.

BTW, I have a friend that has taught highschool for 30 years and I'm affected the same way by him. However I've never known anyone more desirous of doing what he believes God wants of him.

God cares!

[joeb]

I've heard that God has a sense of humor, otherwise He wouldn't have created the dodo bird.

"A merry heart does good, like medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones."Proverbs 17:22 NKJV

And that's substantiated by science now.

BTW, I have a friend that has taught highschool for 30 years and I'm affected the same way by him. However I've never known anyone more desirous of doing what he believes God wants of him.

God cares!

God definitely has a sense of humor. There's too many things in our world that show this truth. The fact that the Bible says what it does about laughter and a merry heart is just the icing on the cake.

We were created in God's image and we, most of us anyway, have some kind of a sense of humor inbred into us. Some of us have a wider range to our sense of humor than others do, but a sense of humor is pretty universal to the human race.

[CyberGuy]

Several years ago my brother in law was thrown in jail on trumped up charges of racketeering. Their was a 800,000 fine and the feds believed he had money stashed overseas. He did not but for a year or more there was a strange clicking on the phone. We all concluded that the phone was bugged and nothing was discussed about Richards case on the home phone. My sister joked that the feds must have gotten bored to tears listening to the hours upon hours of her daughters talking about their boyfriends to their girlfriends. After a year the strange clicking stopped. I supposed the bugging was stopped as they finally realized there was no money overseas and never was.

Still I told my sister in person and at a public restaurant with lots of background noise that all her phone both cell and home phone and possibly her emails may be watched and say nothing that she did not care the feds to know.

You see the feds would take some innocent thing that was said and make a federal case that something sinister was going on.

Now that case is 8 years behind us and my brother in law is out of jail and finished his probation. Still this case proves that the feds have the ability to listen in with or without a warrant.

Never trust the feds on anything. Our government is getting more and more facist each year. Our freedoms are being eroded and taken from us without congress or the courts approval.

This president has done more to erode our freedoms and even stockpiling millions of round of hollow point ammo and buying thousands of armored vehicles for Homeland security. Also buying thousands of full body armor for homeland security agents. It is said that homeland security is telling various police departments to be prepared to wage war on American citizens in the case of civil unrest that Homeland Security said is coming. When that day comes you have to be prepared to fire on American men women and children homeland security has told our police departments.

This comes from family members who our in local police departments.

That is scary. Our own government preparing to wage war on American citzens. Is it any wonder our government is trying so hard to disarm americans.