“I’m tired of my government harassing me and violating the Constitution. Yes, I’ll talk to you.” – William Binney
STELLAR WIND is the N.S.A.’s top-secret domestic spying program that took off after 9/11. The short video above gives you a primer. It’s important to note this reality as the commemoration of 9/11 approaches, to remind ourselves what we surrendered that day, which both Republican and Democratic presidents continue to enforce.
From a New York Times article back in late August:
“The decision must have been made in September 2001,” Mr. Binney told me and the cinematographer Kirsten Johnson. “That’s when the equipment started coming in.” In this Op-Doc, Mr. Binney explains how the program he created for foreign intelligence gathering was turned inward on this country. He resigned over this in 2001 and began speaking out publicly in the last year. He is among a group of N.S.A. whistle-blowers, including Thomas A. Drake, who have each risked everything — their freedom, livelihoods and personal relationships — to warn Americans about the dangers of N.S.A. domestic spying.
[...] The 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which oversees the N.S.A. activities, are up for renewal in December. Two members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, both Democrats, are trying to revise the amendments to insure greater privacy protections. They have been warning about “secret interpretations” of laws and backdoor “loopholes” that allow the government to collect our private communications. Thirteen senators have signed a letter expressing concern about a “loophole” in the law that permits the collection of United States data. The A.C.L.U. and other groups have also challenged the constitutionality of the law, and the Supreme Court will hear arguments in that case on Oct. 29.
Osama bin Laden is dead, but his lasting legacy is how We the People willingly allowed his threats to change this country forever.
For quite some time I’ve followed the whole “homeland security” fiasco, with new spy centers and growing domestic use of drones two key pieces. What’s happening is very serious, very fundamental, and closely related to another topic I frequently focus on: the militarization of law enforcement. When I’ve posted at TM about this, it’s almost always one of the topics that results in some good conversation in the Comments.
There is so much going on right now. I remember when investigating a person’s Library account was a major concern. What is going on now is much more serious. I do not understand why the Government is so obsessed “to protect us” and at the same time refuse to protect our borders. Border security is a joke. I will never believe that our Government is serious about protecting us until our borders are secure.
I consider PC World to be a very neutral source on this subject. PC as in personal computers, not the other PC.
How the feds are tracking us
By Christina DesMarais, PCWorld Sep 8, 2012 11:44 AM
Evidence continues to mount that the U.S. government is keen on tracking its citizens.
“The FBI has started rolling out its $1 billion biometric Next Generation Identification (NGI) system, a nationwide database of mug shots, iris scans, DNA samples, voice recordings, palm prints, and other biometrics collected from more than 100 million Americans and intended to help identify and catch criminals.”
http://tinyurl.com/8fekuv3
This article mentions: NGI system will allow photo submissions independent of arrests. ,
TrapWire lets both public and private sector users contribute to counter-terrorism and anti-crime efforts, Apple IDs pilfered from an FBI laptop – A hacker collective known as AntiSec this week published more than a million UDIDs, Legislation pending in the U.S. Congress—CISPA in the House and SECURE IT in the Senate—aims to protect the U.S. from cyberterrorism but would actually make it easier for the government to spy on people. The measures would allow companies to share users’ private data with the government without a warrant or any oversight.
What we know is scary enough, I don’t want to imagine what “OUR” Government is doing that we do not know about.
One of the most interesting / frightening things is how unconcerned and matter of fact Electeds and others are about all of this. Mutter “homeland security” and move on to the next expansion of domestic use of drones …
Big Brother has been here for some time….unfortunately most Americans have no problem with it until they get bitten!
Yep. Having Big Brother around is absolutely nothing new. And yep, it doesn’t seem to worry “most Americans” until it’s an in-your-face encounter.
Too many Americans still buy the “we’re number one, we’re the best” propaganda!