Thread: Privacy Alert! Big Brother is watching and listening, UPDATED

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Jailed Qwest CEO claimed that NSA retaliated because he wouldn’t participate in spy program

In court papers filed during his 2007 insider trading trial, former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio claimed that Denver-based Qwest was denied lucrative NSA contracts he believed to be worth $50-$100 million, after Nacchio refused to involve Qwest in a secret NSA program that he thought would be illegal.Subsequent reporting at the time revealed that it was a domestic wiretapping program in which the NSA wanted to snoop on Qwest’s vast telephone network without court orders.President George W. Bush’s administration has said that warrantless wiretapping only began after 9/11, as part of the NSA’s Terrorist Surveillance Program.

Sources familiar with the request to Qwest, quoted anonymously in the New York Times in 2007, “say the arrangement could have permitted neighborhood-by-neighborhood surveillance of phone traffic without a court order, which alarmed them.”Nacchio claimed that the NSA retaliated for his refusal by leaving Qwest out of a $2 billion NSA infrastructure program called Groundbreaker, which was split among numerous contractors, including Verizon.

Verizon, it was recently revealed, was required by court order to give the NSA telephone records from millions of its customer as part of a sweeping surveillance program.Nacchio revealed these details in court papers in an attempt to show that he didn’t dump Qwest stock in 2001 because he knew the company was going to post poor performance results in the future. Rather, he suspected the company would benefit from participating in Groundbreaker, which he discussed with NSA personnel in Washington D.C. on Feb. 27, 2001.

But Nacchio’s court filing says NSA officials also sought his participation in the other program, the details of which were redacted in the document, a motion for the court to allow Nacchio to testify about the meeting as part of his defense.“[O]ne purpose of bringing Messrs. Nacchio and [Qwest Senior Vice President James] Payne into the February 27, 2001 meeting was to [redacted] and stated that Qwest was subsequently denied any agency work as a direct result of Mr. Nacchio’s refusal,” the document reads.In an interview with prosecutors, a portion of which was included in the court filing, Payne said NSA officials would bring up the secret program frequently and that they “expressed disappointment” that Qwest wouldn’t participate.

“Nacchio said it was a legal issue and that they could not do something their general counsel told them not to do,” Payne said. “Nacchio projected that he might do it if he could find a way to do it legally.”“There was a feeling also,” he continued,” that the NSA acted as agents for other governmental agencies and if Qwest frustrated the NSA, they would also frustrate other agencies.
Ultimately, this argument wasn’t allowed in open court because the judge didn’t feel there was enough of a connection between the refusal to join the NSA program and Qwest not winning the Groundbreaker contract. Nacchio’s allegations didn’t come to light until the documents were unsealed six months after he was convicted in April 2007.He was found guilty on 19 counts of insider trading and sentenced to six years. He was also fined $19 million and ordered to forfeit $52 million he made on his stock trade.

Nacchio’s lawyer, Herbert Stern, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/13/ja...n-spy-program/

Exclusive: Inside Account of U.S. Eavesdropping on Americans

This is back from Oct. 9, 2008.


The accounts of the two former intercept operators, who have never met and did not know of the other's allegations, provide the first inside look at the day to day operations of the huge and controversial US terrorist surveillance program.
"There is a constant check to make sure that our civil liberties of our citizens are treated with respect," said President Bush at a news conference this past February.
But the accounts of the two whistleblowers, which could not be independently corroborated, raise serious questions about how much respect is accorded those Americans whose conversations are intercepted in the name of fighting terrorism.
US Soldier's 'Phone Sex' Intercepted, Shared

Faulk says he and others in his section of the NSA facility at Fort Gordon routinely shared salacious or tantalizing phone calls that had been intercepted, alerting office mates to certain time codes of "cuts" that were available on each operator's computer.
"Hey, check this out," Faulk says he would be told, "there's good phone sex or there's some pillow talk, pull up this call, it's really funny, go check it out. It would be some colonel making pillow talk and we would say, 'Wow, this was crazy'," Faulk told ABC News.
Faulk said he joined in to listen, and talk about it during breaks in Back Hall's "smoke pit," but ended up feeling badly about his actions.

Much more at link:


http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?...1#.Ub5mr5zzWuk

http://www.alipac.us/f19/fascist-rev...-allen-281214/

http://www.alipac.us/f9/meet-prism-u...ration-280302/

TUESDAY, JUNE 18

Komrades! The IRS scandal is no longer of importance to any of you

Yes Komrades, it is true. The regime has decided for you that this news is no longer important. Instead we will be showing you this clip of Gilligan's Island to properly instill within you the best way to live collectively and give all you have(nothing) to the Motherland. Be sure to take notes and memorize the Gilligan's Island clip below. After 48 hours you will hear, see and know nothing but what is best for your fellow komrades and the above all else, THE MOTHERLAND! PatriotUSA

Steer in: BC from I'm 41

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Big Three Networks Have Stopped Reporting on IRS Scandal

By Warner Todd Hutson

Apparently the Big Three TV networks have decided that the IRS intimidation scandal is over and it seems that reporting on the issue has disappeared from the airwaves.

When the story first broke after IRS official Lois Lerner admitted that the taxing agency had unfairly targeted conservatives and Tea Party groups seeking a tax status, the Big Three jumped into the story with both feet. But now, only a month later, coverage of the matter has slowed to a trickle.

A new review by the Media Research Center of the first month of coverage of the IRS scandal shows that three quarters of the stories hit in the first two weeks after the news broke.

MRC analysts reviewed each of the morning and evening newscasts on ABC, CBS and NBC from May 10 through June 12 (ABC’s World News, Good Morning America, CBS’s Evening News and This Morning, and NBC’s Nightly News and Today show), and found 127 full stories, interviews or anchor briefs that focused on the IRS scandal. Analysts determined that 76 percent of the IRS stories were aired within the first two weeks, while 24 percent of the stories arrived in the latter period, a huge drop-off.

MRC found that CBS hit the story the most (49 stories), while NBC came in second (at 44), with ABC brining up the tail (with 34).

Finally, during the week of June 10, only one mention of the scandal was heard anywhere on network TV.

The main angle the Big Three took while reporting the IRS scandal was to note that it was damaging to Obama’s reputation and his presidency. Perhaps, then, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the networks completely dropped the story as quickly as possible to give Obama time to recover.

Source is here from CFP.

The motherland will now return you to our only scheduled program! This is INTENTIONALLY very short so you can immediately return to your assigned farm, factory, ministry of propaganda, institute of learning(Gulag), or mass graveyard to await your final assignment.

Be sure to bring your own gloves, shovel, rake or hoe. These were issued to you at birth along with your state issued decoder(tracking)chip permanently implanted on the back of left hand. DO NOT stop to think, talk independently or with other komrades. The welfare of the MOTHERLAND has been and will always be, the only matter of importance to any of you.

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http://conservativeblogscentral.blog...longer-of.html

No, NSA Spying Did NOT Prevent a Terror Attack on Wall Street

Submitted by George Washington on 06/18/2013 23:11 -0400

• Barack Obama
• FBI
• Iran
• national security
• New York Stock Exchange
• Obama Administration
• Transparency

In response to the revelation that the NSA has been illegally spying on all Americans for more than a decade, NSA chief General Keith Alexander claimed that the spying prevented a terrorist attack on Wall Street and the New York subway.

There’s only one problem: the claim is completely false.

The Christian Science Monitor notes today:

According to officials at the House Intelligence hearing, this plan was caught when the NSA was using its Internet intercept authority to monitor the communications of a known extremist in Yemen.

This suspect, in turn, was in contact with an individual in the United States named Khalid Ouazzani. Thus warned, theFBI investigated Mr. Ouazzani through traditional law enforcement methods, and discovered a burgeoning plot to bomb the NYSE.

“Ouazzani had been providing information and support to this plot,” FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce told lawmakers.

However, Mr. Ouazzani pleaded guilty to providing material support – in his case, money – to Al Qaeda, not to terror planning. His May 2010 plea agreement makes no mention of anything related to the New York Stock Exchange, or any bomb plot, notes David Kravets in Wired magazine.

Plus, Ouazzani’s defense attorney said Tuesday the stock market allegation was news to him.

“Khalid Ouazzani was not involved in any plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange,” attorney Robin Fowler told Wired.

How much did this bad guy give Al Qaeda? $23,000 total.

The other publicly-discussed disrupted terror plot – on the New York subway – was also not really due to government’s overbroad spying program.

The Associated Press reports:

Little was offered to substantiate claims that the programs have been successful in stopping acts of terrorism that would not have been caught with narrower surveillance. In the New York subway bombing case, President Barack Obama conceded the would-be bomber might have been caught with less sweeping surveillance.

The Christian Science Monitor notes of the New York subway case:

As to the New York subway plot, it was discovered not by analysis of vast amounts of Internet data of foreign users, but rather by old-fashioned police work, according to The Guardian ….

In addition, the Guardian pointed out:

Lawyers and intelligence experts with direct knowledge of two intercepted terrorist plots that the Obama administration says confirm the value of the NSA’s vast data-mining activities have questioned whether the surveillance sweeps played a significant role ….

Indeed, top security experts say that mass surveillance does not help keep us safe.

Glenn Greenwald notes:

This is just the same playbook that U.S. government officials have been using for the last five decades whenever anything gets done that brings small amounts of transparency to the bad conduct that they do in the dark. They immediately accuse those who brought that transparency of jeopardizing national security. They try and scare the American public into believing that they’ve been placed at risk and that the only way they can stay safe is to trust the people in power to do whatever it is they want to do without any kinds of constraints, accountability or light of any kind.

Postscript: Mr. Ouazzani giving $23,000 to Al Qaeda is indeed a crime. He supported Al Qaeda, and was rightly prosecuted and convicted for that crime. But given that the American government has been providing arms, money and logistical support to Al Qaeda in Syria, Libya, Mali, Bosnia and other countries – and related Muslim terrorists in Chechnya, Iran, and many other countries – Mr. Ouazzani’s support for terrorism seems rather small in comparison.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed...ck-wall-street

The Constitution Doesn't Guarantee Safety, It Guarantees Privacy

Obama says Americans can't have "100 percent security and 100 percent privacy".

Video and Article at the Page Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2013/06/...guarantee.html

Sen. Rand Paul: Clapper Should Be Fired or Forced to Resign


Tuesday, 18 Jun 2013 11:41 PM
By Paul Scicchitano

Republican Sen. Rand Paul called on President Obama to oust his embattled Director of National Intelligence on Tuesday, insisting that James Clapper told a “bald-faced lie” when he assured the Senate the administration was not collecting data on millions of Americans.

Appearing on Fox News' “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” the Kentuckian also said that President Barack Obama appears to be “losing the moral authority to lead the nation” based on the plethora of scandals facing his administration.

“The president is really hurting in a big way right now,” said Paul. “We had the IRS scandal. Then he targeted Fox reporters and AP reporters, the Benghazi investigation — no one was fired — and now we have this snooping where his director of national intelligence looks at the Senate and says, ‘I’m not keeping or collecting any Americans’ information.”

Clapper was testifying at a March Senate hearing in which he was asked whether the NSA collects any type of data on millions — or hundreds of millions — of Americans.

In recent days Clapper described his earlier response as “the most truthful or least untruthful manner” he could have answered the question.

Paul said he does not believe that Clapper will be able to bridge his credibility gap with lawmakers.

“I don’t know how he can regain his credibility when he lied outright to Congress,” said Paul, who cautioned that Americans should not be quick to judge NSA leaker Edward Snowden, who called national attention to NSA’s secret surveillance of phone calls and emails.

Paul had previously said that in some ways Snowden performed a “noble gesture,” but he reserved judgment as to whether the 29-year-old should be tracked down and brought to justice or honored for his act of civil disobedience.

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Sen...6/18/id/510641

Massive NSA Eavesdropping of Domestic Communications

Oh yes they are listening to our phone calls, Barry. (Note: Read Matt Vespa's update to this story. Rep. Nadler apparently misspoke.)I guess all the defenders of the NSA PRISM and phone-record surveillance programs will now try to tell us that this latest revelation, that the NSA listens in on our phone calls and monitors emails, text messages, and IM chats — all without a warrant — is the price we pay for preventing terrorist attacks.
Not only don’t they need a warrant, says the DoJ, but low-level analysts can make the decision to listen to our phone calls for any reason they want.



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.”
The NSA yesterday declined to comment to CNET. A representative said Nadler was not immediately available. (This is unrelated to last week’s disclosure that the NSA is currently collecting records of the metadata of all domestic Verizon calls, but not the actual contents of the conversations.)

The NSA has between 500,000 and one million numbers on their target list — perhaps more. All electronic communications belonging to these people are recorded.
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 breaking of trust with the American people that has occurred in your administration.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2013/06/16...ommunications/