The NSA Can Collect Everything You've Done On The Net

[Never was]

Hey its your fault for having a 555- number

[Kristy]

The NSA knows I get high.


Oh what news.

[Dr. Love]

Yes spy agencies actually do spy. Prisons actually take away individual freedoms. Corporations really do try to make money. The police really do try to solve crimes after the fact. Teachers do teach. Military actually kill people. Anything else obvious left out.

The NSA is designed specifically to function on grey book ops and to be out of sight of Congress. That is how it was designed. They are functioning as their purpose and intent were. If that purpose is no longer desired then the executive branch and Congress have to completely re-purpose the NSA but as is they are operating as they were created to be not because they are evil because it is what they are.

The NSA was supposed to spy on entities outside of the US, not spy on our own citizens.

[Never was]

No that was the CIA's mandate not the NSA's.
NSA mandate is not geographically defined and publicly opaque by design.
In the most simply breakdown FBI is domestic, CIA is international, Secret service is functional and NSA is global collector internal supplier for other agencies.

[jhale667]

The NSA knows I get high.


Oh what news.

You forgot "legally".

[Seshmeister]

I wonder if this ridiculous level of spying is going to have an impact on US tech firms.

Will people outside the US prefer not to use US companies because of this? It's not something you hear mentioned very often, people may prefer a Swedish based version of Facebook for example or a Canadian Google.

[Dr. Love]

not sure if it matters... if it goes over the net, they get it

[FORD]

[Kristy]

Pseudo-news done by F A T hipsters:

[Nickdfresh]

Yes spy agencies actually do spy. Prisons actually take away individual freedoms. Corporations really do try to make money. The police really do try to solve crimes after the fact. Teachers do teach. Military actually kill people. Anything else obvious left out.

The NSA is designed specifically to function on grey book ops and to be out of sight of Congress. That is how it was designed. They are functioning as their purpose and intent were. If that purpose is no longer desired then the executive branch and Congress have to completely re-purpose the NSA but as is they are operating as they were created to be not because they are evil because it is what they are.

Completely untrue. The NSA has a congressional oversight committee and it's leader has testified (and lied) numerous times to Congress. Just because we have a bunch of mindless, spineless, asslicking Stepford Wife cunts in our Congress that serve as perpetual yes-men to the erosion of civil liberties doesn't mean the NSA has no accountability to them...

[Never was]

Nope without executive order the congressional oversight can not peer into NSA budget due to grey ops and can not go beyond a category level as they can with the FBI or with subpoena the CIA. They can subpoena and ask but nope no ability to peer inside zippo. Don't like it then it must be re-purposed. Yes spies lie, its their job and yes it was need to know. Is that right I'm not saying it is however how and why it was created. Actually your civil liberties were violated way more back in the 70's just not as public, but what the hell lets pretend its new because now we "know".

[FORD]

None of this treasonous fucking bullshit has ever done one thing to actually protect the American people.

[Never was]

Oh man I'm laughing hard at that, thanks for the laugh Ford.

[FORD]

OK, then. Give me a tangible example of how the CIA or the NSA have ever done one fucking thing to help the American people.

Not the "defense" industry.

Not the Likud Zionfascist paranoid desire to be the only goddamned military in the Middle East.

Not the oil companies.

The American PEOPLE.

BTW, you seem just a little too eager to defend these criminals. Are you Agent Zimmerman's replacement, or what?

[Seshmeister]

http://www.straight.com/blogra/data-shows-patriot-act-used-more-often-justify-drug-warrants-not-terrorism-ones

How is the Patriot Act used?



Something seems wrong with this graph (courtesy New York Magazine).


New York Magazine has put out an incredibly detailed compendium of 9/11 information on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attacks that left over 3,000 people dead. The September 11 attacks, as you're well aware, were the impetus (or used as justification, depending on how cynical you are) for pushing through the USA PATRIOT ACT, which was hurriedly signed into law on October 26, 2001.

One of the main focuses of the Uniting (and) Strengthening America (by) Providing Appropriate Tools Required (to) Intercept (and) Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (hereafter known as the Patriot Act, because that name is long and dumb) is Title II, which is all about surveillance. That's right: even though those dastardly terrorists who hate our freedom came from overseas (as was the rhetoric beaten into the collective consciousness post 9/11), the U.S. government thought it was prudent to pass a bunch of surveillance laws so it could spy on its own citizens.

Let me quote the relevant section before we procede:

SEC. 213. AUTHORITY FOR DELAYING NOTICE OF THE EXECUTION OF A WARRANT.

…(b) DELAY- With respect to the issuance of any warrant or court order under this section, or any other rule of law, to search for and seize any property or material that constitutes evidence of a criminal offense in violation of the laws of the United States, any notice required, or that may be required, to be given may be delayed if--

(1) the court finds reasonable cause to believe that providing immediate notification of the execution of the warrant may have an adverse result (as defined in section 2705);

Delayed-notice search warrants: we won't tell you we're breaking into your house to look around if we think there will be adverse results, like you calling up your terrorist buddies to let them know we're on to you.

But between 2006 and 2009, do you know how many times the Patriot Act was used to issue delayed-notice warrants relating to terrorists and related activities? That would be a whole 15 times—even though the act mentions the word terrorism 161 times and terrorism 175 times.

Aside: did you know that not a single person has been brought to justice on American soil for those deaths?

In the same time period, New York Magazine reports that 1,618 delayed-notice search warrants were issued in relation to drugs and related activity. If you had any doubts about the true mandate of the Patriot Act, doubt no longer. Congratulations America on using a senseless tragedy to justify targeting marijuana users!

And why am I concluding that these people are primarily low-level marijuana offenders and not cocaine smugglers or meth manufacturers? The statistics on arrests and imprisonment make it clear: in 2006, 829,627 marijuana-related arrests were made in the United States, 89 percent of which were for mere possession. Not for growing or selling. Just for holding onto the stuff. In 2010, 50,383 arrests were made in New York City alone for possession.

The Patriot Act: great for the War on Drugs, bad for anyone who likes to smoke a joint, laughable in regards to stopping terrorism.