The NSA Knows Who You've Called

Magnifico writes "USAToday is reporting on the National Security Agency's goal to create a database of every call ever made inside the USA. Aided by the cooperation of US telecom corporations, AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, the NSA has been secretly collecting phone call records of tens of millions of Americans; the vast majority of whom aren't suspected of any crime. Only Qwest refused to give the NSA information because they were uneasy about giving information to the government without the proper warrants. The usefulness of the NSA's domestic phone call database as a counterterrorism tool is unclear."

Jamie adds: Traditionally, the devices which record dialed phone numbers are called pen registers, and trap-and-trace devices. The ECPA provided some legal privacy protection. It was controversial when Section 214 of the Patriot Act amended 50 USC 1842 to allow the FBI to record this information with minimal oversight. The Department of Justice has been required for some time to report to Congress the number of pen registers and trap-and-traces, though in recent years [PDF, see question 10] it declared that information classified.

If anyone has information about how the NSA, as opposed to the FBI, has been involved in domestic phone number collection, please post links in the discussion.

In related news, the National Security Agency has closed down an inquiry into the so-called "Terrorist Surveillance Program," a separate program from this one, by refusing to grant security clearance to the lawyers in the Department of Justice. The NSA and the DoJ are both established under the executive.

Comments

The NSA should take aim at Qwest.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Among the big telecommunications companies, only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants.

Qwest's refusal to participate has left the NSA with a hole in its database.

Clearly, Qwest is a nest of terrorists.

I for one suggest NSA take aim at Qwest and bomb them back to to the PSTN-age!

Re:The NSA should take aim at Qwest.

[Lost Penguin]

"But then you m0r0ns re-elected Dubya...you get no sympathy..."

I am from Florida, we never really voted for him to start with!

Re:The NSA should take aim at Qwest.

[raju1kabir]

I'm not so sure Qwest is so innocent. Can someone explain to me why they would be switching people all over their networks? When I first signed up for dsl thru Qwest I had a say 68.x.x.x ip... a couple months later I was put on a 207.x.x.x ip... then again a couple months later I was at a 106.x.x.x... Those aren't the real ip subnets, but the point is, why would I be jumped all over the damn place like that? Usually ISPs set up their ip subnets according to some certain criteria such as geographic location, correct? Why in the world would the be moving massive amounts of people all over the network like that?

For any of a zillion reasons. Maybe they were rationalising their address space utilisation. Maybe they were trying new routing strategies. Maybe they were performing major network upgrades and were trying to simplify the cutover. Maybe the Mossad made them do it.

Perhaps it's an invalid conclusion but I assumed they were doing the same shit AT&T has already done... cutting people over to the NSA watchboxes...

I think you're definitely onto something there. The NSA has satellites that can count your sperm from space, but they do not have the technology to intercept network traffic without changing everyone's IP addresses twice.

Reminds me of all those people in Silicon Valley who got their area codes changed from 415 to 650 a few years back. The party line, what Hillary Clinton would have you believe, was that 415 was full (yeah, and so was 68.x.x.x, am I right? Am I right? Dude!). You and I know better, though: It was the only way the NSA could start tapping all the phone lines south of San Bruno and find out when eHaircut.com was going to IPO.

The good news is that I still have the same IP address, so I know that the NSA isn't monitoring any of my traffic.

Re:Oh, the Abuses We'll See!

[Jon Luckey]

it's a hop skip and a jump to a prosecutor saying "we have records showing you called your mother on such and such date prompting her to call her hair dresser who has been forwarding money to his family living in Mexico that has ties to Islamic Extremist groups!"

Then the government would have to explain why it has not captured the mastermind who lies at the heart of this six degreed web of terror:

Kevin Bacon.

Message from the NSA

[pubjames]

Dear Osama,

please can you start using the telephone more often? We're having real trouble finding where you are! It would help if you phoned one of your relatives, spoke loudly and clearly into the phone, and if you can say a few of our keywords that would be great.

Thanks!

The NSA

I guess I'm in trouble now.....

[8127972]

.... as they likely know about my 1-900 phone sex habit.

Re:At least a tech sector storage boom?

[denissmith]

They've even got the first call logged: " Watson, come here I need you!", they are really that good! And you thought American Intelligence agencies were bumbling idiots who couldn't predict disastrous events if our lives depended on it.

Re:Oh, the Abuses We'll See!

[OwnedByTwoCats]

What degree of "fan out" do you need to go from one to 6 billion in six easy steps?

Fans of Douglas Adams rejoice: 42. And a little bit.

Numbers don't add up...

[Xichekolas]

"a database of every call ever made inside the USA" ... "has been secretly collecting phone call records of tens of millions of Americans"

Man, there are waaaay more than 10 million Americans... but I guess they probably have no reason to record the calls of the Religious Right or people watching Fox News... since they are good little toadies... so that probably cuts it down to size...

All your speed dial...

[rahlquist]

are belong to us!

Re:Oh, the Abuses We'll See!

[Anonymous Coward]

When I read your "You're arrested as a suspect for a crime you didn't commit" I immediately got the A-team tune in my head: Taaaaaa Ta Taaaaaa, Ta Ta Taaaaaa, Tatera-tatataaaaa, Taatadada-dadaaaa, ...

George Carlin

[spidrw]

This reminds me of an old small bit from George Carlin: "I had a friend who knew his phone was being tapped, so he always answered 'F*** Hoover...'" Great stuff.

Re:Oh, the Abuses We'll See!

[dr_dank]

Laugh all you want, but Bacon has inflicted his insidious brand of terror on one upright community, yours may be next.

Mom

[VickiM]

Great, now I'll have the NSA at my door, asking me why I haven't called my mother recently and making me feel bad...

Re:Oh, the Abuses We'll See!

[Rob the Bold]

No, in the eyes of the government, we are all assets, and are protected as such. Any asset or group of asset wishing to upset the status quo is moved to the basement, the same way I had to move my circa 1970 pole lamp because it clashed with, well, everything.

Retro is hot these days. That pole lamp, like witch hunts and covert surveillance, is coming back in style.

Subversive elements

[Aceticon]

Obviously this information is going to be used to track down subversive elements and their accomplices.

Thus members of environmentalist organisations, members of anti-war movements, members of anti-globalization movements, anybody that was a whistle-blowers of an illegal behaviour by a big corporation, anybody that's neither a registered Republican nor a registered Democrat and anybody that ever downloaded an MP3 from a P2P network.

Anybody that believes that State Surveilance organizations exist (be it in a "democratic" state or not) to protected the citizens instead of what they actual do which is defended the status quo and the existing power structures (also known as "protecting stability") can e-mail me 'cause i can sell you the location of my secret gold mine in the middle of the Atlantic.

Re:9-11 was a wet dream come true for the governme

[FoogyFoo]

Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism, OMG TERRORISM!!!!!!!!!!!

oh man, I read that like Ballmer's "developers, developers, developers, developers"

I have a sudden image in my head of Bush prancing around repeating endlessly:

Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism, Terrorism...

Re:There was, you stupid fuck.

[HTH NE1]

It's called THE OTHER CANDIDATE.

You mean Kodos?

Ahem.

[Grendel Drago]

Please speak directly into the flowerpot, sir...

Re:This is not a troll..........

[cherokee158]

Yeah, well, we would travel the world more if they would just let us get onto the airplane...

I think my luggage made it to New Zealand once, though.