NSA Whistleblowers Reveal Extent of Eavesdropping

ma11achy was one of several readers to write about claims made by two former military intercept operators who worked for the NSA that "Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home." Ars Technica has a brief report as well, and reader net_shaman adds a link to Glenn Greenwald's opinion piece on the eavesdropping at Salon.

Comments

"No way," they said.

[magus_melchior]

("they" being Bushies)

"There's no way they're spying on us, using 'terrorism' as an excuse!"

Then we found out that Cheney, Rice, Wolfowitz, Bush, McCain, Rove, and a whole host of Bush administration people lied about WMDs in Iraq, and the al Qaeda connection.

Lying, it seems, is a job requirement in the Bush administration.

Of course, most public offices require deception in some form, but do they really and regularly lie in such a blatant way?

Re:What happened to my country?

[Qrlx]

Come on, the Second Amendment isn't about shooting politicians, despite the Slashdot bias towards that little chunk of Libertarian mythology.

If you look at the history and discussion from back in the day, the people's right to bear arms was granted in order to maintain slavery. That's what the militia was for; to put down a slave uprising.

If people couldn't own guns they would have a much harder time holding slaves, that should be quite obvious.

Re:Terrible reporting. A little perspective...

[PopeRatzo]

"the intercepts helped identify possible terror planning in Iraq and saved American lives."

If you believe that, I've got some WMDs to sell you. I'll give you a great price, but you'll have to pick them up in Iraq yourself.

Re:What happened to my country?

[PopeRatzo]

If everybody's armed, nobody can oppress.

If they've got a great big gun and you've got a little bitty gun, I've got news for you: You can be oppressed.

Re:What happened to my country?

[blhack]

they have consistently voted to turn this country into a surveillance state to a degree comparable to Communist Russia, or the very same current China that these very same elected officials reprimanded Google and Yahoo for complying with.

It must really suck to see the world like this.

Honestly, the world is NOT out to get you. Bush is NOT hiding under you bed.
You might seriously have some psychological problems if you feel this way, I would suggest consulting a psychiatrist because it sounds like you a borderline paranoid schizophrenic.

I suggest less internet and more "talking to other human beings". You'll find that the world is actually a much more pleasant place that it appears from behind whatever filter you're watching it through.

Re:Terrible reporting. A little perspective...

[PopeRatzo]

How many times have you been sitting at somebody's desk, and Outlook happily pops up a new message that came into the inbox, you SHOULDN'T BE READING THAT!!!! How many times have you looked through maillog and seen the to and from on a bunch of mail messages, thats private data, dude! Ever had to do recovery on a dead drive and seen some pictures that weren't explicitly sent to you? Ever been poking through a squid log and seen a few of the gets that people are doing?

Honestly, never.

Maybe you are less like the "vast majority of us" than you think.

Republicans are Fascists

[cc_pirate]

Well, at least GWB and Cheney are.

Need more proof? PATRIOT Act, Guantanamo, waterboarding, illegal wiretaps, TSA, Homeland (sound like Fatherland to you too?) Security, etc., etc., etc.

I used to be a Republican until GWB. Never again.