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Other Agencies Clamor For Data NSA Compiles
schwit1 writes "The National Security Agency's dominant role as the nation's spy warehouse has spurred frequent tensions and turf fights with other federal intelligence agencies that want to use its surveillance tools for their own investigations, officials say. Agencies working to curb drug trafficking, cyberattacks, money laundering, counterfeiting and even copyright infringement complain that their attempts to exploit the security agency's vast resources have often been turned down because their own investigations are not considered a high enough priority, current and former government officials say. Intelligence officials say they have been careful to limit the use ... for fear they could be misused in ways that violate Americans' privacy rights."
The DEA is getting the data and then falsifying the source of the data. And not telling the court or anyone about it. To protect national security is one thing, but to conduct non-national security operations using the data seems to me to be a blatant violation of the constitution.
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
Not a surprise at all. This is the problem with the nation of a bazillion laws that we live in. Selective enforcement of laws that everybody violates can be used to easily justify any raid/seizure/etc.
Suppose a police vehicle uses listening equipment without a warrant to listen in on random houses to find evidence of drug manufacture. Any data they collect would be thrown out of court, as well as any follow-on evidence (fruit of the poisonous tree and all that). So, when the police find a home engaged in drug use using such methods they don't document it in any way.
They then setup surveillance of the home, completely off the books. They figure out when the drugs go in and out and all that. Maybe they just go up the chain for bigger fish and never bust the house. If they do want to bust the house, they send an officer down the street right when something is going on, and they happen to notice some suspicious behavior (could be a car parked more than 6" from the curb, grass that is too tall, whatever - with so many laws on the books you can ALWAYS find something to be an excuse for an investigation). When they knock on the door they happen to notice through the window something suspicious, so they act. The official story is that the police got lucky but everything that is presented to the court is legal.
What is boils down to, can the data be stored "securely". Terrorist threats are one thing, but using the snooping data to chase after some 15 year old kid who might want to download the latest Black Sabbath CD via ISO for an example case in the civil courts is another.
One has to remember in the US, there is a very strong prison lobby. 48 out of 50 states in the US have signed an agreement to keep bed occupancy in private prisons at 90% or face fines by the hour.
Judges, DAs, and other elected officials also get elected or ejected depending on how many people are tossed in the cooler.
With this in mind, if a county DA was able to get ahold of this info, they can do mass arrests, be it cell phone logs of people at a park after dark for criminal trespass, logs of people suspected of a drug deal since they were in the same area when one went down (and that is good enough for arrest due to suspician), someone griping about a public official on a private call to a friend being run in for threats, or even something as stupid as a flash mob going to a place can be considered collusion or conspiracy (with felony charges.)
Then, there are always international treaties. Someone griping about a new mosque to a friend can be extradited to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or Pakistan for blasphemy charges and have their head hacked off. Right now, Americans have not had the pleasure of being sent to another nation, but who is to say this isn't going to happen, especially now that the US is behind the barrel in the diplomatic arena?
Don't say it is "fruit of the poisoned tree" either. Judges in the US have to have a conviction ratio above a certain percentage or else they will be replaced by ones that do, so one can be not guilty, and still get convicted because the judge knows that it will cause him/her to lose their job.
Oh, don't give me the "if you didn't break any laws, you have nothing to worry about" line. It can take one TOS violation at some dumbass website that you didn't put in your correct name and address for someone to wind up facing Federal charges, or a mere mention of smoking marijuana can be evidence enough for a possession case.
The acid test will be if the NSA can keep their information bottled up, or if many Americans in the future wake up to the US version of the "knock on the door" for something long since forgotten about. However in the US, it won't be a knock on the door; it will be a door off the hinges, and either a 12 gauge or a .40 semi auto pointed at the head of the person and others at their family.
So, they don't use this data to curb drug trafficking, money laundering, cyberattacks. And it turned out that only one terrorist plot was POSSIBLY curbed with all this giant spying operation. This is enough to convince me that governments, banksters and corporations around it are using this surveillance to keep themselves in power and control US population regardless of how much fraud and outright crimes will the government do. From the beginning this had nothing to do with safety of ordinary americans and has everything to do with protecting corrupt, criminal US elites from US population. They don't give a crap about our safety or well being - should they care, they wouldn't defund and dismantle local police and fire departments just to ensure their fellow banksters have bigger profits (thanks to bailouts). They built this monster for the same exact reason STASI built its apparatus. Everything this surveillance would do to benefit citizens is regarded as unnecessary cost and we know what corporate aparatchics and their government cronies do with such "excess costs".
I guess the premise of your answer just melted ;)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/05/dea-surveillance-cover-up_n_3706207.html
Next stop: IP / Copyright enforcement. Oh wait, you can ask Kim DotCom about how that went.
Turns out criminals aren't the only people who thinks doing it the illegal way is an easier way to get the job done / get rich.