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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.
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.