Slashdot Mirror
NSA Broke Privacy Rules Thousands of Times Per Year, Audit Finds
NettiWelho writes "The Washington Post reports: The National Security Agency has broken privacy rules or overstepped its legal authority thousands of times each year since Congress granted the agency broad new powers in 2008, according to an internal audit and other top-secret documents. Most of the infractions involve unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States, both of which are restricted by law and executive order. They range from significant violations of law to typographical errors that resulted in unintended interception of U.S. e-mails and telephone calls."
broad new powers
Anyone else reminded of the Tuttle/Buttle debacle in Brazil?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Now congress HAS to do something about it!
Yeah. They're going to increase the NSA budget so they can implement an internal office of surveillance review or something like that.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
If they violated the law, lock them up.
Then again, they probably have enough blackmail on the congress critters to keep their program hush hush.
Time to go back to "sneakernet" and face-to-face communications. Since we now know that even encrypting your data may not be a fool-proof way to secure our communications from prying governement/corporatocracy eyes.
We might as well shred the Constitution and start over again. Our governement "by the people and for the people" doesn't abide by it anyway. :-(
Don't worry, they're on it! I'm sure they've already got broad bipartisan support for passing a bill imposing harsher penalties on leakers and countries who shelter them.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
The question left is, what are we(the people) going to do about it?
Next time, they'll vote for Kodos instead.
The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
Just walk in the street... most of them will be surprised that you tell that, and then they go back to their normal lives, forgetting about this. Even if worried, the next time Obama shows up and tell them to relax that everything is fine and give fake promises they will accept that without discussion, not doing anything against it, and surely keep voting for the same party as before, that whichever it was won't do anything against this, and a lot towards getting more power/funds to this.
We (the people) gave them a little power, and they grossly over stepped the bounds.
I don't think it is useful to exaggerate. We don't have any evidence (yet) of malicious intent - almost all of the stuff in this report was just sloppiness because nobody was there to keep them in line. It isn't like they were digging up dirt on political candidates in order to sway elections or blackmailing the leaders of the Occupy movement to make them back off.
On the flip-side it is useful to note that this was an internal report - pretty much guaranteed not to turn up anything heinous because that would be career suicide for the investigators who report to the same command-structure they are investigating. So the relatively benign level of abuse is not proof that really bad shit has not happened, it just wouldn't be in this report if it did happen.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
The findings conveniently move the goalposts - it implies that the issue is that the spying is being done incorrectly, not that it's being done at all; if it were done "correctly" we would never know, which was the NSA's original win condition.
Yep. We're fucked.
So you take a small subset, bout 20%, and because it *lists* personnel mistakes you assume that a lie agency is telling the truth, then with that assumption you say all is ok, while neglecting the other 80% of the cases?
When you cant win, ad hominem.
It isn't like they were digging up dirt on political candidates in order to sway elections or blackmailing the leaders of the Occupy movement to make them back off.
no but we DO know that the IRS was abusing political opponants, damn near everything that we have been told has been a lie since obama took office (and before he did to be clear) I dont know how you or anyone can still say things like "well we dont know...." we know enough to know they lied, about ALOT. I feel that we have only just begun to find the truth in this administration.
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Whether it is deliberate or through incompetence is irrelevant. The NSA is still depriving US citizens of their rights on a frighteningly large scale. In addition, the director lied directly to Congress while under inquiry. Nothing is happening to the agency or its members as a result. There's plenty of reason to be upset.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Americans seem too easily distracted to really do much more than complain.
Habeas corpus? Gone. Being spied on in clear violation of the 4th Amendment? No problem. Invade and occupy a country that had nothing to do with the events of 911? Bring it on. Grant China entry to the WTO, and in the end, loose millions of American job to the PRC? Hey, that's just "business."
It doesn't really matter if the Man In Office is Baby Bush, the Blue Dress Stainer, or Obama. In-action on the part of We The People tells the people in power everything they ever wanted to hear. They can get way with anything and no meaningful action against them will be taken. Never.
The question left is, what are we(the people) going to do about it?
It is a very serious question. At what point do westerners say enough is enough and overthrow governments, or at the very least hold people accountable and arrest them?
So, in other words, my data is either in the hands of immoral or incompetent people.
Gee, I feel safer already.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Of course they will. For a very simple reason, they have more pressing problems. They have a recession to deal with, many are busy trying to make ends meet or at least get by somehow. People don't tend to care about freedom a lot if food&shelter are on their "to be worried about" list.
Why do you think we do everything to prolong that recession for as long as we possibly can? Think back to the 60s and realize what happens when people have time to worry about a crappy government.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yep. Us citizens do not get a pass if we "accidentally" break the law. The NSA should not get one either. Plus their definition of "accidentally" is pretty lame and not really that far removed from intentional.
Most of the liberal groups were already established, so 90% of the organizations applying were of one political persuasion. Further it's pretty clear they were trying to skirt the rules, and didn't have the institutional memory to know how to do it right.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. "
Please sheeple, the above is not that hard to understand what the intent was of this. The contortions of logic to justify FISA and the Patriot Act are ridiculous. Call, write, and go scream in person at your congress critter. We must have our republic back!
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
How is a government subsidized tradein for a new car destroying wealth? Seem more like aid in purchasing a capital good to me.
It wasn't the subsidy or the new car that destroyed capital, it was all the strings (like come attached to every government grant or subsidy). The "strings" in this case said that your trade-in, regardless of age or utility, had to be destroyed and crushed.
It even described how. First, you had to drain all the oil from the engine, add a sand/silica mixture to the cooling system, then you had to run the engine until it froze up. What was left of the car had to be crushed. This meant that not only were all those cars destroyed, but the ones left on the road are harder to find parts for because all the engine parts were destroyed and everything else was crushed. You can find lots of videos of engines being destroyed on the interwebs.
The value in all those destroyed cars was far greater than anything that was created by the incentives. And in the long term it hurts the poorest the most, who need transportation for jobs and keep their cars longer and rely on older cars to be reasonable to buy.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia