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Government Sent 2,000+ National Security Letters To AT&T In 2013
Trailrunner7 writes: "AT&T, in its first transparency report, said it received at least 2,000 National Security Letters and nearly 38,000 requests for location data on its subscribers in 2013. The new report from AT&T is the latest in a growing list of publications from telecom companies, Web providers and cell phone carriers who have been under pressure from privacy advocates and security experts in the wake of the Edward Snowden NSA surveillance revelations. AT&T's report shows a higher number of NSLs and subpoenas in 2013 than its most relevant competitor, Verizon. In January, Verizon's first transparency report showed that the company received between 1,000 and 1,999 NSLs in 2013 and 164,000 subpoenas. AT&T said it got 2,000-2,999 NSLs and 248,343 subpoenas last year. AT&T also received nearly 37,000 court orders and more than 16,000 search warrants."
It is time for them to answer up and tell us what they were for. I want to see the fruit of their supposed labor.
They PINKY SWEAR they're only using this information for terrorism, right?
If there are really THAT MANY terrorists inside the US, we're fucked. I mean, really truly fucked. I'm surprised any of the bridges or large buildings in my city are still standing. We KNOW The FBI and DHS can't catch everyone. Oddly enough, all the bridges and buildings are still there. No one has taken down the water supply. Electricity still works. Parking sucks, but that's normal. :D No terrorists attacks have taken place (and it's NOT because the FBI stopped them.)
That means all those THOUSANDS of requests... lets see, 16,000 search warrants, 50 states, 320 search warrants per state... I should have an active terrorist cell of AT LEAST 50 people in my city. Probably 100. Where are they?
They don't exist. That means they're using this information, and the powers granted to them FOR CATCHING TERRORISTS, for other things. No way!
Taken together, this would allude to the existence of a shockingly high number of terrorists active in the US, wouldn't it?
Who would have thought we have over 412,000 active terrorists using our cell towers???
More like National Fascism Letters...
I'm not surprised though, ATT has been the lap dog of the Fed.gov since day 1.
Lawyers, MBA's, RIAA? A jedi fears not these things!
Either we live in East Germany and the NSA is the Stasi, or somebody hasn't been reading the US Constitution and the sections about quartering troops in our domiciles (aka computers, cell phones) and unwarranted search and seizure without reasonable cause.
Every day, our freedoms disappear, even though anyone with actual counter-terrorism experience knows 99.9 percent of the problem is overseas in Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, and to a lesser extent, Afghanistan.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
So does that also include all the data collected from room 641A?
Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
I didn't read TFA, but couldn't 37,000 court orders and 16k search warrants be related to legitimate things that aren't "OMG national security!", like tracking down amber alerts or verifying for the court whether someone was or was not violating their restraining order? Still though, 3K NSLs is 600 per state, which means there's at least a dozen or so T's in each metro area.
It's about time and the name is well reserved.
as the NSA is an illegal organization in violating the Bill of Rights. And there are those in law who know this.
How could all of this be about anything but illegal downloading?
No way in hell there's any where near this kind of terrorism in the US, but there sure as hell is a fury of a shitstorm over illegal downloads. How many private industries do you know that get Federal protection, besides the Post Office? Have you seen enough FBI seals before watching a DVD to get it yet?
It's about money, dumbasses!
And if you work for a security agency, you can take pride in knowing you work for the people that run Hollywood, like it or not. What an aspiration!
Try this concept on: You can get a federal rap sheet for illegally copying a DVD or distributing it, fined heavily and/or likely federal prison time.
But if you shoplift the disc and get caught, it's a misdemeanor and you're fined a couple of bucks.
Lets look at the report actually means.
The first part of the report refers to National Security Letters and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act requests. Most people seem to assume that all these requests are submitted as counter terrorism related. That is not true. Both of these types of requests existed before 911 and were used to investigate foreign intelligence operations. What changed is that they are now able to use them to investigate individuals not associated with a country but a terrorist organization instead. There are still counterespionage investigations going on and that would account for some if the requests. I would like a breakdown between the two categories but I doubt that will ever happen.
The next section refers to "Total U.S. Criminal & Civil Litigation Demands". These requests can come from many sources including local police. They could be related to crimes such as murder, drug dealing, racketeering, etc. For example,when a police officer is investigating a murder suspect and they dump the phone that is one request. The civil cases could include things like divorces where one party is trying to prove infidelity. These requests are most likely unrelated to terrorism.
I guarantee, you will feel home here. It like Brezhnev living in USA again.
USA is new Soviet state for all comrades.
is still less than 30 odd thousand girlie brief peekers.
Sorry, but those numbers mean exactly dick, until we know exactly what is in each and every single one.
1 letter does not mean one suspect.
1 letter could equal: give us all digital data of every communication in to and out of Boston for the next 12 months. Also, while your at it throw in all transatlantic communication to the united states and anywhere else we forgot to ask for.
The subpoenas could include everything from terrorist or drug dealers to someone's nasty drag out divorce case. Not hard to get from any of the bs courts in the United States for any even marginally incompetent lawyer.
Court orders, those are dime a dozen.
All that, and the phone companies are not just passive collectors. They are actively selling their own databases to the goverment. Why would they need a court order of any sort, when they are actively marketing the data they have.
Te have millions of customers, so it seems like a tiny percentage. If you take into account degrees of separation, many of them were probably for related cases.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
False. Congress gave them permission, hence not illegal.
Also, congress can take away any amendment, legally.
You might ant to read the constitution.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Re Congress gave them permission, hence not illegal.
Yes it gives US agencies internal legal cover for a few years until tested in open court.
Then the reality of the 4th Amendment sets in and any laws offering 'permission' become a legal joke.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
It's like the lottery with these type of reports on how many requests they had received... sadly not the kind of lottery where you get lots of money but the kind where you may or may not end up in a black hole somewhere without any due process.
Yay! Let the games begin!