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The NSA Is Recording Every Cell Phone Call In the Bahamas
Advocatus Diaboli (1627651) writes "The National Security Agency is secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio of virtually every cell phone conversation on the island nation of the Bahamas. According to documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, the surveillance is part of a top-secret system – code-named SOMALGET – that was implemented without the knowledge or consent of the Bahamian government. Instead, the agency appears to have used access legally obtained in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to open a backdoor to the country's cellular telephone network, enabling it to covertly record and store the 'full-take audio' of every mobile call made to, from and within the Bahamas – and to replay those calls for up to a month."
.. what will the Bahama government/people do - will they sue the US for the presumable crime of breaking into their phone system?
and Unity through Faith.
Had they done this with Cayman Islands they could have possible nabbed some real criminals, and probably made the world a better/safer place.
Surely there is a branch of al-quaeda there to have that kind of surveillance. When they will start to send the killer drones?
"The U.S. Department of Treasury estimated that in 2011 the Caribbean Banking Centers, which include Bahamas ...held almost $2 trillion dollars in United States debt." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I bet there were some pretty juicy tidbits swept up in that massive dragnet. I certainly believe that tax evaders are a lot more of an actual threat to the US than the terrorism "boogeyman". So where are our prosecutions on this crap?
The answer is that there never will be. All this mass-surveillance will never actually be used to our benefit, only as a means enforcing the status quo for the powers that be.
Anyone at NSA who is participating in this is committing an act of war against a sovereign nation without any declaration of war.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
No we didn't, that's a glitch.
The NSA's mandate...listening in on foreigners is why they were created back in the day.
In other words, this is a non-issue. Almost as silly as an article that accused the FBI of arresting kidnappers in Pennsylvania....
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
It is a serious question. I'm beginning to think that collectively the NSA (and CIA too for that matter) is just ... dumb. At best, a bunch of careerists milking the govt gravy train.
Oh no, can't have them monitor the Cayman islands...they would net about 90% of our congress, senate and 3/4 of the power brokers in DC...can't have that ya know ;)
You think the evil people who hide their money in the Bahamas aren't like two steps ahead? They probably use old-style couriers to distribute one-time-pad code phrases or use a made-up language to communicate with each other...
Of course you can use metadata to guess at what was said, but by then it's too late.
As much as I abhor the capitalist leeches that use off-shore "financial services", I think I hate government surveillance even more...
They can't tell you because it would help the terrorists. For the children.
There's a new Sheriff in town, and he ain't got no juris-stinkin-diction to worry about.
turn off / deny all US based access to your countries infrastructure. Can't trust them to do the right thing, then we just won't trust them at all.
See how well their intelligence systems work without backdoor co-operation from the rest of the world.
The National Security Agency is secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio...
The National Security Agency was secretly intercepting, recording, and archiving the audio...
FTFY.
So, the NSA must have like a shitload of hard drives. I wonder if they are the ones that have been driving the industry forward at breakneck speeds.
Q. Does NSA totally own contents of all voice communications of hundreds of thousands of Bahamans?
A. No, sir.
Q. It does not?
A. Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps own the Bahamas but not wittingly.
I feel sorry for those of you who think this is ok because it was done against another flag.
Is calling Eric and Barack.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
A very well written main article. I suggest breaking with Slashdot tradition and actually reading it in full.
in a way that our leader can't undo them. I know he's been fighting for years against this thing, but the Republicans still rule in effect.
I'm still much less troubled about NSA surveillance than about what what a forced sale of the clippers means for privacy. And what Brendan Eich's ousting means for free speech. I wish Hitchens were still alive, just to see what his take would be on the current trend of popular suppression.
It is certainly legal, and proper for popular opinion to move against unpopular ideas in the private arena, so long as government holds itself apart from this censure... but it does not feel good. it does not feel right.
The NSA can wire-tap the crap out of me, because I don't think they'd do something so capricious as out me to the public. And the public doesn't work through proper channels. Judge, jury, executioner through mob rule.
Orwell would weep, punishing people for what they think.
Based on the number of proportional font memos with a blacked out second country name, it shouldn't be too hard to narrow down the other country (in addition to the Bahamas) for which "full retrieval" was possible.
I mean, it's not Laos, and it's not Nagorno-Karabakh, but with a known font, you could narrow it down pretty quickly based on the redacted images.
Here:
https://prod01-cdn00.cdn.first...
And here:
https://prod01-cdn02.cdn.first...
Next thing you will hear that all the Americans who live within 100 miles from the US Border, including west and east seashores, do not have constitutional 4th and 5th amendment. At least that what DHS is trying to project by setting border checkpoints. Probably 80% of US population live within 100 miles from US borders. Guess that the next revelation will be that American's calls are getting intercepted, recorded and archived, but never kept for more than 5 years, unless NSA is involved in lawsuit. We know that all calls recorded in UK, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman islands, Iraq so far.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and the Bahamas)
What do you think is the other country?
Pakistan, Afghanistan ?
And look where we are now. Insanity...
Everyone who's anyone is using electronic eavesdropping to supplement their Country's intelligence agenda.
If the United States took the high ground and refused to engage this, it would be to the detriment of the West, likely including the Country you've posted from.
This technology is already out there for everyone to exploit.... Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it's hard to get back in.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
So this seems to make it official - the NSA is nothing more than the Intelligence branch of the DEA.
I remember, years ago, some friends moved there for a few years. One of the big things about the apartment they got is it came with a land line. You see it could take years to get new phone service. During their stay a disgruntled employee cut the phone lines for the whole country. Apparently there is or was one main junction for the whole island, and nothing was labeled right, so it took months to piece the wires back. My friends got reconnected, but got someone elses line, and the locals just handled that as situation normal. Once they found out their new number (from people calling them) they just started using it.
It makes sense if everything is still through a single point, that they can all be tapped easily.
I don't know why it's taking people so long to realize this. The NSA records everything they can get their hands on. And thanks to the USS Jimmy Carter they can get their hands on all terrestrial communications.
don't forget 100 miles from any international airport
The Bahamas already knew about it?
How else did the DEA have access?
I guess we have to accept that we can't trust The Powers That Be to respect our right to privacy. Fortunately there are options.
I reckon more folks should be installing Open Whisper Systems RedPhone for encrypting their own calls. https://whispersystems.org/
Then there's always the Blackphone handset for more serious business too. https://www.blackphone.ch/phone/
I supposed if you were really paranoid you could run RedPhone on your Blackphone...
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Not that I think Snowden is completely pulling stuff out of his ass, but..how do we know Snowden is NOT pulling stuff out of his ass?
I'm asking in the spirit of diabloa advocatus. Snowden should get the same scrutiny as any other source. If he is as genuine as I think he is, he shouldn't be offended by this questioning of the source.
Left MS Windows for Linux Mint and never looked back!
Vote for Bernie in 2016!
I love how your response is "what will THOSE people do" not "what will WE do", like the NSA is significantly more careful with our rights, or like us and them are separate groups. Obviously military intelligence is completely out of control and doing whatever they have the means to regardless of morality or law. I guess people like you are waiting for some kind of referendum to vote against NSA power. IT'S NOT COMING. The people we've allowed the wrong people to make decisions for us. If one doesn't see that, one is blind, and an obstruction that must be removed immediately. Do you think they're going to serve you the option to take their power away on some kind of platter crafted of precious metals? Do you think it's possible to make big enough waves from the bottom of the power structure up to make a change in the government's behavior?
Time for revolution.
Big whoop.
Foreign spying is such bullshit. Just because the rights of foreign nationals aren't protected within jurisdiction of our Constitution, doesn't mean they don't have those rights.
The whole point of the Bill of Rights was to officially recognize that ALL people have the right to freedom of speech, press, assembly, security of person, papers, and effects, etc. and that the law will protect those rights to the extent possible. That's only as far as the US border (or slightly inside).
Anyone in our government who would violate the rights of others just because they are outside of legal protection should be ashamed to call themselves "American." In fact, if they took an oath of office to uphold the Constitution, they should resign immediately since they effectively took the oath with their fingers crossed behind their backs. "I believe in these principles, really... honestly." Yeah, sure.
The reason for the great interest in Bahamas by NSA is Milli Vanilli.
NSA employees are GREAT fans and LOVERS of Milli Vanilli.
And with the expiration of Copy Rights to songs, NSA employees are downloading "tons" of Milli Vanilli songs for their cubical enjoyment and salvation against the dastardly cruel and perverted NSA branch managers-lurkers.
Ha ha
Philippines
A simple search for "Bahamas" in images (google) will convince you that NSA should indeed monitor all communication of these terrorists. There is a real terrorist thread from the cutthroat tourists that spend a considerable time plotting on yachts (so it would be harder to eavesdrop their conversations).
Recording and analyzing intimate private conversations en masse allows to know what people think, what are they hopes, fears, etc.
I allows to evaluate effectiveness of different media, etc.
Afghanistan is a good match...
Why Are You Surprised?
When you funded a Rogue Agency, we took your description literally.
And yes, many (most?) other countries work the same way
So, you are saying that the Bahamas records every cell phone call made in the US?
A pox on web designers who feel that window.innerWidth == screen.availWidth
No, I'm saying that in most countries you need the permission of the government to sue the government.
I'm sure many countries try to record phone calls/etc, but I doubt any do so nearly as extensively as the NSA.